Chief has a new home

We put a saddle on him today

I went over to see Chief today. Jaye had brushed him and put a saddle pad on him, then he thought it would be a good idea to roll. He was dirty and the saddle pad was laying on the ground when I arrived. So I brushed him again and put a different pad on him. He is a very nice horse, very expressive and will give you his opinion about things. He was telling me that he really didn't want to wear a saddle pad. He walked away a couple of times so I did what I could to take the pressure off, gave him treats, scratched him and brushed him. I guess that was okay because then he was okay with the pad and the saddle. The bridle was different. It took Jaye and I quite a while to help him feel okay about it. His ears are sensitive (mostly the right one) and I am guessing that he has always been handled without much thought to how he felt about things. He finally accepted the bridle and off we went for a walk. Jaye rode Striker behind us. It went well, we stopped soon after we got out on the rode and I think he had too many thoughts going through his head all at once. It could have been that we were standing in mud and water, or that the trees around us were too scary, or that Striker was behind us, or just all of it at once but he stopped thinking for a few minutes and had a small melt down. As soon as I had his attention and he was calm again we went back. He was feeling okay and glad to be home. We gave him lots to think about today, so I made sure to leave on a good note. He was back in the round pen so I went in with more treats. At first he walked away from me, probably wondering "What Now?!" I crouched down in the middle of the paddock with my hand out holding a treat. It only took a couple of minutes and he came back to me happy that I only wanted to feed him. I'm going to try to get over there and walk him a couple of times a week. He really needs to build some muscle in his hind end.

Shedding out

Normally, I HATE shedding out horses. I prefer to wait until they do it naturally. I don't care how muddy they get, I'd rather not eat/breathe/wear the hair. But, grooming a shedding horse is very satisfying when the horse himself enjoys it so much. Chief really enjoys it. In fact, he asked me to shed out his cheeks and even pluck dead hair from around the base of his ears.

I wish I could find one or two people to come over and groom with me!

A Visit

Friend came to visit on Sunday. I had gotten used to Chief being easy with us and was surprised at first that he resisted her approaches. He was responding to her like he did to us when he first came. So his trust of us does not extend to new people. Did I really think it would?

He expressed his Opinions and Left, but eventually she coaxed him in with softness and promises of a friendly way. It was neat to watch his attention change from wariness to curiosity to understanding and trust.

Trimmin' dem feet

I trimmed Chief's back hooves yesterday. I explained to him what I needed to do, sympathized and asked his permission and tried to get started sans halter. He walked away. I explained some more and promised to be careful. He walked away again. I told him some more about what I had planned and I showed him my tools. Eventually, I was able to trim both hooves with my hoof knife without any restraint but he couldn't stay with me so I could use the nippers & rasp and my nifty new hoof stand. I went to the barn and got a halter, explaining more all the time. He allowed me to halter him and I put the lead rope on the ground and finished the job. He never tried to leave once. In fact, he picked his hooves up for me and was as compliant as could be. It would have been nice to be able to finish without the halter, but what the heck. I certainly wasn't restraining him. Maybe wearing the halter helped him feel restrained, but he wasn't resentful at all.

His feet look much better. Interesting horse.

Vet visit

Vet came yesterday and the horse had his shots, a Coggins test drawn, his teeth floated and his sheath cleaned.

Exam $25

EWT/RF $41

WNV $30

Ragives $19

Sedation $38

Power float $110

Sheath $40

Coggins $38

Total $341.

Donations are still cheerfully accepted. ;)

Weight update

Chief taped in at approximately 960 pounds, give or take, today. The vet hasn't been able to make it yet due to snowstorms - we're trying again for this coming Wednesday.

The old boy is eating well. He doesn't put away as much hay as the other horses, but he sure does enjoy his meals! I should get video of him digging into his dinner sometime. And play the "Jaws" theme in the background...

He is such a kind and gentle horse. We need to find him a human to dote on him. He would be good for a child or a timid person who wants to have a horse for a friend.

Weight

I taped the old guy at 923 pounds the other day, different from what L got when he first arrived, but he's definitely gained ground. I hope I see an upward change in the next few weeks.

