I’ve been back from Europe for almost a week now. The original plan for Henry was to go to Trainer’s while I was gone, but of course Hurricane Harvey ruined that idea. Instead he got basically two full weeks off, which he didn’t seem to mind. When I got back he kind of looked at me like “Oh, it’s you… got any cookies?”.
Henry seemed to do just fine with the down time, other than the fact that he’s a bit fatter (omg horse, stahp, I can’t feed you much less) and it seems he was quite itchy while I was gone. I dunno what it’s been about this summer, but he’s been Mr Walking Allergy since May. The only thing that’s been able to keep him from rubbing all his hair out is my magic spray, which ran out while I was gone. Thus, I came home to this:
AGGGGHHH.
His face looked almost as bad, it’s just not quite so noticeable since it’s more spotty.
The very first thing he got on Wednesday (after a nice hack) was a very thorough bath, after which I covered his body in every elixir I could find to make him stop itching until my new bottle of magic spray arrived.
Then on Saturday I pulled him out of his stall to find this:
WTF with the elephant head, Henry? I took his temp, checked his respiratory rate, etc. All totally normal. He was acting normal, had eaten breakfast just like normal. Nothing about his routine had changed. He has a bit of a history with random swelling (last summer it was the sheath) so my first thought was some kind of allergic reaction. I texted pics and his vitals to the vet, who said he didn’t think it was an emergency but he wanted to come examine him just to make sure there wasn’t something bad brewing. In the meantime Henry got a little bit of banamine, and we settled in to wait for the vet.
And by “settled in”, I mean someone got a makeover. Fall season officially starts this weekend so it was time to make him look less feral. We started with dying his tail, and then I body clipped him. Yeah, it’s early for a first clip, and not much hair came off, but every little bit seems to help keep his fat ass cool, so I’ve just given in to the fact that I’m going to end up clipping him every 2-3 months by default.
The vet showed up, examined him, checked all his vitals again (still pretty much the same as when I checked them), felt around the edema, and then took a long look in his mouth. He had some irritation to his soft palate, and a kind of suspicious looking little red spot. The vet stood there going hmmm, and then looked at me and said “Honestly, it looks just like a bee sting, but…. inside his mouth…”. Who knows for sure, but if any horse could manage to eat a bee, it’d probably be Henry. He got some dex, the vet left me with a couple more days worth, and said if it’s not better by then to let him know.
Sunday morning it wasn’t much different, size wise, but the edema was definitely softer. On Saturday the pitting had been like memory foam… if you pushed your thumb into it, it took a while to spring back. On Sunday there was no pitting if you pressed it.
I texted the updated pics (and vitals – all still normal) to the vet and got the okay to at least take him on a long walk under saddle to stretch his legs. Someone is going stir crazy. He spent half of our walk jigging sideways and snorting, so I’m going to guess he feels just fine despite the elephantitis throat.
Afterwards I gave him another dose of dex and decided to ice the area. May not help, but it can’t hurt, right? Henry was pissed.
It looked a bit better last night, so I’m hoping by this afternoon it’s made some significant progress. I’m sure Henry thinks this is a swell way (ha, pun) to prolong his vacation, but it’d be cool if I could actually get some real rides in. Details…
but of course he is a hot mess. would not doubt it for a minute. HA Henry. Trouble trouble trouble. Hope he heals quick!
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I think he’s going to drag it out til Friday so we can show up at an event with him not really having been ridden in 3.5 weeks.
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that we cant wait to see 🙂 HA! I will have the popcorn ready! 🙂
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I am sorry, Henny…but I snort-laughed at the “if any horse would eat a bee..”-comment..
I hope he feels better soon!
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You know I’m right! 😉
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What do you use to dye his tail? I have a bay with a sun bleached tail that is taking forever to grow out (he has so much tail I could probably sell it to like Saddlebred people or something, its insane).
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Just Clairol, nothing fancy.
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Is there any chance he has sweet itch? It’s a seasonal warm climate thing, and he scratches in all the common places. Just a thought!
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We tried treating that last year and it didn’t make any difference. I think the tail itching has more to do with sweat… even when its not that hot he sweats profusely (even in front of fans) and if he’s not rinsed off daily, the sweat accumulates really fast around his tail. He tends to only rub the tail when I’m not able to rinse him off all the time.
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It must be this summer or something because Amber has never been this itchy either. I mean, she’s usually itchy but she’s never gone out of her way to scratch so much as she has this summer. She’s pulled out mane and tail because she just can’t seem to stop scratching. Magic spray helps, but only for about half a day. She’s also gotten more weird edema this year (her side and her teats) than any other summer (being none). So maybe everywhere is having a weird, super-powered-itchy summer.
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I’m finding this summer ridiculously itchy too — 3/4 of mine are rubbing their tails SO badly it’s driving me batty. Maybe I need to try some magic spray!
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ARGH silly pons always keeping us on our toes and making sure the vets stay in business!
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How do you dye his tail? I’d love to see that process!
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I did a post on it a couple years ago: https://the900facebookpony.com/2015/08/26/the-tail-tutorial/
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It’s not even as hot in New England as it is Texas and I have to clip a billion times a year, too! Ponies, man.
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Ugh. He can join Levi in the itching his hair off club. It’s not a club I enjoy. I hope he recovers quickly from eating the bee.
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Oh goodness… he would!!
Hopefully it’s going down and he doesn’t do it again ha!!
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goodness, and i thought the sheath swelling was ridiculous
i wonder what he did…
guess we’ll never know #everyhorseinjuryever
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The stuff they come up with to get out of work… Ugh! Hope he’s better soon.
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Henny just wanted to make you spent more on him than Europe. Silly gelding
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Hey mate, i hope that Henry is okay and that swelling has gone down. I was worried it was Strangles, but i’m glad you have the vet onto it.
As for the itch problem, we get the Queensland Itch down here. I found out that Freddy is allergic to the saliva from those little mites and bugs and that causes the itch. not sure if it is the same up there.
Anyway, I use Pinetarsol Solution on him. It’s a product used for nappy rash so it is zinc based. Here is a link http://www.egopharm.com/pinetarsol-solution/
This stuff is a god send. I mix a fair splash into a bucket of water and just sponge it on and then throw the rest of the bucket of stuff all over him (being careful with the eyes of course). Yes it turns freddy’s fetlock green, but gee he doesn’t have the itch anymore.
What products do you use up there?
mel x
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