Trail Training Newsletter – 108

Trail Training Newsletter – 108
January 2010

Dear Readers,

December was a tough month for me due to Mingo and his mysterious illness. I haven’t spent any time out on the trail. I don’t ride Cruiser on frozen, uneven ground—must protect that tendon. We have been working in the arena. Of course, I haven’t been riding Mingo, at all. Someday…

Ranger completely recovered from his hoof abscess, and the first day Ellen got him on the trail, he was so hyper that he demonstrated his ability to buck—several times.

We have had very little snow, and on most days, the trail is frozen hard. Kevin has been riding Starry on those days, but he keeps him at a walk. We always walk our horses on frozen trail. One day, when it was slow at work, I found an old book on riding and training on the internet. I wondered if maybe we were overreacting by being cautious on the frozen ground. I wondered what people did when horses were a more important part of day-to-day life.

I skimmed through the book, and lo and behold, this author exclaimed that anyone doing fast work on frozen ground can be considered a murderer. Although he felt light trotting was okay, any more than that was out of the question.

I felt vindicated with my cautiousness. I’m sure that frozen turf has enough give in it, but our trails are hard enough in the summer. Freezing makes them even worse. Cruiser, back in the day when I would ride him on the trail when it was frozen, would trot a few steps out of exuberance—and then stop on his own because they were too hard.

Now give us a few inches of snow…

I think I got my Christmas present

Each day, Mingo is getting better. Yesterday, I took him for a walk down to the river. We did it the day before, and he really seemed to enjoy it, and he did fine with the hill. At the bottom, it is flat and level. I trotted him in hand, and he was quite sound and very enthusiastic. We went back and forth a few times, and he seemed happier each time.

The abscess on his pastern finally quit draining, too. It is just a bit seepy.

I called the vet this morning, and she said to keep him on antibiotics for 5 more days and bute every other day. At that point, we will see what happens, and then I will really know if I get my present.

I had a great ride with Cruiser in the arena, yesterday.

Tonight, the farrier is coming out.

Mingo looks good

More improvement for Mingo. After leading him last night, I set him free on the far side of the arena. On the near side is scraps of hay that fall from the loft. All through this mysterious illness, when I would do that, he would either slowly walk to the hay or try to take a fast step an nearly collapse his hindquarters from pain. It was heartbreaking.

Last night, he started walking really fast, cantered 4 strides and trotted 5 strides to the hay scraps. He grabbed a bite and then spun 180 degrees. He wandered about and then went back to the hay.

I previously trotted him on the lead rope and he seemed about 92 percent. Pretty good, I think. I believe that we just need to heal the bad sore on his pastern, and then we will be home free.

Yes, I got my Christmas present that I wanted so much. I got my Mingo back.

Mingo is Improving

What a nice feeling to be able to say that he is definitely getting better. There has been some interesting developments, but more on that later. Most of the swelling is gone. Now you really have to look for it. Yesterday, he volunteered a trot, and it looked sound. I didn't ask him for any more because we were out on the driveway, and it was pretty slippery. I made him stop and walk like a gentleman.

The vet told me to decrease the bute and keep up with the antibiotics--and see what happens next. The real test is what happens when he is on no medication at all.

This weekend, he was the best than he has been in 2 months. He's even gaining weight!

I had the vet out again last week because Mingo was getting worse. His leg was more swollen and he didn't want to walk at all. She still doesn't know what is wrong with him, but with a nerve block, ruled out a hoof abscess. She feels it is higher up in the leg where the bulk of the swelling now is. We continued with the antibiotics and put him on bute every day. I have been hand walking him. It helps with the swelling.

Overall, I would say that Mingo is doing better. We will see how he goes through the weekend. He is walking faster and with barely a limp at all. In fact, he is walking very fast—faster than he does when he is healthy. He has been bucking with the front half of his body—just out of exuberance. That is an improvement—last week he was only bucking with his head. He still isn’t bucking with his back legs. I have not tested him at a trot. His swelling is down, but there is still quite a way to go. I plan to call his vet next week to see how we should continue his treatment.

Cruiser has been very energetic. The cool weather agrees with him. I am only riding him in the indoor arena, now. Once he settles down, he is doing pretty good. I just have to work on my own skills. 9 months of trail riding has made me sloppy. Good thing for me that Cruiser is a very tolerant horse.

