Monday, January 17, 2011

Mouthy Mondays

I know! I can't believe it either! Mouthy Monday is back!!! Whoop! Whoop! Autumn had some great photos with this story, but I can't get them loaded.
So we'll have to use our imaginations....

autumn.greenberg@gmail.com

Lazarus

The first time I saw Lazarus he looked like a cow.

I had just lost my “once in a lifetime” horse to colic a few months earlier. After many many tears, I had finally reached the point where I could even comprehend thinking about maybe buying another horse.

One day that spring I got a call from my barn owner. “We picked up a horse that I think you should take a look at. We didn’t know if he was going to make it at first…but I think you might like him.”

My barn owners had received a tip that someone was giving away a TB gelding…and the first person who showed up could haul him away. They took the hour long drive sight unseen, and arrived to find a 16 hand, skinny, scrawny, dirty bay gelding. Supposedly the horse had belonged to their daughter, who went away to college.

The parents divorced, and not knowing how to properly care for a horse, they stuck him in with their cows, roached his mane, and fed him like one of the heifers. My barn owners found him inside a garage-turned barn, chained to a wall, with overgrown feet and zero muscle tone. While they didn’t know if he would make the ride home on the trailer, but took the chance and loaded him up anyway.

They decided to call him “Lazarus”…the theory being that if he even survived, it would be like he came back from the dead.

When I got the call about Lazarus, it was about a week later. He had started to pick up weight, and they felt pretty sure he would come around. They sent me to the top pasture to take a look.

As I strode up the hill, I couldn’t pick out the bay gelding they described. Finally I spotted a head poking out from behind a round bale. He was so exhausted still, he was laying down….but not stretched out on his side…he was tucked up like a cow, curled up right next to the round bale, snatching mouthfuls of hay. He was too tired to stand…but not too tired to eat. I walked up slowly….he didn’t budge.

As I reached out to stroke his neck, he turned to look at me and heaved a big drawn out sigh, as if to say “oh thank god”. He then turned and continued to attack the round bale.

In the following months Lazarus, or “Laz” as he came to be called, continued to improve physically. We discovered from his lip tattoo that he was 6, and had raced 4 times (and was a whopping failure.) He arrived with feet that probably hadn’t seen a farrier in a year. An abscess that had blown out the coronet band slowly grew out.


He came sound, and I was the first one on his back. When he arrived, Laz was fearful of men, and would fly backward if you pulled on his face. Randomly, he also refused to pick up his left hind foot. Nevertheless, I had fallen for this big gangly horse, and made him mine.

And as the summer went on, Laz continued to improve mentally and physically. He had obviously had some quality training at some point after his race career…he had a solid WTC, moved off your leg, and went in a frame. I even progressed to the point where I started him over small crossrails. I was ecstatic!

The very next day after our first jump, Laz came in from the pasture 3 legged lame. There was a small cut on his left hock, and a small amount of heat, but no other obvious cause. Per the vets instructions, we cold-hosed and gave him stall rest, and he was weight bearing the following day.

2 weeks later he was moving around fine, but was still “off” at the canter. Figuring better safe than sorry, I loaded him up and off we went to the vets. As he trotted for the vet, I distinctly remember her saying “Well he’s moving way too well for anything to be broken”.

Ha…famous last words. X-rays showed he had chipped off the back of the cap of his hock. The bone chips were now floating around in his hock, causing pain and swelling. So off we went to Cornell Vet Hospital, to get 5 bone chips removed to the tune of $3,000. I still have the jar of his bone chips they gave me after the surgery…it sits on my desk.

3 months of stall rest and hand walking followed that winter. I would bundle up and hustle out to the barn early in the morning and on my lunch breaks… where my mild mannered gelding proceeded to turn into the beast from hell.

He danced, he pranced, he knocked me over on our daily walks. He refused to return to his stall…standing outside the barn, planting both feet, and flying backward if you dared to pull oh his face (granted, I wouldn’t have wanted to go back in either…so I can’t say I blamed him). And yet somehow, he recovered fully. That hock will always be a bit large…a bit ugly…but he recovered.

That summer I dove back into schooling Laz. We worked in the ring, went to a schooling show…we took our first trail rides. Things were going according to plan. And then he colicked. I got the call as I was leaving work. Laz was down and trying to roll…obviously in great pain. I raced over to the barn, and when I arrived, was greeted by my barn owner walking a much calmer Laz in circles. Laz had been thrashing so hard that they were unable to give him Banamine IV…so they had given the shot in the muscle of his neck.

I was immediately concerned, as my vet had warned against giving Banamine in the muscle, saying it could occasionally cause a serious reaction. Unable to reach my usual vet, another local vet came out to treat Laz’s colic. I voiced my concern about the IM injection, but he assured me that he had given Banamine IM many times. Luckily, the colic was a mild gas colic - painful…but quickly resolved.

