Gem Update

AHHHH!!! Work is horrible right now for a number of reasons and my new business has been keeping me beyond busy at night after W goes to bed, so there has been little Gemmie time and even less blogging time.

But there has been a lot going on still. For starters, my horse owning fail.

I went away to Orlando for a work conference at the end of February. I was going to ride the weekend before I left, but we got a call from the barn owner that Pete had blood coming out of his mouth. Oh no!!! I immediately panicked and we headed out to the barn. It turns out he cut his tongue a little and it was not a problem at all. But with all that I didn't get to see my Gemmie before we left for a week.

When I got back the BO called again saying that Gem had some weird skin thing going on. I panicked again and went out to see her feeling like a loser horse owner because the end of January and all of February had me out maybe once every other week if I was lucky. Gemmie hates it when I don't see her often and then I got a call that she had something wrong and it made me feel terrible.

I went and got her and this is what I saw:

Probably from butt rubbing

Ugly bare spots



Icky

When I first got her 4 years ago she had bare spots on her butt like above and it was due to a heavy worm load causing her to be itchy and rub the hair off. The BO also thought of this since he saw the butt first and so he de-wormed the entire property. But then the spots on her neck showed up and he was at a loss since those shouldn't be from rubbing.

I figured it was a fungus due to being outside a lot and my poor ownership and lackluster grooming as of late. I am usually very meticulous about grooming her out and love a shiny, clean horse. I only bathe her once or twice a year to not strip all the oils out of her, but always brush her out until she shines before and after a ride. They don't appear to be bite wounds as the skin is intact and they are not sensitive at all. So I groomed the crap out of her and applied a fungicide that they had.

The next day was 75 and sunny so I took her out and gave her a good all over bath to get the grime out of her and reapplied the fungicide.

The good news is that they haven't gotten any worse and there are no new spots. I switched to a powdered antifungal that I have and really like. It is called Thrush No More and is a great product. I took those pictures at the beginning of March. The areas started looking pretty dry and flaky so now I am applying my other favorite product: Belly Balm which is an all natural aloe based product and that seems to be soothing the skin. There is new hair slowly growing in and while she looks terrible I don't think it will scar or anything.

I'm also a little worried about her overall nutrition. They added a 5th horse to the pasture and since then Gem seems to be a little duller than normal. It is also a crappy time of year where her fall supplies are running low and the grass isn't in yet. So I researched and bought a vitamin supplement to give them. I got it through smartpak and got a 10 lb bucket of a multi vitamin powder. I was worried about a couple of things. First, it is a powder and will she even eat it? There were mixed reviews online about the horses eating it. Second, how will I even get it in her? Since she is out on pasture with 4 other horses (one being Pete who is also getting the supplement) and they are all fed at once an d like to paly musical feed buckets, how can I know that I am not paying all that money to supplement the others?

The second point is still being figured out. I went out and mixed the powder into some applesauce the first time and they both scarfed it down. I went out the next day and repeated with less applesauce. Gem still scarfed hers down, but Pete was less enthusiastic. Well, that weekend, we went out to ride and Dusty thought to try just the powder and Gem still scarfed it down. Poor thing is either very hungry or just really likes her vitamins. Pete is not as thrilled about it and needs convincing, but we have just been mixing it into a handful of grain to give them. They are not getting it daily as it should be because the BO won't do it and I can't get there everyday. But I figure that getting it most days is better than not getting it at all.