Got the vet out to see Mingo, again

I had the vet come out to see Mingo on Friday, and the news isn’t good. He was quite lame and swollen. She no longer thought it was a hoof abscess, but to make sure, she did a nerve block. Sure enough—it is higher in the leg—where the worst of the swelling is. She doesn’t know what the problem is. What we are going to do is continue with Bute and antibiotics for a couple of weeks to try and get the swelling down. At that point, there might be a little swelling left, and then we can examine and ultrasound that area.

With the bute, he walks pretty good, so I will be hand walking since that brings the swelling down, too. unfortunately, it comes back the next day.

His mood is good, he is eating and drinking. This is going to take time. At least it is winter and I’m not missing any good trail riding. Hopefully, he will be fine b spring.

House Cat Tip of the Month

House Cat Tip of the Month

Want to get your cat some new toys for Christmas? You don’t have to buy the expensive toys at the pet store. Try going to a craft store. My sister bought her cat, Stormy, a whole bag of puffy toys for the cost of a couple at the pet store. Now, when he isn’t pressing the buttons on the radio or stalking her dog, he is tossing around his puffy toys.

Thunder prefers cranberries. If you buy fresh cranberries this month, toss one to your cat. Thunder plays and plays with cranberries. Stormy made a face and walked away. Ellen’s dog ate it.

Mingo Revisited

Mingo Revisited

Mingo seemed to be feeling much better. I soaked his hoof for 8 days—so long that he contracted a fine case of mud fever. I weaned him off the banding, but there was still some swelling all the way up his leg. He was once again playful and interactive. He still wasn’t eating his hay with vigor, though, and he walked stiffly on that leg. These two things were really troubling me. He didn’t want to trot. Finally, I forced the issue and made him trot—serious lameness. Could it be the abscess? Could he have hurt himself while we struggled with the soaking boot? What about those nasty moments during loading? And what about that gash in his hip that he got after he came home. Did he get cast and hurt himself? I couldn’t tell. It was time to call the vet about the leg. I wanted her to check Mingo’s teeth, too.

I called on Tuesday, but she couldn’t get out until Friday, which was the day after Thanksgiving. I was off that day, so it worked out well. On Thanksgiving, Ellen and I went out for a ride on Cruiser and Ranger. It was a beautiful day, which was really a treat, for often the weather is miserable by now. Our happiness was cut short when Ranger came up lame. Now, it didn’t matter what the weather was like, we both felt terrible. She led him home. By now, his limp was very prominent.

The good news? The vet was coming to see Mingo the next day, anyway.

We got to the barn mid morning. While we were waiting for the phone call from the vet’s office, we cleaned stalls and I rode Cruiser on the hill. We got back to the barn and found out the vet would be there in 45 minutes. Good—time for lunch. We dashed out to a nearby fast food place. The conversation was pretty depressing.

By now, we could tell that Ranger may have an abscess, too. He didn’t want to put any weight on his sore foot. We had the vet look at him, first. She agreed, and started testing his foot and digging. It took her a bit to find the abscess. Oddly, he was most sensitive on him toe, but the actual abscess was on the bar of his hoof. She kept digging and digging. Finally, I saw a bit a gray seep though. We hit the jackpot. Soon, it was dripping down his hoof. She poulticed his foot, and we were smiling. It was just an ordinary abscess.

There is nothing ever ordinary with Mingo. He walked stiffly and could put full weight on his foot comfortably. When she saw him trot, she said it looked like an abscess to her.

She dug and dug and dug—nothing. As I suspected, this was a very deep abscess that she couldn’t get to. She finally quit. I could tell she was discouraged, too. I was so hoping we could get this draining out the bottom. Since I had gotten it to drain from his heel with soaking, we hoped to get it to drain there, again. We went with the poultice for him, too. Not only does my vet feel it works better, but it wouldn’t contribute to his mud fever like soaking would.

She floated his teeth. They weren’t terribly bad—not bad enough to cause his weight loss. He did have some sores on the inside of his mouth from his teeth, though, and that might be why he wasn’t as enthusiastic about his hay. Time will tell. He needs a few days for his mouth to heal.

