Carmen was a bit wary of the 'strangers' but Irish takes his job as official greeter very seriously. We decided to do Carmen first. I described what had been going on with the Alfalfa and she agreed that it could be that. M asked if I had tried magnesium and I said I was considering it but wanted to think about it. She agreed that the evidence is anecdotal. Carmen was very well behaved for the examination but I could see she was on guard. M gave her a sedative to do her teeth and it was funny to see the transformation of high headed, haughty mare to droopy lip and stoned mare. As M did her teeth she was alert enough to keep grabbing the rasp. I had suspected that there might be a few sharp edges to her teeth given her reluctance to take the bit lately and sure enough she had some hooks in the back molars and had cut her cheek. M also asked if there were any soundness, lameness anything with her. Nope I said. And then knocked on the wooden stall door.
Irish watched up from his stall looking a little miffed that Carmen was getting all the attention. but now it was his time. He was happy for all the attention. We gave him some drugs too to do his teeth but much less than Carmen. That made things go faster.
Both horses had good body condition- Irish on the skinny side of good and Carmen on the not-skinny side. Irish always drops a bit of weight this time of year so I no longer worry. It will come back when the grass is in.
After I left them in the stalls to sleep off the drugs and then let them out to move around a bit. They basically looked at each other trying to figure out what happened and then went to top of the hill to sleep it off.
After I came out to get the stalls ready and feed them supper. Normally they come down to
Carmen: Do you think it's supper?
Irish: (squinting): Hard to tell. It could be a trap.
Carmen: What do we do.
Irish: We wait but keep an eye out. If it's a trap she'll come to get us. If it's supper she will call us.
Carmen:ohhhh. Okay
When I was in the tack room filling their feed buckets they started to mosey down. When Carmen saw me pour her feed in she came trotting in and dived into her bucket.
It's good to have that done as spring is coming much earlier this year.
It feels good to get their check ups done, doesn't it? I took Samson and Faith to the vet the other day, first Faith, then Samson. They got their rattlesnake vaccines and Samson got his checkup. As I suspected he needs to lose 4 pounds, get his teeth cleaned. Back next month for kennel cough vaccine. But so good to get it done.
ReplyDeleteYes- it helps prevent the worry I didn't know there was a rattlesnake vaccine
DeleteA magnesium defeciency does cause nervousness and anxiety, which generally translate into flighty behavior. Most grass hays have enough magnesium, but not always in the right ratio to calcium, it should be 2:1 Ca:Mg. Alfalfa has a lot of Ca and very little Mg, often a ratio as high as 8:1. This extra Ca causes a defeciency of Mg. From Carmen's reaction to alfalfa, I would suspect her Mg levels are borderline. They are fine as long as you don't add a lot of Ca to throw off the balance. If you want to feed alfafa for ulcer protection, you might want to add Mg at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThere is one other issue with alfalfa...it does tend to cause problems for IR horses for unknown reasons. It is generally low in sugar so should be safe, but it is not. I don't think you have to worry about that now, but Andalusians are prone to IR. It may be best to stick with other feeds for her and avoid trouble. The slow feed nets may help with ulcers just as much as the alfalfa, with none of the concerns.
Thank you for the information. That's very helpful. Is there a way to check her mg levels?
DeleteYou could talk to your vet about blood tests, but honestly, they are not reliable for measuring general mineral status. The best way is to have your hay tested and determine what she is consuming.
ReplyDeleteWith Mg, you can try supplementing it and see if it makes any difference. I do not generally advocate this shot-gun approach as it can cause big trouble with some of the other minerals, however, Mg is very safe and difficult to overdose with. Most grass hays have enough Ca and Mg, but often have a 3-4:1 Ca:Mg ratio, which is not ideal. I think you would be very safe adding a tablespoon of Mg oxide and see if you notice a difference.
Mg deficiency has been linked to IR. Carmen is young and fit enough that it is not an issue now, but I like to err on the side of prevention whenever possible. I worry about IR in Tessa, if I didn't feed her like a donkey, she would be in real trouble.
If you would like to test the hay, get in touch with equi-analytical. I know they have a Canadian office so shipping should not be difficult. If you decide to do this, I can look over the results for you and let you know where you stand.
okay I will try some on her
DeleteI gotta get all mine done, big job, I do thier vaccines myslef which helps but the teeth another story. I only do a couple at a time, some in fall some in spring
ReplyDeleteI do the boosters in the fall. I like to have the vet do the teeth at least once.
DeleteHi! I found your blog through SprinklerBandit and I am looking forward to reading about your training with your young Andalusian. I recently adopted a young Lusitano cross and I am in completely uncharted territory :)
ReplyDeletewelcome! I love Lusitanos. They are stunning horses.
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