Wednesday, December 11, 2013

More of the Same, and a Note on Lyme

As I write, at about 5 p.m., it's 5F with a wind chill of -6F.  Tonight's the coldest night yet - here's the forecast:
Tonight - A slight chance of flurries after 3am. Increasing clouds, with a low around -6. Wind chill values as low as -23. West wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 15 mph. 
Thursday - Partly sunny, with a high near 19. Wind chill values as low as -14. West southwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
It looks like Friday may be a bit better, and we might even get to ride - I can't wait as I'm in withdrawal after no riding since last Friday . . .

On the topic of Lyme, I was talking to one of the boarders about her horse.  She's had him for 7 years, and he's been on and off unsound ever since - he's been looked at by numerous vets, had joint injections, been on joint supplements, and nothing worked - he was never quite right and often had issues as well with his back.  Recently, she had him tested for Lyme, and guess what, he came up strongly positive for a long-term infection.  Due to the fact that he'd been infected for a long time - probably the whole time she'd had him - she opted to treat him with IV tetracycline - the vet came to the barn for a number of days to do the infusions.  He's now 100% sound and starting back to work - he moves great and looks like a much happier horse.  She's excited - she's finally got the horse he's supposed to be.  I expect there are a lot of horses out there being treated for all sorts of things who really have Lyme - now that the new Cornell test is available you'd hope more vets would recommend testing, if only to rule that out.

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