I wrote the majority of this post months ago, it seems. So from here on out everything I am writing today will be in red. We are in the final stretch of our quarantine. Just waiting on final word from the state. It seems she had a tough strain that has taken a lot of time for her to shake. It has been hard, but I wouldn’t change any part of what we have done for her. The sickness never went further than the one pony, and she will recover fully. In that, we are tremendously blessed. I have learned so much about caring for a sick animal. I have also learned quite a bit about the stigma attached to an illness like this. Also, quite a bit about myself and how much I can handle, physically and emotionally. It breaks my heart that a little girl lost so much time with her best friend. That, we can’t get back.
So I have a horse with Strangles. It’s the end of the world as I know it, and possibly the end of my career.
Surely it isn’t, right? Every morning I wake up and feel like I’m gonna have an emotional breakdown. Then I take a deep breath. I’m still a little shaky, but there is too much work to do.
The first and most important thing you need to know about Strangles is QUARANTINE. We have been on quarantine since the beginning, and out of a barn of 17 horses, only the one has been sick. I like those odds. Anyone who takes a sickness like this lightly is hopefully just ignorant at best.
The moment you touch anything that the sick horse has touched, you are officially tainted. You can’t touch anything that any other horse will touch. You may feel an urge to purchase some paper HAZ-MAT suits. You can save some money (but not any time) by following these suggestions:
-Find a place on your property to keep the sick horse away from all the others
This could be tricky for you. Our vet recommended the lowest place on the property, and said that at least 100 yards away from any other pasture or place another horse would even walk was the best place.
Fortunately, my parent’s house in on the same piece of property as the barn. We set up a temporary stall with some high, chain-link dog fencing. The pony is small, so the 10′ x 20′ space we erected was plenty of room, as long as I could walk her around the area for a bit of exercise once she was feeling better. Of course, fence panels from a round pen would work, too. We put a tent over half of her stall so she would have shelter from the rain, and also a shelter for all of the supplies I would need to properly care for her.
Since her drainage stopped, we have moved the pony to our lowest pasture. Her water is hers alone, and still changed and her bucket cleaned. She is out of noses-to-nose contact reach of any other horse. I am able to ride her in the pasture so she can be back in shape when her clean bill of health from the state officials.
-Choose ONE person as a primary caregiver for the sick horse
This is very helpful. If there is only one person available to feel all the horses, then they will have to care for the well animals first, then take care of the sick horses needs, then go home immediately and change to clean clothes and shoes before returning to the well animals.
By having one person dedicated to caring for the sick horse, you can save time and make sure the sick horse is fed and watered at the same time as the others. Of course, the caregiver still needs to change their clothes after every treatment.
I am still the only person (besides the owners) that touches the pony, and we still use the bleach water bath religiously.
-Have all the supplies you need near the sick animal
This also helps to avoid cross-contamination. Bring whatever feed tubs and water buckets the horse was using prior to moving them. These will have to be cleaned with bleach water daily. You’ll also need food, medications, lots of latex gloves, thermometer, dish washing liquid, bleach, a container for stall waste, a pitchfork, rags, and access to water. Since our enclosure is by my parents home, I have cold water from a hose and also HOT water that I tote in a bucket from inside the house.
I also used ichthamol and hot compresses on her throat bulges to draw out the infection when drainage was slow. She only ever got them under her jowl. I understand some horses will have eruptions in all kinds of wicked places!
Also important, is a container of bleach and water to rinse your boots in before returning home or anywhere else. I keep my wellies in the car and put them on when I pull up, then bleach them before removing them when I am done.
Ideally, you will only be treating the sick horse twice a day. Each visit will include a temperature check, cleaning of food and water buckets, feeding, cleaning of nose and open sores, and general doting on the horse. Don’t let them forget they are important and use the time to bond with them. Mix things up with food to encourage proper intake of food and water. Ours wasn’t interested in water, so I made sure to put enough in the food to help make up for it. Bran mashes and soaked alfalfa mixed with the feed in many different ways. It takes a lot of time. I think I spent well over 200 hours of the first month with the pony.
These are just a few tips, in the grand scheme of things. I am tired and I have lost clients because of my unavailability this winter. It’s hard. It’s really hard. It’s also embarrassing. The important thing is to not be ashamed of something you couldn’t control (we still have no idea how it got on our property and we never will). You can’t hide. You have work to do.
