Journey's vet Kelli came out yesterday to try and get to the bottom of the intermittent dry cough. It has been going on (off and on) since the advent of cold weather and lots of hay and more time than usual in the barn due to freezing rain, blowing snow, and an extended miserably super cold winter. While the vet was here she coughed one time (not very helpful). Kelli said her lungs sound clear, and she is leaning towards an allergy, but could also be early mild heaves. Since you can't test for heaves, she pulled blood to test for allergies as if that is the cause histamine should be elevated (this is my layman description not the vet's). I should have the verdict on that by Monday. In the meantime she was started on an antihistamine twice daily. Looked up the withdrawal time in terms of testing on AERC rides and it looks like 48 hours which is doable. Once she is out 24/7 on grass I expect (hope) that this will mostly go away. The April ride I expect her to have been on the antihistamine, so I will need to be cognizant of the withdrawal time. Our likelihood of being tested as turtles is pretty remote, but still we have to
follow the rules. Since the vet was already here we floated her teeth, and took care of the Strangles vaccine for the year. I give the horses their annual vaccinations myself.
While Kelli was here I also had her look at the strange swelling in front of Phebe's udder. On the right side it is puffy but soft, just fatty tissue. On the left is is twice as big, and very firm and just isn't right...I had the vet look at it last year and she felt it wasn't a concern, and she checked again yesterday and gave me the same vote that she wouldn't worry about it. So I'm trying to put my worry away---
but it isn't working. The vet says ride her. So I'm gonna. But I'm keeping my eye on it. If it was soft I wouldn't be concerned...
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