It seems that all I can muster these days are collective posts. Life often offers stretches that feel a bit ordinary. At other times, there are a flurry of things happening ~or~ that don't seem to happen. Ever. No matter how hard one tries to manifest them. I might find the right words to expand on this. Someday. For now, this update is about a busier time with recent horse challenges. In order of occurrence:
As you know, Koda started acupuncture. His first lameness treatment helped, and a walking program was started. It felt like drawing a "get out of jail" card. Three weeks later, his second appointment was okay. Nothing much changed. Cierra was also treated for allergies. For endless weeks, we heard crickets on vet follow-up/recommendations. I was not impressed.
In the meantime, our farrier did a slightly different trim on Koda that noticeably helped. For Koda's sake, earlier this year we had switched to four weeks trims. We decided it was in his best interest to pause acupuncture and see how long this re-focused trimming would help. It worked great the first time. A second similar trim suddenly make Koda not want to walk. At all. Perhaps trimmed too short or related to weight bearing with sedation. It was heartbreaking and we felt defeated. Wondering what the future holds for Koda. We made sure our farrier knew, before Koda had another trim done. After the last positive response he was surprised, and felt kinda bad.
You have to try different things to find out what works/doesn't. Always a slow process.
Seven weeks had passed since Koda's last acupuncture. On treatment day, we noticed a difference. There was no doubt it was doing something and incremental walking was re-started. In true Koda form he choose Peppermint over Lavender this time, by flicking the bottle out of the vets hand with his nose. Everyone busted out laughing. He is very expressive.
Koda getting "hooked up" to needles for added Chi circulation
Our current plan is to treat an in-between interval of five weeks. If it holds, Koda will progress to trying small space turn-out. Been there done that with him. We are noodling on what might work best. At this point it is obvious, Koda will never be sound. He will yo-yo from being lame to super lame for the rest of his life. Sad, but true.
back to enjoying morning walks (11 secs)
8.6.26
The trick is to figure out how long treatments can be stretched, and still maintain comfort.
Then there is Ms. Hope, who needs more schooling. She continues to be mostly sweet and easy to handle. Except for her *itchy stall behavior. Random poop removal remains an issue. Rare for us. All our other horses at home are what I consider stall safe. Including with grain. Consequently, Hope gets taken out of her stall for occasional unplanned scooping. Brad continues working with this issue. Interesting that she is fine with grain/hay, just don't take her piles of gold! Hope hasn't acted on her warning signs, but I don't trust her snake-y behavior.
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We saw a new side of Hope at her last trim. It caught us all by surprise! For three years she has been fine getting trimmed by the same farrier. Actually, very good. An occasional resistant tug from a hind leg. Always quickly settled and uneventfully trimmed. Not this time. Out of the blue, she said "NO!!" to her back leg being lifted. Hope did a directed fake/not so fake double barrel! Our farrier scooted out of the way. This was not his first rodeo. He tried again, and got a repeat performance. Hope instantly proceeded to pee in the aisle. She was in full blown heat. Sigh. The decision was made to just trim her other front hoove.
No, we did not go off and strong handedly reprimand her. In conversation, some think we should have. I was curious, and asked our farrier his thoughts. His response was "sometimes you just have to let them have one". Hope still had to stand for a trim after her temper tantrum, but we left her back feet for another less reactive time. Sigh. Just when I was leaning towards Mares (vs Geldings) preference.
saddled, tied and standing while we clean stalls
8.20.26
different angle (screenshot)
I learned not to overreact with young horses. It can back-fire in a hurry. Not remotely saying to let young horses get away with naughty unsafe behavior. An entire topic for another day.
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As for Cierra's acupuncture allergy treatment, we both did not notice any difference. She did okay (apparently some horses react and do not like treatment) but did not necessarily enjoy it. We are going to hold off additional treatments. The vet did say acupuncture is more effective/important for Koda's lameness, and herbs for Cierra's allergies. We are hesitant to try herbs especially on her, and they are expensive.
Cierra was given the Earth constitution of calm, steady, reliable nurturer. I found some of the vet recommendations interesting: Chinese herbal medication Concentrated Lily Combination, as needed up to 6 months. Yin-nourishing (cooling) foods/treats offered in moderation include: pear, honey (both specifically beneficial for breathing/cough), bran, peppermint/peppermint leaf, cucumber, celery, watermelon rind, flax, soybean oil, sesame oil.
We woke up to barn drama mid-week. Brad rushed in the house to tell me "Cierra's eye is all swollen". Whaat?! I scrambled to the barn to help. He applied cold compresses on her very swollen eye, until a vet could get here. With emergency calls, you get whatever vet the clinic sends. We lucked out and got the vet we are thinking of using for future routine care. She has been here before, but it has been a long time. It was nice to interact and chat with her again, although not for this reason.
8.19.26
Dr. L checked Cierra's eye for foreign material, tears, ulcers etc. Nothing was found. We don't know what caused the swelling. Could have been a hay poke, debris or even a bite. She was put on Banamine, Antibacterial Ointment and Sodium Chloride to reduce the swelling. All done in small doses throughout the day. Three days of full treatment later, she is finally better. Day four, Cierra was turned-out. Not sure who is happier, Cierra or Nemo.
8.23.26
6 comments:
I sure feel for Koda! I went through the mystery lameness with Siera this summer. Right now she is doing better. The next step is some exercise.
I'm sure her issues are not like Koda's, but I get it or at least understand the frustration.
You both have such dedication for your equine.
Thanks Val! I hope your Siera continues doing better!!
Koda sure is handsome. Sadly, it appears your assessment is correct. I am a big fan, however, of relationships on the ground. The closest I became to my horses is when they needed me most.
Tumbleweed had that scary colic a few months ago, and it transformed our relationship. His eye is so much softer with me now.
But it is different when you have to assess their quality of life and when to make that ultimate decision, and the sadness of the ups and downs. Well, enjoy him while you can.
That swollen eye! Yikes. I have seen something like that twice before around here and it was, I think, fly related for us.
Mares vs geldings. We discuss that a lot, and they each have their strengths. But those young heats can really set them off. Mother Nature messing with their hormones. A friend of mine just put her mare on regu-mate. She’s 10, but was very hormonal. She says she has calmed way down since starting her on it. I’m going to meet her tomorrow and it will be interesting to see the change. Always something. And then next time your farrier comes she will probably be super chill!
Making unclear decisions on behalf of our beloved animals weighs heavy. One of the harder parts of life and love. We do the best we can.
Padame is on Regu-mate. As far as I know it helps. Our farrier mentioned he has a client who had her mare spade, because her heats were so severe. I was surprised and did not know they did that with horses.
Cierra is allergic to many things, including insect bites. We had one other eye incident many many moons ago with Harmony. Nothing this severe. Our vet said eyes & colic are the most most common emergency calls they get.
Mares in heat are not happy in my experience...they get cranky and stubborn. When we had two mares someone was causing trouble all the time. There is much to be said for geldings:) You have been through the mill with lameness and now with an eye...glad it is better! Brad should have been a Vet!
It's tough when things work- and then they don't.
Dally got crabby when she was in heat, I was worried that she would try to kick the stallion but they sorted it out and she is in foal. She absolutely does not like to be patted, but loves to be petted.
We do the best we can for them. There are so many different things it's hard to decide what to do sometimes.
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