Sunday Hubby and I went for a ride on the four wheeler. We usually ride around the neighborhood and visit friends. We were gone for about a couple hours and it was just starting to get dark. As we were outside, I noticed that our mare, Momma, was laying down by the hay hoop. This is not too unusual. What was unusual was the time of day. At this time of day, the animals are usually up and eating and enjoying the cool part of the day. I told Hubby that something wasn't right.
We went over to check on her. As we got closer, she still didn't get up. Still not right. We finally got her to her feet, but she didn't want to put any weight on her right hind leg. Great. I checked it out, tried pushing her so she would put a little weight on it, thinking maybe it had just fell asleep and it felt funny to her. Nope, there was something wrong. A million things were going through my brain trying to figure things out. The worse thing I feared was she had foundered herself on the new grass. She has foundered before, so she can do it again pretty easily. This horse likes to eat. We would put a grazing muzzle on her so she wouldn't eat as much, but she knows how to scrape them off on trees. She's pretty smart about that. Anyway, we couldn't find anything actually wrong right then, so we said we would watch her and see how she does and we left her and went home.
The next day, I went to feed the chickens and the rabbits. As I was doing that, I noticed that Momma was up and eating. She was still gympie, but not as bad as she was the day before. Then I noticed that there were a bunch of hoof prints all around on the OUTSIDE of the fence. Hmmmmmmm. Every time someones animals get out or get loose, they make a bee line right for our farm. It can be horses, dogs, cats, or cows, it doesn't matter, they will come to our house. Maybe we look inviting. lol.
Anyway, I knew how Momma acted when there were other horses around. She's a kicker. She will try and kick through the fence after the other horse. For her being a horse, she doesn't really like horses, or cows, or dogs. She likes people though. I think she would be the perfect horse for someone who doesn't have very much space and only wanted one horse. She would be perfect for a little girl's first horse. She is as tame as they come.
I figured our neighbor's horses had gotten out and she had kicked at them. She probably made her hip sore or, she could have gotten kicked herself, we don't know. But at least now we have an idea.
A couple hours later I noticed buzzards flying over our back field. Oh great. We had had a calf born just two days before (that will be in another post) and I got to thinking that it was probably dead. When you see buzzards, that's the first thing you think about. The youngins. So I get on the four wheeler and head back to take a look. I unlatch the gate and drive back to take a look. There laying on her side, all stretched out, was Momma. Oh no!!!! She was dead! I gunned the gas and raced over to her, circling her with the four wheeler. No movement. Her eyes were rolled back into her head and there were flies swarming her face and neck. As I drove closer, I say her ear barely move. She wasn't dead just yet, but it wouldn't be long.
I raced back to the house to call my father-in-law to see what he would do. I didn't want her to suffer if I could help it. As I was calling, I was texting Hubby and telling him that his horse was just about dead. Well, FIL wasn't home but MIL was. She said she would send him over as soon as he got home. He was 45 mins away. I realized there was nothing I could do right now but wait. So, that's what I did.
I got busy hanging clothes on the line and watching the puppies. Then I remembered that I forgot to latch the gate to the back field so I went to do that. I was just topping the hill riding the four wheeler when what did I see? Momma was up standing and eating grass!!!!! What the CRAP! She was just about dead only a couple hours ago!!!! She must have REALLY been in a DEEP SLEEP! REALLY DEEP. She just about fooled some buzzards. lol
I called everyone back and told them that the horse wasn't dead. She was just asleep. Of course I got a bit of ribbing with them saying I couldn't tell the difference between a dead horse and an alive horse. I'm glad I was wrong. But WOW did I get a scare. I was SURE that horse was just about dead.
Momma still has a limp and she's still a little sore, but I can notice she's getting better. Hopefully with all the deep sleep she's getting she will heal faster.
So until next time,
Small Farm Girl, not a vet......
5 comments:
I'll be sure to call you next time I want something to be diagnosed that I don't like! LOL! :))
What a scary experience for you, but at least the horse is getting better although she did give you quite a fright!
Wow, I would have flipped as well. Glad she wasn't "dead-dead", just "dead-sleeping".
One of our dogs died underneath my bed when I was about 9. I told my parents the night before something was wrong with the dog but they assured me the dog was just having a bad dream. I spent the night on our living room couch. Next morning I went into my room looked at the dog and said "Snoopy's dead!" My mom then called my grandmother who was a RN. My grandmother came over to check to see if the dog was dead. Yep! My mom still didn't believe us until my grandma held a mirror in front of the dogs snout to show it was breathing at all!
This same thing happened to my horse starting at the beginning of April. He would lie out FLAT as a pancake for an hour and a half at a time 3 - 4 times a day that I could see. You could approach him, and nothing, clap your hands over his head, nothing. He would out cold. Then when he'd get up, his rear hind legs would be wobbly.
I got a vet out, who said that with all the lush grass coming up in April, this was common, especially after the long hard winter we had. His wobbly rear end turned out to be a rib that was out of place. A quick Chiro adjustment and he was all dandy. He still sleeps like a pancake a few times a day, but at least he is not walking lame any longer.
How did your girl turn out?
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