How do you cope with your equines when you are ill?

I usually just get on with it; easier in the summer when they’re out 24/7. However, this time last year I had to admit defeat when I got pleurisy. I really did think I might die at one point; I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone! My lovely husband stepped in for a week. I knew he wasn’t going to do them to my standards but they all survived and it did make me realise I may be too exacting at times. I am also on a great yard with people who help out when I’m at work and so is my husband.
 
I just carry on. I've done horses through major kidney infections, Lupus flares, broken bones...

I was back mucking out 12 hours after bladder surgery this year. Worst one was a few years ago when I swallowed a parasite from a fish tank ( long story!) - I have never been so unwell before, but I carried on between vomiting and other unpleasantness!
 
It's all very well saying "suck it up & get on with it" but it is some types of surgery would require weeks of rest/inability to lift heavy loads etc etc, or if you are hospitalised? How are you going to "sick it up and get on with it" then?!

Op - I would hunt around for a local freelance groom or pet care service and make contact to see if they could offer the kind of service you may need, assuming at some point you might need weekend or holiday cover anyway or a local horsey teenager who might be interested occasionally? My parents and I both got struck down with flu a few years ago we thankfully we only had our 4 minis at home. There was 5 days where none of us where fit to be out to them and our (non horsey) neighbours checked them twice daily, topped up water and put hay out and that was it. I have my horse on a yard now and health issues are the biggest reason for this. I know should I have a flare up I dont have to worry about getting care for her.
 
I'm lucky that I share fields with a great friend and there's another lady who keeps her pony at the same fields. We share visits and responsibilities so there is always someone to cover. Failing that my husband has been trained and eldest son rides so he knows the feeding system and what needs doing.

Ours are all out 24/7 so it's not too complicated, although there is 12 of them to feed at present. :)
 
wills_91 said:
It's all very well saying "suck it up & get on with it" but it is some types of surgery would require weeks of rest/inability to lift heavy loads etc etc, or if you are hospitalised? How are you going to "sick it up and get on with it" then?!
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If you read the very next sentence that I wrote after "suck it up and get on it"- you'll see that I suggested paying someone...
 
We have two sets of horsey neighbours, one of which also have teenage kids, so hopefully if the situation ever arose, they could help us out.

Would pay the teenagers, and return the favour for the adults....

Fiona
 
I have had two unexpected bouts of illness (knocked off bike and 4 fractured vertebrae, twisted jejenum requiring emergency surgery) and on both occasions neighbours covered a couple of days before I got in agency grooms.
 
U do just get on with it, I have done them with growing wrist, whooping cough, shingles and severe anaemia... Not all at once!!

However, if u ever want to go on holiday u will need to find someone to help anyway !!! Or somewhere you could take them that does full livery or holiday livery
 
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It's always a good idea to have back up plans.

Those who insist that they just get on with things despite suffering flu have clearly not had real flu. Flu makes you so ill that you are helpless and just want to die. OH dealt with the neds whilst I had it, he's not horsey but he coped.
 
Tiddlypom said:
It's always a good idea to have back up plans.

Those who insist that they just get on with things despite suffering flu have clearly not had real flu. Flu makes you so ill that you are helpless and just want to die. OH dealt with the neds whilst I had it, he's not horsey but he coped.
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I had proper flu last winter- and had to stay off work for a month as it caused a Lupus flare up aswell and my blood levels went crazy. This is how I know it was full blown flu as I ended up at hospital. I still did the horses, I was just about dragging myself out of bed to see to them and then home and back in bed. I lost a stone in weight in a month and if someone had offered me a lethal injection I would have gladly taken it! I had a chair to sit on next to my stable as kept going faint as my blood pressure was on the floor.
It took me a further 8 weeks to recover though, the downside to struggling through.

I do have my Dad and friends who would step in if need be, but I hate asking people for help.
 
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Currently I have Laryngitis and possibly Pneumonia, thankfully I have some good friends at the yard who have offered to sort mine for me. If they couldn't the YO certainly would. (And to be fair I did my friends for a few days last week as she was ill).

Is there a possibility of offering someone grazing for a similar sized pony if you have enough room? If I was ever lucky enough to have horses at home I'm sure I'd offer livery to a friend both for company and to ensure there was someone around for cover if ever needed.
 
You just have to suck it up...

Horses are there morning evening 365 days a year. I've been really poorly for a few days to the point of spending 2 days solidly in bed except for normal yard chores, still don't escape that!

