Thursday AltaNero had straw packets in his mouth and on friday Cubanito had much saliva in his mouth ..... this afternoon at 5pm. they all had a lot of saliva in their mouth ...
So there is a new problem .... and my feeling tells me they have sores in the mouth .... of barley straw or the straw that I brought from the ranch last Sunday ....
Tonight I also gave Chiki some barley straw and no avenastro to the boys .... If Chiki has no problem it is the normal straw that's causing it and otherwise the culprit is the barley straw.
Tonight I'm giving them kamomillethee in the mouth and in the morning I'm calling the vet.
Thanks to the efforts of Irene, who sent a number of letters to various organisations, she got a phone call on thursday The holistic Vet Erik Laarakker said that he wants to help us .
He suggested we send 2 manure samples by mail from preferably the worst of the foals according to me.
I had to collect fresh manure in a plastic sandwich bag and put some aluminum foil around it to avoid any external contamination of substances. Also some hair from the tail was desired.
Irene reported me that the vet would personally and for free examine the manure for worms, intestinal flora and any bacteria in the intestines.
He also gave me info on Emanuelle Driesen, who is working here as a veterinarian. I rang her on Thursday, but unfortunately was not able yet to speak with her. I did leave her a message.
Yesterday it was not possible to have evertyhing in the house in time and to catch the manure because I needed help too for myself and I still had to buy some things.
This morning I waited in the stables ..... and waited ..... and waited.... They apparently knew there was something I wanted from them, haha haha
But patience is rewarded .... and so I could gather everything, packed it up and sent it. It was sent by express mail "emergency" and would in principle be there on Monday.
Tonight I will make a list of events and administered medication and will send the story with pictures to the Netherlands by email.
Ow yes .... I selected the manure of Aston and Amoroso
Meanwhile the horses are sunbathing now after eating their breakfast .... finally back a little sun and warmth ... although the wind is still blowing furiously now and again.
The sun shines, the wind blows, and it is quiet cold .... time to take a minute to inspect the fields .... It has rained enough .... what we have sown in September is now starting to come out well ... but with 2 months delay.
The horses are doing fine today ... everyone .... yes even Aston is making beautifull parcels ...
I had to go to the chiropractor to further unlock my neck and to have the epicondylitis in my right arm (due to the falls of the last month) treated. Monday I also have to go to the traumamologist.
Went to the ridershop and bought this.
Of course I went to the youngsters, as every day, ... I have also been looking for the straw-oat, alfalfa,.... supplier who dit not show up yesterday and who doesn't answer his telephone anymore.
Aston en Amoroso are enjoying the blankets for a 2nd night in a row .... they are a bit big, especially for Aston. .
Ow yes .... my quick design to get water into the mouth of a horse to rinse it out in case something is stuck
This morning, my neighbour Michael and I went to search for the culprit that caused that there was no reaction from the electric fencing ....
Cubanito, our grey one, had already pleated some poles and tested the wires.
The culprit turned out to be the poor conductivity of the ground. Therefor Michael made 2 additional grounding contacts and all the bad contact of the wires were redone.
The horses enjoyed the sun that finally shone again ... and most of them went to lie down and have a nice rest. But Aston was not feeling well and by noon he had the Niagara Falls again.
Together with Michael we moved Amoroso and the Black Stallion ....The Black back to the Cubanito and Altanero...and Amoroso with Aston. So I could give these 2 a bit more avena what would do their bowels some extra good. The other men had had fewer bowel problems, so.
At lunchhour I went to the kids and was shockedto see they had about half a bale of cebada to eat ... while it's a new kind of food for them ..... Although I had prepared all the food for the next 3 days, nicely divided into packets for morning, lunch and evening ... something obviously went wrong.I informed the man that they can only give the food that I have prepared before, because I want to avoid any additional problems.
Later at home I noticed however that the Black Stallion was lying down a lot and again focused on his box ... as if something was disturbing him ...and yes I did not see him urinate. So I warmed some water and gave him another internal wash.
So a busy day once again .... and Aston left me no rest .... I treated him with the torch again and did the extra points that Brian had communicated. You'll never believe it .... at 7 pm. Aston put the perfect pack down .... the best of them all
Searched for a new device ....and did not find it, so I opened it myself. Went to the store to get a new condensator, but later inspection by my neighbour Michael revealed nthat the condensator was not broken.
