I feel like a s**t owner :(

L

lauren123

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2007
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East Yorkshire
I really do! :cry:. I am trying my best but just feel I aren't doing enough for him! I feel like I just annoy people at the stables eventhough I am asking for help and advice. Eventhough there are a lot of people at the stables I feel all alone.
 
Well... Tuesday night I took sox for a walk around our land he was fine. Wednesday morning I get a text from the girl who turns him out saying he walame and she thought one of the nails was twisted, so she left him in the stable with a haynet . One of the other girls pulled the nail out- was stuck in him but there was no blood. That afternoon went to see him( was on my second of three night shifts) he was still quite sore bless him. His back legs where like tree trunks! After I had mucked out he spent the rest of th day in his stable. I spoke to a good friend of mine and she said his legs with be like that as he was putting all of his weight on his back two and if he was able to walk , turn him out the following day. I went up straight after work the thursday morning and was pleased sox was walking so much better. So he spent all day in the field. On the night when I brought him in I trotted him up and seemed ok though he was dragging his left hind leg. I thought it might be him been lazy. He let me lift up his right front no problems and his left hind no problems. I checked to see if they were warm at all and his right front was ( the rest were all ok) so hosed his right front for a few mins before putting him back in his box. His shoe, by the way was hardly loose. But him dragging his hind leg concerned him slightly. Luckly the vet(m ust be new to the pratise as I had never seen her) was down today to do other horses vaccs so I decided rather then to leave it to see if she could take a quick look at him , he trotted up fine she checked his right front said it was a bit warm and might still be sore . While she was using a hoof pick his shoe uld see was coming loose. She said about getting the farrier as she was in someone elses car and didn't have all the bits and to take the shoe off and give his hoof a good file . My farrier came today as I had asked him to put another nail in the shoe but I must have got the times mixed up as I missed him. So another farrier has agreed to put it back on tomorrow. But can't remember what the vet said about whether to leave his shoe off or put it back on! Another thing is a am crapping myself incase sox has got an infection in it. I didn't bandage it up as no one suggested me doing that until one of the other liveries had asked whether I had done that today . It might be my anxiety playing up but can't help thinking 'what if!?' Ontop of this went back to work after been off sick and I am only contracted to 3 9 hour shifts but because I need the money I did another one as extra last week and this week I have done 3 on the trot- tues , weds, thurs. I ended up been sick twice last night at work and now am in bed with a temp, feeling very sick and worried about sox. Aswell as crying every so often.
 
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I assume the loose nail was in the sore front? Depends where the nail was I would generally have got a vet straight away and not taken it out if it was in the frog or sole as it may have caused damage. It is very easy to misread left hind for right fore lameness at a trot don't knock yourself for that.

I would phone your vet and check what she wanted the farrier to do, they are usually very helpful.

I would not be too worried about the swollen hinds, that is quite common in exracers, your advice to turn out was correct, one of our vets used to tell us to bandage and do lots of trot work to reduce the swelling.


Just to cheer you up I was left in charge of daughter's competition ex racehorses last week when she was on holiday. One evening one of them was
really not right and I suspected colic so I phoned the vet to warn I may need help and discuss the symptoms, we agreed I would lead him out/lunge and phone back with a report. Bear in mind I have over half a century horse experience so I was just a bit embarrassed to admit I thought the horse was just playing me up as he no longer showed symptoms. Discussed it when CK came back, my 'crime', water and hay in wrong places, too much water in hard feed and I caught his friend in first. TBs and particularly those who have raced have an enormous sense of their own importance:redface:
 
I'm not sure what is up with Sox, but I can offer some moral support - we all go through this with horse ownership. It's hell but you will find your feet. The responsibility is overwhelming and we worry constantly that we have done the wrong thing or nothing when we should be doing something. All I'd say is that while you are right to seek out help from those more knowledgeable, do try to trust your gut as well. Blindly following the orders of other well meaning folk, can end up with you feeling even less confident and more at sea with this whole experience. Gather advice and options and then choose the right way for you and your horse. Be empowered. You are in charge, it will help you cope whatever the problem is.
 
I believe he had the nail stuck in him. Yes it was the right front. This sounds really silly but with it been a saturday tomorrow would the vet be in? Or would it be up on soxs notes yet?
 
