Happy first birthday Titch! Measuring time!

Titch's big day rightly had to be overshadowed by my son's 17th (Ahh, they share the same birthday!), so apologies for the lateness of this post.

Not much has been happening in Titch's world apart from growing and eating.  In fact he has been left to fester a bit as I broke my collarbone 3 months ago.  It is still not healed and can at times be very painful.  So I have elected not to take Titch out on his in-hand walks. He comes to call for his breakfast and tea, so I had no need to keep putting the headcollar on him.  HOWEVER, that was a mistake as he has regressed and thinks the headcollar is going to kill him again. Cue more headcollar training. He grudgingly and somewhat mistrustfully allows it near his head if he can be tempted by a polo now.

I only realised this when I tried to get a fly rug on him as he is being bothered by midges. That was an unreasonable request in his eyes, so I thought I would put a headcollar on and get him used to a rug again, bit by bit, which is when I found I couldn't get the headcollar near him.

Apart from that I wanted to measure him to see how much too small for me he might turn out. Another reason this post is a bit tardy is that I wanted to deliver to you all the supposedly definitive 'year old' measurements that predict his adult height. So we have done a bit more work on the headcollar and today I managed to catch him and do the measurements.

Using the string test measuring from point of elbow to ergot + point of elbow to the ground, it predicts that he will grow to 15hh. Yay! I am happy with that, especially if he turns out to be in any way chunky.  However he has gone all lean and foal like again at the moment, definitely bottom high (the bottom always grows before the front end, in fits and starts, till they stop growing).

Using the middle of the knee to coronet band method, I found the results on the same day to be too changeable, depending on how he was standing, so I'll jettison that method.

His current height is 13.2hh at the withers and 13.3hh at the bum.

It is now early June and he is still loosing baby fluff, but I think he is going to be quite sleek once it all goes.

I am having to treat him for lice again. I am hoping this is the last lot of treatment as he is starting to hate being sprayed, but I suspect, unless I shave off his mane they are going to keep coming back. Yuck!

Here are a couple of photos.

Head looks big here because of all the beard!

Looking a bit more in proportion but still foal like.

9 month measurement and crashing fall

I measured Titchy today and he has grown in 3 months.  His withers are now 12.3hh and his bum is 13.1hh. I thought his nuts, or what is left of them looked a bit better today and as his temperature is stable and normal over the last 4 days I am starting to calm down about any complications.

The view from leaning over Titch

Titch aged 9 months - can't show a full body shot as too ugly!!

The only complication in my life at the moment is that whilst out hacking my spooky thoroughbred, she sort of spooked (again), and launched herself off a 3' bank, onto the tarmac road, promptly crashing to the floor and landing like bambi ( managed to stay with her till this point - very proud :) ), then just after we parted company she galloped off home again.  Needless to say she is very sore behind with a massive haematoma over her stifle, which the vet drained today, knowing it would just refill.

I, on the other hand, spent all yesterday afternoon at A&E as, having landed on my shoulder when Hetty pressed the 'eject' button, my shoulder was very painful.  I have apparently ruptured my (big word alert!) acromio-clavicular joint capsule and torn the cartilage therein. OUCH! No riding for a good few weeks, which is ok because Hetty can't be ridden for a few weeks, dove-tailing nicely. Thanks Hetty!

Gelding a Foal and Locking Stifles

So, because Titch has been getting more and more nibbly and pushy (baby stallion behaviour) when I take him out for a walk, and because now is the right time of the year, and because he is never going to add anything wonderful to the equine gene pool, I had him gelded 10 days ago. The vet sedated him standing, twitched his nose and used local anaesthetic in 'the area' and it all went without a hitch.  He was done standing up, well, swaying! Titch was 8 1/2 months old, there are no flies to bother the wound site and he is fine.

Day 3 his sheath swelled up to about twice normal, but the vet was only concerned if his scrotum swelled and it hasn't.
10 days on from the op the site is still draining and the sheath is looking a bit enlarged, having gone down to normal size again.  I was warned to keep a close eye from day 10-14, but hopefully this is just a blip. To reduce the original swelling I cold hosed Titch's sheath and took him for a daily 10 minute walk, though I gather that twice a day is optimal.

The day before the op I noticed that one of Titch's back legs was stiff in its entire length and he struggled to get going walking. I recognised this as a locking stifle.  I have seen both back legs do this now, but the vet says they often grow out of this as they get bigger and become more muscled.  I do hope so.

About 2 weeks ago he was looking very nearly level front and back, but now he is majorly bum high again. He is looking a bit poor too if I'm honest, but the spring grass has just started coming through to put some roundness on him.

Stop Nipping me!

I am now trying to walk Titch and Uncle Patches out twice a week.  Titch's front end appears to be levelling up a bit with his rear end as he grows.  And uncle Patches is in danger of getting too fat and laminitis in the spring if he doesn't wiggle off some pounds now.

Titch has now decided it is sort of fun to try to nip my elbow as I lead him. NO! I make chicken wings with my arms and send him backwards to spell it out to him.  Now all I have to say is 'No' and he is already backing up, but as yet it has not stopped him trying to nip me!  Maybe he is now at the stage where his nuts need to come off.  But he is not aggressive about it.  It is more like what a baby does when they are exploring everything with their mouth.

