May is one of the busiest months of the year, and May 2015 was no exception. One Thursday I had finished my last call at 6, and was coming out of the grocery store with dinner and my mind on relaxing at home when the phone rang. A woman was calling about a lame pony that had been that way for a week. My heart said “go home and do this tomorrow” while my head said “she lives only a half mile up from the way home.” I went.
Two Chincoteague ponies that had lived in this paddock year round together for years were waiting for me. Cutting the owner short on the extensive medical history, I suggested we go inside the fence to look at the mare. They agreed and began to follow me. I went through the gate and they continued following. I turned to them and said “usually the owner goes in first to catch the horse.’ They deferred to me with the wife saying, “my heart does not allow me to”, and the husband saying “the last time I tried to hold him, I could not use my shoulder for the next six months.” Hmmmmm, danger sign “you mean you never catch these ponies?” I asked. “Yes” they replied.
Maybe...I decided to go slow, not get the ponies excited, and just see what happened.. I walked up stopping when the ponies told me I was in their comfort zone. Sure enough the gelding was not bearing full weight on one of his front feet. All of the Applied Kinesiology(AK)/chiropractic work of the last 15 years came in handy. If the ponies were a problem I would examine them without touching them. I quickly determined the problem was both of the front feet.
Of course it all made sense: Both ponies looked fat, May is the month when the fresh young hightly nutritious grass comes in. These two ponies had been eating more sugars than their bodies could handle. In years past I would see most founder cases in May. Nowadays, founder has been replaced by the term Equine Metabolic Disease.
Somehow, someway the ponies knew at this point I was trying to help. They indicated that they liked me now. I walked up and started patting them. Eliminating the halter I was able to hold up the leg so the husband could slip a foot boot over and on. Funny how the really slow approach pays off with some horses.
If we were going to use an anti-inflammatory to quiet the feet down it would have to be oral. The ponies would not eat Bute, which is a NSAID that tastes bitter. But the owners had never tried Previcox which is a dog NSAID and comes in a very small pill. The dose is low 1 pill once a day, so the ponies would never know it. The owner called back in 3 weeks and said her ponies were doing well. Considering where we started this one ended with everyone happy. I do think owning animals you cannot catch will not work in the long run. Sure enough they called me back about options to relocate the ponies in 2 months.
LATE MORNING THE NEXT DAY
I started off the next day doing dentistry on 2 draft horses up in the hills of Bethel where the cell phone doesn’t work. Getting back in range I discovered 2 calls from the same client. Calling back, his voice sounded extremely agitated explaining that he needed to catch a flight to Europe and his horse, Eric, could not get up in the stall.
I said to him “Let me get this straight, Eric has gone down in his stall, cannot get up, and you want me to come and get him up in the next 50 minutes because you need to leave to catch your flight.”
“Yes,” he replied.
I said “no problem I’ll be there in 15 minutes,” and started driving faster. Good thing I happened to be nearby.
On arrival I found Eric on his side in the middle of a wood floor that was wet, with a dirty piece of mattress foam partially under him. There was no bedding, and no traction. Saving the day the owner had gotten the carpenter who was working on the house and his assistant to help. The assistant plowed driveways in the winter and still had some sand in the back of his pickup. I had him create a path of sand out from the stall to outside. He had just enough sand to do it.
I have worked on down animals since the beginning of my career, and now consider it one of my specialties. Horses are a lot harder to get up than cows, since they are so much more athletic. If they are down, there must be a good reason. You cannot lift them up yourself, they have to do most of the work. Typically, they had tried unsuccessfully for hours which psyches them and they give up. A slippery floor will take the try right out of an animal faster than anything.
Since the wood was so slippery, I decided to skid Eric out on his side to the beginning of the path of sand. Horses on their sides are easy to pull if you have 3 people to pull on the halter. I stood at the rear. Everyone gave a big heave, Eric moved forward, and Eric got it in his head to go for it. He scrambled to his feet, while I lifted as hard as I could. He wobbled a bit, but stumbled in the direction of our path. He wanted to get out more than we did.
I had him stand a few minutes once outside the stall. Then he walked as calmly as anything out the barn door to freedom outside. We had 5 minutes to spare.
The owner put him back in his summer paddock with my order not to put him in the stall regardless of the weather. He flourished out there through the late winter and spring.
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