He was King of our hearts. A true Throughbred. He was born in a stable 25 years ago and he must have decided he wanted to die in a stable too. Not in the mud or the rocks, but in his barn where he went when it got too cold or wet for his advancing years.
As new horse people 9 years ago , he was to be the kids horse , cause the two unbroke arabs my semi-friend sold me weren't going to be for for these newbies. I'd placed an ad, "Wanted family horse to do 4h with and fun shows, anyone can ride-" people said I was crazy to do that. I thought, "Why not ask?' He was one of two calls. The man said , "his name is Champ, when I got him for my wife, the lady I bought him from said that was his name and after you have him a while, you"ll know why".
Everyone test rode him, even our 7 year old. My 14 year old daughter sort of took him over, she did 4h, saddle club, taught him to jump after she learned how, then they went on and did Atlanta Pony Club, and higher level showing as Hunter . He took Reserve Champion twice, my farrier who made $$ at rodeos, said she couldn't win on him cause she didn't have a big name trainer or big dollar horse (he was 2500$).We had large offer later, but we couldn't sell him, he was family.
Friday , it was a 1" cut, and under his turnout blanket. It wasn't swollen, seemed fresh, on his butt. "How did you do that under the blanket in the 1 acre tunout?. Must have lain on a stick or rock. Later I found some electric fence wire or baling wire hanging out of the roundbale ring.(must have been in the bale, cause I don't use it) Maybe it was that. I hosed and put him in the little corral connected to the barn, with my mare who was lame with no holes , heat or swelling. She was lame (later I found her heel bulb was thrushy (mudpoo everywhere).so I was treating her and wanted to keep both up on dry gravel and mats. I thought the wound on him maybe too small to stitch and might pull open anyway and he has had much worse ones, but I wanted to watch it and hose it and she is herdbound.
We had a competition for my son the next day so I was gone 12 hours, he was swelling so I called the vet and went and got antibiotics and bute.
Next day some more swelling, but it often takes a day or two for meds to kick in , right? I called my daughter , now a Huntseat riding Instructor/barn manager etc. to reassure myself, she'd handled much worse . I said I think I'll call the vet next morning , if there was no improvement.
3rd morning , swelling had increased, I called the vets at 9:30 wanting them to come. They said one on a farm call , he'd be out or the second one would, cause it was a nice day and wanted an excuse to get outside, and he said " horses just swell under the skin" after -- I had told him I was really concerned because it had progressed to his Penis and looked like it was in his abdominal wall. (this vet I and other horse owners kind of don't like, he'd poo pooed me before and was wrong).
I waited , and he was going down more and was thrashing a bit, I was getting very concerned. I called again, and said his respiration was about 60 or so, his cap refill was 3+, gums were whitish to pink.He was pooping, and eating and drinking, but his pee was getting thick and dark like light coffee color or med. tea which I was worried about .
I got the newer vet here 7 hours later, who seems to be knowledgeable and doesn't treat you like you are dumb. He made noises when he saw him,that I told him sounded like he was really worried. He gave shots penicillian, gentec, tet. Dex, demesdone, We wrapped opposite legs as the wounded rear leg was on the same side as his bad knee . Champ was still eating hay and drinking out of the bucket when I held it. No fever. The vet stuck his probe all the way in his wound, he said it almost looked like a knife wound, so it was a pucture wound-- I didn't think it was , cause it looked like a one inch slit. Told me to keep hosing as much as possible and maybe walk him. He then got lasik and put a catheter in , my neighbor a vet tech had come over, and she said it was really dark reddish brown. He said the swelling was pinching off his bladder and bowel, so he then lanced him in a couple places to see if it could drain better.
I went to the house to get some food and stuff together and then drove to the vet who called again and wanted me to come get some lasik . I am a wimp about shots and anything in pain, how was I going to do this? my neighbor offered to help . I went up to the barn, got a bag of hay for him and walked over, noticing he must have gone in the stall. As I tied the bag, I realised I didn't hear anything. I walked over , He was laid out quietly in the stall, no evidence of thrashing. I was only gone about 90 minutes.
The cut hadn't looked bad, it was so quick.
He'd been a race horse for 5 years, a trail horse, done 4h, pony club , saddle club, Hunter and eventer circut ,even a bit of dressage.
He really was a Champion in every sense of the word, I am sorry I sometimes felt he took alot of time to care for that I could be riding and training and ate alot-- but we had loved him enough I felt he deserved to spend his retirement with his little herd. He was still number one in the herd, and they all stayed close to him by the fence for the last 3 days.
I am grateful, he still nudged me and splashed the water on me today, I am grateful he was so good as to let me walk him when his leg hurt so much. I am grateful I could feed him hay by the handfuls today and try to get the mud off of him and rub his smart bumps on his head.
Goodbye Champ...........................We loved you.........................
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