A new fuse was inserted and there was a good contact. Thuisgekomen bleek na plaatsing om 20u15 dat er niets veranderd was aan de situatie.....
But back home I installed it again at 20u15, it appreared that nothing had changed ... Well if it ain't the wires and it ain't the device, what then ?
Sometimes by night I already have forgotten what I actually did that day .... don't worry, it's just fatigue
The night was particularly bad ... every movement of my head awakened me because of the pain of the pinched nerve in my neck. Luckily I was able to visit the chiropractor this afternoon.
Like every morning it's a matter of preparing and administering oral syringes, feeding the horses and cleaning the stables and paddocks completely & thoroughly. And that should happen today too, but slightly slower and with less abrupt movements.
As I got ready to go to the chiropractor and washed my hair, I deblocked my spinal purely accidental and I had much less pain.... ... I therefor annuled my urgent appointment ....as he was taking me after his hours because it was urgent and now it wasn't anymore.
Given the good response of the horses on the "paja the cebada en rama" I phoned the supplier and ordered a load .... Normally it will be delivered on Thursday, if it finally stops raining...
The horses are meanwhile better again: Scores:
Altanero: 9/10 (always leave the door open he) ) Cubanito: 9/10 Black Stallion: 9/10 Amoroso: 1 pack less good in the last 12 hours: 7 / 10 Aston: No Niagara falls in the last 24 hours...still a bit soft sometimes ... but much better than sunday 4 / 10
In the afternoon I returned to see the little foals of course. They had to stay inside all day because of the inclement wet weather. Luckily they have an extra large shed where they can easily walk around in these bad days.
At 9 pm. the big guys got their 4th meal of the day and yet another day had gone ...
Once more I made a false move and I pinched a nerve in my neck ... a good start to the day soHmhm... HMHM ...
Quickly went down and excecuted all the tasks because I had to leave to go to Alicante. Meanwhile my neighbour Tony stayed with the horses. Aston was indeed quiet and had become a bit sad.... After seeing the inspectiondoc, I had to go to the medical horse clinic because my vet had enough of the fact that Aston still had diarhea. As everything was OK at home (I called several times .. yesyes), I went to see the little ones and they were all fine. Then I went to the pharmacy for an extra charge of medicine and then I went back home.
All horses were right up and everything was cleaned up ... I could not see what had been laid during my absence.
I gave Aston the antibiotics but was shortly afterwards shaken as he no longer had diarrhea ... During the whole period that I was downstairs with them they were no more waterfalls ... I was almost sorry that I had given antibiotics but well...it was too late now...
Also the rest of the day the packages were acceptable, yet not good but better than yesterday.
The DA was surprised that I had managed to find "paja the cebada en rama". Apparently, it must be totally different than the barley straw up North of Europe because here it seems to be one of the best for horses. And the one they delivered to me yesterday does not have those piercing stems and therefore can not cause damage to mouth and intestines.
So they had a bit this afternoon for the first time for dinner and again at 16.30 and 21u30 although mixed with oat straw where the grains are still and straw of oats and ...
Ow yes ... they are crazy about it and are even a bit wild when they see me coming down with it....
Tired and worried Ow ... did I tell you yet that it's raining again and now the stormy winds are heard and felt.
I didn't sleep much....Amoroso had spasms again last night and so I had to keep him in sight And for me that meant staying with him for an hour after he gets better again and then check on him every 90 minutes.
Fortunately he stayed well during the night.
The showers were not too bad ... we have been spared so far.... but it is very dark and cloudy .
This morning I had an appointment at 10 am. with my neighbours to go and pick up a large bale of straw that I bought yesterday at the ranch where the foals are. The weather was still threatening but fortunately it had not rained yet. We connected the trailer and went on our way. After we had put the big bale in the trailer we went to visit the 4 foals to say hello and stroke them. The objective is that the neighbours would go once a week to visit the kids so that they would be less alone .... At my place I was all day long in their neighborhood.
We hugged them and pieces of apple and banana (in fact my breakfast) were distributed.
On our way home we were stopped & put aside by the Guardia Civil....and I knew why but... well ....
