A Tale of Two Horses

This is a tale of two horses, with two different owners, and two different problems, but both are fine examples of why I.V. sedatives and anesthetics are handy things to have. Both of these horses came to our large animal facilities located at our home. Sometimes it is just easier to get the trailers in and out at our place, and there is more room to lay the horses down if need be.


The first horse, an old brood mare, had been having a weepy eye since the first part of the week. The owner couldn't really find anything wrong but as the week progressed, the eye continued to get worse. Dr. McGraw tried to examine the eye with some I.V. sedative, but the eye was too painful and an I.V. anesthetic was also required. The old mare wasn't too keen on being anesthetized, so she required another dose before she decided she just may as well go ahead and lie down.

From the picture you can see how swollen and red the conjunctiva is, the thick exudative tears, and the clouding of the cornea. The arrow is pointing to an ulcer on the cornea where a foreign object (pointed out below) was removed.


Luckily for this mare, the ulcer was not very deep, and with antibiotic ointment applied to her eye as directed, the eye should heal up nicely without too much scarring.


(The mare decided to have a little snooze since she was feeling a little drugged up at the moment.)


The second horse, a well muscled, 4- year- old quarter horse gelding, was lacking a little horse sense because he decided to smell a porcupine. He didn't have very many quills in his muzzle, but he wouldn't even let Dr. McGraw approach him without snorting and shying away, let alone trying to pull out the broken off quills. So he too was given an I.V. sedative.



The sedative worked like a charm and the quills were out in no time. (Just a second--I have to wipe blood and puss off the camera because he just snorted gunk all over it.) The swelling and discharge should clear up and his muzzle will be feeling much better in a few days as long as he continues to eat the antibiotics hidden in his grain.