Strangles:

By Your Side (Caring for Haley)

My poor girl is not well, and definately not herself. My heart went out to her. it brought back memories of when she first came into my life. I used to dog school and go up and sit in her stable talking and singing to her when she was very unwell.

I found myself doing it again, but think she was sick of my signing my this point. I was constantly wiping up snots, and spraying everywhere with anti-bacteria. Hayley was going from cold to extremely hot and her whole body was shaking, so I was constantly putting her fleece on and off. I had to put her hay down low so it would help the snot drain out her nose a bit better. Every morning when I came up the the farm, I had her to clean out her water trough as it was full of snot, her feed buckets were the same. It was such a shame for her. She had lost her appetite and lost a lot of her bodyweight. It must have been so sore when she was trying to eat. Every mouthful of food was a chore for her as she kept choking and coughing up food. So I ended up having to make her feeds very watery, almost like a bowl of soup. It did help a wee bit. Hayley was also on painkillers then anti-biotic to help with the pain and help her high temperature.

My girl was isolated in her stable for 6 weeks and then isolated in a field for 2 months that was away down next to the canal. You could actually dip your toe in it, that’s how close you were.

After the last guttural pouch test I got my results back and it was such a relief my girl was in the clear. But even though she was 100% clear from Strangles no one wanted he4r with his or her horses out in the same field. So once gain I felt as if I had been stabbed in the back. I have had to fight for my rights for my horse to get back to normality with her original herd. Hayley is now out in her filed with her friends after 6 long months.

One lady is still not happy and has made it very clear she does not want my girl in with her horse and has put a complaint into the owners of the yard. I am getting bullied at the age of 29 by a horrible wee old lady. My close friend Morag always has told me that people that gully you are the ones that are jealous of you and your beautiful horse and your talent.

I always think back when we went through a lot of bullying at our last yard and it has bade me a stronger person in a strange king of way. So I am a better person for all the bad experiences as I know now how to rise above it and to just simply walk away.