Re: RC: trailer loading, pain, and swollen eye

[owens <owensall@sierratel.com>]

Dear April;
My mare had a swollen shut, teary eye once.  She had poked the cornea
with a stick.  The next morning after I noticed the eye the whole cornea
was white!  I freaked out...took her to the vet(the vet had told me to
contact him in the morning if it wasn't better).  I thought she was
blind for sure.
He put her on meds to dialate the pupils and additional gentocin drops
to heal the eye.  She had to be in the dark all the time, until the eye
healed(10 days+).  I had no barn, so took an old pair of worn out
levi's, cut them up so I had a soft piece of fabric, and matched the
pattern and dart of the inside of the fly mask...just the half she
needed.  I sewed them directly to the fly mask, using large stitches on
the machine, on the inside, soft part of the material to the eye side,
dart toward the mask.  She wore it without problem the whole time, and I
brought her into the shade to medicate.  It also absorbed the tearing,
and I could just wipe it pretty clean.  After she healed, and she did
heal 100 per cent, I took the basting stitch out and continued to use
the fly mask just fine.
Hope this helps.
Katee  
> 
> sorry in advance.  no caps today.  painful.
> 
> i just violated or watched being violated all the training mentalities that
> i've developed over the last year! trailer loading.  we were trying to get
> an 11 yr old arab gelding into my trailer to trailer him 5 minutes to his
> own pasture.  his owner was impatient and didn't want me to spend a little
> time working with him...he went into the trailer, finally, and she tied him.
> out he backed.  broke the lead rope and fell hard.  skinned up his hocks
> pretty badly.  she got mad.  forced him into the trailer.  we thought he
> might stay with me, so i held him by the lead rope while she got out of the
> trailer (open 2-horse, no divider).  out he backed while she tried to close
> the door (no butt bar either).  stupid me did not let go of the rope in
> time...burned my right hand pretty badly (so the pain and hard to type with
> one hand...).  two women came over to help.  took lunge whips and tapped
> him, slapped him, and sometimes whipped him until he got into the trailer.
> my friend tied him, door was closed, and i fed him carrots until she was
> safely out.
> 
> so many mistakes in that story!!!!!!!!!  every sentence was a mistake.  how
> could i have been a part of that???  not just a passive part, but active.  i
> broke john lyons' three fundamental rules: horse must be calm at the end,
> people can't get hurt, and horse can't get hurt.  serts (the gelding) was
> scared, didn't understand all the signals, owner was upset (i felt bad for
> her, too), the horse and i got hurt.  and the lunge whips were used too
> agressively.  and they were used on his lower legs.  and we used food to
> entice him into the trailer. and......sigh.
> 
> now to the swollen eye.  my horse has a swollen eye.  swollen shut.  he'll
> open it partway sometimes.  it's tearing (as in crying, not ripping) at the
> tip near his nose and from the middle bottom.  i saw no wound near his eye.
> i tried to open his eye, but with one hand, it was hard.  i opened a little
> and didn't see anything.  i finally just put his fly mask on to protect it
> as much as possible and left him.
> 
> i plan to call vet and see if he has a suggestion or if he wants to see us
> or can see us tomorrow afternoon.  anybody have any other suggestions for
> me?  i thought i might have another friend try to open his eye for me and
> see if she can see if he has something in it.  it is not swollen TOO
> bad...just enough to keep it shut... and the tearing bothers me...
> 
> anyway, thanks for any advise.  :)
> 
> april (one good hand) & apache (one good eye)
> chattanooga, tn
> 
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-- 
Cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=