Hattie had been having trouble chewing hay since her arrival.  We had her teeth floated TWICE before she got to TIER.  The bulk of her diet is Senior Feed and Hay Pellets...unsoaked.  She won't eat them if they have been soaked!

Fortunately, Dr. Jacob Johnson DVM of Mohave River Equine Veterinary Services was able to come help Hattie out.

The picture above is when Hattie finally arrived at TIER.  She had suffered through an upper respiratory infection when we got her out of the kill pen.  She had put on weight, had her teeth floated twice, but was still thin.  I just felt there was something we were missing.

Hattie happily accompanied Dr. Johnson's better half, Christel, up to the area where he works on the horses when he is here.  She had to walk past all the other horses, go up an incline and into the shaded area of the shedrow barn.  She just walked along easily without any issues.

Both vets who had done her teeth previously (under sedation) had experienced a very different Hattie.  She would rear back, walk backwards, go back so fast that she sat down.  At one facility they had to use a chute to be able to work on her.

Christel said all she had to do was talk to her, ease her trepidation, allow the sedative to take effect and Hattie was perfect for them.

Turns out that Hattie doesn't have much tooth left on her bottom teeth.  They are down to the gumline.  AND...one of those stubby teeth was fractured which caused her considerable pain and made it even harder for her to chew!!  Thank you Dr. Johnson for helping the old girl out!!

Hattie is now a Bucket Baby.  This means that we upped her portions of Senior Feed quite a bit and still continue with the Mountain Sunrise Hay pellets which are really small and easy to chew.  She will still get some hay to keep her busy, but all the stems she cannot chew will ge given to another horse so we don't waste so much.

Hopefully, she will gain a bit more weight.  In the meantime, she absolutely LOVES to be scratched/brushed.  Her legs nearly buckle in ecstasy when you scratch her!

Hattie got to meet our chiropractor, Dr. Don Moore.  We had thought that her difficulty with chewing was something that a chiropractic adjustment would rectify.  Dr. Moore didn't find any problems with her other than she was slightly out at the poll, which is pretty typical.

Our Equine Dentis, Dr. Jacob Johnson, will be out in August (he is really booked up!!) to do a thorough dental exam.  Although she has had her teeth floated twice in Texas before coming to TIER, she wasn't best patient and the vets were not able to help her out too much.  

She is getting quite a bit of Equine Senior Feed along with her hay daily.  She has gained a bit of weight, but not what you would expect after being here for this long.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that Dr. Johnson will be able to help her process her food better after his visit in August.

HATTIE made it home late at night.  She was tired, but walked into her pen as if she knew she was home and started eating.  Despite all the wonderful care she received in quarantine (had her teeth floated twice; feet done, vitamin shots, blood draw-level were normal, plenty of hay/hay pellets) she remains thin.

HATTIE is not an "enthusiastic" eater and takes her time.  She prefer that her soaked pellets be fluffed up.  We are thinking that she may have difficulty in opening her mouth all the way and it may limit her.  We have a call into our chiropractor to schedule an exam/adjustments if needed.

She is very sweet and social.  Welcome to TIER sweet HATTIE!

The February 2021 historic winter storm that dropped snow and ice in Texas nearly paralyzed the electric grid, causing power and water outages for millions of Texans over a period of days.  People were ill prepared for a storm of this duration and magnitude.  Water was trucked in and had to be boiled for household use...if you could find it.  Road travel was shut down, livestock was lost, pipes burst, etc.  It was a major winter and ice storm that had widespread impacts across the United States, Northen Mexico and parts of Canada.

There she stood, bracing against the wind, ice and cold.  Suffering from an upper respiratory infection with no treatment, nobody to care for her and the others standing in the killpen.  From the time she arrived at the lot, her prospects were not good.  Now, with the weather ravaging the area and her being sick, she was close to just giving up.  It was just too hard to be bumped, knocked and pushed around while trying to access hay.  She was really tired.

We paid her ransom and was able to connect with a nearby quarantine facility to have her picked up.  The roads were still bad and our regular quarantine facility was full at that time.  She was seen by the vet, given antibiotics by injection and also a week's worth of Uniprim.  She was not eating well and we asked the vet to come back and do her teeth.  He did his best at the time, but she was estremely reactive when her mouth was being handled.  Otherwise, she was good to handle.

A week later she arrived at Kathy's/Starburst Ranch, our regular quarantine facility.  She was still lethargic and worn out.  The day after she arrived she just laid in the pasture soaking up the sun and resting.  We named her Hattie.

We/Kathy felt she could benefit from a couple days of Bute (anti inflammatory/pain reliever), soaked hay pellets/senior.  She showed improvement in appetite and energy levels.  She does pin her ears at feeding time and makes that mean mare face, but is really a sweet girl.

Last week Hattie went off her feed.  Yesterday, 3/17/2021 Kathy took her to the vet to have blood tests done and to check her teeth.  Blood tests were "normal" for her age (20 years), but her teeth still needed work.  Even after 2 doses of sedative she fought when working on her teeth.  She really protested, sat down in the chute.  It took two people to restrain her while the vet worked on her teeth.  Hattie is easy to load in the trailer, lead and handle.  Just don't mess with her mouth!  She also received Vitamin shots to stimulate her appetite and help with her overall health.

Last night she ate all her pellets/senior feed and she had her feet trimmed this morning.  She was still off her feed a bit and Kathy is busy trying different feeds for her.