Re: Re: Horse Savaging - Part II (Long)

["superpat" <superpat@gateway.net>]

> Jen,
> That's an inspiring story. I have tears in my eyes after reading it. To
> think that the poor guy put up with so much pain and discomfort for so
long,
> and to add insult to injury, such trauma as a result of his reaction to
the
> pain. And he is fortunate to have found you. And you are fortunate enough
to
> have such an excellent vet. Chances are, (excuse the pun) the chances are,
> awfully good (as Johnny Nash would sing). Please keep us posted.
> Pat
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <guest@endurance.net>
> To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
> Sent: Sunday, April 02, 2000 8:43 PM
> Subject: RC: Horse Savaging - Part II (Long)
>
>
> > Jennifer Heim cowgirl_30_98@yahoo.com
> > First off, I want to apologize for the length of my emails.  When you
type
> 130wpm, the thoughts leave your head, travel down your arms and next thing
> you know, you have 20 pages of material.
> >
> > In the spirit of the Oscars, I want to thank the *dozens* of people who
> emailed privately and gave me their thoughts, hopes, advice and prayers.
> Although with my time constraints I cannot thank all of you personally, I
> will try my darndest!  With my poor memory, right off the cuff thanks to
> Karen Chaton, Bette Lamore, Lif Strand, Kat Swigart, Sarah Ralston and
Robyn
> Burgess.  But once again, I will try to respond to all emails that people
> wonderfully sent.
> >
> > Anyway, back to the story you wanna hear!  :)
> >
> > The big, rawboned chestnut gelding that peeled skin from my bone in a
> horse attack is still alive and breathing.  Out of the very many msgs I
> received, 90% of them were for putting him down before he put me down; 8%
> were for checking for physical abnormalities, and 2% were keep him and
work
> thru the problems.  I was ready for the ol' ear-to-eye "X" and was
whistling
> happy cleaning out my .357; then the owner calls me.
> >
> > With crocodile tears, she tells me she cannot keep him anymore for
> liability reasons, she's ready to make the appointment with the vet and
the
> knacker man.  But.... she can't personally do it.  She's wants to give me
> the horse, wash her hands of it and now breed cockatoos.  Ignoring the
> immediate beating about the shoulders that I was receiving from my fiancee
> (speaker phone), I tell her if she gives me the horse he'll be inside a
can
> in a week.  Fine, that works for her.
> >
> > Now I have two non-riding equids.  One is too young to work safely, one
is
> too aggressive to work safely.  With the fiancee howling indignacies and
> checking up on my whole life coverage; I load the horse up and bring him
to
> where I think he'll get the snot kicked out of him by the meanest group of
> mares this side of the Rockies.  I arrange to have the vet come out and
> recommend him for either "dog food" or "glue" and gleefully watch the
mares
> chew on this nasty horse.
> >
> > The vet comes out and immediately starts ooo-ing and aahh-ing over him -
> he really is a fantastically well put together individual.  I explain for
> the zillionth time why this horse is a safety issue.  The vet tells me
that
> she has problems putting down such an animal without finding out a reason
> why he's aggressive.  Ignoring my "that's why there's necropies"
> blatherings, she starts to examine him briefly.  I blurt out that I cannot
> possibly put more money into this horse, and she replies that this is
> pro-bono; we've been friends for a long time.  After the horse mistakes
her
> for a Big Mac and tries to take a hunk out of her shoulder, she sedates
him
> and continues her exam.
> >
> > Teeth checked first thing.  And the first issue is revealed:  a molar
had
> abscessed, chipped out and now there was a rotted stump.  Mouth agape, I
> stammer that the horse just had a teeth floating not two months ago; vet
> replies, somewhat resigned that quite often some vets don't take the time
to
> do a thorough exam, just float the teeth and get out of harm's way.  After
> dealing with this shark, I see their argument.  Treatment, drill thru
sinus
> cavity (if necessary), drain abscess & remove bits of tooth.  Prognosis
for
> recovery:  excellent.
> >
> > Blood taken second thing.  Results:  this *gelding* produces more
> testosterone than a stallion.  Treatment:  hormone therapy.
> >
> > Digressing for a moment (imagine that!), let me tell you that this horse
> has an aversion to having his RH picked up.  He'll do it after lots of
baby
> steps and gratitude rubs, but it's always slam the foot back down.  Vet
> examines this hoof - there was an old wood chip deeply embedded in his
> coronary band.  Somewhat mystified, I tell her that there's never been any
> heat (still isn't) and he's never been off on it, just reactionary.  The
> hoof grows well, with nothing to indicate an insult to the band.  I truly
> thought his reaction to having his hind foot picked up was because the
owner
> *never* picked out his hind feet until she sent him to me.
> >
> > Feeling more and more mortified, I stand back and fight back tears as I
> watch my friend dig out this ugly, encapsulated wood chip out of his
> coronary band.  She tells me:  "now let's see if he's going to be a jerk."
> Utterly floored, supremely humbled, I ask her somewhat rhetorically where
my
> head was at not to notice such obvious trauma.  God bless the vets; she
> comforts me by telling me that with truly aggressive horses (such as this
> gelding), the reaction to pain is more a fight response than a flight
> response and this guy has learned to react violently.  And humans, with
our
> easily-bruised Ids, react in kind.
> >
> > Since the horse started his hormone therapy, had the abscess in his
tooth
> treated and had his hoof finally treated, he's starting to come around.
> Don't get me wrong, I still carry a graphite wand when I'm around this
> horse; but I haven't had to remind him of it for about 10 days now.
> >
> > A lot of our work right now is simply sacking out and increasing the
> pressure on him bit by bit.  Since the hormone therapy, his curiousity
> streak has developed, I'm starting to wonder if anything scares this
horse.
> Just the other day I was grooming him (the urge to chew on the mutual
> *groomer* is sometimes too much for him; I keep a bag of hay in front of
him
> now and that helps him tremendously about reminding him what he can
legally
> chew on) and a very bad car accident happened just 30 yards in front of
us.
> Municipal bus, two cars and a haz mat big rig.  Gotta love California!
This
> creates a huge ruckus with clean up crews, insurance teams, news coverage,
> you name it.  I was more than a bit amazed that with all the sirens,
> helicopters, noise and big lights that this horse let me lead him right
past
> the confusion, across the street and into the pasture.  He barely looked
at
> them and I took his pulse for giggles at the paddock gate:  36.
> >
> > Do I have a second horse?  Does Alpo get the big, strapping gelding ....
> coincidentally named Chance?  Enquiring minds wanna know - including mine!
> >
> > Stay tuned!  Same bat station, same bat channel!
> >
> > Jen
> >
> >
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