Red's blood test came back today - negative. He is not a carrier of strangles. Phew - what a relief. I had not realised until I heard the result how much it had been preying on my mind.Although Red is being kept in he is calm and relaxed. I think because there is little coming and going on the yard and all the other geldings are also in, he has just accepted it. In this photograph he has just completed one of his favourite tricks - flicking his headcollar of the hook by his stable door. The mares are staying out, well away from the geldings, until the rest of the blood tests come back - hopefully tomorrow. Then we shall know if there is a carrier or if any of the other horses are infected - I pray they are not.
The infected horse is well away from all the other horses and being cared for in isolation. Strangely he is not really ill and has very few symptoms. As far as I have heard he just seems a bit under par, but nothing serious. Hopefully this means he will recover quickly and be free of the disease.
Dee is fine and enjoying being out grazing all the time despite the heavy rain.
1 comment:
I'm sure that you are very relieved that Red is okay. Years ago, we moved Silk from a barn literally the day before they had an outbreak of strangles there. Several horses died and it was very scary. Fortunately, I had a Coggins tests done on my horse before I moved to the new barn, so they knew she was okay. I used to vaccinate for strangles, but this year, my vet said that they had stopped since the vaccine wasn't really working. Red is certainly going to be frisky when he gets out. I think it's lovely the way that Dee is responding to you when you go into the pasture with her.
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