So, three weeks ago I took Buddy to a horse show in Lexington. Granted he did extremely well in his debut at Second Level (64% & 66%!!!) but that is not the point. At the show, he was very quiet and just picked around at his food, highly unusual for this horse. We kept an eye on him but he ate his grain, drank water and had normal stool so we figured he just wanted to go home. Anyways, we get him home and I give him 4 days off for being such a star that weekend. Time for his ride on Friday...what a grouch!!! He was pissy, agitated, harsh in his mouth, tight in his back and overall unpleasant to ride. Needless to say, I was a little agitated myself. I got off and did some ground work which wasn't much better. He just had no intentions of working. I figured, mentally maybe he needed a little longer break so I gave him the weekend off. All the fun stuff started on Monday....
Monday's ride was at least more pleasant than Friday's. I had a horse with a much better frame of mind and willingness to try anything but something was still off. It was very similar to riding a horse with a giant neck brace on. His circles were piecey, his laterals were super flat and simple changes were virtually impossible. This wasn't like him either. I got off cleaned him up and turned him out but a little voice kept saying something was not right. Later that night, I spoke with my trainer and she suggested that he was sore from the two needles he got on Monday. (Oh yeah! Buddy also had a break out on his face of some sort so the vet came and gave him an antihistamine as well as a steroid in order to help the healing process.) I decided to give him some more time off and went down Tuesday to rub him down with lineament and give him some Bute. When I got there on Tuesday, he looked very lethargic but still tried to eat and be himself. I gave him the rub down and proceeded to go on with my normal activities and went to go ride another horse. Something just kept nagging at me while I was riding, so just for preventative measures I got off the horse I was riding and went to take Buddy's temperature. I took it three times because I thought I was pushing the wrong buttons or was reading it incorrectly...i wasn't...it was 105.6!!!! I rushed him into the wash stall and called the vet....
To make this a little shorter, the vet came out, Banamine was administered, a large dose of antibiotics were taken, another bath was had and many minutes were spent under three very large fans. His temp finally settled at 100.8...whew! A CBC was done and a tick panel was sent out to Texas. The next morning (Wednesday), the vet visited us again to check on the poor boy. His temp was much better but now he had diarrhea. his blood work came back with elevated rates meaning he had somthing tick related...oh joy! His back legs were swollen as well so now those had to be tended too! More antibiotics were given and then the vet gave her probable diagnosis...PHF...Potomas Horse Fever! Oi! Great...that's what the breakout on his face was, a tick bite!
Well, yesterday he looked good but not much improvement from the day before. He will still be on antibiotics until Saturday so he just has to stay calm, quiet and relaxed so as not to trigger any laminitis or bring back his fever. So, keep your fingers crossed for this poor pony! But I will say that Buddy has really enjoyed his one-on-one attention from me and all the extra lovings he's been getting from people at the barn too!
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