Random Revue

Fine Fall Days

Afternoon Nap

Donkey Time

'No one ever told me how exhausting being a celebrity is."

"There're always people who want to come visit and hang out with me."

"Even when all a fellow wants is a nice, quiet nap in the sun, there's no peace."

"Especially from the paparazzi.  It is a high price to pay and I wonder if it is worth it. "

"I'll have to give that some thought.  I find that is usually the best thing to do.  Just take my time and think things through.  One mustn't be hasty.  And if the paparazzi get bored and wander off, that is fine with me." 

Trojan Horse to the Rescue

There is an old truism in horse keeping that says a down horse is a dead horse.  That was true a thousand years ago and it is true today.  Horses are not physically capable of surviving for long periods if they are on the ground.  Their shear bulk and weight prevent them from breathing well when lying down and that same bulk prevents good blood flow to their extremities any time they are not moving.

For all their size and athleticism, it is not very hard to keep a horse trapped on the ground and any scenario that prevents a horse form getting to its feet for more than a couple of hours is potentially lethal.  For all their grandeur, horses can get themselves into a lot trouble, even out in the middle of an open field.

Donkeys are usually a bit more sensible, but can still find themselves in some very awkward situations.  Once you add in confinement, obstacles, trailer accidents and unnatural environments, large animals can find themselves in some fairly tough spots.  Getting them out of those spots is always a challenge because of their size and the inherent danger in dealing with a large, athletic, panicky animal.

Cornell now has a full size, articulated mannequin to practice large animal rescue techniques.  I immediately named him Trojan, because, what else would you call this guy.....?

Trojan weighs about 500 pounds, which is half what the average horse weighs.  He provides an opportunity for fire crews and other rescue workers to practice without endangering a real horse or the humans.  Given that most of the people working on rescue crews have little or no experience working with large animals and probably won't even know how to put a halter on, having something to practice on is a real asset.  Trojan does not kick or thrash and, in that way, lives up to his name.

One of the key elements to rescuing large animals is to do everything possible to keep the animal calm.  The first step in rescuing an animal is putting someone in charge of the head head and neck.  That person will not only protect the head and move it with the rest of the body, he or she should also be able to talk to the horse and remain calm and steady.

Sedating trapped animals is a very iffy proposition for a variety of reasons.

• Sedatives do not work well on panicked animals.  
• If the horse is trapped on its side or upside down, his breathing and blood flow is already severely compromised and sedation may kill him.  
• Some horses react to sedatives by becoming more violent, not less.  
• Once freed from entrapment, you will need the horse to get up on his own unless there happens to be a handy crane nearby.  If he can't get up, he probably won't ever get up again.  A down horse is a dead horse.

Getting "cast" is probably the most common predicament horses find themselves in, especially in stabled horses....

The horse lies down in the middle of his stall and, at some point, decides to roll over only to find he has rolled over onto a wall and gotten stuck that way.  The only way to get the horse unstuck is to get some long ropes around the lower legs nearest the wall and pull them back over.  You have to do that without getting your skull crushed by the panic-stricken flailing of hooves and you have to be able to stand far enough away from the horse that he won't roll over on top of you when you pull him over.

Since this usually happens in a small stall with only one door, being safe and saving the horse are generally mutually exclusive.  I have had to roll a few cast horses over the years and it always does make for an interesting few minutes.

This is one of the other most common predicaments horses find themselves in....

People use old tractor tires as feed bunkers, Trojan climbs into it looking for the last few morsels of food, trips on the edge and falls head-first into the tire.  This is a dire emergency because a horse cannot breath well in this position and will asphyxiate within ten-fifteen minutes.

In this instance, some mats were piled up behind the horse to provide support for the hind end as he was pulled out.

Out in the real world, I can see using some bales of hay for this purpose and covering the bales with a tarp so the animal would slide out easier.  This crew has a spiffy flexible slide made just for this purpose and I can see how it could be a useful addition to any farm....

With some good straps and some manpower, Trojan was pulled from the jaws of death and made a full recovery.

Poor Trojan was having a rough day though as he was destined to be in a nasty trailer accident later that same day.

Other than freak accidents like these or the one that almost took Cooper's life, the reason that horses and donkeys most often get trapped is that there is already some underlying problem and the animal is trying to self medicate.  A colicky horse may roll in a mud pit trying to ease abdominal pain and get stuck.  A horse with sore feet may venture into a cold stream and get trapped by a hidden log.

The animal may also injure himself trying to escape or may be trapped for so long that he slips into shock.  Which is why the second phone call you make when you need help rescuing an animal should always be to your vet.  You may need a vet on hand to provide medical support to a trapped animal or to treat him as soon as he is up on his feet.

It is also crucially important to closely monitor an animal who has been trapped for several days afterwards.  Being stuck on the ground can lead to fluid building up in the lungs, which causes pneumonia.  It may take a day or two for soft tissue injuries to become apparent and a horse who has been trapped is at a high risk of colic.

After a horse or donkey is rescued, monitor him closely for at least a week.  Take his temperature twice a day and watch for any signs of illness or distress.  Talk to your vet and make sure to address any underlying issues that might have been the reason he got in trouble in the first place.

For more information about large animal rescue and to find sources for any of this equipment go here:  http://tlaer.org/

And for the love of God, don't use tractor tires as feed bunkers.

