Horses need to be on a REGULAR trim schedule, not twice a year - no matter where you live.
Bute is a painkiller and anti inflammatory. It does exactly that and will help with swelling and reducing a fever. But it will not kill the infection that is causing the swelling - it’s not going to completely go away until the bacteria causing the infection is dead.
Call your vet or have Dad do it. The good news is antibiotics are generally not expensive and many people can give an IM injection in very rural areas like Montana if the vet is too far away and too busy with calving season to come and give a series of injections. Perhaps you have a rancher type neighbor who can give IM injections to their livestock? There are other ways of getting antibiotics into her, powders for example but since she is pastured with another horse, you don’t really know if she eats it all or not. There may be some pastes out there too you can squirt in, probably with somebody holding her head, you’ll need help.
The vet should recommend what antibiotics and can sell them to you. Might be able to get them at the feed store too since you are out in ranch country. But use what your vet recommends. He may want to culture it to see which bacteria is involved and that us pretty important if you want the mare to recover and be rideable. Even if there is a cost involved.
I would explore getting her some antibiotics. Some how, some way, don’t say you can’t. Yes you can. When I was just a little older then you, with semi supportive parents, little money and few vets nearby? I had a horse that needed antibiotic injections every few days for about 10 days, two weeks maybe. Vet said he’d leave them and teach me how to give them, I said “I can’t I hate needles” then he said fine, he could come out every couple of days charging a call fee plus the service fee. Turned out I could after all;).
I am not suggesting you do it yourself at age 15 but there is going to be somebody near you or maybe even your Dad who can, it’s a necessity on farms and ranches. Reach out, somebody will help.
[QUOTE=Wish_Upon_a_Star2000;7969370]
Thank you! Yes I can! Do you have any YouTube videos to recommend? I’ve been looking, but haven’t found many. We caught the fistula before it burst, so the vet put her on bute, about 4 scoops a day for 4 weeks, then 2 per day for about 2-3 more weeks, then vary the amount to every other day for awhile, til its gone. And that was about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving.[/QUOTE]
Has your vet been to see her SINCE Thanksgiving? That’s a very long time for a horse to be on bute. There are too many side effects, like ulcers, that can occur, especially at those levels. And as others have said, bute is not an antibiotic. She needs to be on something like SMZs or Tucoprim (both of which you can mix in the feed); your vet will have to prescribe one. I don’t know which antibiotic is best in this particular situation, but your vet will. Or should.
Here’s a couple of sites to educate you about the long-term ramifications of using bute:
[URL=“http://www.thehorse.com/articles/10185/how-much-bute-is-too-much”]
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/10185/how-much-bute-is-too-much
http://www.westernhorsereview.com/blogs/screen-doors-saddles/you-oughta-know-about-bute/
Scoops of bute? Is it powdered and flavored? Usually Bute is in pill form, which is crushed and fed or blown into their mouths. I agree–that is a LOT of bute for a very long time. I am not super familiar with fistula, but I’ve never had that much bute prescribed for anything. Are you sure it wasn’t an antibiotic?
Where I’m from bute is usually powdered or liquid. When powdered, depending on the concentration, there is 1 gram of bute per tablespoon or teaspoon (scoop provided).
I agree that having a horse on so much bute for months at a time is likely to do some damage.
[QUOTE=Wish_Upon_a_Star2000;7969352]
My point 
Meup was saying I let their hooves grow long; long story short, I don’t[/QUOTE]
Actually Calvincrowe correctly reading comprehended for you.
And what on earth vet puts a horse on just bute for an infection? I am guessing the googlefu for fabricating a veterinary interaction out of thin air failed to turn up "SMZ"s.
This is such BS.
Has anyone else noticed that every time OP is questioned she back pedals with some marginally plausible claim? I am in search of confidence for riding and training my horse. I meant, not for training, but for confidently assessing the withers situation before commencing training. Oh, the vet comes for their feet twice a year. Wait, I meant the farrier. Oh, sure, we had a vet out for the withers. Yep he put her on 1,000 pints of bute a day for the next six years.
Next up she will say “Oh, you mean the (probably 15h ish QH size) horse would most likely be seriously ill or dead if it got 4gms of bute a day for weeks? I meant the horse is getting 10ccs of SMZs a day.”
Then: “I meant 20 SMZ pills.”
Then: “And actually it’s a 19h Shire running around in Montana here so 4gms of bute is fine.”
waaaaiiit for it…
She’s a little girl. They had the vet out, she follows directions without necessarily remembering the name of the drug. Yeah, having a farrier out twice a year is normal in rural areas. Whether or not you like it, sometimes you’ve got to work with what you got. And you need to remember there is a real person on the other side of that monitor. And in this case, it’s a little girl taking care of her horse to the standards of her culture. Chewing her ass isn’t helpful, productive, or nice. 15 is a whole lot younger in the sticks that it is in town. Some of us have kids, most of us seem not to, but we need to remember to run our comments through our internal filters before we hit submit.
[QUOTE=tinah;7967998]
Y’all have an opportunity here to do some good. Step it up, coth.
