Sweetie's Saga- Rest In Peace Sweet Mare

[candyappy]

@carman_liz

Oh n the trailer ride here…No hay, like did not even bring any with them, and no water…NO FFFNNN WATER???

My horses will not eat or drink when on the trailer. I do put hay in nets and offer water at stops but it stays untouched. Trailering with water means that most likely the floor will get all wet and a slip is possible.

I am glad she found her away to you and looks like those were NOT current pictures you posted.

If she can eat hay it may be good to mix some good quality grass hay in with her alfalfa to help buffer all the rich feed she is getting with the senior and alfalfa?

Might help firm her up. I wonder how old she really is?

ETA: Deworming should be done with care on any severely thin animal. I am sure your vet will guide you on that.

[PaddockWood]

You are an angel CarmenLiz. One idea I have (maybe I missed someone else saying it any maybe you already did it) but take her bedding to a minimum of 6 inches. You don’t use more bedding in the end - just part it and find the wet spot and balls. BUT, they lay down and get comfy and maybe then she’d get down more and get off her feet.

Since I went to Ritz Carlton deep bedding my ponies are doing some serious crashing in their stalls.
I read a research report it’s so much better for them.

[SusanO]

If she won’t try to eat it because I am sure she wouldn’t be able to with those teeth - try straw for her bed. Or even cheap grass hay providing it is not moldy or dusty. There have been studies done that horses bedded in straw lay down more. It might cushion her bones more. Yes I know. It is a royal PITA to clean the stall. But it might help her at this stage of her life.

[erinmeri]

Hey @carman_liz! How are you (and the horse!) after the vet visit?

[Mango20]

@carman_liz

I backed off soaking her feed so heavily. I had it basically as mash/slop the first few times because I wanted to make sure she was staying hydrated.

I was going to suggest experimenting with how soaked you soak feed. I had a toothless old pony who hated it when I soaked his feed to a slop. For him, the perfect amount was so that it absorbed all the water and was wet and fluffy, with no extra water. The pellets would still be roughly pellet shaped, but would fall apart if you touched them. He spent the last three years of his life on TC Senior, hay pellets, and beet pulp with no molasses four times per day.

[Angela_Freda]

@carman_liz any update since the vet visit?

[carman_liz]

She was bedded pretty heavily. One side of my stalls is a mesh filled gate so I can only go so deep near that side. I need to rebed her stall at lunch today, I have been exhausted getting up every 4 hrs and sleeping on the couch, then of course when I get up my dog wants out, the cats want attention, when I come back in I’m half awake from being out in the cold, lay back down on the couch, cat wants to mess with my toes lol. I could bank it more on the other 2 inner sides though, I will try that thanks for the idea!

I also plan on bathing her whole body one day this week, I think it’s going to be 74 on Wednesday, maybe after that if I leave her in my little lot for around 10 min and just work on some other stuff out there she will at least roll and I can tell how hard it is for her to get up n down?

[carman_liz]

I understand the water sloshing, they had not even brought any hay with them on their truck, no buckets with them or gallons of water to even offer her or have in case of an emergency, bygones I guess at this point.

I thought about trying to mix regular hay into her alfalfa after she gets a day or two more into her feeding routine. Vet says she is probably mid 20’s and she has some teeth left wayyyy in the back, I just had not looked far enough lol. They all had hooks and ridges, so teeth got floated yesterday. She allowed the speculum with only 1cc of Ace, such a good girl! She has one loose tooth in the back that needs to come out, vet is going to coordinate with the dentist for me and get it scheduled to be pulled.

Vet tried to get a fecal, not sure if it can be labbed though because her poop is still so loose it just soaks into the shavings, she is going to let me know today after she goes to the lab. Then we can figure out what worming she needs :).

[carman_liz]

Posted above about bedding going to try to get them even deeper though, she started out with 3 bags in her stall, plus I have mats down and stone dust underneath them.

[carman_liz]

Going to try bedding deeper first, she is cleaning up her feed and hay and drinking, just going to take time for now.

[carman_liz]

My mare was the same!! Lol, she was the toothless wondermare! She is cleaning up everything I give her, slop soaked or just soaked enough to be soft and fluffy, she gobbles it down. Also is eating the alfalfa hay. She has teeth in the back, I was so stressed out and in a tizzy over her when she got here, I just hadn’t looked far back enough in her mouth :/. The teeth she does have though are ground down, and one is loose and needs to be removed.

[carman_liz]

About to post the novel about the vet visit lol.

[Bluey]

I don’t know that I would feed grass hay, right now she needs every bite to be the most nutritious it could be and alfalfa is that, plus has all the fiber she needs.
We have hardly ever fed grass hay here, all hay forever has been alfalfa hay.
Only a horse that can’t have alfalfa will get grass hay and that is imported hay, special order.
Best is do what your vet recommends, he now knows the horse.

Glad that she is getting her teeth problems addressed, that will really help her.

[carman_liz]

Ok, vet came out yesterday afternoon, sorry I didn’t post, after she left and I got them new water, hay, etc, I crashed for a few hours, then got back up, gave maresie her dinner, and slept like the dead from 8-5.

• Full physical exam, her jugular vein is very pronounced, but she thinks it is more because of how skinny she is, barely any muscle or fat, temp was 98.5, low but again, no fat or muscle.

