Kraken released

 Hampton had his lavage tube pulled Tuesday and was released back into the wild!

I'm not sure there was a happier horse on the planet that morning. haha! 

Jokes on him because it's back to work this week.

Head like a hole

 Last Thursday I dropped Hampton off at Rood and Riddle hospital in Lexington.

Within the hour, the vet had examined him, took X-rays and determined it was indeed the cracked molar causing his sinus infection. We were able to avoid a CT scan thankfully! I am working on getting that X-ray and will share it of course hahaha. Dr. Brad Tanner was Hampton's doctor and the level of care is just phenomenal. 

His suite at the hospital! He was rather annoyed there was nothing to crib on lol

As soon as that was confirmed, Hampton had the green light to get his tooth extracted and sinus trephination. The tooth did come out in pieces, but overall it went ok. And his sinus procedure also went just fine. He now has a lavage system in place. There was a good amount of pus they flushed out the first time. Poor guy. 

I went down Friday morning and walked him for a bit. Actually, he ended up
walking me. Gave zero shits about the tube in his face.

At Rood and Riddle

And he did so well he was discharged on Saturday! Our regular vet will lavage him today (Monday) and Tuesday one more time before he gets this fine accessory removed. And then he can go back outside AND go right back to work. He will still have some staples in his head but a flymask should keep that protected.

Back home!

Hamp handled this all like a champ. And while QUITE expensive, this really ended up being pretty easy on the horse. I am sure his face is sore, but he is acting quite chipper with a good appetite. I have been hand walking him and he has been dragging my ass around. I ended up putting a chain over his nose so I am not flying a large kite.

He will be on Doxycycline for about a week, and Gastroguard but he is off bute! And thankfully our barn grain is mostly beet pulp so it soaks into a nice mash really easily. And I have to rinse out his mouth once a day as well. That is probably the worst part of all of this because he flings water everywhere and I end up soaked. Punk.

Get me the F outta this place lady.

Stuffing his face back at home.

So it's looking like a very swift recovery. Now I just need jingles for ME who has to survive handwalking this thing a couple more days!

Mirrors.

 You know how people say that horses and riders mirror each other?

This has always been true about Hampton and myself, but this week we took it a little too far.

First, Hampton shows up with a snotty nose. Just one nostril. No other symptoms.

It smells like something DIED in there, too.

It's a cracked molar and he has a secondary sinus infection. He will be making another trip to Rood n Riddle this week to have that extracted and likely a sinus trephination. Yep, that's when they drill a hole in their head to let crap drain out.

Recovery will hopefully be easy and swift. Although, this likely ends our show season unless I find something to hit up in the fall/early winter. 

Hopefully will be back in the ring in no time.
(From the I-1 in June)

Then, I was eating pizza and started chewing on something really crunchy. I cracked a crown, and have to have that replaced. Plus a filling. Both molars lol.

Life is getting a little crazy and I'll have an update soon but except for our tooth issues it's so far all awesome news.

Off to the dentists we go.

Myth busters Monday: Feeding dry beet pulp

A young Hampton snoozing in his food

 If I feed dry beet pulp to my horse will his stomach explode?

Myth. 

Beet pulp is sold in either dried shreds or pellets and yes, when you add water to it it does expand. But it expands too slowly to worry about. Given a horse's stomach capacity and how quickly it empties into the small intestine (and beyond) when it becomes full, it's an extremely unlikely thing to happen.

There is a large university study which further dispelled the stomach-exploding myth in a study where horses ingested up to 45 percent of their total diet from dry beet pulp. No adverse effects were noted. No colic, choke or change in manure moisture.

(Two sources have mentioned this study and I cannot find it online anywhere...grrr)

Throwback to our jumping days!

Beet pulp seems to also suffer from rumors that feeding it dry can cause choke. It's more likely that a choke would be caused by bolting feed, or some abnormality with the horse. Not so much beet pulp itself. Although, sometimes the pellet forms DO come in rather large, hard chunks so personally I wouldn't try my luck there.

Nonetheless, many feed beet pulp soaked and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It makes it easier to chew, adds some hydration, you can sneak supplements in it and it can slow down a horse who wants to hoover his feed.

Just use caution not to soak it for too long (more than 24 hours probably) because it will ferment.

Hampton's grain contains quite a bit of beet pulp and it's such a great forage to feed. And I don't soak it. Except when I add beer. haha.

More on Beet Pulp from The Horse.

A porkchop and steak

 We took a rode trip last week to a little farm about an hour away. The gal who runs it is a super horsewoman and let a group of us come and work cows for a couple of hours.

It was the perfect activity for a 90+ degree day because we did nothing but walking, so it wasn't physically hard on anyone but for sure mentally engaging.

I thought that maybe Hampton would be scared of the cows, but he was not. At all.

At first he was curious.