Wish, have you considered doing showmanship? It’s very exacting, horses seem to get really into it, and I’m sure they do classes at the fair in it, possibly for monetary prizes. You can practice with any old halter and lead. I bet if you get snazzy with it, mom and dad will buy you a leather one. And you can practice in the yard, since you don’t have a loose horse. That way you can really concentrate.[/QUOTE]
Have you read Wish’s other threads? She (?)is the master of begging for advice and then coming up with a hundred reasons why she disagrees with or can’t follow said advice. It’s really aggravating.
I know we aren’t supposed to call troll on new posters but I find it VERY suspicious that when the other thread she started died down, she moved right onto another hornets nest, a Parelli topic thinly veiled in a question about “at liberty” which we know 90% of the knowledgeable horse people on this board don’t engage in or agree with.
Well I have to disagree tinah, I think kids in the country are a lot more mature than city kids - of course over generalization is not the best thing ever is it?
She needs a reality check - for her and her horses safety.
[QUOTE=tinah;7971000]
She’s a little girl. They had the vet out, she follows directions without necessarily remembering the name of the drug. Yeah, having a farrier out twice a year is normal in rural areas. Whether or not you like it, sometimes you’ve got to work with what you got. And you need to remember there is a real person on the other side of that monitor. And in this case, it’s a little girl taking care of her horse to the standards of her culture. Chewing her ass isn’t helpful, productive, or nice. 15 is a whole lot younger in the sticks that it is in town. Some of us have kids, most of us seem not to, but we need to remember to run our comments through our internal filters before we hit submit.[/QUOTE]
A. I don’t for a second believe a word this OP says anymore. I call teenager/really sad adult who wishes they had a horse playing makebelieve on the internetz.
B. If she really is for real and is as inept as you portray 15 year olds to be, she has no business owning two horses with largely uninvolved and uninterested parents. There are plenty of 15 year olds who are a billion times more responsible, dedicated, and polite than this one, who do a fine job of caring for horses at home.
If a real horse really does live at the epicenter of this train wreck, my loyalties lie with the horse. If OP is to be believed there is a horse out there with a fistulous wither and its stomach blown out by insane doses of bute. I refuse to sweep that under the rug of “oh it’s just a different culture.” No I will not be nice about it. If you are too immature to perform the most basic horse care correctly you don’t deserve to have a living animal entirely dependent on you.
Meanwhile in another thread you are snarking that someone is doing “sloppy horse handling” because a horse swung around and bit them suddenly, but this yahoo who displays such a level of repeated incompetence that the most plausible explanation is that they have never had a horse and are making it up all together, this one we should be nice to.
Maybe I’ll be 15 too today!
[QUOTE=meupatdoes;7971159]
A. I don’t for a second believe a word this OP says anymore. I call teenager/really sad adult who wishes they had a horse playing makebelieve on the internetz.
B. If she really is for real and is as inept as you portray 15 year olds to be, she has no business owning two horses with largely uninvolved and uninterested parents. There are plenty of 15 year olds who are a billion times more responsible, dedicated, and polite than this one, who do a fine job of caring for horses at home.
If a real horse really does live at the epicenter of this train wreck, my loyalties lie with the horse. If OP is to be believed there is a horse out there with a fistulous wither and its stomach blown out by insane doses of bute. I refuse to sweep that under the rug of “oh it’s just a different culture.” No I will not be nice about it. If you are too immature to perform the most basic horse care correctly you don’t deserve to have a living animal entirely dependent on you.
Meanwhile in another thread you are snarking that someone is doing “sloppy horse handling” because a horse swung around and bit them suddenly, but this yahoo who displays such a level of repeated incompetence that the most plausible explanation is that they have never had a horse and are making it up all together, this one we should be nice to.
Maybe I’ll be 15 too today![/QUOTE]
I LOFF YOU!
[QUOTE=meupatdoes;7971159]
A. I don’t for a second believe a word this OP says anymore. I call teenager/really sad adult who wishes they had a horse playing makebelieve on the internetz.
B. If she really is for real and is as inept as you portray 15 year olds to be, she has no business owning two horses with largely uninvolved and uninterested parents. There are plenty of 15 year olds who are a billion times more responsible, dedicated, and polite than this one, who do a fine job of caring for horses at home.
If a real horse really does live at the epicenter of this train wreck, my loyalties lie with the horse. If OP is to be believed there is a horse out there with a fistulous wither and its stomach blown out by insane doses of bute. I refuse to sweep that under the rug of “oh it’s just a different culture.” No I will not be nice about it. If you are too immature to perform the most basic horse care correctly you don’t deserve to have a living animal entirely dependent on you.
Meanwhile in another thread you are snarking that someone is doing “sloppy horse handling” because a horse swung around and bit them suddenly, but this yahoo who displays such a level of repeated incompetence that the most plausible explanation is that they have never had a horse and are making it up all together, this one we should be nice to.
Maybe I’ll be 15 too today![/QUOTE]
Yo tambien! :yes:
[QUOTE=meupatdoes;7970780]
Actually Calvincrowe correctly reading comprehended for you.
