PISTOL - THE LITTLE HORSE WHO DID (Page 1)
PISTOL'S HISTORY
‘Pistol’ is a great little quarter horse stallion registered as ‘Zans Diamond Pistol’. A sorrel, born June 14, 1998 # 372646 - American Quarter Horse Association. Pistol is freeze branded from the famous BAR U Ranch out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The following is Pistol’s story from April 17th, 2006 to the present. Before this April date, the following is what we understand happened to him.
Pistol was in trouble! He got into the barn and devoured ‘calf manna’ along with other goodies and went into ‘shock’. Severe laminitis struck. A local vet was called and Pistol was given the standard equine pain killer – Bute in very high doses. The vet strongly advised that he should be put down. His owners were not about to give up (Pistol was not about to give up either). After being treated at home on an I.V. for dehydration due to the high doses of Bute; he was stabilized then transferred to a northern vet clinic for more extensive ‘in house’ treatment. He was released with not a lot of hope for his total recovery – what with apparent liver damage and more. Still his owners had hope.
Lane was called in as a ‘hoof consultant’. On April 17th we drove north to have a look at this boy. Prior to arriving, we had advised the owner to remove the heart-bar shoes. This traditional shoeing method for laminitis relief was proving useless. Pistol was in bad shape – down; weak and shaking when encouraged to stand. He did so with great effort and obviously in much Pain. His hooves were ‘burning up’.
He was again given bute for the pain. Upon returning home we decided that if this boy was to get help, he would have to come to our Ranch. Where he currently lived, he was well loved but the time and effort it would take to care for him was just not available - there were two little girls (who Pistol LOVES), a baby on the way, and the dad worked in the oil patch and was home only on occassion. Every effort had already been made to help this guy – vets, homeopathies, healers etc. His owners now were desperate!
April 18th we drove back to pick him up. We thought that we had the appropriate size hoof boots for him to wear for support and protection in the trailer for the trip home but were mistaken. So, with owners and a variety of friends and neighbors watching, Lane pulled out the trusty duct tape, cut up a thick foam saddle pad and proceeded to cover Pistol’s front feet. ‘Dr. Hoof with Duct Tape’! Pistol’s owners were so desperate to save their boy – that this strange but positive duct-tape magician was worth a try!! The deal was struck – we would keep their stallion until he recovered and the charge would be agreed upon at a later date (at first Lane guaranteed his full recovery or NO CHARGE – but both parties soon came to realize that this was a little too generous and optimistic – all things considered)!
Pistol arrived home in pretty good shape. We believe he was anticipating heading out for Stallion services! He had a very hard time walking and was certainly in the founder stance (see picture on right) and in pain. A mobile vet advised pain killers – Banamine this time. Pistol was in pain, BUT HE WANTED TO LIVE! HE ATE ALL THE TIME! In order to check his feet and do the necessary barefoot trims and maintenance it was difficult for him to stand, but he did it willingly. He was so co-operative that we were able to treat him mostly lying down! He seemed to KNOW he was in GOOD HANDS and that he was being HELPED!!