Horses with previous experience started first.

Then we started just slowly walking the cows around the arena. Confident horses led first, while others could follow and gain confidence.

It took maybe 30 seconds before Hampton realized "Oh, we chase these things???"

And then he turned into GODZILLA.

I mean ears pinned, neck-snaking, steak-eating MARINE on a mission to kill.

He absolutely loved the game, and when I asked him to stop and stand (and let others take a turn FFS Hampton) he stood politely and watched. Never got wound up. It was like he was a cow horse in a previous life. We did a little modified team penning too!

Highly recommend doing a little cow clinic like this. The two biggest rules was always be facing the cows, and the slower you go the better. It was such a blast and a great break from dressage. Hamp and I did a buffalo clinic about 10 years ago and I guess he must have remembered. haha.

Will for sure be doing this again!

Myth busters Monday: The P stance

Oh boy I was a little scared of the hits I might get if I titled this The Pee Stance. 

Do you have to stand up in your stirrups when you horse pees? 

Hampton. Currently NOT peeing.

I know I was taught to do this because otherwise you hurt their kidneys. (I grew up with VERY old school saddleseat instructors)

False. BUNK.

1) the bladder does the peeing, not the kidneys. And I can't think of any saddles that sit anywhere near the bladder. 

2) The kidneys are really quite protected from even western saddles. They sit underneath thick muscle, fat, the spine and a couple of ribs. In fact your vet can feel the kidneys during a rectal exam. The kidneys sit pretty low. If it were true that a rider puts pressure on the horse's kidneys, then we would need to stand up ALL the time.

Source: https://equusmagazine.com/diagnosis/excessive-urination-in-horses/

You can of course stand in your stirrups if you feel like it might help you horse get out of that parked out stance a little easier. Especially if you have an older horse or something like that.

But do I stand in my stirrups for Hampton? No, I quit doing that years ago. He hasn't had a problem. Plus I am barely a flea to him. Maybe if I was riding a smaller, petite pony I would be courteous. 

Verdict: Do what you feel is best, but you aren't putting pressure on their kidneys. 

Myth busters Monday: Will I boil my horse?

In an effort to blog more often, I am going to try out this Myth busters Monday theme. Looking for myths, old horseman's tales, etc. to tackle so if you have one - comment!

First, a repost of mine from Aug. 2018.

To scrape or not to scrape?

Also known as, will I boil my horse if I leave him out in the sun soaking wet?

Since it's hot as balls a bit toasty again in KY and everyone is sweating, here's some science I thought I'd share.

Disclosure: I am outright stealing this from a post on FB. It is credited to Dr. David Marlin.*

After you hose your horse off, do you scrape the water off or no?

Hot and sweaty at Regionals 2017.

MYTHS

Myth 1 - “You should never put cold water on a hot horse"
Explanation - Ice-cold water(0-5°C) on hot horses does not cause shock, laminitis, kidney damage, muscle damage, tying-up or heart attacks!

Myth 2 - “Water left on a horse will heat up and insulate and make the horse hotter."
Explanation - Flawed physics! Water is a better conductor of heat than air. A wet horse will actually cool faster than a dry one, even if humidity is 100%.

Myth 3 - “Scraping is essential." Explanation - Scraping just wastes time that could be better used putting more water on to cool by conduction. Scraping also wastes water when water is in short supply. Water which could evaporate on the horse. Water evaporating on the ground doesn't cool horses down.

Myth 4 “Concentrate on large veins, arteries inside the back legs, large muscle groups"
Explanation - NO. Cooling by evaporation or conduction works by cooling the blood flowing through the small blood vessels in the skin. The more skin you cool, the quicker you cool the horse. Apply water all over.

I'll admit, I followed the old rule of always hose, scrape, hose, scrape for a long time until I read the actual science behind it. How would I have known any better? But now I just keep hosing Hampton, and then turn him right back out. In the sun! *gasp* No scraping anymore. Here's more:

Evaporation and conduction.

Ideally, I would hose Hampton and then let him sit under a fan for a while. I mean think about it - when it is 95 degrees, and you splash water on your face or over your head, do you get hotter or do you get a cooling effect? 

So there's no harm in the hose, scrape method. But it seems a little pointless.

(Edited to add: Sometimes I will go ahead and scrape off his belly in an effort not to totally soak the barn aisle after he is hosed)

What method do you follow?

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* Dr. Marlin's credentials: 25 years working on equine thermoregulation. 20 plus scientific papers on equine thermoregulation. Working with endurance horses in the Gulf. Advising the racing industry on prevention and management of heat-stroke. Working with Governments on heat legislation. Working with charities on thermal stress. Working on the 1996 Atlanta, 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Currently working on the 2018 Tryon World Equestrian Games and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Author of the FEI Guidelines for National Federations on the management of horses in thermally challenging conditions.