QUEST EQUINE WELFARE INC.

HOMED

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9.04.08

Harry is my second 'Harry', so has been christened 'Harry Pony'. Harry has long been in need of intervention and intensive care, but it has been a long road convincing his owners of this. Finally they have agreed to surrender Harry, thanks to the hard work of Robyn Larsen - Shelton. The first pictures of Harry pretty much say it all I think.

Harry Pony arrives at Carinya Park this week, and my Vet will be giving him a good once over this weekend.

    

 

17.04.08

Little Harry Pony arrived today, and I have to say that although I had seen pictures, I wasn't prepared for how seeing him in the flesh would affect me. Watching him trying to walk is very upsetting.

He seems like the sweetest little man, and was completely unfazed by the antics of the other horses, who put on a display in honour of his arrival. He has a good appetite, and seems to like my cooking :)

It's hard to know where to start with him, but my Vet/Farrier will be paying him a visit on the weekend, so we will take it from there when we have some good insight into any issues he has.

 

 

18.04.08

Harry's not a happy boy this morning. I expected him to be sore after his float trip, but the poor little fella cannot walk. I had to make him walk from the paddock, back into the round yard, so that he had some softer footing, and it was painful to watch him. He was in such pain that he was breathing very heavily as he hobbled along. The sooner he is seen to by Jude the better.

By the look of his rug, he did lie down last night, which is a good thing, and he is still eating very well. Such a little battler...pain has obviously been a part of his every waking moment for some time.

 

19.04.08

Harry didn't have a bad day today. He was very slightly improved in his walking, but that is no doubt the Bute beginning to kick in. He is a very sociable little man, and thoroughly enjoys company. He's quite a talkative little fellow, and usually has a very vocal greeting for you when you go down to the yards.

 

20.04.08

Ok...well Jude's been. We spent a lot of time talking about little fur bag. Jude has seen many many Ponies in the same predicament as Harry, and has a special interest in the issues he's facing. She has written some good articles on her site, and has a few case studies listed also.  Jude is an incredibly compassionate Vet, but also a very practical and straight talking woman. She presented all the arguments for euthanasing Harry at this point, most of them focused on the possible outcomes, and the financial constraints that she knows we have to work under. My most important question to Jude was, whether or not we can make Harry comfortable. Jude believes it's possible to do so, with very intense care, treatment, vigilance, and the inevitable $. One of her concerns was that Harry may use resources which would prevent us from assisting another horse who has far better prospects of living a happy and fruitful life.  Jude had some very good points, but sitting there looking at the little champ, I could not make the decision to not give him a go. Jude looked at his teeth, and believes he is 18 - 22 ish. She said that if he was the 30 yr old that she had initially assumed he was at first glance, then she would strongly recommend euthanasia.

At present Harry is perky, bright eyed, eating and drinking well, and very sociable. We decided that we will proceed with assessment and treatment, setting a budget of $500, which Jude believes will get us to the point where we know exactly what we're up against. So...Harry is still with us for now. Next step is that I need to somehow find a way to soak his feet for the next few days. His feet are like rock, and the harder they are for Jude to work with, the longer it will take for Jude to do what needs doing, and the harder it will be on Harry Pony to hold up a foot, and bear weight on the other three. Jude is coming back on Thursday to do his feet, and to take bloods to test for Cushings.

So, at this point it's a step by step, day by day proposition. We will do all we can. If at any point Harry does not show signs of improvement and is suffering unreasonably in his treatment, with little prospect of improvement, the decision will be made to put him to rest.  My hope is that we will see Harry happy and pain free, enjoying what time he has left. If this is not the outcome, we will at least know we have explored every possibility available to us in our attempt to make this happen for him. Jude has a good point re the practical side of allocating what funds there are available..however...you can't say you are there for horses in need, but then stipulate that you are going to only assist the 'cheaper' ones.

The way I see it, Harry's situation is not only a medical one, but a moral one. As a human being, I can't help but feel that someone has to at least attempt to compensate for the pain and suffering Harry has endured at the hands of our fellow human beings. I think we owe him that at the very least.

If you would like to read more on Jude's site re Cushings and Laminitis (which is what we think we are dealing with here), you can visit her site here:   www.farriervet.com

 

22.04.08

 

23.04.08

Unfortunately Harry did not have a good day today. He spent the best part of the day standing in water in a taped off corner of a paddock, in an attempt to soften his feet up a bit for Jude to work on tomorrow morning. He was not happy, but so good about it.When I brought him back into the yard this evening he was a lot worse. It seems the soaking had exacerbated his pain a great deal.

I'd tell you just how hard it was to watch him trying to move, but it would sound pretty pathetic next to what the boy is experiencing himself. He has been on Bute for 3 days now, and I don't see it helping him at all. I'm very nervous about tomorrow, but it's worth a try.

