Sarge breaks out in hives at Ebenezer

Barry and I spent the weekend up at Ebenezer in The RoadRunner.  Friday he left before I did because I was going to help Margaret with her cake.  I met him out at the barn.  We got tack, feed, hay and then the horses.  I put their manger's up and put their feed in there.  We wanted to put Biscuit in first and lo and behold, for the feed, he hopped up in there.  Sarge hit his back right hoof getting in.  Off we went.

I stopped in Kirbyville and got some stuff Margaret needed and headed for her house.  We went out and looked at the new dairy calves, some cute little beef calves, her "ugly" pigs (they had extremely long snouts unlike most domestic hogs - they are wild hogs) and then out to see all of the horses.  I had never seen Jack - nice looking little fellow - and got to see Easy, Cub and her buckskin, Benjamin.  I just love Benjamin.  He is simply gorgeous.  We worked on cake til 6:35 PM and got it done.  I left with a quart jug of her homemade yogurt!!

Went to WalMart for some supplies and headed for Ebenezer.  We visited with Kellie and Randy until it was time to turn in.  OMG the A/C in my RoadRunner works like a beast.  We nearly froze to death!  Love that!!!!

Saturday we got up and tacked up and headed out.  We came through a spot that was covered with nasty biting flies.  Ugh.  We got to the Beaver Pond and I told them about the Trestle Ride and off we went.  James was riding Josie and ponying Fox.  Fox fell into a hidden hollow spot the day before and sunk up to his belly and hit his mouth hard enough it was bleeding.  James went to hop off right when Fox was trying to get out of the hole and James ended up stretching some muscles more than he would have liked, poor fellow!!

We rode around the Beaver Pond and over to the train trestle area.  OMG it was so pretty!!!  Love it there.  Kellie and Randy liked it.  Biscuit jumped over a little stream and I slammed into my pommel.  Ended up with an ugly bruise on my stomach - woo hoo.  We rode to where the 8 is tacked to the tree and turned around to come back.  We went back a different way and had a great time.  I washed the horses off and sprayed the with aerosol Deep Woods Off.

We went to The Stump for lunch with Kellie and Randy.  I took a nap later and the a/c went off!  The whole camp was without AC but it came back on later.

We didn't make an afternoon ride but kicked back and visted.

Sunday morning we got up and I tacked up early because I am ALWAYS the last one.  I move so slow now.  Anyway - Biscuit was tacked up and so was Sarge.  No problems.  We start off and get to the 4 way and Kellie and Randy decide going to the Train Trestle ride was too far so they cut off to the lake and Barry, Bev, James and I head for the pond.  We went through nasty bugs again.  We stopped and Barry noticed some bumps popping up on Sarge.  We sprayed with Deep Wood Off pump spray and kept going.  We got to the pond and more popped up.  Sarge seemed fine so we kept going.  We thought they were bug bites.  When we got over to the train trestle area he had become covered with them.  We rested and headed back with Barry pretty much walking 2/3 of the way leading Sarge.  He wasn't having problems breathing but OMG the hives looked horrible.  Pictures don't do it justice.

We got back and Kellie gave him 10cc of Banamine.  Barry gave him a bath with some of my body wash and we broke up came and headed home.  I called Doc and he said give him DEX or Benedryl.  We stopped in Kirbyville and I got Benedryl and we managed to get 5 down him.  We headed out and got to the barn right as LeAnn P was leaving.  I asked her if she had DEX and that I had a sick horse.   She turned around and we unloaded Sarge and he had greatly improved on the 100 miles home, but he still was covered in hives.  Ms. Jean gave him 10cc's of 2mg DEX.  We left both of them in the arena overnight so he wouldn't be in the sun.  Ms. Jean said she would check on him.  We rinsed him off again.  Ms. Jean and LeAnn thought it may have been bug bites as opposed to the aerosol but who knows?

Barry and I came back a few hours later to check on him and he had improved even more.

By Monday he had improved to the point that other than his sheath a little swollen he almost looked like nothing had happened.

What I learned:

1..Just because it is safe for humans doesn't mean it is safe for my horse.  I didn't know that OFF was not for horses.

2.  Don't go ANYWHERE with my horses out of town without a vet bag of Banamine (I have some), Bute, (have some), Benedryl (have some) and DEX (going to get some)

Sarge just before we left for the Sunday morning ride.  Not a mark on him.

Biscuit is ready to go Sunday morning.  Fox in the background

Barry walking Sarge 

Beverly and Josie

Biscuit and Fox having a conference

Barry, Bev and James - checking on Sarge

Sarge has major hives

Hives on the right side

Kellie giving Sarge a shot of Banamine to help with inflammation

                                   

My poor sweet baby 

Sarge's stomach

Swollen sheath area

Between his legs

Ms. Jean giving a shot of DEX - much improved during the ride home

3 hours after we brought him home

3 hours later - so much better

The next day - so much better

Sarge never had trouble breathing - thank God.  We were so grateful that it went away almost as fast as it came.  It was very upsetting and I hope to never have something like that happen again with my horses.