Posts Tagged ‘equine hobbling’
Unwarranted Optimism
Overnight Friday, into Saturday, we received a plowable amount of snow. Somewhere between 4-5 inches when it ended on Saturday afternoon. During a walk with Asher on Sunday, I was surprised to discover the snowmobile club had run a groomer along their trail that passes over a corner of our property.
One benefit of having almost no snow the last two winters is that we have enjoyed the absence of the annoying whine of dozens of snow machines racing past our land every hour.
I wondered if the grooming of the paltry amount of snow on the trail meant we would be seeing sleds zooming back and forth again soon. Then I looked across the road where the trail continues over a neighboring field.
Unlikely. There wasn’t enough snow over the cultivated dirt to create a reasonable base. As much as the club members must be longing to get out and play on their snowmobiles, that trail just isn’t ready. I think that grooming the measly snow cover was overly optimistic.
We’ve entered another span of below-zero overnight temperatures that led us to putting blankets back on the horses yesterday. I think they understood the situation and were very accommodating when we busied ourselves around and underneath them to hook latches and thread buckles.
A couple of nights ago, we had the surveillance camera display on the bedroom TV, looking at the horses under the overhang for the sheer joy of being able to watch them. We witnessed Light falling asleep standing up and not locking her knees. It surprised me that the first jolt she experienced didn’t wake her, and she drooped her head right away again and tilted forward so far we thought she would fall on her face. It looked to me like she might have scraped her knees before recovering to her hooves again.
Cyndie did a little research and found instances where nerve damage might make it difficult for a horse to engage the “stay apparatus” mechanism that allows them to relax their muscles and enter a light sleep while standing. We have long suspected that Light may have had her front legs restrained (hobbled) at some time in her life, which could have resulted in long-term issues that seem consistent with the difficulties we’ve witnessed.
Maybe she isn’t getting enough deep sleep sessions while lying down during this period when she is looking to claim the role of overall herd leader.
At first glance in the photo above, it looks like there are just two horses.
Zooming in reveals Mix and Swings doing some deep-sleep napping on their sides.
After consulting with our rep from This Old Horse, we’ve started giving Light some pain relief medication to see if discomfort might be interfering with a healthy sleep routine. I will be paying closer attention to their activity to watch for Light getting a turn for some REM sleep while lying on her side.
Except for the hours when I’m busy catching my own ZZZZs.
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About Light
The horses’ rescheduled hoof trimming appointment happened yesterday afternoon. As usual, three of the four horses stood well for the farrier. The fourth, Light, was her typically less-than-cooperative self. In the more than two years that these horses have been with us, we have hypothesized what the trigger is that causes Light to fight against standing to have her hooves trimmed.
None of our many ideas about her issue, and what we could do to help her get over it, have led to definitive change. In thinking about her last night, I came to this: even though Light carries herself well most of the time, I now think that she is masking an ongoing stress she continues to harbor.
Cyndie agrees and reminded me that we’ve been told that Light was twice rescued from a kill pen. Some places buy and sell horses strictly for profit at the expense of the animal’s well-being.
According to an ASPCA web page,
An international market for horse meat drives the export and slaughter of American equines in Mexico and Canada. Some horses are purchased by kill buyers and sent directly to slaughter. Other horses are posted for sale, typically online, with urgent messaging encouraging the public to “save” them from the slaughterhouse by paying a “bail” price.
advancing-horse-welfare/truth-about-kill-pen-bail-outs
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That “bail” price ends up being much higher than the horse would cost in an ethical sale situation.
If our Light was caught in this scheme twice (the second occurrence reportedly with one of her foals), that means plenty of time when she was confined in substandard conditions.
One of Light’s behaviors that we see almost every feeding session is a leg spasm motion and a tendency to paw at her feed pan, almost always resulting in tipping it over or stepping directly in the middle of her food. It doesn’t seem to faze her one bit and she just continues eating from the dirt or switching over to another horse’s pan (Swings or Mia; never Mix).
It gives us the impression that she was possibly hobbled at some point and it has had a lingering effect. That would certainly relate to the difficulty Light has with standing for the farrier.
If Light is putting energy into “pretending” she is just fine most of the time, that seems like it would be exhausting. It gives me new inspiration to try giving her extra assurance that she is safe and respected every time I am near her. I’ve let myself assume that the two-and-a-half years she’s been here would be sufficient for her to already know that.
Cyndie has seen a photo of how Light looked when she first came to This Old Horse and tells me the level of starvation was shocking. It is helpful for me to remember how far Light has come to look as good as she does, physically. I think she still has a ways to go mentally.
With a little increase in focus, I’m hoping we can help her to more fully reclaim her best self.
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Relative Something 