2 days later I got a call from the barn. Laz refused to walk. When I arrived, I found his entire chest swollen and puffy. The “once in a million reaction” had occurred. Laz spent the next 10 days in the vet hospital, on IV fluids and antibiotics. I watched pus squirt 5 feet across the room from an abscess we lanced. The section of his neck where the injection occurred became infected, and a giant chuck of skin and muscle literally fell off.

I watched the vet put her entire hand into the hole in his neck. She said that she could actually grab his cervical spine. If the injury had been one inch to either side, the infection would have entered his spine and he would have died. And yet, somehow, again, he survived. The hole slowly closed, the infection cleared, and he recovered.

He has a full range of motion, and the only sign of the injury is a loss of muscle on that side of his neck. My vet now refers to him as “the wonder horse”.

Today it’s been 2 years since Laz has had a serious injury (knock on wood!). He still tests me on a daily basis. Some days he is a pleasure to ride, some days the beast from hell resurfaces. He’s still a hard keeper…and now requires joint supplements and hock injections…probably from the hock surgery as well as his previous racing days. But I love him nevertheless. A few days ago I watched him in the pasture as he stole a jolly ball from his pasture-mate, and proceeded to knock the other horse over the top of the head with it. He certainly keeps me entertained. And he has definitely lived up to his name.

15 comments:

  1. Wonderful story, thanks for sharing!
    Lazarus really earned his name - must be one strong horse!

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  2. Wow, sounds as thought Cornell should name a wing after you! Glad you two found each other!

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  3. Great story! I love happy endings!

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  4. Mugs, Thanks for finally posting my story. And for the rest...here's a few shots of Laz, "The horse with 9 lives" http://s86.photobucket.com/albums/k112/weaselstar/

    On a slightly sadder note, I am currently searching for a light riding/companion home for Laz. Supplements and injections are no longer keeping him sound enough to enjoy his job. Of couse, I plan on keeping him safe and sound with me until I find the right home. So if anyone in the upstate NY area is looking for a big ridiculous lovable, (but slightly accident prone) friend, be sure to send them my way!

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  5. Wonderful story. I hope you find a great home for Laz. On another note, as I read they injected Banamine IM I knew what the next paragraph would be about. If you can't give it IV, then please just give it orally. It absorbs through the gums. Don't ever chance Banamine IM. It just isn't worth it. Blessings to you and Laz!

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  6. I second that! My vet actually used Laz's case as part of a presentation she gives on the dangers of IM Banamine injections. Its scary how many horse owners and even vets don't know what kind of reaction it can cause! The saddest part of the story is I actually had Banamine paste in my first aid kit. The barn owners just didn't remember, my horse was down thrashing and trying to roll, and they did what they thought was best...

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  7. Great story! I hope the right home comes along for Lazarus soon.

    Thanks for the tip about IM banamine. I had never heard that before. Can you elaborate about what causes the reaction?

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  8. Basically the Banamine creates an anaerobic environment that causes certain types of bacteria to flourish. The main danger here is the clostridium bacteria. It lives on the skin, gets pushed into the muscle with the needle, and then rapidly multiplies and creates "gas gangrene". Do a google search on "Banamine IM injections" and you'll find some horror stories!

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  9. Great story Autumn! Thanks for sharing!

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  10. I can't even tell you how many banamine injections I've given IM. That's what my vets told me to do. Now, I work for a large equine vet in another state, and they are telling me to only do it IV or oral. I'm just glad I heard about this BEFORE I caused a problem.

    Sounds like Laz was a lucky guy to be with you. It's amazing how the hard to deal with ones are the horses that seem to win our hearts.

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  11. LOL at the visual of beating pasturemate's head with stolen jolly ball!!

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  12. Thanks for your reply Autumn. I was under the impression that all IM injections all carry a risk of a clostridium bacteria abcess.

    What I was wondering is the connection to banamine as opposed to the other regularly injected substances. I give monthly adequan injections for instance...

    According to thehorse.com, the correlation to banamine is that it is given more frequently, and in higher volumes per dose (10ml), which causes irritation to the tissues.

    I wonder if splitting the dose into two 5ml shots would be less risk. Guess I'll have to learn how to give IV injections.

    Thanks again for the warning :)

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  13. What a great story. I hope mouthy Mondays are hear to stay for a while! Btw, you have an award on my blog! Check it out.

    -DS
    Adventures In Colt Starting

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  14. "A few days ago I watched him in the pasture as he stole a jolly ball from his pasture-mate, and proceeded to knock the other horse over the top of the head with it. He certainly keeps me entertained. And he has definitely lived up to his name." Loved that last bit. Thanks for sharing!

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  15. somewhere ive got a video of Laz's jolly ball antics....gottta track that one down. The best part is he plays with an 18+ hand TB/Clyde cross...and somehow always gets the upper hand!

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