Steady Uphill Climb

Licorice had a dramatic weekend full of vet visits every day.  The good news is that his blood work came back negative.  His current diagnosis is that it's a viral issue.  He was very lethargic this weekend, with a fever and bad diarrhea.  My barn and trainer have been wonderful about taking care of him.  His stall got cleaned out every few hours so that he didn't have to lay down in any poop piles.  His temperature was taken regularly and everything was closely monitored.

Saturday afternoon he started to turn around.  His fever went away and when he came out to be looked over by the vet, his bad manners had returned.  I've never been so happy to hear that a horses bad manners are back.  Some day this won't be the issue, but he can still be a bit of a moose and will just keep walking to where he wants to go, dragging the person along with him.  When he was sick, he wasn't interested in his friends or that extra pile of hay in the corner.

Sunday, I was cleared to let him out on the lunge line.  He hasn't had turnout and has only been hand walked since Tuesday.  I was only to lunge him for a few minutes to see how he's feeling.  If he offered to canter that was fine, but I was told to just let him trot around a bit.

Despite the quarantine and five days without work or turnout, Licorice wasn't super interested in being on the lunge line.  He trotted for a few minutes and at one point got excited when a horsey friend of his walked by the arena.  That resulted in about thirty seconds of cantering.  After which he had a very messy (and disgustingly smelly) poop in the arena.  Then he looked worn out.  I made him walk on the lunge for another few minutes just to stretch his legs out, but he was obviously not feeling fit and sassy yet.

I gave him a quick grooming and tucked him in for the night.  I'm back out today for some more lunging and to see how he feels after yesterday's excursion.  Now that he's turned the corner (I think) we can put him on some probiotics/gut supplements since it seems he may have a sensitive digestive system.  To my knowledge, though he got a virus, no other horses have gotten sick.

Thanks for all the well wishes!  I do believe my pony is on the mend.