If something catastrophic happened then I would call on family and friends until paid grooms could step in (god forbid).
 
Usually I can do the horses when Ill, it’s just horrid. However when I had norovirus it wasn’t possible, not only did my parents not want it back ( Dad had given it to me) physically I just was too ill. So Dad did them. The same with my broken ankle, I sat on a chair in the yard and directed the action. I in fact got better quicker when I have it time to heal , then if I’d just hopped around on one leg like last time. Horsey people are idiots really :D
 
Tiddlypom said:
It's always a good idea to have back up plans.

Those who insist that they just get on with things despite suffering flu have clearly not had real flu. Flu makes you so ill that you are helpless and just want to die. OH dealt with the neds whilst I had it, he's not horsey but he coped.
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Yeah agreed, I had flu several years ago and when I surfaced about a week later my car had been broken into and ransacked, I had no idea when it happened, was totally out of it.

OH would do the horses now if I was beyond the ability to soldier on ;)
 
I am on a yard of four people and five horses and without fail, even if three of us were dying, the fourth would step up and sort the horses. This is a great comfort to all of us to know that, whatever happens, someone will be able to cope. Last week the YO had novovirus so I did them with the help of her partner as one of her two is on box rest and, therefore, even higher maintenance that usual.

It would be rare for all of us to be incapacitated but we all have horsey friends we could call on in an emergency too.
 
Patchworkpony said:
Planning to buy a couple of minis in the spring but we are not in the first flush of youth and no longer employ a groom as there would be nothing for them to do obviously. As I am currently nursing flu it has occurred to me that if we both got it badly at the same time it could be difficult to take care of the ponies properly. They will have a large outdoor shelter and a stable each however our animals have always had the best of everything so I am trying to come up with an emergency help idea. Horsy friends are too far away or busy with their own yards - I hate to impose. Any thoughts and ideas would be most welcome. How do you all cope if you are ill or injured?
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Well speaking for myself. It takes a lot to knock me down and the things that do are :

MEGA migraine which thankfully I have not had those for a few years, which I cannot move off the bed or sofa (my normal migraines I live with and suffer with)
Slip disk or back goes and inflames and goes into spasm (asking for help in another thread)
Other MAJOR illness which I rarely suffer from.

The usual colds etc which hubby gives to me I just get on with it (prob why I recover quicker)and work regardless even sneezing and coughing, unlike him he is bed ridden.




In the eventuality that you and your husband are both out of action, then I would be inclined to get a livery on the proviso you both help each other during sickness.
 
popsdosh said:
Little bit of a sideline from your post you are about the fifth person this week I have heard has got Gout is it catching? Obviously not but it just seems so many in a short period ., Not belittling the pain in any way and I hope it is easing.
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Its unbearable. At its peak you couldnt even let a single sheet of tissue land softly over your foot without being in complete agony .. I kid you not, thats the only way I've found to explain the pain level, lol.
 
Tiddlypom said:
It's always a good idea to have back up plans.

Those who insist that they just get on with things despite suffering flu have clearly not had real flu. Flu makes you so ill that you are helpless and just want to die. OH dealt with the neds whilst I had it, he's not horsey but he coped.
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I SO agree sometimes even the strongest mind can't make a body work if it is simply not capable! People did die of flu during epidemics and still do.
 
Having just started to feel slightly more human after coming down with something on 19th December, I can categorically state that if you have proper flu, not just a bad cold, keeping going is nye on impossible. I spent 5 days on the sofa, moving only to drag myself to the loo, then another 7 days constantly having to sit down before I fell down. Didnt eat for 10 days and simply wouldnt have been safe to drive the car. Best friend at yard just stepped up to the plate and did everything. If we were lucky enough to have our own place, hubby would have been well enough to throw hay and water at them and that would have been that!
 
MyBoyChe said:
Having just started to feel slightly more human after coming down with something on 19th December, I can categorically state that if you have proper flu, not just a bad cold, keeping going is nye on impossible. I spent 5 days on the sofa, moving only to drag myself to the loo, then another 7 days constantly having to sit down before I fell down. Didnt eat for 10 days and simply wouldnt have been safe to drive the car. Best friend at yard just stepped up to the plate and did everything. If we were lucky enough to have our own place, hubby would have been well enough to throw hay and water at them and that would have been that!
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So sorry to hear that you have been really ill. Hope you are beginning to feel better now - hurrah for best friends.
 
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