Holly with foster dad, Adam
11 Mar
Copper Sulphate (Bluestone) in open wounds: a cautionary tale
Copper Sulphate (also known as Bluestone) is used regularly by horse owners when drawing out abscesses in hooves and treating proud flesh, for example. But Copper Sulphate is not always appropriate and in this case it has nearly caused the death of our latest rescue horse. What we’d like to highlight in this post is an exceptionally valuable lesson that all horse owners can take away. We feel it is so vitally important to share this information and so try to prevent something like this happening again to someone else. We’d like to give credit to Joey’s owner for recognising that she needed help and asking for help.
Joey, in foster care
Meet Joey. Joey arrived urgently this weekend. He is just over a year old and is a Clydesdale x Thoroughbred gelding. Joey’s owner phoned us desperately seeking assistance to surrender him immediately. She informed us that Joey had cut his fetlock open and she felt she didn’t have the ability or facilities to give him what he needed in order for him to make a full recovery. It isn’t always easy for someone to ask for help but she put the needs of her horse first.
We spoke to both the first vet who’d treated Joey at the owner’s location to get his medical history, and then got our own local vet to come and see him as well as soon as Joey arrived in foster care.
The cut on Joey’s fetlock was large and deep and seems to have come from metal (he is also covered in superficial wire cuts). A “cut” doesn’t really describe it. It was more of a gouge. The injury could also have been there for several days as he was unsupervised for that time. The owner treated the injury herself and packed the wound with copper sulphate. She did this with the best intentions. Unfortunately, Copper Sulphate draws and burns. The burning ability of this bluestone in an open, fresh wound burned the injury at least one centimetre deeper than it was originally. The results of this action were:
- excruciating pain for Joey
- burning down to the bone in one part
- burning so close to a major tendon in another part that it has left Joey with the unfortunate possibility of tendon infection, permanent lameness and euthanasia.
The bluestone had such a caustic effect that we can still see the remnants of it inside the fetlock cavity even after two lots of veterinary attempts to flush it out. While the first vet recommended a general anaesthetic and surgery to flush out the remaining bluestone, our vet recommended starting treatment a little more conservatively, though he has also had to cut away Joey’s heels. What both vets agree on, though, is that there is the chance the tendon will become infected and this could result in euthanasia for Joey.
We’re doing everything we can to try to prevent that happening.
Complicating the situation is that Joey is young and doesn’t have a lot of ground handling savvy. He’s very difficult to treat and, naturally, doesn’t want anyone to touch his leg/hoof after such a terrible experience. This may mean we’ll have to get the vet out to sedate him each time a bandage change is required, which could go on for some time yet.
This story is both a cautionary tale for all horse owners (there is valuable experience here for all of us) as well as a plea for assistance. We expect Joey’s rehabilitation will take many months and his vet bills will run into the thousands, so if you’re able to assist us with any donation, big or small, we’d be most appreciative. Please visit our donations page to see how you can help.
Joey has been named by his foster family after the star of the movie War Horse for his courage (and who was also covered in wire injuries) and is fostering at Ferny Hills on Brisbane’s north side. His foster mum, Lisa L, is doing an amazing job of looking after Joey and is already totally in love with this young man. We’re all hoping for a happy ending for this fellow. Stay tuned…
8 Mar
Sienna: Our New Angel
Sienna, day 1
Charlie’s Angels welcomed a new rescue horse into our clan last weekend. Meet Sienna.
Sienna is a 20y.o. Thoroughbred mare who has been surrendered to us. She is underweight, her hooves are not in good shape, and she has a very deep sore on her rump right on the spine near her tail. The vet is quite concerned about the sore because of its depth and position so close to the spine. We’ve begun a course of treatment for her that includes antibiotics, probiotics, herbs to stimulate her immune system and we will follow up with poultices and Manuka honey, depending on how it goes.
Sienna is fostering on the Sunshine Coast, in the same location as our other foster horses, Grace and Holly.
We’ll keep you posted.
5 Mar
Horse Care after Floods
pic by striatic
Re-posted after the January 2011 Qld floods…..Extreme weather conditions such as flooding bring challenges to horses and their carers. We asked Brisbane Valley Vets, Dr Bill Roughan, what we should be looking out for.