I am getting the distinct feeling that he might be a sort of 'nappy' pony when he is full grown.  If he decides he wants a bit of that green grass over there on one particular route, he plants his feet and will not budge! In the early days, to let him rest his brain when I first took him out on walks, I let him eat at this particular verge once or twice.  Now he thinks he can always stop there. WRONG!

Food Time Manners and Snow

We are now refining Titch's manners a bit.  He can follow me in to the stable without hassling me for his bucket of tea, he parks like a statue next to the wall and waits (10 seconds today) for me to say he can have his tea.  This was a hard lesson for Titch as his belly rules!!  I had to be consistent and make him go back to where he had come from if and as soon as he made the very first step towards me uninvited.  I am still working on this with my big horse!

He can also walk back to the word 'back' and a bit of arm flapping.  I am hoping to make him respond to a wiggle of one finger eventually.

He is a fairly low reactor (which is a good thing!) so I had to force the issue to make him charge about in the snow, but I think you'll agree the photos I took are great.

Treating Horse Lice

I have undertaken LOTS of internet research yesterday and today on the subject of lice and have come up with a summary of what to do.

If your horse is itchy, has lots of scurf,has rubbed bare patches in his fur, suspect lice.

If you have a hairy monster, as a precautionary measure you can dose with louse powder at the beginning of winter and spring.  This may repel the lice, but not eradicate an infestation.

If you have a lice breeding programme happening on your much beloved ponio, it can take many months to sort, so the consensus is to hit it hard with something more potent and expensive, rather than fanny around with organic lotions and potions which end up costing you more than if you had gone in with the hard stuff first off!!

Sulphur powder (for preference Flowers of Sulphur) can be dusted into the fur and put in the food (2 table spoons a day for a week to 10 days, then drop to maintenance dose of 1 tablespoon a day) to sort out any skin problems and has been used for hundreds of years (hence the use of pig oil and sulphur on feathered horses legs to repel mites.  But I didn't find any convincing proof that it will kill off a current lice infestation.

The British agents most often in use seem to be Coopers Spot-on, only licensed for cattle and sheep, but seemingly recommended by many a vet for use on horses, under their supervision.  You need a herd number to buy it on the internet and more than likely at a farm supplies outlet, like Scats, but it will be cheaper than buying it from the vets. You just pour a small amount along the mane, back and top of tail area.  It lasts for a long time but can cause hairloss or bleaching, so possibly not the first choice for show animals.

Deosect, which is some sort of petrochemical related product by the smell of it (and by the instructions to don chemical warfare garb!) is what I used today on both Titch and Patches. Easily bought at Scats and possibly online, but I wanted it TODAY!  You make up a dilution of it. For my ponies it was 2.5ml in 125ml of water and either spray or sponge on. One bottle is going to last a very long time!  Apparently it takes minutes to work and you reapply in 14 days to catch any eggs that have since hatched.

If you have a really bad infestation you should chat to your vet as he may think it necessary to inject Ivermectin, but this carries risks.

There is advice to treat anything that has come into contact with your horse, rubbing posts, brushes, headcollars, rugs, etc, but I was not sure what to treat it with.  As a cattery I have and indoor flea killer that I happen to know kills all sorts of creepy crawlies in there, called Indorex also from Scats.  So I will be using that. One vet also recommended putting any items in a plastic bag and freezing it for a few days, then washing it on a boil wash.  I dusted Patches rug with lice powder as I have not seen any evidence on him, but thinking about it I will spray that with Indorex tomorrow when I get a moment.

Had this problem occurred in the warmer sunnier weather of summer (?!) Dermoline Insecticidal shampoo would have been my first port of call.  Funny how they suggest a shampoo for a problem that occurs on hairy monsters in the cold weather (well warmth, under said hairy winter coat or turnout rug)!

I also read about one lady that felt the only thing to do for her miniature hairy shitlands was to completely clip them out and then treat.  I think that would be very effective, but I'm not sure what my baby pony would think about that!

UPDATE: after 3 treatments of Deosect at 14 days apart, Titch is now not at all itchy, so it must have worked.

Itchy Titchy.

Yuck, yuck, yuck!

I noticed that Titch was a bit scurfy soon after I bought him and assumed it was perhaps because he hadn't had the best nutrition and his skin was not so healthy.  Then recently I really started studying the scurf and found it all to be exactly the same size and attached to the hairs on his mane.

After a bit of internet research I have now convinced myself that the scurfiness and the fact that he is itching himself every few minutes can only mean he has ... lice. :(

I have liberally doused him in louse powder only to find it is as much use as a chocolate fireguard.  What seems to come out tops is a product for cattle and sheep called Coopers spot on (for which you apparently need a holding/herd number) or Deosect or Ivermectin wormers.  Also suggested was lice shampoo and rather organically, Sulphur powder.  So until I can get hold of the vet I will try the sulphur powder as well as the louse powder.

I thought I was over all the creepy crawlies when the children started secondary school!

I will be consulting the vet as soon as they open on New Year's Eve. Great timing Titch the itch!