Updates and a Goodbye

UPDATE:

Its been a super busy summer here at Wild Horse Products…I moved my helper bee, Mady, up to two full days a week and have a new human product to add (as I want to grow that section of my business as well…gotta keep us horse people as healthy as possible!) Grace has a nice big belly now, but still not the greatest topline, but who cares? She’s a field pony and that’s all the plans I have for her, for now anyway. The old sisters, Amber and Sandelee have the run of the back yard and ate all of my rose bushes and strawberries. I love them too much to care, and when we sit out back waiting on the dogs to do their business, they came and love on us…or get much needed scratches, whatever is on the menu at the moment! Mara has been having issues this summer and could be an update all her own, but since I only have a small window to write right now…just a bit of an update on her…

Mara has been having issues with threadworms for the last few months. The last time I dealt with threadworms and an old horse, I ended up using chemical dewormers on her, and they took their toll so I really wanted to find natural answers to the threadworms with Mara. I started with garlic and apple cider vinegar, which led to much itching and scratching. On doing research about this, the main theory is the itching and scratching is due to the threadworms dying and being reabsorbed into the body, thus the itching. After Mara nearly flayed her entire hide off with itching (and looking like she had been in an epic battle) I brought her home from the local boarding stable, to work on her more closely. Twenty-four hours later and she had scratched all the hair off along her spine and I was ready to pull mine out! Well Mara’s teeth had been done (wanted to check that off as one of the reasons for all the weight loss) and feet Xrayed (checked off the potential for foundering…but really just needed a more knowledgeable farrier) and then poo samples sent off to Horsemanslab.com. Really nice people there and the Vet on staff called me to talk about Mara’s really high strongyles count! Both dental vet and Horseman’s lab vet chewed me out for not PowerPacking her, but the thought of stuffing this nearly 30 year old horse full of chemicals just made me sick to my stomach, but sometimes that’s what it takes to overcome an issue…however, it should be the last of the last resort. I decided to naturally lower the worm counts with Worm Gone Max (which is why the Xrays first…no hoof issues) and high amounts of Cootie Kicker while waiting for the new fecal test kits to come in. I also added anti histamines in an over the counter form so Mara wouldn’t peel any more of her skin off while waiting for everything else to come together. So far she is responding really well to the current treatment. Though I don’t like the use of the drug form of antihistamines, its keeping her from hurting herself further and that is what matters at this point. Hopefully the fecal count will come back good so I can move on to getting rid of the threadworms. As natural as I try to do things, sometimes western medicine is required to get our loved ones out of danger. One of the things I have learned from this…Cushings horses have a MUCH MUCH.. did I say MUUUUCH higher incidence of being populated by parasites. I was expecting higher, but a study I tripped on was way out of my realm of expectation, which is why Mara is in the predicament she is in. Threadworms taking over her body is just a sign that her immune system is very compromised. After struggling for months with this infestation, I also found out the barn where I had her housed had lead piping. Lead also weakens the immune system. Its no wonder my poor old lady was having such issues! So back home and being detoxed is having positive effects. She seems much happier and the welcome she got from her herd when she got home was a tear jerker! Hopefully this old lady will be around for many more years.

And now a bit of sadness.

This past Friday, our little post foundered mare, Misty, joined our herd in Heaven. Other than feet issues (she still had about 10% rotation and curling from foundering somewhere in her past) she seemed to be doing very well, had lost most of her cresty neck and Cushing’s like hair, but was still experiencing some foot pain. I went through two farriers and finally found one able and willing to do what was needed to get her feet healthy when suddenly she stopped eating the other morning. After giving her some pain herbs (thinking it was her feet being sore, something we had been fighting since it stopped raining for the summer) and soaking her feet, I kept popping out to check on her throughout the morning. On my last trip out, she was in a full chest sweat and I went in to call a vet. Before I could even pick up the phone, there was a knock on the door. A passerby said Misty had run out to the fence line and collapsed. I ran out to see her down and floundering and within moments she was gone. As I was out there with her, Amber and Sandelee joined me and they hung around her while I covered her with a tarp and made arrangements for the body. I am very thankful to the person who took the time to stop and let us know she was out there alone. When I had come in, she was in the barn with the other old ladies but something caused her to run off into the field. Maybe that’s were she wanted to spend her last moments, laying in the grass. In just over the year we had had this shy little girl, she had not only become a part of our herd, but a part of our hearts and she is greatly missed.

That is the thing about these old rescued horses….you never know how much time you have with them and they teach you to appreciate every day. I’ll miss Misty greatly, but I’m also glad she is finally out of pain. Enjoy your heavenly herd, little mare! Until we meet again…