When you wish they could talk.

Mrs B

Mrs B

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One of those 'I know you're wrong and hurting, but why? And where?!' days today.

Got to the yard just before 7 as usual. Went to get his breakfast and popped the bucket on the floor. Turned to go and realised his head isn't in the bucket, it's at half-mast and slightly to one side and he's started to boot the wall with a front foot.

Eh?! He seems unable or unwilling to stretch down ... So I picked up the bucket for him to eat, which he did but still with his head at a slight angle. Hmm. While he's eating, I notice that he actually has a fair bit of haylage on the floor - normally there's maybe a whisp or two ... and he's only drunk about half the normal amount of water. Bed's as usual, same droppings as usual. Gut sounds ok, looked at nearside gums - nicely pink.

Then lift up his water bucket and he takes a rather clumsy, but thirsty, drink.

Take off his rug and run my hands over his poll, neck and back, thinking maybe he's tweaked something. No reaction. OK - rug back on and lead out. Sound. Turn tight circle, both directions. Fine. Lead to grass ... head goes down and takes a pick.

Very puzzled, I went off to feed some others and gave him a net, which he started to eat. Decided to turn him out and poo-pick so I can watch him.

Head down in the field, eating haylage. Ok.

Went to muck out his box, but nagging worry. He'd wanted a cuddle. That’s not him! … Has someone switched my horse with another?! Putting his face against my chest … Odd. Then I look out and see his little ginger ears and white blaze at a gap in the fence, watching me. Finish mucking out. Still there, just staring. So, back to the field I went and it's one of those moments where you wish they could talk.

I stood there, with him whiffling at my face and then he put his head against my chest again and I'm stroking him, running my hands absent-mindedly over his ears, face and muzzle wondering what’s wrong when I suddenly felt a swelling on his off-side top lip, near the corner of his mouth. Looked and in the light I could see his lip was swollen.

Uh-oh! Felt inside his mouth. Much bigger swelling.

So either he’s fractured a tooth or he’s been ferreting in a hedge and got a thorn in his mouth. *Sigh* Calls vet. From then on, he won't let me near the problem area.

Fast forward …

Vet arrived to sedate and examined the large, swollen lump inside his upper lip. The eejit had managed to shove his canine in to his mouth, and made a HUGE hole where an infection had brewed.

Hence, the swelling today. NO idea how he managed that as although he has mates he can see, he is in a field on his own.

The resulting abscess is now open, so on Bute for a few days and I have to squeeze the site twice a day over the weekend into Monday to get rid of any remaining crap. Oh, deep joy!

Being a mouth injury, he’ll probably heal quickly without antibiotics and vet reckons in 2 days I won't know anything happened.

I guess today’s lesson for me is this: when you’re wishing that they could tell you what’s wrong, often they already are.

I just have to learn how to listen.
 
When you know a horse or any animal really well something switches on inside you when they are poorly. Intuition? I don’t know but I never ignore it.
If your horse COULD talk I expect he would be saying the biggest ‘thank you ‘ tonight.
I left my mare perfectly OK one morning. When I returned from shopping I was shattered because I had run all the way home. Something told me that there was trouble. My mare had collapsed. Fortunately she recovered but it took many months. The vet said she might have died if she had been left too long. I still don’t know why I HAD to run back home.
Sending get well fast wishes.
 
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Ah poor boy, no wonder he was feeling sorry for himself, must have been really sore. Well done for persevering and getting it all sorted, lucky well cared for boy.
 
Thanks, WandaMare and M. Swelling is going down and although it's obviously still sore, he's let me put my hand right in his mouth and squeeze the wound site. Nothing coming out, so happy with that.
 
I knew it was an emergency vet call last summer when my 'not at all cuddly' mare stuck her head into my OH's arms for a cuddle. It was so completely out of character. Sometimes you have to listen to your gut!

Hoping his mouth heals fast.
 
I almost had a tear in my eye reading this! lol. Glad you were able to find out what was wrong. It should heal fast!
 
Hope he's improving day on day. Well done for checking so thoroughly and finding what it was. Useful post. Mine once was found with a quite disturbed stable one morning though had eaten and drunk as normal. He was quite subdued for him and didn't seem to want to go out, not lame but somewhere uncomfortable. I put him in the field but my instinct was telling me something wasn't right - I think we all just know our horses well when you think how much time we spend with them daily! I watched him in the field from the top of the muckheap and realised he was not good, head lowered not eating looking miserable. Went out to him in field with a treat as knew that would be the sign of him really not feeling well and he wouldn't move to come and take the treat. Managed to get him back in to the stable where he shook like a leaf so rang vet - after a rectal exam and having a peritoneal tap as we thought possible early colic we eventually found him to be very sensitive when one back leg was palpated though no swelling or heat to speak of. We wondered whether with the disturbed bed in his stable if he's maybe got cast overnight. His heart rate was very raised as in pain. He was given a shot of antibiotics, painkillers and anti-spasmodic to cover all bases and within 4 hours his back leg had swollen up like a tree trunk - mud fever infection from a tiny cut on his heel which must have been brewing and travelling up his leg. While not life threatenng I'm just so glad I didn't turn him out and walk away that day as 2 people on the yard were saying to me there's nothing wrong with him.
 
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