I sent my big Holsteiner mare out about a month ago to get a full reproductive exam. I have a contract on Colorado, the Elite Knab stallion with Avalon Equine, and I admit to having dreams of a little spotty baby.
But it seems that nature has other plans.
My big mare is a solid 4th level schoolmaster when she feels like it. At times, she does a great interpretation of pluggy greenbroke packmule. I was of the opinion that perhaps she just needed some time...I knew I needed some time to work on my overall physical strength, so what harm in her being a royal hay eating pest of mammoth proportions? I was considering possibly doing hock injections for her comfort when I built up enough strength to ride, as I feel like a wobbly neurologically impaired limp noodle / hot flaming mess*, but the main thing in my mind was to keep her comfy.
*for reference, my dear Lyme friend A tried to convince me to get on the whopping 13 hands of her Icey, and I wouldn't, as I was afraid of admitting to her and myself that I thought I would ooze up one side and down the other!*
Well...she has some whack issues. Psycho. Like holyshitdamn I am so freaking glad I sent her to get worked up, as she has a monstrous anaerobic and aerobic uterine infection that lit the culture on fire in 24 hours (instead of the normal 48). My exaggeration of course.
Add to that..
A slack R broad ligament that creates a lovely continual pool of fluid.
A slight pelvic tilt that allows for the possibility of fecal bacteria to enter the uterine environment.
A weird injury to her cervix, obviously sustained with her previous one and only foal.
And you get a perfect storm.
I feel slightly overwhelmed that I did not give my old she bear credit for hurting. I honestly thought it was something in her legs or back, and that taking a few months off to just loaf would be the best thing for her.
But I am looking at hitting her with 2 cc of oxytocin at the end of every heat cycle to encourage her body to shed that extra fluid...for the rest of her life. Of course she already has been sewn up back there to keep out the possibly re entry of fecal bacteria.
It gets better. The cervix has a blind outpouching in its very center--where it had to be poked by a torsional little hoof. And there was no freaking way to have found that out without all of this. There is some thought about taking her to VA Tech to literally nick the outside of the cervix...the opinion is that her cervix would be able to function perfectly well (and my thought...perhaps better without the blind pouch to harbor creepy stuff).
I am so glad I saved for this. Despite the reality that there will be no bouncing spotty baby next summer, my old queen will not be dealing with the pain of untreated raging infections! The vet and breeding manager both agree with me that a situation of this magnitude has to be 1) painful and 2) chronic.
I think this is a humongous breakthrough in understanding this mare, as she has been labeled a butthead (on good days) by many people. It is also a very sharp wake up call to me as well...given the fact I know pain so well, how was I so blind to what she was feeling? How could I simply have attributed her occasional erratic behavior to something other than pain? Why did I settle for the trite behavioral explanation? Honestly...this is why I love people medicine. Being able to ask how long has your back hurt?--since your last baby, perhaps? --is priceless. And so is being able to communicate that we are going to fix this, and you are going to finally feel better.
An illness is like a journey into a far country; it sifts all one's experience and removes it to a point so remote that is appears like a vision.
~Sholem Asch
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