 

24.04.08

Well Harry's big day arrived...the first step towards getting the boy comfortable. Jude took the blood needed for the tests, and the results from that may be back within 48 hrs. Then Jude set to work on his feet. It was VERY hard yakka, and I don't think that soaking his little rock hard feet had helped at all. He was extremely well behaved while having to bear his weight on 3 feet, although it was obviously very difficult for him. Elise ended up holding him, while I tried to keep his legs steady for Jude as she struggled to remove hoof. It was very interesting, and I tried to get pics when I could. We discovered a huge nest of Thrush within one of his hooves, and much bruising.

Jude got the 'mechanical' side of things done, and is returning on the weekend to do some more work on them, which will mainly just be cosmetic. He definitely did walk off slightly improved, but time will tell how this has effected him.

 

29.04.08

Ok, well Dr. Jude has been & gone. Jude removed quite a lot more hoof, and is actually beginning to find his feet in there. She cut out SO much Thrush today that has been festering away inside his hooves for god knows how long, you can see some of it in some of the pics, the blackish stuff. There were great caverns left where Jude dug it out. He still has a LOT of work to go, and Jude will do him again in about 2 weeks. He has definite hoof walls now, and his soles are nowhere near the ground anymore. He is however still very sore, which tells us that it is not sole pressure causing the pain. It's hard to know what there is left to find in there until Jude has got him as close to how he should be as she can.

Although Harry Pony's hooves are getting closer and closer to 'normal looking', that does not mean that whatever problems he has are being solved, so I couldn't answer the question yet as to whether his condition is improving. If it does turn out that he does have Cushings, well that will be tying in a lot with the problems stemmiing from his hooves.  Diet is going to be the most crucial factor for Harry Pony. When we have the blood results we will plan a formula of Herbs/Minerals & supplements to feed, and consult with Victoria Ferguson, who is always a great help with complementing Veterinary treatment through Herbs & Tonics.

 

10.05.08

 

11.05.08

Harry P is walking far more comfortably.

 

16.05.08

Harry P had a visit today from 'Equine Touch Bodywork' Practioner Janis Hobbs.

He thoroughly relaxed and enjoyed the attention!

If you would like to chat with Janis re Equine Touch Bodywork she would be only to happy to hear from you.

 

18.05.08

Third trim for little Harry man today. Jude couldn't make it out until the evening, so after taking this one picture and scary the living daylights out of all three of us with the flash...I called it quits with the photo taking!

Little man's doing well, still a long way to go, but he has spent the past two days without Bute, and I haven't noticed any change in his movement for the worse. He doesn't appear to be experiencing any greater pain.

He's very well settled, chirpy, very vocal, and a real little character. Very well mannered, and such a pleasure to be around.

 

 

19.05.08

Is it mean to laugh?

Little man before I folded back his neck rug last night.

He has a rug on order that will fit him, and I'm sure will be happier to not have knots and straps bundled up everywhere in an effort to make this one work for him.

 

 

 

 

29.05.08

Dentist day for little Harry Pony. Russ estimated Harry's age at "late teens". It appears that he has never had his teeth done, poor little man. He had an incredible hook on one tooth that had actually worn a hole into the gum below it. Not good, and a very painful thing to have to live with obviously.

 

 

 

 

 

5.06.08

Harry Pony had another visit from Janis a couple of days ago. He seriously seemed to enjoy his Equine Touch session, with lots of licking and chewing, and some very big yawns at the end. He was so relaxed by the bodywork that he was close to nodding off at some stages.

Thank you so much to Janis for sharing her expertise with little Harry P. There is no doubt that he enjoys his sessions, and is left more comfortable as a result.

 

8.06.08

Yesterday Harry P had some very special visitors who had travelled some distance to visit him and their other sponsored horse Cinders, Joanne & Craig, two of Harry P's sponsors. These wonderful people came bearing gifts for Harry, including a portable yard on loan, to enable me to keep him off the green pick 24/7! This is an incredible help, and will no doubt be very beneficial in his rahab. Joanne & Craig also brought Harry P some bales of hay which are perfect for his diet regime, just quality pasture hay, which is hard to find around here. They also brought a heap of good wormers, some bags of Bran (which makes up a large part of Harry P's hard feeds), and also insisted upon making a donation towards the horses care.

It was great to have Joanne and Craig here, and have the time to catch up, as I saw them at our Open Day but barely had time to chat, and I'm hoping that Harry P endeared himself to them the way that he seems to with most people. THANK YOU to Joanne & Craig, for not only your practical support, but for your vote of confidence in what we are trying to achieve here.

Harry P has actually been doing exceptionally well over the past few days, and this morning is walking as well as you could ever hope. Just fantastic to see! It's a matter now of playing around with the various elements of care, feed, supplements etc., to decifer what it is that is helping him, and establish a regime which will hopefully maintain him well in the long term, and of course, continuing to work on the restoration of his hooves.