Colic

Chief had a mild colic last Sunday. It was frightening, especially since I could not reach a vet for over an hour. Our regular vet told me Monday that her pager had not been working all weekend. When I called our alternate vet, I was pretty happy to reach a HUMAN answering service.

Luckily for us, Chief responded well to the Banamine and Gas-X I gave him and did not need an emergency visit from the vet. It appears he had been working on an impaction and that Sunday's breakfast was just too big. I've backed the meals down and am feeding him 3x daily. So far, so good.

Pictures of Feet

Right Front








Left Front








Left Front





Both Front


Left Front After Trim









Back




Left Front-Before Trim


Right Front-Before Trim

feet

Turned him out in the midday, after the rain stopped. Fed him lunch and watched him stand with one front foot up. I had a few minutes and it was warm & sunny, so I grabbed my tools and trimmed his front hooves a bit. They've been neglected a LONG time, at least 6 months is my guess, and the bars had grown over the sole quite a bit. I trimmed away some excess toe, rounded it off and trimmed the bars down. That's enough for one day. Wish I'd taken "before" photos, but we can get some of the back feet.

Looking Good

Chief looked good when I went to see him yesterday. He was eating his hay and looked relaxed. I think he likes having other horses around. I taped him to get a weight, he is about 1000lbs which is probably pretty close. He looks to be about 200-250lbs underweight and with his height and length 1200lbs would be a good weight for him. I never know where to put the tape but as long as I keep putting it back in the same place it should be pretty accurate.
I'll check again in 1 week.

eating much better today!

Chief put away his meals plus a lot more hay today - very encouraging.

Spirit

For an old guy so underweight he has spirit. He has an opinion about what is going to be done to him. He loves to be brushed, the soft curry comb is his favorite so that is my weapon. If he decides to walk away when I approach him all I have to do is touch him with the curry comb and he will stop in his tracks. The only time he really objects to being touched is when it hurts. He can walk in pretty fast circles if he feels he needs to, and as long as I hang on to his withers and don't look around me I don't get dizzy. The stall is scary too and he gave me his opinion about walking in alone. So right now he needs to somebody to walk in with him, as soon as another horse comes in the barn he settles.
His spirit is going to help him recover quickly. He's a tough old guy with a lot of heart. I think he has a few more good years ahead of him, he thinks so too.

eating

Chief has been enjoying his meals of soaked beet pulp plus a myriad of high fat/high value supplements, but I can tell today that he must need some dental work. It took him all day to eat most of 2 big flakes of hay. I fed him breakfast, lunch and dinner and am thinking of a small bedtime snack of more beet pulp. He's drinking and manuring well, and has a fairly energetic attitude. Enough to disagree with Laura about a few things! ;)

Day 1

I've nicknamed this horse "Chief". Jaye picked him up today after receiving a call for help. He needed to be rescued as soon as possible. He is a 25 year old standardbred, he raced for about 14 years, he is approx. 16 hands, and probably 200 pounds underweight. His feet are a mess and very sore. There is some type of fungus growing on the inside of his ears. It is white, hard and crusty-like and is also causing him some pain. Those are the most visible signs of neglect. He does have a nice thick winter coat which has some shine to it. He has not seen a vet since 2006 and it has obviously been a long time since his feet were trimmed but I think the weight loss is fairly recent. He does not appear to be sick, seems very alert, curious and very aware of his surroundings. Although his nose is running in one of the pictures, it is clear and was only running for a short time.

As uncomfortable as this guy must be, he is a sweetheart. He let me worm him without a fuss and then proceeded to make funny faces because of the horrible taste. Then I started to brush him. He loved it! He must be so itchy, it has been a very long time since he has had a bath. I think it felt nice and the attention I was giving him was very appreciated. He kindly picked up his feet for me but let me know that they hurt very badly. He can't hold them up for long and as I tried to clean them he pulled away immediately. Other than his feet and ears I don't think he is in pain anywhere else. I was able to brush him everywhere, I ran my hands all over him and there wasn't a place that seemed to bother him.

These pictures where taken after I brushed him:







It breaks my heart to think this guy was alone without food and care. I don't know all of the circumstances for the neglect, but I do know that he was loved and the situation was out of the owners control. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and the animals also suffer. A call for help was made and tonight "Chief" has had his dinner and is sleeping in a cozy stall with lots of hay & water. :)