Tomorrow will be lesson day and I'll have it with Toby. Ollie's back left leg still has some very slight swelling in it and an itty bitty bit of heat. So he's getting some time off.
I rode Toby on Sunday and he was terrific! I sure hope he is good at lesson time.
I realize that my two guys are really lucky. They have me, a fun loving owner, who has few other distractions to keep me away from them. I'm single, no kids, a good job and am in love with learning about dressage (even though I'm not great at it yet). Having horses is more than just a hobby for me. Not only do my guys bring together two worlds that I love (racing and dressage) but my guys are also a part of my family.
So I do things that most people probably wouldn't or couldn't do. Such as, my lunch hour is spent running out to the barn to give Ollie his liquid supplement along with beet pulp/rice bran mash to help him gain weight and poop better. It's been working. But today - inexplicably - he had the worst diarrhea I have ever seen come out of him! It was "explosion diarrhea" which some was sprayed on the wall of his stall and it was all over his turnout sheet he was wearing. He's acting normally, his temp was a normal 99.1 and he woofed down his mash. It's pouring rain outside so I put Toby and Ollie out into our indoor arena to stretch their legs while I stripped Ollie's saturated stall. The two of them were their normal curious selves investigating everything they could in the arena while I took out 4 full muck buckets from his stall. Normally, it'd be 1 to 1 1/2 buckets. I put him back in his cleaned out stall (I wiped down the walls too) and took home everything he was wearing and pooped on.
I'm hoping he just ate something and that he'll be fine in a day or two. He's so normal otherwise.
It's times like this where I wish I had some other distractions so I won't dwell over poop...
A blog to share the experience of retraining two off-track thoroughbred racehorses and their owner as they both learn dressage
What did you give Ollie for his swollen ankle? Maybe something in the bute (Banamine? ???) interacted (or RE-acted) with the supplement for the poop to cause the reaction. It also could be that HE's upset a bit about the weather and the soreness.
ReplyDeleteHonestly. These "chirruns." ;o)
My horse is like your horses. In fact, ALL my animals are my "children." My world revolves around them and everything happens for them FIRST. If I'm shopping, it's dog food and THEN my food. I love going to the feed store to order the next load of hay and grain. And I love when it all gets delivered and stacked. (In other words, I love raking ;o)
Seriously, consider that his meds for the swelling are the cause of the diarrhea.
I had him on bute for the swelling one day but that wasn't yesterday. I think maybe it was because his water bucket was washed out with bleach and maybe with his sensitive stomach a little bit of bleach remnant bothered him. At least that's my current theory...
ReplyDeleteI rinsed out his water bucket thoroughly today.
He seems so normal otherwise! Just his usual perky, talkative self. Hopefully tomorrow he'll be pooping better.
Fingers crossed on quality poop (only in the horse world would we find this exciting ;o)
ReplyDeletePoor Ollie, he certainly is having a lot of digestive issues lately! And poor you for having to deal with them (especially on a grey/white horse!). His back-end must be looking none too pretty lately.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem odd that he keeps having this problem, especially after you got all of those special supplements for him. That's very perplexing.
Well, like TBDancer, I'll cross my fingers for him!
Yes, only in the horse world would we consider stall cameras to watch the consistency of our horses' pooping! Do you know how to listen to the secum with a stethescope? I have a 21 yr old TB that sometimes stresses "internally" and will get a volatile form of diarrhea lasting a day or 2 sometimes. His secum will sound like he ate pop rocks when this happens but he's otherwise, normal. Here's hoping & praying for Ollie's poop condition. It's like that pedigree commercial with the chihuahua.....his canned pedigree food makes him an optimum pooper! LOL!
ReplyDeleteopenhorseshowjudge.blogspot.com
I'm just doing a test, something is wrong with my google & I follow your blog. Hope all is well Wendy! :>)
ReplyDelete