 

9.06.08

 

10.06.08

 

17.06.08

 

19.06.08

 

24.07.08

Robyn returned today to collect Harry P, and will continuing his health care with him from her property. It was very hard to say farewell to the little gentleman, but I know that he will be in great hands with Robyn, and we will stay in touch.  I learned a lot from Harry while he was here, and I have immense respect for him.

Our sincerest thanks go to Harry P's supporters, and particularly Joanne & Craig, who really went to great lengths to help where it really mattered.

To Janis (The Equine Touch), thank you so much for the gift of your time and expertise, which I know really helped Harry with his comfort levels.

To my wonderful Vet Judith Mulholland...you did the hard yards with Harry, and I hope that I can bring you positive news of his continued recovery. Thank you for your time, patience, and understanding. It really means so much to feel that you have a true partner in your animal's care.

Robyn gives Harry Pony some Photonic Therapy before the float trip back to her place.

 

Many thanks to the following people who contributed to the support of Harry Pony

through our $5 per week sponsorship program:

Joanne & Craig Woolfe, Julia Walker, Karen Pearson, Ashley Metcalf

 

1.09.08

From Robyn:

"Harry is not progressing very well at present, in fact I don't think he has progressed at all since leaving Bec's, except in the hoof department. With close together trims his feet have continued to improve radically.

He's still happy to see everyone, especially if you have a feed with you :) And he loves his mini mate who is with him at night. Pepsi is only 2 and can really irritate the other ponies trying to play, but with Harry he is quiet and respectful.

In the last three weeks I have increased the frequency of his photonic acupoint therapy, which certainly gives him some short term relief from the pain. Today, I've emailed an expert hoping for points to use that relate directly to Cushings rather than just balancing his system and treating the laminits.

Harry's coat is still barely coming out, certainly not in the handfuls as my other ponies are losing it. He still has his lovely rug which I take off as often as possible during the day, when he will have a big rolling session.

On Saturday I did some Neuro-physio work on Harry's back and shoulders which must be really suffering after the long term poor posture. Hopefully, in a couple of days this will show a little bit of a change. He has also been having regular Myofacial Release work and some gentle massage.

He could still do with more walking, I think, and I must get on with finding a grazing muzzle so he can wander at will.

Cheers

Robyn and Hairy Harry Pony"

 

10.11.08

"Harry P this morning.

The duct tape on the feet is to stop the sand packing up into mini mountains under his hooves. When the sand is damp and that happens it is painful for Harry.

We are so proud of that gorgeous butt, considering he had none a few months ago.

And, yes, he's eating lucerne but it is soaked and drained and he only gets about 2 handfuls a day. In this small amount it doesn't bother him at all.

 

The rest of his diet at present is:

1 1/2 biscuits of soaked and drained oaten hay, given in 3 or 4 meals and spread in handfuls around the arena.

1 1/2 cups of Speedi Beet, soaked, rinsed lots and drained.

2 capsules of Vit E oil

4 Permax tablets crushed

1tbs dolomite

1tbs salt

2 cups of unsoaked wheaten chaff

1 to 2 hours dry grass pic, and if he doesn't get this he's likely to not eat his hay.I've recently started the photonic therapy on a reg basis again to speed up the hoof growth.

Occassional MFR or massage.

He has a fly mask, and still wears his rug on cold nights.

Cheers

Robyn"

 

3.12.08

Anyone who has watched the earlier clips in Harry Pony's diary really needs to watch this one...

it is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face!

 

9.03.10

Some great photos from Pauline, Harry P's adoptive mum.

Pauline has been doing an excellent job of caring for Harry since Dec. '08.

A comment from Pauline:  "Harry now does a beautiful trot, canter & pigroot at liberty, & is a very loved, spoilt member of my (3) Cushings/Insulin Resistant family".

Thank you so much for sharing these photos with us Pauline. Harry Pony has many fans who will be thrilled to see him looking so healthy, happy, and content.

 

16.08.11

We'd like to share with you that Harry Pony passed away on the 11.08.11. I don't share this news with a heavy heart, as I know that Harry P has had a wonderful past three years with his incredibly dedicated mum, Pauline. Pauline stopped at nothing to address Harry P's many issues, (Cushings, Insulin Resistance, etc.), to ensure him a comfortable and happy existence. The lengths she went to are truly amazing, and Harry passed away a much loved little man, who knew it.

Harry P was such an inspiring and brave little battler, who won the heart of everyone who knew him or treated him. He was a blessing of a horse, and we hope that his last few happy years were some small recompense for the many that he lived in excruciating pain.

 

Here are the last photos we have of our darling Harry Pony, taken back in April when Janis paid him a visit:

 

Rest in peace little battler, you wil be forever remembered with love.