And what on earth vet puts a horse on just bute for an infection? I am guessing the googlefu for fabricating a veterinary interaction out of thin air failed to turn up "SMZ"s.
This is such BS.
Has anyone else noticed that every time OP is questioned she back pedals with some marginally plausible claim? I am in search of confidence for riding and training my horse. I meant, not for training, but for confidently assessing the withers situation before commencing training. Oh, the vet comes for their feet twice a year. Wait, I meant the farrier. Oh, sure, we had a vet out for the withers. Yep he put her on 1,000 pints of bute a day for the next six years.
Next up she will say “Oh, you mean the (probably 15h ish QH size) horse would most likely be seriously ill or dead if it got 4gms of bute a day for weeks? I meant the horse is getting 10ccs of SMZs a day.”
Then: “I meant 20 SMZ pills.”
Then: “And actually it’s a 19h Shire running around in Montana here so 4gms of bute is fine.”
waaaaiiit for it…[/QUOTE]
what.are.you.saying.?You all are the ones asking me questions hello;)! And I can’t help it that I accidentally wrote 'VET" now can I?! What, may I ask,do you have against me?
Wait…so just becuz other people don;t agree on things means I can’t ask questions? Some people were telling me I should learn, and that’s what I’m trying to do. You can’t learn unless you’re curious! And what other thread died down??My other thread??HA ha no actually don’t think it did, I sure wish it would tho,people can’t seem to grip that I handle my horses different than city people who board their horses away and compete and ‘do things for real’… city people aren’t the only ones who have the right to own horses 
[QUOTE=Wish_Upon_a_Star2000;7971589]
what.are.you.saying.?that is bs right there!You all are the ones asking me questions helloooooo! And I can’t help it that I accidentally wrote 'VET" now come ON! What the hay do you have against me?[/QUOTE]
It’s 11am in Montana right now.
So I guess you’re posting from your smartphone with data plan that your parents who won’t pay for riding lessons bought you that gets great reception in the middle of nowhere when you are supposed to be paying attention in the one room wood stove heated school house out there in the sticks where you claim you live.
[QUOTE=Night Flight;7970636]
Where I’m from bute is usually powdered or liquid. When powdered, depending on the concentration, there is 1 gram of bute per tablespoon or teaspoon (scoop provided).
I agree that having a horse on so much bute for months at a time is likely to do some damage.[/QUOTE]
Yes it is powdered, and flavored. It’s a teaspoon scoop I think, and she is off of bute now. The vet said that yes,there are some side effects, but the ulcer,he said,is unlikely since she is turned out 24/7 and isn’t in a stall. This vet is about 40 yrs experienced, so he’s bound to know more than me. He’s been a ranch vet all those years, cows,horses,sheep;etc,. I am also not one to argue with his choices. He recommended bute and sold it to us. He is not ignorant, and knows we care for our horses properly.
[QUOTE=Wish_Upon_a_Star2000;7971589]
what.are.you.saying.?that is bs right there!You all are the ones asking me questions helloooooo! And I can’t help it that I accidentally wrote 'VET" now come ON! What the hay do you have against me?[/QUOTE]
That’s a loaded question! Ok once more, because when you get advice that you do not like, well not at the start but most definately now; your just plainly being rude in your answers to advice that your not liking.
Stop being rude/snotty! This is what you say if it doesnt suit you; “thanks but nothanks! Or thanks for your views but they don’t apply to the situation. Or or thanks let me think about that, i’m not sure it will work”
[QUOTE=meupatdoes;7971613]
It’s 11am in Montana right now.
So I guess you’re posting from your smartphone with data plan that your parents who won’t pay for riding lessons bought you that gets great reception in the middle of nowhere when you are supposed to be paying attention in the one room wood stove heated school house out there in the sticks where you claim you live.[/QUOTE]
No, I do not have a phone. Nice try tho. And I homeschool.(what business is this of yours anyway?)
[QUOTE=Teddy;7971622]
That’s a loaded question! Ok once more, because when you get advice that you do not like, well not at the start but most definately now; your just plainly being rude in your answers to advice that your not liking.
Stop being rude/snotty! This is what you say if it doesnt suit you; “thanks but nothanks! Or thanks for your views but they don’t apply to the situation. Or or thanks let me think about that, i’m not sure it will work”[/QUOTE]
She also wrote that I’m sorry if I appear rude, but frankly, why is she being rude too? And what answer did she give me?
[QUOTE=Wish_Upon_a_Star2000;7971621]
Yes it is powdered, and flavored. It’s a teaspoon scoop I think, and she is off of bute now. The vet said that yes,there are some side effects, but the ulcer,he said,is unlikely since she is turned out 24/7 and isn’t in a stall. This vet is about 40 yrs experienced, so he’s bound to know more than me. He’s been a ranch vet all those years, cows,horses,sheep;etc,. I am also not one to argue with his choices. He recommended bute and sold it to us. He is not ignorant, and knows we care for our horses properly.[/QUOTE]
Oh a TEAspoon scoop…
So 4 teaspoons of Bute would be what, 8gms per dose?
Considering that 7gms can kill a horse…
