Tyke's hurt - 2015-05-28

I have had some requests to see pictures of Tyke's injuries. I will reference pictures in the post and will post them at the bottom of this post. They are rather graphic, so I don't want anyone to accidentally run into them.



Received a call from Darin this morning. Tyke injured himself and wee needed to call a vet. He sent me a couple of pictures (picture 1) and it's bad. Tyke cut up his hind legs quite badly (especially his left hind).

They managed to load him up into Darin's huge stock trailer, and I met them at Block & Bridle Vet in Greeley (my boss told me I had to go, thank you Mike!) When I got there, they had him well drugged and were about halfway through shaving him up. Tyke was an angel during the entire four hours they were working on him. The vet was very impressed at how good of a boy he was.

Tyke - He never moved while we were working on him

His legs look like he stepped through bailing wire and it tightened up around him and he panicked. We couldn't find any wire in his stall, so we don't know for sure what happened. I deeply regret not getting him moved 2 weeks ago... (picture 2) This is an excellent lesson for why you need to teach your horse to "Lead by the Hind Foot". If I had done that before this happened, I believe the outcome would have been entirely different. If you want more information on that, you can watch some info by Warwick Shiller on You Tube www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMfp7xJXkAE or  get more detailed information through his subscription at http://www.warwickschiller.com/videos/leading-by-a-hind-foot/.

By tapping several spots, the vet determined that three sterile sections are involved. The fetlock join on the right hind has a small puncture wound, the coffin joint or the pastern joint (maybe both) on the left hind, and the tendon sheath on the left hind is wide open. He severed the superficial digital flexor tendon and mostly severed the deep digital flexor tendon (back tendons) on the left hind and may have severed the common digital extensor tendon (the front tendon) also on the left hind.

She did limb perfusions on both hind legs to try and combat infection. This is an incredibly painful procedure (antibiotics are injected into a superficial vein in the limb below the tourniquet and the tourniquet is left in place for 30 minutes), but he surprised us by being perfect for it as well (picture 3). She even had to try a couple of times on his left hind because the veins kept blowing out...

If you are interested in more detail, I found an article that describes what our vet did pretty well. https://rainlandfarm.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/joint-and-tendon-sheath-infections/

Tyke has been put on stall rest for the foreseeable future. The vet has given him a 60-80% chance of recovery. Movement is the enemy, so we will do our best to keep him as quiet as possible. She has given him shots of pain meds and antibiotics and gave me pills to give him every day to help with the pain.

Tyke is clearly in a lot of pain, but he was so very good during all of these procedures. We were sitting under and behind him while cleaning and inspecting his legs. He was drugged, but not so much that he didn't know we were there. The vet was amazed with how good he was.

Getting ready to leave the vet

It took some work to get him into the trailer after his 4 hours at the vet. He was very willing but in so much pain that he took a while to figure out how to maneuver into the trailer without falling. I felt so bad watching him limp to it and barely be able to get into the trailer...

Managed to get him into the trailer

It is really muddy out in Windsor right now, and Darin doesn't have a pen we can keep clean. Fortunately, Tarrah lives right next door and does have a concrete floored calf pen. While we were at the vet, they worked on cleaning it out for us. Unfortunately, this pen is both isolated (so no other horses near) and requires going up a steep concrete step. Tyke was very hesitant to go up that step, but he was very good and did go up it once he was asked (it was clearly painful!)

Unsure about going up steps to get to his stall...

His temp tonight is 102*. The vet wants to see it stay below 101* to make sure no infection is setting in. We're keeping hay in front of him 24/7 while he is stuck on stall rest. He'll be getting pain meds and electrolytes every night for a while. When I left, he had settled in quite nicely.

Tyke's new home for a little while

Below here are the graphic pictures of his legs.

Picture 1 - First pictures I saw

Picture 2 - After being shaved

Picture 3 - Limb perfusions on both legs

Tyke & Fire - 2015-05-10

We finally went out to Windsor to get Tyke's shoes pulled tonight. I'm really glad we made it when we did, because when we got there, the fence was broken and both horses were out. It took us about 30-45 mins to finally catch them. It's good that Fire is still here. He can be a pain sometimes, but he knows that he will eventually get caught. I don't have that established with Tyke yet. Even so, they went all over the open property and into some situations I was worried about.

