My horse is just the cutest critter.
Doesn't he look great in his new blanket?
I think it is a tad big. Good to know, for future reference.
My sister keeps telling me how terrible he looks in the pictures on my blog. Will you be another set of eyes for me? Does he look terrible? I think he looks a little light but not too bad. But then I see him every day and maybe I'm too used to how he looks. Don't mind his shaved patch there.
Gooby eyes, just slightly. (I have them today too by the way. Pink eye. Lovely.)
He looks sick, doesn't he? The unhappy eye?
Stocked up above the joint. He's big boned, but not that big boned.
I think I'll call my vet today. But I don't know if he'll want me bringing in a horse with a virus, and I'm not sure I want to pay a farm call just yet. We'll see.
I wouldn't say he is thin but he does seem to be lacking a bit of healthy bloom about him, and you are right that his coat looks too short for your weather. I have a pony who looked a bit off not long ago, so we did bloods and all we could find was that she possibly had a mild chronic infection of some kind. After the antiobiotic course, plus some probiotics to follow, she is looking much brighter. I wonder if it would be worth trying him with some probiotic paste if nothing else shows up?
ReplyDeletePS. Please remember to use gloves if you end up with meds to mix in his fed. I didn't and I had a reaction to the pony's antibiotic. Nasty! I'm warning everyone horsey that I know so they don't make the same mistake I did!
Thanks for the feedback! Hmm, now I really can't wait to have bloodwork done. I'd like to check his mineral levels too. Even though I feed a vitamin/mineral supplement, you never know...
ReplyDeleteHe is on daily probiotics. If I don't do that, especially through the winter when he's on hay, he constantly has liquidy stools. Not like "cow plop" as my niece would say, but like regular poop surrounded by liquid. It's a little messy.
That is interesting that you reacted to the antibiotics! I never would have thought to wear gloves. I've been mixing antibiotics in the old mare's feed a lot this year, breaking open capsules and shaking the powder out, all without gloves. I didn't know there was any risk there.
Tonka's a cutie :) But yeah, he does kinda seem to be lacking that healthy bloom to his coat. Just curious, what size blanket did you get?
ReplyDeleteIt's a size 82. An 80 might have been fine but I'm happy with this one, and maybe an 80 would have been snug. It's weird how there are several different ways to measure and some brands aren't true to measurement...
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the "lacking bloom" observations. It has me wondering... I'd have sworn he's very soft, shiny, and has a good winter coat in person. Unlike two of the other horses, whose coats get very dry and nasty and burnt looking this time of year right before shed-out. (Is that common? I don't think I've seen it in any other horses I've had.)
I'll have to look closer at Tonka and try to get some more pictures.
It could just be the pictures and he's a lighter colored horse. Wow, I didn't realize Tonka was that big! Cody has made it to 15hh now and wears about a 76 in a blanket (well, in a fly sheet right now).
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