• Checked her mouth out, she does have some teeth in the back, one is loose and needs to come out, we are working on getting that scheduled with a dentist in the area, gave her barely 1cc of ace and she stood for the speculum to be used and had all her remaining teeth floated/smoothed out.

• Gave fall shots, pulled blood for cbc/kidney & liver function, (thank you @Bluey for the reminder to get that done!) pulled blood for new coggins to be ran.

• Trying to get a fecal done for worming, her poop kinda just soaks/smears into her bedding, vet is going to the lab this morning and will let me know today if it can be used or not.

• As far as feeding regimen goes, vet said continue with her 3lbs senior and 1lb tim/alf pellets soaked 2x a day and the 1lb alf every 4 hrs in between. She did say I can sleep 8 hrs at night now since she is eating so well, whew! I probably still will go out about midnight to toss her another lb of alf and then sleep thru the night. She said if she will eat it, after another day or so goes by, I can start doing 1lb of alf and 1lb of regular hay if she keeps having the runs and see if she firms up at all.

• No actual turnout for a month, so basically till Nov 1st, She can get hand walked for 10 min here n there as long as she doesn’t get tired, which of course if she does back in the stall she will go. Said if I want to let her out in the lot attached to her stall for the 10-15 min I spend cleaning stalls in the evenings that should be ok as well. Not starting that until DH is back home from his work trip, leaves today, back on Thursday, in case she goes down and I need help getting her back up with straps and the tractor scoop. Once I know she can get up ok, then I will start letting her out in the mornings while I clean stalls.

• Starting Nov she can go out on turn out for those 10-20 min a day for a week, then 20-30 once a day for a week, then mornings n evenings for 30 or so, by then the grass should be pretty dormant and hopefully she will be feeling good enough that pony can be with her and she can start normal turnout during the day from around 7 till dusk. I can always let her out from 7am till noon and then she can have stall n her lot to herself for a nap and go back out from 5pmish till 7/8pmish if she feels like it.

That’s about everything the vet did and we went over. She wasn’t too concerned about her not laying down yet, said she just has to realize she’s safe enough to lay down and if it goes another few days, then we will worry. I’m keeping an eye on her for shavings on her PJ’s or coat every time I go out. DH did come out to see her while the vet was there, went to fill the vet’s bucket with water and she tried to go with him! Not sure if it was just because he had a bucket in his hand, but she seems to want to bond with him which is super cute to me since he is not a big fan of horses but he is going out of his way with this mare. She stood stock still for everything, didn’t even flinch at the needles or the thermometer, 20 min after vet left, after the ace fully wore off, she was munching on a handful of hay so her mouth wasn’t too sore apparently either!

So basically she’s doing good so far, just needs to firm up her poop and take a dang real nap already! Just waiting on updates from the vet on her bloodwork and fecal now.

[carman_liz]

Oh, Dh did do one thing that made me n the vet look at him a little crazy, he goes, so… how long will it take her start gaining weight, vet goes maybe by spring she should look better, n then he utters these words…“Ok but like… how soon can someone ride her”…O.M.G. Vet n I looked at each other like dude really?? Then looked at him and vet goes, after spring, IF she’s feeling better! As she is saying this I’m saying the same thing basically, after she gains weight and if she comfortable to be sat on! We both were just kinda shaking our heads at his question like that is the FURTHEST thing to even think or worry about at this point!! It was comical in the way he thought it was an acceptable thing to ask, granted he knows somewhat about horses from being stuck with me for 13 yrs, but still… it was funny-ish little anecdote from the afternoon so figured I’d share.

[swmorse]

I’ve been wondering if maybe she isn’t laying down because she might not be able to get up right now

Sounded like a good vet visit.

[jvanrens]

The lack of lying down might also be because she doesn’t feel quite safe in her new home to do so, along with being weak.

Good luck with the lovely girl! I’m sure she’ll come along quickly with all the good food and love she’s getting.

[carman_liz]

I’m not sure on the safety aspect of it, she could care less if my pony is in his stall where she can see him, or out in his lot out of sight, she doesn’t call for him, he was in his stall the other night across from her and he was laying down taking a snooze and she could see him. She has not freaked out or got excited about anything so far, (ok sorry, she does nicker alot when she knows I have food,) which is in a way worse to me. My mare went because she was putting off laying down and could not get back up, I REALLY hope that is not the case with this mare… if she doesn’t lay down soon she will end up collapsing. My mare would go days and then when she did lay down she was so exhausted…

[IPEsq]

I’m not sure how big your bags of shavings are, but based on size of stall and the photos, I’d go with like 3x that much bedding for her at this time. But I understand the mesh gate issue. Is straw available where you are? You could put straw on top of the shavings (keeping shavings there for the liquid poop situation).

[carman_liz]

Just the typical Tractor Supply sized bags. I always have bedded deep enough that if I walk on the shavings, I cannot feel the mat underneath the shavings at all. I try to keep the front couple feet of the stall cleared for her hay and feed, but I am going to put down a few more bags at lunch today. If it helps her lay down and get some rest then I’m all for it. Straw is not readily available much around here and tbh I would rather buy more shavings than deal with straw if at all possible lol.