Large Animal Rescue

A little housekeeping note....a bunch of people let me know that the blog list on my sidebar had disappeared.  I had nothing to do with this and would not even have noticed if you all had not told me about it.  Please don't take it as any sort of personal commentary about your blogs. Google is up to some trick and I have no idea why it evaporated into cyberspace.

I have added it back in as it seems to be a popular feature.  I tried to recreate the list without adding in any defunct blogs. However, I may easily have missed something.  If there is a blog you used to find here and want added back, let me know.  If you write a blog and want it added, let me know.  I'm sure there are many great blogs that I have missed and if you would like to share them, feel free.  I do reserve the right to choose what appears on my blog because it is my blog and I can do that.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program....

***

Part of the symposium included lectures and demonstrations on large animal rescue.  Horses and donkeys can get themselves into some awful predicaments as evidenced by the near miss over at the Shetland blog just a few days ago.  Fortunately, little Tiddles was found and rescued just in time and he is on his way to recovery.

I have had my own share of near disasters with horses.  One of which happened some years ago, in my pre-donkey days, to a big gelding named Cooper.  He was (and still is) a big, healthy horse in his prime.  He came to NY from the south and he had little experience with snow.  One day, in deep winter, I got up in the morning, looked out the window to check the herd (as I always do) and saw them all sleeping in the sun.  I thought nothing of it and headed for the shower.  About 40 minutes later I looked out again and saw Cooper still laying down and the other horses all gone and I knew immediately that something was not right.

I hustled into my boots and coat and ran out to see what the trouble was.  At the time, I was feeding round bales and Cooper had chosen to lie down in a hollow spot in the deep snow made by a bale that had been eaten. The only thing left of it was a curved, stiff, crust of frozen hay and the snow all around it was a good two-three feet deep.  The hay had just enough curve to it that when Cooper lay down in it, he and the crust tipped back just enough to take his feet off the ground and he couldn't get them under himself to get up.

He had clearly been lying there for several hours.  He was hypothermic and slipping towards shock.  The snow had packed in under the edge of the hay and I could not budge him.  I dashed back to the barn for ropes, blankets, shovels and to call for help.  I covered him in a thick blanket and dug the snow out from under the crust of frozen hay, all the while hoping he didn't start flailing around and crush my skull.  When Farm Buddy and a neighbor finally arrived, I had the snow moved out of the way and, with the three of us, we were able to drag him onto his chest, but he would not even try to get up.

This was a horse who had been imprint trained from birth and he felt safe lying down in our presence. He was weak and cold and decided to leave it up to me to fix the problem.  Trouble was, I had already given all the help it was possible to give.  He had given up trying to get up and without his help, there was no way he was ever going to get up again.

Which is when I did the absolute only thing I possibly could to save his life...I kicked him in the butt, screamed at him, hit him with my rope and told him I'd beat him to death if he wouldn't get his big, sorry ass off the ground. It is the only time in my life that I wished I owned an electric cattle prod.  After several minutes of this, he finally staggered to his feet and nearly went right back down - so I hit him again and drove him into moving forward.

As soon as he looked like he could walk without falling over, I got to his head and kept him walking/staggering until the feeling came back to his legs and he was moving freely.  I threw a heavy turnout blanket on him and after about five minutes, he started shivering hard and I knew he was warming up and going to be OK.  I walked him until he was warm, relaxed and steady on his feet.  I fed him a warm mash and told him I didn't really mean it, I did love him and I only hit him with the rope because it was either that or sit back and watch him die.  With a warm blanket on and a pile of food in front of him, he kindly forgave me.

I watched him close for any lingering problems, but he never took a foot wrong again and he never laid down in deep snow again either.

To be continued.....

The Curve of Spee

Between the Donkey Welfare Symposium and assorted other chaos, I am far, far behind.  Still, I want to try to share some of the highlights of the symposium.  Since I have not had time to truly organize any of it, it may seem rather random.  I really can't do any of this true justice, however, the organizers of these events have just made the videos of the 2015 UC Davis symposium available online here:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/donkeywelfare/185408623

There is a lot of great stuff here and I urge anyone interested in donkeys to check it out.

For today, my random tidbit of useful information came from a lecture about donkey dentistry.  A couple of small donkeys from the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue were somewhat reluctant, but very sweet assistants.

I apologize for the shear crappiness of these next photos, these were slide projections that I photographed from a distance with my iPod.  They are still interesting though. 

This is a donkey skull with large windows cut into the outer layer of bone to reveal the teeth.

Equines are born with these extremely long teeth that continually erupt as the tooth wears away.  By the time this animal reaches the end of its lifespan, the teeth will have worn to nothing.  In fact, it is the loss of teeth that is often the cause of an old horse's death.

The curve of the mandible is more pronounced in donkeys than in horses and can be so extreme as to cause problems all on it's own.  It is crucially important to maintain this curve and not try to level it out during dental work.  If your dentist talks about leveling the mouth (which I have heard too many times), your might want to find a new dentist.  

I have also been told, numerous times, that donkeys don't need dental work, which is absolutely untrue. They are, in fact, more prone to dental problems than horses are.  A good grinding surface needs to be maintained while staying true to the anatomy of the skull.  I. thought this was one of the best photos of donkey dentition that I have ever seen.