Buddy

30-Something Morgan Gelding, Dark Brown
Foaled before 1970

Passed away, January 2011



   I was initially contacted in early December 2010 about Buddy, and between my grief over the loss of Inch, and concern for the injury incurred by Picadilly (which eventually ended her life), and the record breaking rain which make living miserable that month, I hadn't responded.  In early January, I re-read this email from the mother of Buddy's former owner: Hello, I found your website from a horse rescuer. My adult daughter has an older horse that she is becoming desparate about because of her severe financial difficulties. ... Buddy, the horse, has been boarded for several years but she can no longer afford to keep paying for this. We live in the Los Angeles area and there are no easy options that we know about. He is 30 years old and never seems to get sick, but he has some residual effects from hitting his head a few years ago (he drools on one side of his mouth). He is probably not a candidate for adoption because he has not been ridden in several years. He's very sociable and loves to be around other horses. She provided these pictures: 

Well, you know the rest!  Here is Buddy!  He arrived yesterday and you can see he's underweight, has a teary left eye and drools out of the left side of his face, but hopefully, we can help that.  At his age, you never know, but Morgans are notoriously hardy horses ....  Ok, Now I have some more information about Buddy's head injury 5 years ago. Audrey wrote: When my ex-husband came home from work, he found Buddy on the ground. He had a gash on his head, right about where he has a white spot. He used to be a real pig and eat every morsel of his food. Some hay had fallen under his trough. I assume he went for it, and hit his head on the bottom of his trough by accident.  My ex-husband called the local vet. Buddy kept standing up and promptly falling. He was very unsteady on his feet. That vet suggested euthanization. My regular vet came and he thought that Buddy had a chance of making it through his accident. He gave him pain medication, and began a regimen of DMSO. He came everyday for a couple of weeks, until it was obvious that Buddy had made it through the event.  Buddy had nystagmus in his left eye for a few days and was, for the first time ever, not very interested in food. The vet suggested I feed him equine senior he loved it so much, I've continued to feed it to him. He never returned to his hefty size, but has only looked as skinny as he is now for about the past year.  Buddy was very unsteady on his feet for a couple of months after his injury. He became much more steady over time, and the nystagmus disappeared.

Dr. Z believes that Buddy had a concussion, and the DMSO is used to help with brain swelling.  So the poor guy had that to deal with, and Dr. Z has indicated it's possible he has maladjustment in his cervical spine/poll due to the impact, so when Laurie gets here (hopefully tomorrow, 1/22) she can find and fix it.  Dr. Z also noted obvious stiffness in his left hock (most likely arthritis). 

Due to difficulties chewing, partly because of a couple of very long lower teeth (one canine was actually impacting his palate!) and partly due to severely worn molars, some right down to the gumline, I had Dr. Z out to fix what he could now. We'd planned to wait until I built Buddy up a bit, but he was having trouble even keeping food in his mouth!  He came thru the detal work ok, ate a hearty dinner and looks ok this morning (1/21/11).  Let's hope this helps, but there is no doubt that with such severely worn molars, I'll have to completely soak all feed for this guy for the rest of his days. 

I managed to get one good shot of those hyper long teeth - the front canine is the one what hit the upper palate.  The rest of Buddy's teeth are worn down to nubs - in some cases, down to the gumline.  The doc says that Buddy will likely now have to re-learn how to chew!  Those two teeth are now half the length you see here....

 

 
After dental work, Buddy ate a bowl of soaked beet pulp as well as the rations he hadn't finished the night before, and his morning senior feed (his leaving this feed, despite me seeing him attack it with obvious appetite, is what prompted me to move up the dental work). 



Buddy got his spine adjusted, but there was a misalignment at the base of his spine that could only be partially readjusted.  However, he was cooperative, and bright eyed after it all, and I'm hoping it will help him to have a few aches and pains relieved....

In spite of all his difficulties, Buddy is very motivated and perky.  He clearly has lots of desire to live.  Let's help him! Dianne Davisson, and her daughter Audrey when she can, continues to provide support for Buddy but his expenses are high, and more help would be welcome!

© 2011 - The Golden Carrot is a 501c3 public benefit charity