Re: Reaction to 4 way shot

["Sullys Maze" <Sully@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU>]

REPLY TO 04/19/98 17:20 FROM ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Reaction to 4 way shot

Did have a bit of a problem with my horse though.  She had her 4 way shot 8
days before the ride.  Seemed a little bit out of sorts after arriving at
the ride.  Layed down, which we attributed to the beautiful  sunny day.  She
also didn't want to have the saddle cinched.  This we attributed to the fact
that a friend was, & had been riding her in an OF that didn't seem to fit
real well.  We switched saddles Sat morning & she used one of my saddles.
Had a great ride.  Horses both ate & drank well all day on the trail, but
did not pee.  When I left to get my rig, my mare peed & my friend said it
was like coffee.  She still continued eating well.  We brushed horses & gave
them bran mash after we got back to camp & went to have dinner ourselves.
Then I gave horses another brushing before wrapping legs.  The whole mares
rump, side where she had the shot, was swollen & hard & she was very
uncomfortable.  It was & still is so swollen that there is an indentation
down the middle of her rump.

Pat Fredrickson

------
Pat, I'm not a vet, but given what you described, sounds like a
classic tie-up involving the croup muscles.  If the croup was so
swollen that there was a crease down the middle, then were BOTH
sides involved?  This is what my mare looked like after her tie-up
at the Wine Co ride last year.  The coffee-colored pee is also an
indication of a tie-up.

In the case of the mare, there never were clear symptoms of a tie-up
while I was riding her, and she looked fine to the vets at the
trot-by.  What clued us in was that her heart-rate would not come
down at the vet check.  She was started on fluids and DMSO, and
taken back to camp.  She did not seem unduly in distress-she was
eating, drinking.  With all the fluids pushed into her, she peed
back  in camp and it was brown.  I had done the whole first loop
with her moving fine, too.  For those interested, the vet pulled
blood immediately, which I took to U.C. Davis,  with the mare,  for
follow-up.  They
also had her on I.V. fluids through-out the night.  I picked her up
two days later.  Blood work showed a serious tie-up, but the scary
thing is you would not have known it from her attitude and movement.
Good thing about early intervention and immediate fluids was that
the vet at Davis felt there would be no lasting harm, and we were
able to prevent any potential colic or founder.

On the other hand, I had another mare tie-up years ago, rushed her
to my local vet, and he said do nothing, just take it easy a day or
two.

Good luck,

Karen

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