So to the side and get out ... meanwhile I had my iron corset on top of my other one ... Madam, you know that car and trailer have to have the same nrplate ? But of course sir, that's how it is no ? Well damn, well I've loaned my trailer to a friend and they have apparently forgotten to change the plates again. Oh sir, I've got the plates at home. Why don't you come with us... I just went out to get some food for some starving colts that I saved...blabla blabla .... A vague memory of my old career in Belgium came back to the surfaceand my arguments took 5 more minutes ... but I did win all means ... Maybe he felt ashamed at what his fellow citizens had done to these foals ... and saying that both the Police and Seprona were informed about my actions ... well
Instead of having to pay 160 for the fine, I received a warning ...and that's a first .... whew an extra 160 for the foals so
Back home everyone was free and upright. And Amoroso put a nearly perfect package down for the first time in 3 days. The treatment with the torch must have done him good. During the afternoon cleaning at the paddocks of the foals, a truck arrived... and they thought of playing with my feet again. I had ordered 10 bales of barleystraw to see if the foals would like it and was well tolerated but he arrived with a full truck.
Well I did not change my mind and he backed off with the rest.
After the disinfection of the stables I took the time to briefly look on the internet about information on barley straw .... and so I learned to know the different types ... I was also warned about the danger of barley straw and so I decided not to use it today but to wait till tomorrow, so I could first speak with the vet.
During the afternoon Aston deteriorated ...He had another visit from the Niagara Falls. It was terrible .... it squirted easy 1.5 m far back ...
This could not continue and so I decided to give him a complete treatment with the torch and to also treat the points for viral infections. Luckily he was still playful and was still eating...
All in all a tiring day and tonight I will hold guard ... you can't be too carefull with Amaroso !
Thus we returned to oats, because alfalfa at every meal seemed to do nothing good for their bodies ... and other straw can lead to congestion so...
And then .... then you have oats straw with the oats still on, called "avena en rama" here ... which I've just 5 bales or something left. The entire winterstock of my horse went to the foals.Yes indeed, really, I gave the food for my horse to the foals.
And so this morning I 've been calling around and going to stables .... but nobody has any avena and it is no longer available untill May 2010....
Tomorrow I get a few bales of something that should appear like a cereal straw .... something about straw of something else
Nobody in northern Spain or France can help me to find a phone number of a supplier?
A donkey ... does not hit his head 2 on the same rock ...
or how do they say it again
This morning it was already so far ... within a time span of 5 minutes, I knocked my head against the same corner twice ... How stupid do you have to be ? Or was it a sign that I was tired and should take it easy.
Amoroso had a good night ... after the last spasms of last night I did not see anything druing the check-ups that was disturbing, he was relaxed.
After administering the morning oral syringes (URBAL & ultra levure) I saw during the cleanigworks that Amoroso had diarrhea now: that did not disturb me much because the pain relief he got yesterday could have caused it. The packets of the others were slightly better, only Aston is still in the back row.
Continuing on my feeling of yesterday they only had avena / oats for breakfast. Amoroso also ate and had no cramps after that.
As the other owner of the ranch had now arrived and was up with his horses, I took advantage of the fact that there was a superintendent who could keep everything in sight, to go the pharmacy to pick up the rest of the order of yesterday and find a cream for my burned hands and to pick up the mail: I received some lovely post of a co-bokker with beautiful pictures of her rescued animals and a bonus for the foals: They thank you!
Back home, everything went fine, so I filled the car to go to the little ones ... Hearing my car is still enough for Filly to call for me
I laid out the food laid for the next few days and decided to start giving them foalchunk again ... they are not sick and they need it, so we begin to quietly rebuild it up.
Back home I gave the big boys their lunch and started to clean again.
After lunch Amoroso had cramps again but not for long and no injection was needed.
At dinner I decided to let Amoroso eat only a small amount in the barn to eat so he could not overeat with the others ...But of course there was something standing in the way, my left leg was not high enough and so I landed flat on the ground in the remains in the bleach ...I can barely step and will start treating me now.
Amoroso just had some coliccramps again and therefor we will have another tiring night with regular check-ups.
Now preparing the evening syringes and then administer them ...
I saw it immediately .... this is not good .... Amoroso was lying down this morning when I went down.
He did get up to go have his breakfast and did his business ... but stopt eating and went lying down again ... he streched his leg and stretched his neck, his head went back and he showed his teeth, his breathing was faster and louder .... so it was clear to me he was having pain and went back up to get an injection and to take the torch.
I gave him an injection and treated the colicpoints. I sent an SMS message to the vet because he only starts at 9:30 ... And then the vet called me and I could also tell him that everything was better. The vet was in surgery and therefore not around ... he was also off work from noon till next Monday. Agreement was that I would call him before noon to tell him the situation.
.
