Weatherly under the weather

[Mercysmom]

Been busy here - I sold Indy to a new home - but a good home for her as she is with one of her daughters and the horses there are all well-cared for and very loved. She was not doing much here - I am no longer breeding - and I felt bad that Benn no longer wants to show and she was purchased for him to show. She was happy to see her daughter and that was good for me to see. Her daughter was also excited to see her mom.

And, Weatherly has been ill - our veterinarian has her on bute (she's a Morgan) and SMZs to control a fever she had... she wasn't eating last night and this morning but today she started eating again and is not liking the SMZs. Her fever has lowered and she did not/does not have a snotty nose or cough... she was producing manure but it looked dry. I am watching her closely and she is starting to make her faces at me again.

Everyone else has been healthy - this is just something Weatherly picked up on her own the way kids pick up bugs... and nobody has left the premises except Mercy, who did the Lollypop Farm annual telethon last weekend. She was given permission to go in Eastview Mall and she entered like she owned the place. She was set up to give kisses for $1.00 and she filled up a very large jar with ones and fives. The telethon goal was 194,000 and we helped raise almost $205,000!

She had 4 appearances on Channel 13 WOKR in Rochester, NY during the telethon and was just amazing - and as usual, she asked to go to her trailer to use the "rest room", much to the astonishment of many people.

Denise

 

[CrescentMinis]

Sorry you have a sickie, hope she's better quickly.

I want to ask you if you would describe how you trained Mercy to ask to "go" in the trailer when you're out at an event. That's great!

 

[Mercysmom]

Update:

Weatherly ate her SMZs mixed with her bran mash and homemade applesauce... since it is tough getting the bute into her, I mixed that in as well. She wasn't crazy about it and left it behind but an hour later she was back looking for her meal so I gave it to her and she ate it without hesitation.

The SMZs are nasty and bitter!!! No wonder she won't eat them or let me syringe them into her - she did not like them mixed in with Jello (that was the way Mercy would take them but it had to be "Berry Blue" Jello and nothing else).

Her fever spiked at 1:00AM and it was down to 100.9 this AM so we are making progress... pooping, eating, drinking and she is becoming more alert so I know she feels a little better. I'm used to the occasional bout of ulcers or colic so this was a new one on me... her veterinarian said there is stuff going around but no clue how she caught it and the rest of the barn is healthy.

Regarding Mercy not pooping in public... she has always been a "modest" horse... started when my sons were little and they laughed at her steaming pile of manure on a cold day. I would give her breaks every hour on the trailer depending on the event we were at and then started to read her language... she will get wiggly and squirmy when she has to go, so she gets taken to the trailer.

At Lollypop Farm's Farm Day and at Equine Affaire she would seek a corner in the stall where no one could see her. At Equine Affaire she was bedded on straw and after a night of noshing on straw, she got a wicked case of diarrhea. Not wanting to be a sight in her stall with folks peering in, she backed her backside into a corner and took care of business as quietly as she could.... I cannot explain it.

Of course, when she is on the trailer and if folks are watching, she won't go and she will hold it until nobody is around or I shut the door so no one can watch.

Her foals were the same way as they accompanied her to schools or nursing homes.

Denise

 

[SHANA]

Hope she is feeling better. You could try mixing the bute and SMZ's with yogurt. I have done this when I was working at Belmere Stables and all the horses took it with no problems this way. Kind of made it like a dewormer, horse didn't know it was medication. We would soak the SMZ tablets in a bit of warm water before adding it to the yogurt and bute mix so that it was no longer a pill but disolved. Hope this helps.

 

[Mercysmom]

Hi Shana:

I may try the yogurt... normally mixing the SMZs with Jello powder and warm water until they dissolved worked on my other horses but not on Weatherly. Her antics yesterday aggravated my elbow, which I hurt lifting stuff out of my truck so I am now in an aircast to support the tendon until I can see the orthopaedic surgeon to get an injection in it (he fixed my right elbow in January). So, getting her to take her meds without throwing me around would be a plus! (She is a bear to deworm, too.)

How are you feeling? I haven't been on much - when is your baby due?

Denise

P.S.... It stinks getting older - I blew out the right elbow this past summer, then sprained an ankle by rolling it twice and then my gallbladder shorted out and was removed at the end of January, now my left elbow isn't working. Couple that with the almost 20 years of diabetes and asthma and a bad knee that still needs to be fixed... I will be having a little discussion with my Maker someday about the "extended warranty" on my parts! Is there a lemon law for bad parts?LOL

 

[SHANA]

Hope your elbow heals and Weatherly likes the yogurt mix. I am due on March 25th so only a little over 2 weeks left to wait if he comes on time. We are having a baby boy and decided to name him Noah Timothy Bedard.

 

[Mercysmom]

Hope your elbow heals and Weatherly likes the yogurt mix. I am due on March 25th so only a little over 2 weeks left to wait if he comes on time. We are having a baby boy and decided to name him Noah Timothy Bedard.

I like the name! Best wishes for all to go well and post pictures when baby Noah arrives!

Weatherly is much better - temp is back to normal, she is playing with Nefertiti as she normally does and she is being her normal self - getting into my manure bucket, investigating the hose (thank goodness I don't have to lug buckets now!) and putting her nose in my face to give me her kisses.

The elbow, on the other hand, will probably need a cortisone shot - I had my right elbow done in January and it is working fine - I am right handed so I do not know how I managed to blow this one out....

Denise