A busy week

Pictured: Topaz yesterday with one of the girls from Horse Cause, our educational club for the junior members of our organisation

Several bits of news to update with Topaz today... it has been a busy week.

First of all, we traced his brands and discovered that his registered name is Rory's Myth and he was a very good race horse. He had 64 starts, 11 wins and half a dozen or so each of 2nd and 3rd placings. He won a bit over $163,000 and from what I've heard his sire Rory's Jester was a pretty darn good stallion. (I don't know a great deal about racing lines). However the trail goes cold again, his trainer doesn't remember who they sold him to when his career ended as it was a large establishment with a lot of horses in work.

We had the Vet come to give Topaz the full work over. The poor devil has a real gut full of sand, which will take some shifting and we're on the eagle-eye lookout for colic. All vital signs are good, plenty of gut noises and he has one hell of an appetite. Gum colour was a bit inflamed but he was stuffing half-chewed chunks of hay between lip and gum so that is to be expected. The blood test came back showing he has a slight problem with the water level in his blood, which the Vet thinks could well be related to the fact he hasn't had enough protein in his diet. We are to get him on a balanced diet and wait one month then test again to see how it looks but there is no cause for alarm with him.

The dentist came, the game plan being for him to get him as comfortable as possible without sedation so he can chew better, then get him back again when he's strong enough to be sedated safely to get the rest done. However the dentist took one look and told us his mouth was that bad that nothing could be done until he could be sedated so we have to wait a couple of weeks to get his teeth done. The entire arcade looks like a roller coaster and a couple of teeth are so long on the upper that they've ground the lower counterparts back to the gumline, there's massive hooks too and what's more he has a slight parrot mouth which means nothing lines up properly anyway. Its clear his mouth has been neglected for a very long time.

And last but certainly not least... Topaz has put on weight! I haven't estimated the weight with the tape yet but I can see he has put on half a body score and one of the ladies that helped rescue him initially came and saw him this morning. Her words were "Wow! He looks so much better, he's put on so much weight!"

So there you have it, he's on the improve slowly but surely.

Stats:
Day: 7

Body Score: 1
Weight:
Feeds: 300g dampened oaten chaff, 5ml Equilibrium mineral mix, 100g speedi-beet & ad-lib export quality oaten hay
Feed Frequency: 4 feeds daily
Manures in 24 hours: 16

A Name And A Puzzle

The junior members of our organisation came out yesterday to see the new boy and give him some TLC. As we run a monthly meeting for them where they can learn correct, safe and humane horse care and handling techniques, a part of their education throughout 2009 will be to rehab a rescue and we thought the new boy would be ideal.

First of all they brought him up to the wash bay and gave him a bath. It has been quite hot this summer and as soon as the cool jet of water hit him you could see the absolute pleasure on his face. The girls gave him a good scrub and then very carefully rinsed him off. So much dirt came away, and a lot of the old dead hair and skin off his back. He now has a slightly bald patch on either side of his spine but as he gets better that will grow back fine and glossy. There is still a hint of shine on his coat, so he will look magnificent again one day.

A funny thing, I noticed that his tail has grown out from what looks like a professional shave. It is banged at the bottom, at regulation length for hacking (well a little over now as it has grown) and his mane has very clearly grown out from a good pull job. So surely he must have been in a show home and I think perhaps only a year ago - possibly a little less. So how did a show horse wind up in this state? We have a mystery to solve. I will be sending his brands off to be researched with a contact of ours who works in the turf club and who has access to a very good Australian Thoroughbred Studbook search engine so that will be a start.

The girls gave him plenty of love and attention and then tucked him into his stable with a feed and then retired to the club rooms. A lot of decision making and plenty of noise and giggles later and he had a name. The girls decided on Topaz.

I will post a photo or two when I get them, I am waiting on one of the girls' mum to send some that she took.

Coming Home

There is no excuse for a horse to look like this. No credible, humane and perfectly acceptable reason.

His body score, on day 1 is 0.5 (see www.schrar.org/conditionassessment.pdf for Australian Body Scores) which means he is almost as thin as they get before they drop dead in the paddock.

The local authorities were powerless to do anything because feed was evident on the property... they couldn't prove he wasn't getting it and looking like a toast-rack wasn't proof enough. The other horses on the property had a good body score (for now) and so current animal welfare legistlation meant that they could not remove the horse and give him the care he needed.

We were called by a concerned person about his condition and went to speak to the owners to see what may be done. They didn't appear to be home the first time so we left a note asking them to call. Suprisingly they did just a couple of hours later and with their permission went back to speak to them in person.

It took an awful lot of persuading to convince them that he needed help, that his emaciated frame was weak and frail, that he could die and very soon if he wasn't cared for properly. When they finally agreed to let us take him on they then demanded money. We explained that even the knackerman would charge them for taking away a horse as poor as this but they were adamant, he would not be leaving the property - no matter how close he was to death - without fronting up with the cash and so $100 and a signed receipt of purchase later he was on his way home.

That first night he was anxious and so were we. He arrived just before nightfall and we settled him into his yard between two mares for company with a net of soaked hay and 300g of oaten chaff, dampened.

I went out and fed him again at 10pm, then got up at 2am for another feed and then dragged myself out of bed at 6am to give him his breakfast. His body, having been deprived of feed could go into shock and colic at too large or too rich a feed so soon. He needed the bare basics of roughage, and in tiny amounts until his body began to work properly and become used to adequate nutrition again.

He nickered when he saw me, scurrying anxiously between the trees down to the stable block and I sighed in relief.

He was going to live.

Stats:

Day 1

Body Score: 0.5

Weight: Approx 390 kilos

Feeds: 1 kilo of soaked hay, 300g dampened oaten chaff

Feed Frequency: Every 4 hours

Manures in 24 hours: 5