Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I can't imagine trying to get one of my horses on the ground but I  
recently had the experience of having my oldest mare lying out cold  
from an anaesthetic. The "clinics" here in Egypt are small, home  
built affairs at stud farms and there is just room for the surgery so  
the horses are wheeled out to a lawn and laid out on the grass on  
straw to recover. In most cases, grooms sit on their heads, shoulders  
and hips to keep them immobile while the brain re-attaches and to  
ensure that they don't get up before they are capable of standing.

My 20 yr old mare had to have a check ligament cut and when she was  
rolled out to recover I asked that the men not lean or sit on her.  
The previous horse, an enormous black jumper, had sent grooms flying  
through the air with his gyrations as he woke, but I really felt that  
my little 14 h midget wouldn't need such restraint. I crouched at her  
head, ready to move it I was going to get whacked, and laid my hand  
on her cheek, saying "no, not yet" each time she started to rise  
before the vet said that she was ready. Each time, she lay back down  
and relaxed. When the vet said that she was ready for a ventral  
position, I verbally asked her to come up a little. (She is regularly  
asked for "one step" when I'm either trimming trees or picking  
mulberries)  She came to a ventral position and rested again. A few  
minutes later, I was told to ask her to rise, which she did on  
command albeit a little unsteadily.

The grooms were astonished, and the vets said that it was the first  
time they'd seen a horse just talked through recovery. I don't think  
that it could be done with every horse, but Dory and I have an almost  
20 year history together and a lot of trust. I was almost in tears  
with the honour she paid me...and I really wonder if she'd have been  
so lovely if she hadn't been so totally stoned.  LOL

Maryanne

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