Fuckin' bummed...
I'm so devastated right now...
Crystal got a stud colt from Oregon back in January. He's perfect in every way. Color, got great conformation, great athleticism, a wonderful personality, everything.
When Steel arrived, about a month after getting here, he started getting a runny nose. We called the vet out and he treated him for a cold. Its now June and his runny nose has gotten worse. In fact, he's got his hay coming out his nose and everything... we treated him 4 times since then for a cold. We brought it up to our vet that works on all the andalusians and she mentioned a potential cleft palate. All of the cases we'd seen or read about were from birth. We contacted the breeder and asked if she ever noticed milk coming out his nose as a foal (a classic sign of cleft palate). She said "no" and that brightened our spirits a bit. We had two other vets check him since then and each treated it as a cold. Finally, Crystal called Dr. Wan in Norco yesterday and requested to have him scoped just to double check. She took him down there today at 1:30 and called me around 3:30.
He has a cleft palate...
Most horses who have a cleft palate do not live. They get pneumonia or they choke. In best case scenarios, they just stand around and can never be worked to their full potential.
Steel was born to be a star. So this is just devastating...
He is going in for surgery on Monday. Dr. Wan wants to try to do arthroscopic surgery. Supposedly no one has tried this method on a horse but it is far less invasive than the alternative which is drilling two holes in his jaws, cutting from his chin to his throat, breaking his jaw, cutting his muscles and tongue and then fixing the problem...
Dr. Wan is fairly confident that he can successfully fix this. Luckily, Steel is at a prime age, its in the soft palate and its in a good location. If he can fix it, Steel will grow up as if he never had this problem...
Lets all hope for the best for poor Steelie... I love this colt.
Crystal got a stud colt from Oregon back in January. He's perfect in every way. Color, got great conformation, great athleticism, a wonderful personality, everything.
When Steel arrived, about a month after getting here, he started getting a runny nose. We called the vet out and he treated him for a cold. Its now June and his runny nose has gotten worse. In fact, he's got his hay coming out his nose and everything... we treated him 4 times since then for a cold. We brought it up to our vet that works on all the andalusians and she mentioned a potential cleft palate. All of the cases we'd seen or read about were from birth. We contacted the breeder and asked if she ever noticed milk coming out his nose as a foal (a classic sign of cleft palate). She said "no" and that brightened our spirits a bit. We had two other vets check him since then and each treated it as a cold. Finally, Crystal called Dr. Wan in Norco yesterday and requested to have him scoped just to double check. She took him down there today at 1:30 and called me around 3:30.
He has a cleft palate...
Most horses who have a cleft palate do not live. They get pneumonia or they choke. In best case scenarios, they just stand around and can never be worked to their full potential.
Steel was born to be a star. So this is just devastating...
He is going in for surgery on Monday. Dr. Wan wants to try to do arthroscopic surgery. Supposedly no one has tried this method on a horse but it is far less invasive than the alternative which is drilling two holes in his jaws, cutting from his chin to his throat, breaking his jaw, cutting his muscles and tongue and then fixing the problem...
Dr. Wan is fairly confident that he can successfully fix this. Luckily, Steel is at a prime age, its in the soft palate and its in a good location. If he can fix it, Steel will grow up as if he never had this problem...
Lets all hope for the best for poor Steelie... I love this colt.