- Seedy toe and hoof abscesses. Hooves and wet weather do not mix! Bill says they’re already seeing quite a few hoof abscesses and any horse that is acutely lame in a 24-hour period will need to see the vet asap.
- Greasy heel. With the weeks of wet weather leading up to the flooding and the weeks that will follow, you’re likely to see flare ups of greasy heel. Greasy heel is a bacterial infection and needs to be taken seriously to avoid spreading. You need to try to get the skin dry, pull off the scabs (because the bacteria lives underneath), scrub with a disinfectant such as iodine and possibly treat with an antibiotic powder from the vet.
- Rain scald. Very similar to greasy heel and treated much the same. Older horses, horses with Cushings syndrome, long-haired equines and any equine who has a compromised immune system will be prone to rain scald.
- Worm burdens! This wet weather will increase worm burdens dramatically. Bill says worm levels are at their highest levels ever seen right now. Carers should be particularly vigilant about worming, rotate wormer brands and have a plan in place to rotate horse paddocks for the rest of this year. A faecal worm count, done two weeks after worming, will show you how effective your worm strategy is.
Any horse that has received cuts or injuries during the floods should have their tetanus vaccinations updated.
3 Mar
Grain overload: My horse ate too much grain. What do I do?
Many of us will have experienced the unfortunate event of our horse escaping, opening the feed shed door, opening the grain bins and helping himself to a huge ‘grain party’, consuming large (or unknown) amounts of grain. It can be a sickening feeling, not knowing exactly how much grain he has ingested and what this could mean for him.
Grain overload occurs when a horse eats large quantities of high grain foods without having previously been conditioned to eat that quantity of grain. And it can be very serious or even life threatening. The two biggest risk factors are laminitis (founder) and colic.
“Horses can suffer from grain overload after eating as little as 10 to 15 pounds of grain, depending on the size of the horse and its normal grain intake…. Grain overload can lead to colic, diarrhea and founder-three of the worst clinical conditions imaginable for a horse. Severe cases can even lead to acute toxic shock and death.” (From Equine Medical Services)
“As the events of a grain overload proceed systemic endotoxemia (toxicity), caused by the dying off of gram-negative bacteria and their release of toxins, and sepsis (infection) may overpower all of the horses normal digestive metabolism. These horses can become very ill, very quickly and in some cases even heroic efforts to save the horse’s life are futile.” (From Equine Medical Service)
Please do not rely on home remedies to attempt to fix this problem yourself.
In all cases of grain overload, contact your veterinarian for advice immediately. The key to successfully treating such an event is to begin treatment BEFORE clinical signs appear. Early treatment is far easier and cheaper than waiting until the situation deteriorates, when more aggressive, expensive and less-optimistic treatments will be needed.
27 Feb
Update on Jimmy
Jimmy, hiding from the rain in his cosy stable 
Jimmy has seen the vet again to check his teeth. Although he has lots of teeth left, the vet thinks only about three of them are working efficiently. We’re going to add two cups of oil to his feed each day to help boost his calorie intake. Grass is a really important feed for him because it’s the easiset for him to chew and get nutrients from.
25 Feb
Update on Shona and Joleena
Joleena and Shona in their new homeWide open spaces
Shona and Joleena are settling in beautifully into their new home at Horse Heaven with Gaye Harvey, near Stanthorpe in SE Queensland. Gaye sent through these lovely pics of the girls enjoying their freedom.
Running free
Gaye also says that Joleena rushes to the fence every time she sees the mares and foals comes close. For Joleena, this shows just how much she has healed emotionally in the past two years. When we picked her up with her two-month-old foal at foot in a slaughter yard, she was kicking at him and clearly well and truly ‘over’ motherhood (having come out of an intensive breeding situation).
Beautiful Joleena! Gaye says she’ll try putting some mares and foals in the paddock with Shona and Joleena to see how they react. They may have an important role in the future as babysitters to the young weanlings. Aww…
23 Feb
See us on Totally Wild!
Filming for Totally Wild. Jo M, Stacey, and Bojangles
Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue will be featured in a second television appearance on the children’s show, Totally Wild, coming up soon!
The story, entitled Bojangles Rescue, will be going to air on Tuesday 28th February at 4:00 pm on Network Ten and features Bojangles himself, his foster mum, Jo M, and President, Jo S.
