Fudge’s EPM Rehabilitation

The pallet box slow feeder we built last fall works great, but the geldings chase the mare off the hay.  I needed another slow feeder, without making another project for hubby.  It had to be mobile, cheap, quick to load, and preferably not have to be hooked to the fence.

Grub bucket

This slow feeder uses a 70 Qt muck bucket, a 38″ diameter small mesh hay net, and one double ended dog snap.  It can be hooked to the fence with another snap or short trailer tie.  It loads in less than one minute.  I leave these loose in the dry lot, and the horses play with them.

Tie two loops in the net cord.  It should fit over the lip of the bucket with the loops, but not after being closed with the snap.  Tie the loops about 1/3 of the way around the cord.  Adjust the location of the loops, not the length.

Do not use this for shod horses.  The shoes can get caught in the net.

Theres a comedian in every crowd:

The blizzard of 2010 kept us busy clearing the driveway and cars this morning.  We are lucky to still have power after the high winds and heavy snow.  The horses are rarely stalled, but we put them in last night due to the possibility of branches coming down.  They were very happy to get out. 

Fudge (star) plays with Drifter (star and stripe) in the 28″ of snow.  Fudge has come a long way in his recuperation.  He is still not ride-able at more than a walk or trot.  We will continue to work on this rehab with ground exercises, and walking the trails.  It’s a very long way to the hunter pace this May.  I don’t know if Fudge will ever come back far enough to ride at a canter.  Time will tell.

The Mustang mare is obviously bored with the play of the geldings.  She is eating from one of the slow feeders.  It’s made from a small mesh hay net over a muck bucket.  It closes with a double ended dog snap.  These slow feeders are easy to fill and drag over the snow.

It has been one year since we purchased Fudge from Paula Derby of Lazy D Acres.  She has relocated to Ocala , FL.  She still obtains horses from the infamous New Holland Auction in Lancaster, PA. 

One of the things that stresses horses is trailering.  Long distance trailering suppresses the immune system.  When researchers want to infect horses with EPM, they use the trailering stress model.  Somehow, I can’t see the auction process, followed by long distance trailering as beneficial to the health of a horse.

Fudge has had a funny line on his shoulder for a few weeks.  It recently got much more noticeable.  On closer inspection, the top of his shoulder has very thin muscles, and no fat.  Below the line, it has thicker muscles and a shallow layer of fat.  The lower portion is 1/4″ thicker than above the line.  I’m not sure if it is continuing atrophy above, or regeneration of muscle below.  Comparing pictures from one or two months ago doesn’t help to sort it out, but does confirm that this is new.

Pattern of muscles on shoulder

Line shown in red.

Fudge continues to have a lack of proprioception (knowledge of where his hooves are in relation to his body) in the rear feet.  It is worse on the right rear.  He often stands with a rear hoof cocked at a strange angle, or a leg angled underneath his body.  Standing often with the leg angled has other affects on him.  He is not aware that his stance makes him very unstable.  It is probably placing stress on other muscles to take the load.  It causes odd wear patterns on his rear hooves, which over two months creates an unbalanced hoof.

Left rear is angled under the body

Fudge was in the cross ties to be brushed last night.  His right rear leg was cocked out at almost 90°.  While DH went to get the camera, Fudge moved to get a better look at what the other horses were eating.  We then had to wait until he moved out of balance again.  In the photo, notice how his left rear leg is angled under him, with the toe pointed out.  The right rear toe is also slightly angled out.  Fudge is not normally cow hocked, but a stance like this has us watching for interference of the rear feet while moving.

This shiny boy stood very quietly as the camera flashed repeatedly.  He got some well-deserved peppermints.

While the vet was out last week, I asked her to take a very close look at the bumps on Fudge’s chest that we blogged about in May.  They were scars at the time of purchase, and have grown since then.  After five months hematomas should have been reabsorbed.  They didn’t look or feel like any sarcoids the vet had seen. 

This time around Fudge stood very patiently as the vet probed, squeezed, and palpated his chest.  He trusts us now not to hurt him down there, and the pain from the injuries must have subsided.  She carefully examined and compared all the bumps/scar tissue/injuries along his neck and chest.  These appear to be the result of deep cuts through the skin and a layer of muscle.  The edge of the lacerated muscle has curled up, forming an egg sized lump under the skin, and a shallow pit where the muscle is missing.  This is a much better diagnosis than sarcoids.  Hopefully the muscle will stabilize during his time off for rehabilitation, and not tear further.

You’d think that if the horse had flaps of skin and muscle hanging from him, that the owner would have noticed, and then gotten him some veterinary attention to suture the wounds.  Yes, you’d think.