The Jumping Percheron: Back to Normal

I have been home from my work trip for a few weeks. The Super Mares are so happy to have something to do again. They don't mind a little time off, but after a while they start to get a little bored. They LOVE to work. Both of them. Oddly, even though they are complete opposites when it comes to their breeds, they are both bred to work hard. It shows. Combine that with being mares and you have two workaholics that don't know when to quit.

They will both come back to work gradually. Despite the fact that I don't think it's possible for Super B to become unfit, she's going to come back to work gradually, for the sake of prevention. Imagine if you hadn't went to the gym for months and tried to go in and go back to the workload you were at months prior? Same concept.

Unfortunately, Klein mare has not been herself. A couple weeks before I came home my ponysitter said she was eating, drinking, peeing, pooping fine but just wasn't her normal self. She just couldn't quite identify what it was that was off, and she knows Klein extremely well. She has known her for years and taken care of her many times. She started to seem stiff in the mornings sometimes too, even a little lethargic. Still, she continued on normally as far as appetite, water intake, bathroom habits. Even when B would sass her, she would be like "Look, yeah, I don't feel good, but I still run this place. Step off." She never had a fever either.

During this time she had a trim and was uncharacteristically lazy about it, leaning on him and just being fidgety. That's not her normal. She also had a bit of a snotty nose with clear snot, but it cleared up and could easily be attributed to the terrible air quality that lingered in the valley for weeks due to all the fires in California. The smoke was THICK in the valley, so thick you couldn't see the mountain behind us that was only about 3 miles away.

The snot cleared up on its own, still no fever, everything else normal except just not really herself 100%. When I got home I noticed her eyes seemed somewhat puffy, like the horse equivalent of having puffy eyes from a cold. I don't know that anyone else would have really noticed it, I only did because I have had her for 13 years. I know her through and through, and can see subtle things in her. I still couldn't quite figure out what was going on.

A few days after I came home she had a snotty nose again. This time, it was yellow and had a slight smell to it. By the second day it had an abscess smell to it. It was FOUL. The vet was coming out the next day anyways so she fit her in and took a look.

The foul smelling snot.

The snot was only on the left side. She checked her teeth, and examined a few other things. Since she was still mostly normal (appetite, etc...) she did an injection of Excede to see if we could kick whatever was causing the snot. We also did some blood tests which came back showing a mild infection, which we knew, everything else was normal. She said it SHOULD clear within three days. It didn't clear in three days so I picked up another injection of Excede at the vet's direction. She said if that didn't do the trick to bring her in.

Well, that second injection didn't do the trick. So, we went in for further investigation. The plan was radiographs of her head and a respiratory scope. Radiographs were first and in about 10 seconds the vet identified the problem, a tooth with a small hole in it and a dead root. You could also see all the sinus congestion on the radiograph. She said that tooth had to come out. So, surgery was scheduled for a few days later.

Top radiograph: tooth with the dead root in the square, congested sinus in the circle. Bottom radiograph: right side, normal. Notice the difference in the sinus. The sinus is much more clear, not so opaque with congestion (pus).

While the surgery was going to be pretty invasive, I was relieved that we had a concrete answer as to what was up with my girl. I absolutely hate seeing her uncomfortable to any degree, and the fact she is so stoic about stuff just makes it worse. It's ok not to be tough ALL the time, Klein mare.

Meanwhile, Super B has been back to work. We started with long hacks on a loose rein for a week. I got right back on her and it was like I never left. That was a great feeling. I wasn't sure if I would lose some of the training I put on her recently. I feel stupid for even considering that may happen. Of course it wouldn't, she is SO smart, there is no way she would forget anything.

The second week we hacked some hills and did long trots. We added in some slow canters and picked up more contact here and there. On her days off I would still do some stretches with her and walk some ground poles. She is SO happy to be back to work. She hacked out on a long rein on the trails like she goes out every day. She hopped right on the trailer. I didn't expect any less.

Racing our shadow.

I can't wait to get Klein back to work, I know she's ready too. I feel bad she sees me leave with B. Klein LOVES to go out and about. But, she needs to be 100% too.

Both of the girls have had chiro adjustments and PEMF treatment since I've been home. Just all part of the plan of getting them back to work. They had great reports from the chiro, and they absolutely LOVED their PEMF.