Vet Exam & Tattoo Reading

The vet came out last Tuesday to examine Beauty and Whisper for me.

Beauty is in great health, good conformation, and is walking around on some pretty little perfect pony legs. Teeth check confirms she is about 8 years old. She's in great shape other than needing the sand clear Huey already had her started on along with some good quality groceries. He sleeved her to check for pregnancy and did confirm that she is in fact about 6-7 months pregnant. Not far along enough to cause that bloated belly so Huey's looking forward to getting her healthy. Plenty of time to do that before the foal arrives. So, two little emaciated rescue horses in need - each selling for $75, has now turned into four.

Whisper also checked out healthy. One scar was noted on her right canon bone but it didn't seem to compromise her in any way. Her previous owner mentioned to me that this was from a racing injury that took her off the track from for 2 years, though she never showed lameness. The large muscle indentation on her neck is from an injury causing nerve damage then atrophy of the muscle. It isn't painful or tight. Whisper should make an excellent riding horse though he cautioned me against dressage on her due to her build. She does have a stifle issue that is reflective in her posting action through her hips. We may do a course or 2 of Adequan to improve this. I assumed the stifle issue would make her a poor prospect for jumping but he assured me that her hock shape (sickle-like) could make her a nice jumper. It was her high croup in relation to her withers that contributed to the stifle soreness and lack of flexion that you'd like to see on a dressage prospect.

Taking her up the hills in the pasture at a working walk, not a trot, contributes to muscle tone development aiding her knees to compensate for her stifle soreness. We'll continue that for her.

Next, I had some fun trying to decipher Whisper's tattoo. Racehorses all have a unique tattoo on their upper lip as a means of permanent identification. It begins with a letter, showing that horse's year of birth. All TB's, regardless of what month/day they are born, are considered to age a year on January 1st of the year they were born. The Jockey Club keeps the registry and has a publications on the letter to foaling year code.

Looking at it, I guessed F03553, I put her into the database and got back F03658

Trust me, a 5 and 6 look alike under a horses lip, 3 was an 8 on the far right corner... I think we did pretty well in full sun with no flashlight.