A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Third Foal Crop - The Injury Part 2

Part One of the Baby Boomer Series

The Third Foal Crop Part 1

The young Arabian horse stood quietly while the veterinarian took x-rays of his skull. It was amazing to me all of the different angles that she needed pictures. Even more amazing to me was the fact that the horse tolerated all that bulky stuff moving around his head, but he did.

It was a day before the x-rays were ready and had been read by a equine radiologist. Because of the location of the injury it was imperative that no fractures be overlooked. The consequences of such could be crippling.

I tried waiting patiently but it was really hard. With Rhythm being so quiet it was difficult to not be really scared. Thankfully he hadn't experienced any loss of consciousness that we were aware of. Nor had there been any signs of seizures or convulsions. But just the fact I was monitoring a foal for such symptoms was in itself terrifying.

Finally the call from the vet came. Rhythm had definitely fractured his skull in several places. The good news was that no pieces of bone had broken away AND no fractures travelled into his growth plates.

Rhythm was always going to have a bump on his head but that would be his only deformity. Because of his young age, he would grow into the size of that bump some and it would not be as obvious as it was at this time. That was a huge relief.

The bump was to be injected with some drugs that might help it go down. In addition I treated it with DMSO every day. There was no guarantee that either thing would help but it was worth giving it a try. This foal's head had been so exotic, scooped out deeply underneath his eyes, that to have it now be deformed was really a crying shame.



I still had to monitor the foal for convulsions or seizures or any other changes in his behavior problems from the concussion. But from the way it looked now there didn't seem to be any long term effects or brain damage. We had a lot to be grateful for.

Later that week I received the proofs from that photo shoot. They looked exactly how I'd expected. While you could tell that these were nice horses, there was nothing that quite captured that look that tells they are something special.



The pictures of the mares particularly were disappointing to me. There was nothing that even was close to what those mares really look like. I know that some horses are illusive to photograph but the truth is we've taken pictures with a box camera that look more like my mares than these. So I know the mares photograph just fine, it was just the circumstances that day. Turning them loose would have allowed them to show their stuff. Their stuff is what I wanted to see! Live and learn, I guess, you can bet, I'll never make that mistake again.

I was disappointed enough that I scheduled another photo shoot for later that summer. This one would be at my farm so I would have control over where the pictures were taken. Also, I would be able to have the pictures taken with the horses turned loose. I'd have to get a crew lined up to help turn the horses because that's an important part of getting "that look" too!



With all of this stuff going on, it was also breeding season. This year, I was going to rebreed Heiress who had absorbed her pregnancy over the winter and breed Bey Aana as well. That way both of those mares could catch up with the other broodmares who had two foals each by this time. That would mean by the following year, I would be able to decide which mares to eliminate and which to keep. That was the plan anyway.

As for the photo shoot, I didn't have the money to shoot all of the horses again, but we did reshoot all four of the foals. I arranged for some nearby farms to get pictures taken that day as well. That way we could all split the farm call and make this adventure more affordable.

To be continued........


Pictures on this post are from the second photo shoot. Top is Scandalous Rhythm. I picked this shot to post because if you look closely you can see the scooped out area on the left side of Rhythm's face and then on the right that area appears filled in. That is the knot filling in the scoop that way there.

The next picture is Scandalous Chance followed by Scandalous Chase with Scandalous Hope appearing at the bottom.

Rhythm's Story continues.....

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