Cob Jockey

Last night around 8pm, I got a text from one of my fellow co-op members. "Hey, thought you'd want to know Connor is breathing unusually hard as he eats his hay tonight. I've also heard him cough and sneeze a couple times too. He looks normal otherwise."

I went straight out there of course, and found a totally normal horse that was breathing slightly fast, and had his nostrils flared ever so slightly more than normal. But he nickered at me when he saw me (which he always does, except that time he colicked) and the issue was generally so subtle, I was impressed that barnmate noticed it at all (this is why this co-op works!)

Camo Hank, in his natural environment

I watched him drink and pee. I pulled him out of his stall and checked for dehydration (no), temperature (normal), lameness (no), and a digital pulse (no). Next I threw him on the lunge line, where he was, again, absolutely normal in terms of movement and reaction to stimuli. I got his heart rate up, and still, he never coughed or sneezed.

That was about the time I was like well, I need to bring his respiration rate down regardless, so I'm going to give him a long, cold bath. And within a few minutes, his nostrils and respiration rate both went back to normal and stayed there.

So...he was just hot? 3 hours after coming in for the night? It IS unusually warm here right now, with highs in the mid 80s. I'd normally have clipped him by now, but our Welsh show is being held quite late this year, in mid-October, and I can't clip him til after that. The coughing and sneezing my barnmate heard could have been related, or it also could have been a coincidence precipitated by the farm next to us beginning their fall corn harvest yesterday. 

I don't get to see many morning sunrises out here since I'm the night crew, but this one was spectacular!

I went out this morning to take his temp, just to make sure this isn't a respiratory illness he picked up at the show, and he was normal and so was his temp. So I'm going to go out in the middle of the day to bring him in before it gets too hot every day until the weather breaks. The perks of living close with a flexible job.

He better stay healthy, both because I love him and because...my saddle arrives on Wednesday!