Our biggest worry was that his leg would swell like a balloon, again and develop cellulitis. She gave me a bottle of antibiotics to only use if it came back. It is now Monday, and his leg is no worse than before. He will voluntarily walk fast and sound, but I haven’t checked him at the trot, yet. On Wednesday, I will take the poultice off and see how he is. Ranger is doing great. You would never know he even had a problem except for the vetwrap on his hoof.

I’m hoping to have good news for you next month.

All I want for Christmas is my horse back.

My Little Mingo

My Little Mingo

I mentioned in last month’s newsletter that Mingo was suffering some health problems. Here is the whole story.

Mingo hadn’t seemed like himself. He had lost some weight, and there were days that he seemed so out of sorts. I also noticed that he wasn’t finishing his hay all at once. He would eat half of it and then take a nap. Later, he would finish it off. In fact, it seemed like he was sleeping all the time. Sometimes he would be laying down, and sometimes he would stand in his corner to rest.

Just about the time I was really getting uneasy about the change in his behavior, the vet came out to give him fall shots. She hadn’t seen him since the spring and was shocked at how much weight he had lost. She had me lead him around, and she watched how he moved. She took his temperature, and it was 99 degrees—slightly high. She suggested a blood work.

She was concerned about EPM, kidney disease, internal infections and tumors. She suggested Cushing’s Disease, but his coat had been growing normal, and he was a little on the young side for it. He also had four hoof abscesses back in May and June, (one in each foot) and this was possible a symptom of something.

So, then I waited and waited an incredibly long 2 days for the blood results. Thanks to the internet, I learned I didn’t want him to have EPM, and that kidney disease is often fatal. Needless to say, I was worried.

The test results showed on increased fibriginidin (sign of swelling) and low albumin (not absorbing protein.) She suggested what every non-trailer owning person fears—taking him to a clinic for further diagnostics.

Ugh. I made arrangements for the following week. That evening, the farrier came out to take care of our horses. To my horror, one of Mingo’s legs was swollen. My first suspicion was a hoof abscess. I told my farrier to look for one, but he didn’t find any sign. His pastern on that foot had been stocking up for some time, but it would go away in a few minutes with exercise. This was much worse, but he showed no signs of pain in the leg. Since he was going to the vet, I decided to wait until then.

Back to the Internet. From his blood work, it sounded like he might have an internal abscess. It made sense. He might have something that was causing abscesses all over him. I knew that the specialist planned to do an abdominal ultrasound as well and a body tap. I was sure that she would be checking for one. An internal abscess could be serious, and I was worried. It could burst any moment, and he would be dead. New worries. I was waiting for the phone call from the barn with bad news.

He still wasn’t eating enthusiastically, was more lethargic and the leg was more swollen. He wasn’t lame on it. I would lead him around, and he moved fine. A couple days before he was supposed to go, I was leading him and stooped down to look at it. He didn’t want me to touch his leg. He pulled it away violently. I did feel the heel—it was wet—and it smelled of a burst abscess! It must have been very deep for my farrier not to detect it, and for it to not make him dead lame. (This has happened before with heel abscesses—very little lameness.) That explained the swelling, too.

I brought him back to the barn and heated up some water. It was a struggle to get his soaking boot on. He flew all about stall—this wasn’t normal.

I called my vet the next morning and told her what happened. I wanted to know if the abscess was the cause of the problem or a symptom. She thought it was a symptom. It would explain the fever and the high fibriginidin, but not the weight loss and lethargy. She said to continue with my plan.

The next morning, the trailer arrived. I wanted to soak his foot that morning, but I just couldn’t get the soaking boot on. His leg really bothered him. Loading him took about 15 minutes, but he traveled well.

The vet examined him—said his leg had cellulitis and she wanted to keep him. I reluctantly said yes. She was particularly concerned that he might have Equine Motor Neuron Disease. (EMND) It happens to middle-aged horses that don’t have access to pasture. One of the factors is vitamin E deficiency, and it is treated with supplements. She noted that sleeping when he should be eating hay, lethargy and rapid weight loss along the topline (like his) are the main symptoms. She would check for other problems, too, while she had him.

