HORSE TALK

I picked Apollo up a week after his operation. I am sure he was pleased to see me and he walked onto the float. He was still sore obviously but walking pretty well on all four legs. We had put two stables in our barn a few years ago fortunately so we did have suitable housing for him. To be honest I wasn’t really sure about the rehabilitation conditions before the operation. I was in shock I think and didn’t really ask all the questions I should have. Anyway it wouldn’t have made any difference, I still would have gone ahead.

The timelines were six weeks in a stable, then six weeks in a small yard, then six weeks in a larger yard. After that he can start to resume normal life in the paddock. I don’t even know how the injury happened. Probably a freak kick, but he may have just slipped over, or bashed into something.

The first five weeks went pretty well. Apollo was very well behaved and seemed pretty happy in his stall. I would fill his hay net, check his water, clean his stall then do it all again a few hours later up until about 10 o’clock at night.

A horse can eat a lot of hay and pass a lot of manure in 24 hours! I had not really had a horse stabled 24/7 before so it was a bit of a shock. The operation did cost $5K as quoted. But Then there was a week at the clinic and drugs (another $1K) and all the other things I hadn’t thought about. Like sawdust. You can get sawdust in bulk but storage is difficult so I have been buying it in woolpacks at about $80 a time. I use about one and a bit a week. So, yes it was a bit more than I expected, but not too bad.

He had been perfectly behaved in the stable, and the only worry I had was a discharge from the wound after about a week, which required another 7 days of antibiotics (more $). After 5 weeks in the stable I took him back to the clinic to remove missed staples and x-ray (more $). A screw had moved (maybe when he was in recovery, post op), but all in all I was told it looked pretty good. He could now start going out into a yard.

By this time Apollo was feeling pretty good. Lively but not crazy. I put him into a small yard next to the stable and after about an hour he started to pig root and generally jump around. More exuberant than anything else but what was I meant to do? I confined him for another week in the stable before trying the yard again.

He seemed pretty good. Now I have had horses for over 40 years and consider myself to be pretty experienced, but of course I stuffed up. He had been about to see horses in the paddock a bit from his stable, but he could see them a lot from the yard. He raced up and down the yard a few times doing star jumps, then crashed through the gate. Brake failure rather than intentional I think. Anyway, what a stuff up. He cantered over to the paddock gate, then said hello to his mates.

I don’t know what if any damage was done. He seems perfectly sound. I confined him to barracks for another couple of days, then let him out again but with one of our older horses in another yard as a companion. That is of course what I should have done in the first place!

Horses are a hazard. There is nothing better than checking our herd, as long as nothing is amiss. I have been checking livestock all my life, and you can just tell when something isn’t right in the paddock. I went down on the bike one afternoon to bring the horses up to the yards and one of my favourite horses, Apollo was standing on his own.

Rather than galloping up the hill with the others, Polly was barely able to move, limping on three legs. I slowly got him up to the yards, and tried to check him out. It was certainly not right, but no obvious breaks or wounds. I hoped it was a foot abscess as he had had them before and they were crippling. Our vet arrived the next day and I watched anxiously as he pressure tested his hoof. I was willing him to flinch, a sure sign of an abscess, but no his foot was fine.  Further investigation and an x-ray found a broken/cracked elbow. Sure it would heal but he would never work again unless he had surgery which would obviously cost a fortune.

After watching him hop around the paddock for a few days, I couldn’t stand it and I contacted the vet to book him in for surgery. What else is there to spend money on other than our animals.

I was quoted $5,000 for the operation to put a stainless steel plate on his elbow but realised there would be additional costs as well. Some I anticipated, others I didn’t.

The operation went well, and he had to stay at the clinic for a week post operatively. This was of course just the beginning as he then had weeks and weeks of rehabilitation and confinement to follow. More about that in the next post.

I have had horses for over 40 years. originally from South Australia, I had never really experienced mud fever in our horses. We moved to the Ballarat region over 30 years ago and we had a blessed run of good health with our horses for more than 20 of those years.

Being cold wet and muddy, Ballarat is an ideal environment for mud fever and it arrived in some of our yearling Arabians about five years ago. What a curse of a condition. I hate it and have spent hundreds of hours trying to eliminate it from our horses. Some seem immune whilst others are more vulnerable.

There are some excellent online articles, and I must have read most of them.  I will provide a list of a few at the end of this post. This is just about my experiences and I appreciate every case can be different. Some are mild and easily treated whilst  others need veterinary care.

After a few years of treating mud fever I  think my treatment has got better and more effective. The key point I would say is ‘go in early and go in hard’. Once it has spread from heals up legs, it becomes a nightmare to treat, and you will need veterinary help. We have had it get away and in these cases it has involved our vet shaving the affected area and a combination of antibiotics and prescription only cream.

I have spent hundreds of dollars on a prescription product called Dermapred and it has given us varied results. Slowing but rarely eliminating the entire infection. I may well have contributed to this lack of success as well, by inadequate cleaning and drying the infection site and removing scabs. I was shampooing every few days with a product called Malaseb and I don’t think this was enough, as it meant I was also applying cream onto a dirty leg (when I didn’t shampoo first). A chance encounter with a sales person in Ballarat Petbarn helped greatly. She told me she had previously worked for a horse vet and treated horses for mud fever daily. She suggested using Hossgloss shampoo (a quarter of the price) daily, scrubbing, de-scabbing then using dairy milk-fever treatment mixed with a little Zinc cream (to make it go further I think).

The milk fever cream is prescription only so does need to come from your vet. I am not game to say I have completely eliminated mud fever yet, but it is the first time in a few years I have felt on top of it. I am only treating one horse now, and he is 98% clear. Each day I shampoo his legs by swabbing them with hot water, then applying the shampoo to each effected region. I leave it on for about 5 minutes then rinse. Prior to rinsing I scrub with a ‘Tigers Tongue’ sponge  which is a gentle but effective way to remove scabs. It is then essential for the legs to dry thoroughly before applying the cream.

Links

Our 5 secret tips for getting rid of mud fever and rain scald in horses

Mud fever in horses (English)

Equestology (Good article on causes/symptoms)