Once we got Fire caught, Tyke followed like a puppy. He was still a bit difficult to actually catch (hiding behind Fire...it was kinda cute and quite funny), but I eventually got him. We were fortunate they didn't run to the road (a county highway with high speeds), but they headed that direction a couple of times. After finding them like this, we will have to move them soon. They are not staying safe, so we will need to move to a different facility. We'll try to move them by June 1st.

We then worked until we got his shoes off. We haven't been able to get a farrier up here, so it was me and Jeremy working to figure out how best to pull them off.  It was cold and windy, and this was the second time he's ever had his feet worked on. Overall he did quite well.

He has an interesting habit of backing up if you walk towards him. I like that he gives to the pressure but really need to work with his comfort level of me coming towards him. I can't wait to get him closer so I can work with him consistently!

Riding Tyke - 2015-03-15

Went out to work Tyke because the weather was beautiful! Christina and Peggy were willing to take Will, so I was able to get away to Windsor for a few hours.

This was the first time I tried to catch the boys since we dropped them off in Windsor. Fire and Tyke decided they didn't want to be caught. So I pressured them both a bit. Then Fire let me catch him (as he always does after a minute.)

Once I had Fire haltered, I pressured Tyke just a bit more. He kept trying to hide behind Fire (who couldn't care less since he knew I wasn't pressuring him). Tyke let me catch him pretty quickly after that though. I let Fire go again and took Tyke out.

I grained him a little while I brushed and saddled him. He's very good with his feet, except for his left hind foot. He's not bad with it, but he does fight a little and takes a bit to relax it. That won't be hard to fix though. I didn't have a place to tie him, so I just looped the lead rope around my belt. Got him brushed and threw my saddle on him. He moved a bit, but was good overall. I need to get a longer off-side latigo cause he is wider than Fire was when I last rode him.

Tyke is so cute tacked up!

After I tacked him up, I lunged him for a bit. I had the cantle bag on with a couple of empty plastic bottles, so it made noise. He was a touch jumpy. When I cantered him, he actually humped up a bit. Not too much, but he was a bit uncomfortable. (I was glad to see it before I got on him).

He and I need to learn how to read each other while lunging. If I even think about accidentally stepping in front of his drive line, he'll sit on his hocks and turn (which I love about him!) But when I ask him to turn, he fights me. A couple more sessions and we'll be fine.

I decided to play it safe and pull the plastic bottles out before I ride. Bethany told me she worked with him where she tied milk jugs all over his saddle etc, so he shouldn't have an issue with it. Different place, different person, and not being worked in a while makes a big difference.

After I had him going pretty well, maybe 15 mins or so, (with Fire screaming in the background, of course) I decided to go ahead and ride him. He was very good about being bridled. I chose to use my three-piece broken roller bit to start with. You can clip it with shanks or without. He was perfect while I mounted him, so I didn't spend any time working on that. I started by using the shanks but quickly changed to direct pull (I'm leaning towards not liking this bit in general...)

After I hopped on him, I let him go where he wanted so I could see what sticky spots we might have. Bethany was right, he wanted to explore! He first headed towards the driveway and out towards the (busy) road, but I steered him a bit away from that... After that, he headed to the pens with the other horses to meet them (I had never taken him around the property, so this didn't surprise me.) He wanted to stick around the other horses, so I started to work him some while over there. Fairly quickly, he headed out towards the other stuff. He was nervous about going near the old semi-flatbed, so I worked with him and was able to get him to walk up close to it.

He did keep going back to the horses, so I would pressure him and he would wander back off. My goal (that I made up on the spot) was to have him calmly walk around the flatbed. I had a really interesting experience with him. He really didn't like the flatbed at first, so I would work him away from it and stay completely relaxed if he was looking at it. He stopped while looking at it and I just took a deep breath and rubbed on his neck. After a few moments, he sighed deeply and walked right up to it! It was amazing, and I felt so connected to him! Then I wanted to go around it and maybe even a little down the path between fields (a little ambitious, I know, but he was leaving me feeling good!) 

