Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Never a Dull Moment

Dental day started out kind of fun--I chatted with the vet about the sedatives he was using and then was duly impressed by what a lightweight my little man is. Seriously. He pretty much just sniffed them and was under. His girlfriend took twice the dose he did and she was still quasi awake.


Once his teeth were done, I literally left Courage standing in the stall with the front and back doors open because he was so put of it that I knew he couldn't go anywhere. I mean, his head was about 2" off the ground and he was snoring. Loudly.


I paid the vet, chatted with friends for a bit, then closed the stall doors and rode another horse at the barn while Courage recovered enough to go to his own stall. By the time I got off the other horse, he was sort of clumsily wandering around the stall so I pulled him out. He was all dopy and cuddly. I stuck him in the cross ties and hosed him off to clean up the dust he accumulated in the dry weather.

He didn't like the cold water, but it was 70f and sunny, so I scraped him off and stuck him in his run to dry in the sun while I picked up my stuff.

But he started shivering. His hind end was shaking uncontrollably and his front end was twitching. His skin was ice cold to the touch. I put his halter on and hand walked him in the sunbeam, but he back end was super stiff and he was still shaking.

If that wasn't weird enough, then his nose started bleeding.

Yikes. I put in a call to the vet, let the BO know that he was having some trouble, put a fleece on him, and hand grazed him in the sun for a while. (Noted: at this point, he was awake, just really, really cold.)

Poor little man. :-( It took a crazy long time, but he warmed up slowly wearing both fleece and standing in the sun. The vet got back with me and said that as long as he perked up, it would be ok. By the time I left, Courage was muching his hay, though now wearing his 220gram medium winter blanket in the nearly 60f weather.

He seems fine now. My BO checked on him overnight and I'll be out this morning. I've been around plenty of sedated horses before, but I'd never seen a reaction quite like that.

25 comments:

  1. Oh that is scary :( Glad he is feeling better though.

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  2. Wow scary stuff!! So glad he's okay!

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  3. Aaaaah, I would've been terrified. I'm so glad he seemed better, whew!

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  4. Yikes, super scary!! Poor little lightweight C-Rage.

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  5. Yikes! That's scary, poor little C-Rage :-/

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  6. I've learned to be very careful with the seds. Horses that are fine once can have really strange reactions the next time. Glad Courage was OK though!

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  7. Poor dude! And poor you for having to deal with it! Glad he seems better now.

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  8. I think being doped up can lower your core temperature and make it hard to warm up. Very weird about the nose bleed, though. I would have been very freaked. Glad he is feeling better!

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  9. Few things. Drugged courage is adorbs. Second, LOVE the new header. Third, about your last post- I feel that shit girl. Hang in there. You know the old adage, it will get better! We all have to complain sometimes!

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  10. Yikes, scaresville & sucksfest on last post. Hope all picks up asap
    *bighugs*

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  11. Yikes! That's crazy. I'm glad he is doing okay.

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  12. how scary...glad he is ok...maybe next time they can use a different type of sedative.

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  13. Shivering and/or excessive sweating can both be aftereffects of some sedation. Not sure about the nosebleed but that might have been an effect of the floating. Glad to hear Courage came out of it all OK.

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  14. Very scary. My old horse had an allergic reaction to sedative before. His lips swelled and I was worried that his throat would close. You never know how these horses are going to react.

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  15. I would have been so scared. I'm glad he came out of it ok!

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  16. Sheesh! I am glad he is ok and you were there to tend to him :)

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  17. That is a little scary! Glad he pulled out of it okay though.

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  18. Oh my goodness!!! I would have had a heart attack! I've heard of horses having weird reactions coming out of it, but I've never seen it. Poor Courage. I'm glad he's okay.

    I do have to say the beginning of the post about him sniffing the drugs and going under had me cracking up, but the ending was scary. I'm glad it all turned out well.

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  19. I noticed excessive sweating after sedation but a nosebleed would freak me out! Way to stay "cool" Mom!

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  20. Maybe he doesn't need to be sedated next time. My horse is also a lightweight and rarely goes under even for health procedures and dental work.

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  21. Our mini donks have to be watched if it is at all chilly out. Sedation makes equines give off body heat, and the hosing might have ended up being a bit much. The nose... maybe he bumped himself while out of it? Scary, glad he;s feeling good again.

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