I don't know if I've talked about this feeling much here (I think I
may have brought it up in my LJ, but maybe not on the grounds that
paranoid thoughts are best kept to myself). I've always been worried,
once Mocha and I bonded, that something might happen to her at far too
early an age.
She is so very much like my first, much-loved Shetland gelding (in a
good way, especially in temperament and willingness to trust me once
she accepted me and bonded with me) that it's scary. I had him from
yearling to age 9, when he died in a very ugly and painful manner
(twisted gut). He was a Nice Boy, and once I got Mocha, I realized
that he was probably the second-best horse I've ever owned (Mocha
being number one, of course) in conformation and performance ability,
as well as temperament. He was a one-girl pony, pretty much, and
always turned to me when he got stressed. But he was an excellent
performing pony who should have had his chance in the show ring, given
his movement and his talent as a jumper.
So when weird things happen to Mocha, I get worried.
Now this is a pretty minor thing, overall. Saturday, I had a light
lesson (early in the morning, with heat coming on). Mocha was a bit
fussy, kicking up her hind end and not bending right. I mentioned to
G. that maybe we should keep an eye on her for colic, though I also
suspected she was just plain going into heat (other signs were
showing--hypersensitive to leg, not wanting to bend in one direction,
annoyed tail switching when I put my left leg on her, etc) and cooking
a difficult follicle. The bugs were also bothering her.
At the end of the light lesson, I hosed her off, put on a fly mask,
and turned her out. She promptly fell to grazing, not acting at all
like she was sick, so I figured yeah, she was coming into heat (she
will get like this sometimes coming into a difficult heat).
End of story--or so I thought.
When I went to the barn yesterday, G. soberly pulled me aside.
Apparently during turnout, suddenly Mocha started racing around like a
maniac. They went to check, and she had welts--huge hives--all over
her body. They pulled her out of the pasture and hosed her down
immediately (this is not the first time that Mystery Welts have
appeared on different horses, including their own, and they've found
this works--on vet recommendation). The welts went down quickly,
unlike the other cases of Mystery Welts, and she relaxed, so they
decided not to call me to call the vet (again, since they've been
through this with other horses in the barn, it didn't trigger the
"call the vet!" response because she responded to the recommended
treatment). But they also planned to tell me when I came out next
time, knowing that I show up early in the day during the summer.
I checked her over, and if it was bug-caused, I really couldn't find
the bites, except for one on her rear end. She had two small lumps
along her spine, and I could see the remnant of a big welt on her
neck. G. and I talked, and I decided to stick to a very light work
and that I would put a fly sheet back on her. This is the first year
I've not put a fly sheet on her in the summer because she just plain
trashes them. I have two fly sheets that she's done in and need
repairs. I did it in past years to keep bites off of her back (and
because she's shown a minor reaction to fly spray). I *was* thinking
that maybe I'm babying her too much--well, maybe I'm not.
She was a tired girl during the ride. She didn't exhibit any of the
tail swi****ng behavior, and yes, she's clearly further along in a heat
cycle (drippy girl!). Not quite to the soft-eyed "I wuv everyone"
behavior that comes at the end of the cycle, though. It was cooler
yesterday but still humid. Even though we stuck mostly to the walk,
with a warmup canter and a little bit of trotting, she started
sweating a little (not usual) and I didn't feel like I had my usual
horse under me until the end, when she started showing some energy. We
had a short, quiet ride focusing on bending, flexing, haunches in, and
various backing manuevers (backing in a circle, backing through an "L"
shaped obstacle), all at the walk with occasional trot breaks.
So WTF is going on? I'm scratching my head. She *has* popped out in
welts once before, after a tough lesson where she got pretty hot, and
they disappeared as she cooled down. At the time I attributed it to
the saddle cleaning wipes I'd used after the ride just before that
one. But I didn't use anything like that recently. I didn't use fly
spray at all on her (we're all pretty cautious because one of the
horses in the barn showed a major allergic reaction to fly spray, so
we've been cautious about it since). The only real change was in
rinsing her off, and I've done that before and thrown her outside in
the sun right afterwards. This was just the first time doing that
this year.
I'm just hoping it's not an indicator of another problem, and that
maybe it *was* just an attack of small bitey gnats or some sort of
weather reaction combined with an estrus cycle. Other cases have been
pretty similar, except that the welts didn't resolve as quickly as
Mocha's did. I'm definitely back to providing her with a barrier
method against flies 24/7, at least over her body (I'm not yet to the
point where I'm going to put a neck protector on her!).
Arrgh. She's definitely a Stall Princess girl!
jrw
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