And the Academy Award Winner for Best Drama Goes to: Tate

Nothing is ever dull around here.  Tate was laying down in the paddock (yes mud and all) when I went out Monday morning. The funny thing was I had this part in my blog yesterday and then had a feeling it might be worth a blog post on its own and deleted it. Good thing I did! Buckle up! Here we go.

At first I thought how cute. Then I was like why is he laying down out there. And when I went out to check on him he wouldn’t get up. Which set off minor alarm bells. Tate’s one true nature is flight. For him to let me come up and pet him on the ground. He didn’t feel good. But I was sure it was his feet (he was foot sore before if you all remember). This was very similar to that problem back then but much much worse. I finally got him up and he hobbled in to eat his breakfast.

He could move but barely.  He had been fine the night before though now in hindsight he hadn’t been going as far out in the field the last few days and had been a little short-strided. He is always short-strided, he is a PONY but still maybe something was up early and I didn’t realize it.

I figured he might be brewing an abscess but Tate is the biggest DRAMA QUEEN around so he of course made it seem like he was dying. Which was fine for most the day but then he got worse. He started laying down and rolling a bit. Which freaked me even though he was eating, drinking, pooping and peeing all day long. And he would lay down and I would bring hay over and he would eat while laying down.

So I hoped it was just his feet hurting. I told his owner about him yesterday and then by afternoon I was like can you call me. She was pretty sure it was an abscess too and she knows her drama queen pony but I wasn’t going to sleep last night without knowing this pony was okay.

It is a MUDDY mess out there as well. I had palpated his foot all over and no sensitivity except for him not wanting to walk on it. No heat in his feet at all. He actually seemed lame on both front feet by afternoon and was laying down nonstop. I couldn’t stand it anymore.

SO I texted my neighbor who texted our other neighbor who is a small animal vet who sent me an equine vet’s number. And I called him and he called me right back. So the good news is I have an equine vet now 🙂 The other good news is we got Tate fixed up. I talked to the vet on the phone and he said I had two choices he could come out on an emergency call or I could wait till the next day. After talking to him awhile and due to the fact of Tate seeming to be in some distress (I didn’t think he had foundered and abscessed and colicked in the same day but yesterday I was not thinking straight I was just worried LOL) I decided for him to come out.

And I am so glad I did. Dr Pugh and I had to both work to get Tate up again after he got there. His poor legs were trembling he was in such pain.  STOIC is not Tate. HA

Dr. Pugh first listened to his gut sounds because I was so worried (We also had a cold front blown in a day or so ago so the minute he saw Tate he said I am glad you had me out tonight). Even though his gut checked out he was worried a bit about him. But then Tate while holding his one foot up leaned to the ground to pick up some hay. He wasn’t so worried about him then. He also felt his feet and they were cool. Then we got Tate out on concrete and he applied the testers. Nothing at first but then he touched his toe and bang. We found it.

It was on his toe which Dr Pugh thinks would have taken a while to come out and it was sizzling pretty quickly. The pressure relief was amazing you could see in Tate’s eyes how he relaxed. Poor pony. Then Dr Pugh got to work cleaning and then packing and wrapping his foot. He wrapped him up with like ten things and then put duct tape all around. I can take it off tomorrow he said. He said other things could be going on with Tate (his back legs were trembling after all this but we think it was from all the weight bearing he went through all day poor Tate), we will keep an eye on him but he thinks he was just in a lot of pain. He gave him a shot of Bute, a tetanus, and left me some Bute paste for him.

He was still in a lot of pain so Dr Pugh said let him nibble on some grass to see if that gets his mind off it all. I just left him loose in the side yard while we settled up (Remus had wandered out to graze in the field, bored now he said) and I laughed and said if Tate takes off I am pretty sure I can catch him since he was still hobbling.  Tate did not take off.

I paid my bill (Tennessee is very reasonable I would have paid three times that on a call up in PA!) and chatted to the vet a bit. I am so relieved to have a vet now especially one who does do emergency calls. We have the Tennessee Equine Clinic about 40 minutes away but even if I had wanted to take Tate there yesterday I am pretty sure he couldn’t have stood up in the trailer that long. This was a good option.

I hemmed and hawed about what to do with the horses last night. I wanted Tate out to move around but Remus is such a shit he would bully him all night and make him switch stalls just because (don’t be an ass Remus) he wants to. SO I locked Remus up last night. That solved the issue.

This morning when I came out I was a bit worried but no worries. Tate was laying down in his stall but the minute I turned the lights on he got up on his own (albeit a bit slowly) and shook himself off. He was ready for breakfast. He is still a bit wobbly but much steadier. His bandage stayed on too. After he ate he meandered out toward the field and I got a video of him. Still not great but so much better.

And a while ago I looked out and they both are out in the field. There is quite a long walk out there so I am thrilled Tate decided to go with Remus out there.

Thanks and a shout out to Sarah, Amanda and others who ‘held my hand’ via text yesterday when I was freaking out. Also my new local friend Stephanie also held my hand via text since she just went through this abscess stuff with her horse. I ate dinner finally about 8:30 last night and then fell asleep.

Hopefully Tate continues to improve. My vet is going away for the weekend after Thursday so I am hoping to give him a good report so I don’t have to worry all weekend! What me worry? NEVER 🙂

So what was your MONDAY like? I hope better than mine! 🙂