Well sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth. Yesterday afternoon was our vaccination day. I didn’t bother mentioning it because it’s boring…right? We all vaccinate, and with our horses travelling around so much we vaccinate every three months…boring! Not this time. I went out to check on the horses last thing last night, everybody fine, did the last feed and was walking back to the house past the turnout paddocks and I thought the two mares in there looked ‘off’. They were standing quietly, too quietly. Then one of them lay down. She is a mare who likes to kip so again, I didn’t over react but I found myself going back to the window to watch her over and over again. She lay quietly, then she got up and once more stood quietly and then finally I saw her kick just once at her stomach and roll her lip.
I brought both the mares in and watched them in the stall. The one seemed absolutely fine but the other was restless. Not quite showing colic but not quite right either. Finally, on the basis that it’s best to over react than to miss something, I contacted her owners and called in the vet. Good job I did! It turns out she was having a reaction to the vaccinations, something I have not seen in my barn for about thirty five years. I was living in the UK the last time I saw that happen. She was running a temperature of 102 and our amazing veterinarian, Dr. Mark Rutherford gave her some ban amine and walked her for me. I am unsound at present and no good to walk anything. I took the other mare’s temp and it was fine but I was still suspicious.
I stayed up all night with the first mare whose temperature spiked and dropped over and over again but not going above the original 102. Her ears were cold and her gut had partially shut down from the systemic shock. Finally at 6.30am I crawled into bed and my barn team took over. Tori Morgan who is running my barn this winter called me to say she thought another horse was coughing and had taken his temperature and lo and behold it was 101.7. We went round the whole barn and more than half of them were spiking. Benny and Rummy were the worst at 103 and 103.3 respectively. Back out to the barn in my jammies with my big overcoat over the top (a sight to be seen no doubt) and the vet back asap. He gave Banamine all round to lower temperatures, however the temps have been going up and down like yo-yos all day and some of the horses have risen lumps on their necks over the injection sites, some are 100% ok and some have both lumps and fluctuating temperatures.
My vet is having ‘words’ with the drug company, I suggested he gave them my number so that I could have ‘words’ with them GRRRRR We have everybody on a 24hr watch and we are taking temperatures every few hours and keeping them on a chart. Like I needed this!
Meanwhile, Anne Marie, Selena, Woody, Derg Boru (just going for the atmosphere) and Bizzy the dog were all en route to Kentucky as of 4am this morning. They arrived at about four pm this afternoon all safe and sound. How exciting! I am sure we will have a lot more to tell you about Rolex and what is going on there in tomorrow’s post. I know they will be exhausted tonight. They must have started at 3am this morning, then the twelve hour drive then it takes a good three hours to unload and move into the Kentucky Horse Park. I doubt if they will be finished before bed time.
Foxwood High having a little snooze in his Rolex stall this evening.
As for me, I am off to bed to get a couple of hours of sleep before I go back over to take temperatures and do the night shift at the barn, I sincerely hope everyone will have stabilized tomorrow. We will not ride them or turn them out until they have been temperature free for 24hours so tomorrow will be a non riding day. Lots of hand walking. Oh well, it’s a good time for Spring clean up. There is always lots to do at a barn when you can’t ride.
