Ok this is the about the fifth morning in a row with temps in the upper to mid 20s.
Brrrrr!!!
Dang, time to start thinking about digging out the serious winter gear here. When it snowed the other day and I had to be outside for about four hours, I could only find my worn out pair of winter boots-time for a new, warmer pair :)
So as I am breaking ice this morning, I was regretting not getting the tank heaters installed. This is something my husband normally does, but truthfully, it usually is not this cold this early-and neither one of us thought we'd need them until towards the end of the month. I will be getting those up and working this weekend for sure, to take advantage of the higher temperatures to come.
The time spent outdoors this week was educational, at the least. Most importantly, I learned that my horse has developed a heart murmur. I know for a fact (at least, I did not hear it using my own stethescope) it wasn't there last fall, so this is a relatively new thing. It is a thump thump-whisssshhhh sound, and I was told this is a faulty valve on the upper chamber. Since his overall circulation is outwardly good, there may be nothing to worry about. But it is significant, of course.
It is not likely to cause damage to the heart muscle itself-which could lead to serious complications down the road. I have heard other heart murmurs in horses before, but nothing quite like this one....most were worse, in fact. And most of those horses lived lengthy lives too-so I remain somewhat optomistic as to what this means for his future. On the other hand, if the valve gives, I will end up with a horse with basically and "enlarged heart", for the most part.
So then we talked about-how did this happen? And this is the most likely cause: When my horse dropped a molar about a year and a half ago, that tooth was likely abcessed. Even though we did not see any outward evidence of it, that probably caused the bacteria to migrate-and just like small dogs, it landed in the valves. I have not had a chance to do much research on this yet, but of course that is high on my list over the next couple of days.
Interesting, isn't it? Always something new to learn, even if the lesson is scary ;)
1 comment:
Sorry to hear your horse has a murmur.
My friends horse was diagnosed by the vet with a heart murmur last fall. Same vet comes out this fall....murmur undetectable.
So, was wondering, do some rectify themselves?
I agree downright brrrr last night!
Tonight it has warmed up some and the wind has kicked in. I have a large leaning birch just waiting for the right nudge to come down and cream my paddock.
Now, I did get my stock tank heater in before ice up, was ready there. But later my horses escaped! I was thinking the above mentioned birch tree had fallen, no....my fence charger had bit the dust. My one mare had discovered it and proceeded to make herself a gate for her and her herd mate. Luckily someone noticed before they wondered out of the driveway and onto the newly paved straight away (eeks). My son was able to locate me and I gave him directions on "luring" them back into a enclosed area till I got home. Phew.
Post a Comment