This is not normal. But you probably could have guessed that.
We were coming down the driveway, and of course I was admiring my sweet mares, when I blurted out, "Oh shit. Stop. Soxy has a bloody nose." She had a snotty nose the other day and I've been worried about her. This turned out not to be bright red blood, but dark brownish syrupy snotty old blood. Anyway... Long story short, we made an emergency weekend vet visit today. It may be serious, and it may not. She's to be on antibiotics for five days and see how it goes. The picture above is after most of the dark brown goo has run off.
I've been wanting to ride Bella and so I did. Kind of. I got on and off 3 or 4 times.
We were coming down the driveway, and of course I was admiring my sweet mares, when I blurted out, "Oh shit. Stop. Soxy has a bloody nose." She had a snotty nose the other day and I've been worried about her. This turned out not to be bright red blood, but dark brownish syrupy snotty old blood. Anyway... Long story short, we made an emergency weekend vet visit today. It may be serious, and it may not. She's to be on antibiotics for five days and see how it goes. The picture above is after most of the dark brown goo has run off.I've been wanting to ride Bella and so I did. Kind of. I got on and off 3 or 4 times.
Her stifles are better but she's knuckling over going down hill, and locking up on turns. I am very seriously thinking about retiring her before she's really started. Which is not a good outcome. We'll see. I may still consider the surgery, eventually when I can afford it. Depends on what the vet's advice is.Not the best of days, horse-wise. But the weather was glorious and we got to help out with a rummage sale at Liam's new school, which was good.
I hope Soxy gets better! And that's too bad about Bella. A friend of mine had a horse with stifle issues on one side and he just always had a hitch in his stride but was sound enough to ride. His was a result of too much hard training as a young horse (before my friend got him). He has less of a hitch when he's in better shape, but he's been a favorite in her lesson string for years now.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny - I don't mention it often but Soxy is another one of those horses with a hitch in her giddy-up that I think comes from her stifle. It doesn't bother her much at all. (Or at least it didn't before she got kicked real bad in the trailer by Zaz.) We had another horse like that once too. But Bella's problem is different. It could be very dangerous in the wrong terrain, and I think it hurts her.
ReplyDeleteOh her nose looks gross. I hope its not serious. I sorry about Bella. Obviously you did not notice that before you adopted her, when did it show up?
ReplyDeleteIt started a couple days before Scout was born, which threw me off as to what the problem was. For a long time I thought it was stretched ligaments from pregnancy. But I guess that's the age where these stifle problems usually show up. Apparently she has straight stifles, which leads to this locking problem. I am not good at spotting straight stifles.
ReplyDeleteHope Soxy gets better soon - Noble had an episode of recurring bloody nose for a bit last year, but it was bright red blood - no goop. Stifle issues can be difficult - my Maisie has stifles that can lock if she's not muscled up - lots of trotting seems to help.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the vet suspect is the issue with Soxy? Hope she gets to feeling better.
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad about Bella--maybe it'll clear up with time. It seems sometimes things like that just go away--or, at least, come and go.
Soxy may have an infection following a minor virus, or an irritant up her nose making her bleed, or - worst case - a guttural pouch infection. That can be treated, but it's not something we would likely choose to do. Hopefully whatever it is will clear up with antibiotics.
ReplyDeleteI hope Soxy gets better soon. I also hope Bella is okay. It's horrible when they get hurt or sick. Echo had swelling on his leg last week and I started to feel sick with worry until I looked at it closely and saw some raised hairs in a straight line. He must have bashed it into the boards when he was rolling or running. I was worried it was a mechanical problem. Do you hear anything about Zaz?
ReplyDeleteSo sad about the beautiful Bella =(
ReplyDeleteAny update on Soxy's nose?