I felt bad for her, I know her frustration. The anger at whomever had the horse previously to allow the animal to get in such a state.
I advised her to do several things.
One contact the vet, have the vet come and do an exam on the horse. Two, power pack the horse. Three, Bathe the horse with an astringent type shampoo. Four, put the poor thing on a really easy to digest and palatable grain that's a complete feed. Five, free choice hay. And finally Six, Groom, groom and more grooming. And a possible Seven, perhaps putting him on SMZ's for a bit would help with his skin issues and anything else that may be going on. I would Definitely have his teeth checked also, thinking about it, but I forgot to mention that.
I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts. But I've been there, done that.
She asked me how long it should take to see some improvement. I said, about 6 weeks to 2 months. Possibly more, the longer the horse has been down it seems the longer it takes to bring them back up. And the horse isn't young, so bouncing back may take a bit more doing then just tossing food at the poor thing.
Example:
This picture is about a year old. Taken 3/24/07(This is NOT the horse in the post above, however.)
This was taken 8/19/2007Yes, I know, I take REALLY crappy photos, so please don't hammer me for them. I'm trying to get better at my picture taking skills. It's hard when your subject wants to be In your face instead of standing still for that "perfect" shot. : )
WHY do people let their horses get to this state before they find them another home? Are they hoping for a miracle? Are they hoping that hay prices will go down? Simply saying they can't afford it doesn't make sense to me. If you couldn't afford to feed the horse, then, sell it, give it away if need be. Find a temporary home for the poor thing, as in Free lease the horse out. Anything but let them starve!
Which brings up a question. If you came across a horse that was in sad shape, what would you do?
A. Say something to the owner
B. Call the authorities
C. Sneak the horse food
D. Attempt to get the horse
E. Walk away
F. All the above
G. None of the above
And if you chose answer A. How would you approach the owner about it? Would you ask if the horse had a medical problem that led him to be thin and sickly? Or would you use a more tactful route? I'm curious how others would approach this touchy subject. I have been faced with this before.
3 comments:
I guess it would depend on how well I would know her.
I hope she does not power pak her at least until the vet sees her---that is the first step. You never know how strong they really are.
Exactly. I HOPE she calls the vet first. I strongly recommended it, there's no telling what happened with that horse before hand, being the horse is thin, it's a safe bet that worming wasn't done or anything else for that matter, but if there's an underlying cause for the thin condition, well that needs to be addressed first. She did buy a Zimectrin Gold to pop the horse with though, she didn't feel that it would be safe to power pack him until she felt more comfortable with the horse. Can't blame her on that one!
I'm hoping that this is one of those happy ending type things and the horse is in good hands. I think the horse will be fine. She said, "He's eating like a Horse." LOL Gobbling everything up in sight! So I'm hoping it's just a matter of groceries and not anything else. If I see her again, I'll mention having the teeth checked. Since I stupidly forgot all about it yesterday. Oh well.....
You know, I've been faced with this very specific scenerio.
I Tried to be tactful, I don't think I was. I wasn't mean about it, but I was insistant. Perhaps TO insistant. I actually said something to the owner. Even though I tried Really hard to be nice, I know I wasn't.
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