I did get him to go around the flatbed twice. Never fully relaxed, but I took my small wins. There was one time where he was facing out towards the fields and actually spooked! Well, I say spooked, but it was like slow motion compared to Fire. He did spin, but before he was a quarter of the way through the turn, I had him bending to a stop. I love this horse so much! Just being able to ride through a spook and not end up on the ground makes me feel so much better about riding again.

After he was calmer about the flatbed, I stopped pressuring him to get near it (pressure away, no pressure close) and let him really decide where he wanted to go again. This time, he went down past the other horses and towards two buildings that are close together. They had some shadows down between them, and he was nervous about going between them. I did the same thing and stopped, breathed, and rubbed on him. I was in no hurry, and it worked! He went right through! I cannot wait to trail ride this horse and take him everywhere!

My one and only picture while riding Tyke. This is the best view ever.

We continued to wander around for a bit longer. We chased some chickens, said hi to the draft stud on the property. He was so relaxed and had his head so low, I couldn't get his ears and sky into the same picture! It was so nice to just enjoy riding! I have missed this! I really wish someone had been there to take a picture of me on him.

After we were done just messing around (about 45 mins of riding), I pulled his tack off and brushed him out really well. I also grained him and Fire a bit more and gave them their shots and wormer. They were both perfect for those. I am looking forward to so many years with this horse. He's so easy to work with, even with him being "hard" for me compared to what he was for his trainer. But if I put in even a little bit of consistent work with him, he'll be a dream in no time.

(2015-07-16) I'm sure someone will think I shouldn't have ridden him yet since he was maybe not really ready, but I am so glad I did. This ended up being my one and only chance to ever ride him and I will always cherish this memory. This was a really hard post to write because I remember ever second of this ride even though it was four months ago, and I'll never get to do it again with him...

Tyke - 2015-02-20-22

This weekend we have been working on moving, so I have not been able to work with Tyke. I purchased Safe Guard wormer, 4-way,  West Nile shots for both Tyke & Fire. I will administer before they leave the property (probably next weekend). We are getting a blizzard this weekend. Tyke was good about letting me blanket him once I haltered him. Fire did play the "you can't catch me" game and Tyke followed, but they were good a bit later (it was chilly and they were hyper). They are getting extra hay and grain all weekend. Hope to do some work with him soon!

Bringing Tyke Home - 2015-02-13

We went to pick up Tyke today! We met up with the brand inspector (who we saw a couple of weeks ago when we sold Dakota). He couldn't say enough nice things about Tyke and even wanted to buy him! I asked him to do a permanent inspection (since Windsor is over 100 miles away and you have to BI for any movement over 75 mi) Then we loaded Tyke onto our 2-horse straight load trailer. It took like 5 minutes for him to decide to hop up (it was amazing, he had never been in one that small).

Will got to ride Tyke for a few minutes while we were standing around talking. He loved it! This picture isn't perfect cause he started out by grinning. He loves being outside and being on a horse made him so happy! Carrie says that he will be stealing my horse in a couple of years, and that's just fine with me because Tyke will be perfect for him then!

After we closed him in, he was very good (once we loosened up his lead rope so he could get to both sides of the bay). He was alert but calm when I unloaded him. He and Fire have to work out their pecking order but seem to be doing ok. Fire was running around with his tail in the air, it was funny!

Second Visit with Tyke - 2015-02-11

Jeremy went with me to see Tyke for a second time today. Bethany tacked him up and handed him to me. I hopped on and found he was even lighter, softer, and willing to be forward moving for me. He was so much fun. I love riding him! Then I jumped off so Jeremy could try him.

Tyke was trying to be good, but was certainly confused about the cues Jeremy was trying to give. I will have to give him some lessons so he knows how to properly cue him (after I really learn what cues he's looking for).

We decided to buy him and will be picking him up on Friday, assuming Carrie (his owner) can get the brand inspector out. I am so excited about this horse! He will be my confidence builder!

(this is a picture from Bethany)