My Horse Dixie

[SatanicIntention]

This is my Quarter Horse Dixie, after a 2-month stay at a friend of a friend's boarding place(ie: a field with no cover). She is 18 years old and supposed to be over 1200lbs(she's 15.3). Before I moved her there, she was holding her weight just fine. I moved her in January to this new place so she would be closer, and would be paying the same amount in board. I also gave the woman over $40 in various paste wormers(good quality ones) so she could worm Dixie every 6-8 weeks on a rotating schedule.

So.. This woman(who is nuts BTW and breeds HYPP positive horses only for a profit) proceeds to tell me that Dixie isn't eating her hay and is a very slow eater in general. I already knew she was a slow eater as she's been that way every since I got her 10 years ago. She tells me she's put Dixie on a hay-based pellet plus oats/complete pellet mixture, which equals up to 10lbs twice a day, because she's losing weight. She tells me the problem is her teeth as she's been worming her. She's dosed her twice with plain ivermectin. I say.. DUH lady.. Ivomec doesn't get rid of tapeworms, now does it.. Dumb, dumb people.. Horses who don't drop food out of their mouth don't have teeth problems..

I went and picked Dixie up with the help of a friend of the new stable she is being boarded at now. This was the 29th. When my mom saw her, she almost cried. Dixie didn't look like my horse.. You could see her spine, her ribs had no fat cover, her hindquarters were sunken in, you could see her pelvis and every bone in the sacrum. A previously healthy horse does not get that way in 2 months time from teeth problems.

As it stands now, the new stable actually cares about their horses. Dixie is getting 8lbs total(twice daily feedings equaling 8lbs) of a high quality senior feed(they feed Strategy normally). Brent, the owner/barn manager says she is grazing, eating her hay and eating all of her grain. She's not dropping food on the ground and is doing fine.

I've also talked to her vet when I was buying a full round of vaccinations from him(he was one of my teachers in RVT school). He said it's very unlikely her teeth are the problem and to just deworm her with Equimax and a 30-day round of Strongid C2x, the daily dewormer, just to clean her out all the way.

Anywho, here are pictures. They don't look as bad as she actually is.






I'll keep posting as she gains weight and starts looking like her normal self.

[littleindiangirl]

Wow Becky, she does look very lean. I'm not very good with horses and everything, but that does make me sad. I'm glad to hear you've got her into a very respectable stable now. Things are already looking up.

[joepythons]

O my god .Sorry to hear she was not being taken care of properly .I bet they billed you properly though

[slartibartfast]

Gah, Becky! I would be livid! If Dixie demonstrably improves at the new stable, can you pursue legal action?

[aaramire]

Oh my!!! Her back legs have hardly any muscle on them and she looks so thin! Very sad!! I hate people that are just into animals for a profit, because almost every time the animals suffer.

[catawhat75]

Wow Becky, poor Dixie! My mom had that happen at a barn a few years ago. That woman was a nutcase!
I am sure she will be back to her old self in no time

[SatanicIntention]

She has been colicking since yesterday evening, and hasn't passed any stool since yesterday afternoon. After oil and water mixture, banamine and xylazine, she still hasn't passed anything and we did that at 630p yesterday. I'm not too hopeful.. And I don't have funding to take her in for surgery..

I would love to send these vet bills to that nutcase lady...

[aaramire]

She has been colicking since yesterday evening, and hasn't passed any stool since yesterday afternoon. After oil and water mixture, banamine and xylazine, she still hasn't passed anything and we did that at 630p yesterday. I'm not too hopeful.. And I don't have funding to take her in for surgery..

I would love to send these vet bills to that nutcase lady...

ohh the poor girl! thats awful!

[equis8]

oh NO! Keep us updated...I wonder if she could be collicky because of the worming??? Especially if she has been incorrectly wormed in the last few months, those nasty tapeworms can build up. I hope she makes it through. I'm so glad you got her out of there!!!!

And as a fellow horse person...you CAN tell she's obviously lost weight, you shouldn't see the division between the hipbones like you can in the picture, not to mention she looks weak, and is holding herself wrong (all four feet are slightly under her). Bad bad lady!!!!! Hopefully you can fatten her up again and let her be a happy old girl again...although 18 really isnt old old...but when an older horse goes through stuff like that its really hard on them. poor gal.

I can't believe there are actually people out there that think its ok to breed HYPP horses!!!! its just wrong to play with that kind of a genetic disease!!!

[SatanicIntention]

Dixie passed away last night unfortunately.. She was my first and only horse and I've had her since she was 8 years old.

The barn manager, Brent, checked on her around 5 yesterday and she was up and walking around, but still looking very uncomfortable. He went to go feed the other mares, talked to Jack(the guy who hauled Dixie there for me) for maybe 10 minutes, then went back to check on her. She was gone when he went back, so it was very quick..

The vet thinks she had a thrombus that went to the arteries supplying the intestines, and the colic was secondary to that.. There wouldn't have been anything we could have done anyway.. Poor girl..

I'm just happy that she was in a good place that cared about her these last 2 weeks..