Tune in to see our gorgeous little man!
20 Feb
Horse Looking for a Home
Good trail riding horse needs forever home.
As written by his current owners:
ROHAN – 14.2h 11yo bay quarter horse/pony. Due to an injury a forever-home is wanted for Rohan. He was our daughter’s show jumper but developed sidebone after an accident (x-rays available). He can no longer jump or do anything involving tight turns but would be well suited to an experienced rider wanting to do trail riding. We have done some natural horsemanship work with him and would benefit from more work as, although he doesn’t kick or bite, his ground manners could be improved. He has been regularly shod, wormed, vaccinated and had annual dentist checks. He is a good doer and comes with a bridle and numerous rugs. We ask that you make a donation of $500 to Charlies’ Angels as payment. Ph: Jenny 0487 353 766.
You can find more photos of Rohan at http://flickr.com/gp/ahesketh/AQg6p9/
(Note: this horse is not in Charlie’s Angels’ care.)
(Rohan is located at Maroochy River, SE Qld.)
20 Feb
What Kind of Learner is Your Horse?
Oscar, an LBE in the Parelli system
When I was a school teacher, it was drummed into us to always remember that no two students learn exactly the same way. Some would be primarily auditory learners, some visual, some kinaesthetic, and so on. Planning lessons to suit a range of students’ learning styles is always in the back of a teacher’s mind. Yet when it comes to our horses, I think many of us fall into habits of communicating with our horses the same way. For example, if I put pressure here, you should respond this way. If I try to worm you this way, it should work, because that’s how I’ve wormed all my horses. If I want you to pick up your foot, I only have to pinch here and you should respond quickly.
But what if our horse doesn’t understand us? And what if we don’t understand our horse? And if we understood a horse’s learning style and personality (or ‘horsenality’ as Parelli calls it), would it help us get along better with our equine partners?
Sadly, a lot of abuse, neglect and ‘throwing away’ of horses occurs because the person involved simply doesn’t have the knowledge or insight into why the horse is behaving as he is. Fortunately, there are now systems that can help us navigate through perceived horse problems to a place of mutual respect.
Just as there a variety of ways to analyse your own personality, there are also several systems available to look at your horse’s personality and, consequently, the way he sees and understands the world, the way he tries to communicate with you and the way he learns.
Pat Parelli says that horses predominantly fall into one of four horsenalities: Left Brain Extrovert, Left Brain Introvert, Right Brain Extrovert and Right Brain Introvert. The Extroverts tend to have ‘more go than whoa’ whereas the Introverts tend to have ‘more whoa than go’. The right-brained horses tend to be more submissive and fearful, whereas the left-brained horses tend to be more dominant and confident. (See www.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com for more information.)
Jo McInnes created a horse and owner personality decoder that groups horses into four basic ‘colours’: Blue, Red, Yellow and Purple. Blue horses are quick learners and expressive horses that like to play. Repetition drives them mad. Red horses are sensitive and emotional and are very willing as they like to avoid pressure. They can also be fearful and have a tendency to worry. Yellow horses internalise feelings until they boil over. Trust is very important to these horses. And Purple horses are what are generally known as a ‘bombproof’ horse, unflappable and reliable. But this also means they can be defiant and stubborn. (See www.holisticequitation.com.au for more information.)
And Madalyn Ward (DVM) groups horses into five elements, based on the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach of constitutional typing: fire, earth, water, wood and metal. She says that Fire horses love to be the centre of attention and make the perfect show horse. Wood horses are the ultimate competitors and must be kept active or will begin bad habits like kicking or biting. Earth horses are solid citizens that love respect and food and can be the dependable lesson horse. The Metal horse is a hard worker who can take big and tough demands — think, hard-working stock horse. The Water horse can be a wonderful show horse, performing well in tasks that require animation and excitement, but can be frightened easily and require calm, steady riders to help them through. (See www.holistichorsekeeping.com for more information.)
Understanding your horse’s base personality and emotional and intellectual processes can help you both to develop a stronger connection and respect for each other. We are lucky to be living in a time in which we have such a large array of resources for us to take advantage of, and how much more improved a horse’s life can be with such information at our fingertips.
Joanne Schoenwald, President