Oh dear, it sounds as though you are just generally feeling sh1t. It doesn't sound to me as though you've done anything wrong, but maybe getting lots of different advice from different people is confusing and demoralising you. I think that's pretty normal for a fairly new horse owner and there can't be many of us who haven't made mistakes along the way - it's all part of the learning process. You need someone you can trust to give you some sensible advice, why don't you take EML up on her offer?

Hope you're feeling better tomorrow, things will look a lot brighter x
 
I think I will :) I do have someone who I trust completely they drove me all around Yorkshire trying out horses. They were there when I first tried sox out. But they have moved from our yard now. I will be ringing up the vets tomorrow. I know I have mentioned it before but I am still crapping myself incase it could get infected or if it already is .
 
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Things always seem bad when you are not well, molehills turn into mountains, Thickets into impenetrable forest etc.

Once you feel better I am sure you will be able to break things down into manageable outcomes and feel a lot happier:smile:
 
You are not a sh*t owner! In the first few weeks of owning Joe we must have driven folk potty asking questions - and we were forever on the phone to the vet!!! Try not to worry so much (hard I know). Keep asking on here - there is always plenty of good advice!!! Hope you feel better soon.
 
I think because you aren't well right now and have been working very hard too, everything is piling on top of you and making you doubt your own judgement. Excellent advice from EML who really does know her ex racers so I would certainly be pm'ing her if you still feel any doubts about Sox's care. She would be my first point of call if I was struggling in anyway with an off the track TB.

I would also hold my hands up to making errors even in recent years with care, in some way or another, despite all my life with horses. The point is we all do it Lauren, new owners and experienced owners too. But frankly I cant see why you feel you aren't a good owner to Sox? Haven't you always asked about anything you are unsure of and had the vet to him when you needed to? Wasn't your fault the first one isn't brilliant, I have had a few of those over the years too!:wink:

Just take a deep breath, calm down and maybe jot a few notes down when you speak to the vet on the phone, that way you won't forget anything that is worrying you about it all?

Hope you feel better soon. :smile:
 
eml said:
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Just to cheer you up I was left in charge of daughter's competition ex racehorses last week when she was on holiday. One evening one of them was
really not right and I suspected colic so I phoned the vet to warn I may need help and discuss the symptoms, we agreed I would lead him out/lunge and phone back with a report. Bear in mind I have over half a century horse experience so I was just a bit embarrassed to admit I thought the horse was just playing me up as he no longer showed symptoms. Discussed it when CK came back, my 'crime', water and hay in wrong places, too much water in hard feed and I caught his friend in first. TBs and particularly those who have raced have an enormous sense of their own importance:redface:
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Lol, sorry to thread hi-jack, but this rang so true - our Joe did not tolerate any deviation from what he considered his routine and his way - when we moved him home to live he was positively angry with us, and for the first few days sulked. I had the vet out to give them both the once over to make sure they'd travelled okay etc and to make sure they were in fine fettle. Vet left - hadn't got to the end of the lane when I had to ring her as he came down with mild colic. He was fine in the end, but the little things that we "dared" to change upset him no end. I had no idea how sensitive tb's were, but I learnt pretty quickly! Folk on the old yard used to laugh at us, thinking we were "pandering" to him, but in the end it was much easier to do things his way!:giggle:
 
The physio is down and we were all having a chat and where as everyone had there own convs there was about 8 of us. When the physio asked how sox was doing now everyone went silent. Just . .just got off the phone from the vet. She said to get the farrier to toe off have a good look and see if you can see where the nail went in put it back on and put him on box rest for the week as she think he might have bruised it x
 
So sox is now on a weeks box rest. The farrier said he hasn't done any damage. Vet said prob bruised it. When trotted him up for the vet yesterday she didn't say whether he was lame or sound.
 
Oh poor Sox. He is beginning to sound very much like our old Mr Joe. He spent half of his life on box rest (only kidding!!!). Give Sox a nice pat from Storm, Chloe and us. Txxxxx
 
Poor you, really, you are not a pants owners, but TB's are just TB's. They over react 99% of the time, and love to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Especially close to their hearts are feet problems and colicky problems, the latter usually brought on by winding themselves up as much as possible over extremely minor issues!

I had a lot of racehorses come to me for R&R and a little break from the (what I consider to be institutionalised and un-natural world of racing) and if they could a) get caught up on whatever fencing was around, b) get a digestive order, including choke or c) get a weather related problem they would.

I did find that the longer they were with me, the more 'normal' they became and actually, I don't think you have had Sox that long. I am sure that things will settle down shortly for you.
 
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