Thelma came to us after having lost a large amount of weight very quickly –her spine and pelvic bones were visible and the top of her pelvis had open sores from the bones rubbing against the ground when she rolled. She had white patches on her shoulders from a poorly fitting saddle which resulted in chronic sores and scarring. Thelma’s hooves were also in really bad shape so she had a pedicure of all pedicures the day after her arrival. We found out that Thelma was a former barrel racer who had been poorly cared for after her glory days were over.
When a horse loses weight like Thelma did, it can hopefully be a simple fix like worms or issues with their teeth. Fortunately for us, it was the latter. One of the first things that we notices about Thelma was that she seemed to use her tongue a lot when she was chewing – to us that indicated sores in her mouth and that she was trying to avoid painful areas. Our local veterinarian, Dr. Orfil Gonzalez Moreno, came out the next morning and confirmed our suspensions. Once her teeth were ‘floated’ (filed smooth) she no longer pushed the food around her mouth with her tongue and her weight started to come back up. When we dewormed her she did not pass any, so that was also a relief. After a blood workup we discovered that she was anemic, so Dr. Orfil proceeded with a vitamin booster to provide her with essential vitamins & nutrients she’s been missing out on.
Thelma has been having some major energy spurts and watching the way she can tear up the round pen shows us what a champion she must have been! In the coming months we will start her back under saddle as she is known in the area as a wonderful trail horse. There’s a beach ride in her near future!