I went home without him and without any answers. That evening, she called to say he was resting well. They had the leg wrapped and were giving him IV antibiotics. They had done a full rectal and a few other things, and all came in negative. They still had tests to run.

She called me the next morning to tell me all the other tests were negative, and that they did the biopsy and Vitamin E/selenium test. They would get the results on that the following week.

That evening, she called to tell me the leg swelling was already down 90 percent, and I should be able to get him on the weekend.

Back to the Internet. EMND is a serious, but very rare disease. It is the horse version of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease.) He did have most of the symptoms, and it made so much sense. I was miserable. It is sometimes fatal and often the horse doesn’t make a complete recovery.

I was able to get him on Saturday. He had been traumatized. Poor little guy was afraid to come out of the stall at the clinic. We had to tranquilize him and even then, we had to back him out of the door with much difficulty. Getting him in the trailer wasn’t much better. It was an awful experience. Those of you who are lucky enough to have your own trailers don’t realize your good fortune. Not only can you practice loading, you can take your horses to enjoyable places—instead of only to the hospital.

Once he got home, he was eager to get back to his stall. All the horses and his girlfriend, Katie the Mule, called out to him. I had my horse back, a big bill and no answers.

He was no better than before we went to the clinic—still lethargic, uninterested in his hay and very tired.

Monday night, I took the bandage off his leg as instructed. It looked good. The next morning, I had a vacation day. My most wonderful boyfriend bought me a ticket to the Bruce Springsteen concert for that day. I was going with his daughters—both Springsteen nuts, just like me. I have been a fan since Junior High School when we used to sign his albums out at the library.

It was not to be a happy day. Mingo’s leg was all swollen up, again. Ellen and I took the other horses for a ride. When I got back, I called the vet and waited for a response. I didn’t get any. I decided to lead him about, and the way he reluctantly placed him foot on the ground told me the whole story. I realized he had the abscess back in his hoof. I struggled with the soaking boot and gave it a good soak. When I was done, I led him, and he walked fine. I had gotten the abscess draining, again.

The vet did call when we were in the restaurant before the concert. She told me that the leg had been depending on the bandage, and I would have to re-bandage it and wean him off of the bandage. It wasn’t the cellulitis returning. I started to relax a bit, and I really enjoyed the concert. It was the best I had ever seen Springsteen perform.

I still had worries. I was waiting for the EMND test, and he was still out of sorts. Getting the soaking boot on and off was a trial, too. I was resigned he had the disease—until I remembered she was checking his selenium levels. Back to the Internet. It turns out the selenium deficiency can cause some of the problems that he is experiencing. Well, that would be better than EMND.

Finally, she had the results, and they were negative. I was very much in shock at the good news. We discussed how to get the weight back on him. I asked her what caused the weight loss. She told me that I’d be surprised how fast a horse can lose weight when he has an infection and chronic pain. It was the hoof abscess all along. It must have been going on for some time. They x-rayed his feet, and suggested putting on shoes with pads—, which we will do—but right now, we are working on getting him to left his foot up readily.

This went on for two and a half very long weeks. I wasn’t eating well, either, because I was so worried. I figured we had, at minimum, a chronic, if not fatal problem. Rather, we had the same old problem. I hope shoes will help with the abscessing. It sure is worth a try.

The moral of the story—don’t worry until you know what you have to worry about. It is so hard for me to not stress out over those I love—whether they have two legs for four. I will try to be more logical, next time.

Yeah right—that’s like telling me not to like Bruce Springsteen.

Weekend update

We had a good weekend. Unfortunately, the day my niece came out to ride, we couldn’t cross the river—way too high. We did the hill 3 times. She still had fun. Since we had some extra time, we taught her a little about ground work and leading. She practiced on Mingo and Ranger. We then took her on a long hike and out to lunch at Burger King.

Sunday we were able to cross, and my sister and I had a very nice ride. I rode Mingo wioth my sister on Ranger and then took Cruiser out by himself. All the horses and people were so glad to get across. We have been doing the hill all week because of the rain.

We have a 4-day weekend coming up, and we just can’t wait! My boyfriend agreed to let us have Starry on one day for a long ride with Mingo. We had such a good time with them last time, we wanted to do it again.