So now let’s delve into the “Saga-of-Addy”…….

Or maybe, given our recent two year span, it should be called “The Sad Sojourn of the Farm in the Swamp”(?)

Addy seemed off her food two weeks ago…….her head-set was carried lower than normal…….her eye focus was not quite right…….

…….you know, all those intangible things that set off flares and alarms!?!…

So, I started taking her temperature…

It was elevated………….

…..103.4F…..

…..@#$%$#@!

Our vet zipped by and took blood for comparative panels to the other SIX we have from earlier this year when Addy had the same symptoms and the same temperature spikes…

…….when the panel’s results came back, they looked like doo-doo…….

…….elevated liver enzymes…….

…….bad albumin/globulin ratio…….

…….elevated GGT (Gamma-Glutamyl Transpeptidase)…….off the charts…….

…….with depressed AST (Asparate Aminotransferase-what’s-its)…….

…….I have NO idea what any of that means…….but my pony was NOT feeling well…….

@#$%#@!

Stevie Wonder said her liver levels were very similar to Bell’s (my black Percheron mare………….

…….when she died along with her unborn foal last December)………….(sigh)…

Stevie Wonder’s first recommendation was to get rid of ALL of the greenery & ground cover in the mare’s & Brave’s pasture (grass & weeds…..everything)………….

Kill it all…..and take it down to sugar sand…

…….which is exactly what I did…

…….at daybreak…..

…….the very next day following Addy’s blood test results…….Paolo filled-up & hefted-up the commercial back-pack sprayer onto my back…….

…….and away I went…….

I took photos of all of the weeds that are in the horses’ pastures prior to spraying them with GrazonNext herbicide…

I intend to forward them to the Botanist from the University of Florida who has already gone over our pastures once before…….immediately after so many of our horses died of Botulism Type B poisoning.

*****The Final, Sad Report from April of 2018*****

I’ll also include those photos in this blog entry.

…….I’m open to input…….

As far as I can tell none of the plants are poisonous to horses…….

…….but like I said…….I’m open to input…….

………………………..and in the meantime…….I will continue medicating Addy with forty-five pills of Metronidazole, Pentoxifylline, and Sulfamethoxazole & Trimethoprim (SMZ’s)…….

…….twice every day…….

…….we are working hard not to loose Addy too…….

 

…………………………………………………………………….I will keep you posted as more information comes in…

 

*******We have lived on this land for almost thirty years, and we’ve had horses for most of that time.  And all of this horse sickness & death has only started occurring within the last two years………….?………….