Coal reigns as SC-CARES’ elder horse

Coal is a Friesian/Morgan mix — a “mutt,” so to speak, in the horse world. He came to us at the S.C. Coastal Animal Rescue and Educational Sanctuary in Georgetown in May of 2009 after a death in the human family forced them to place their horses elsewhere.

Coal was already an old man when he arrived at 22 years of age, but thankfully, the Friesian lifespan in horses is higher than that of other breeds. After his initial exam, it was determined that he had detached retinas in both eyes, most likely a result from being hit in the head by something, hard enough to cause this eye injury.

We don’t think it was abuse; he could’ve been hit by a falling limb or hit his head on a fence, barn or tree. Whatever happened left his eyesight somewhat dim — the vet says he can probably see movement and shadows but can’t focus on objects very well. As usual, animals adapt much better to disability than we do, and if you didn’t know this about him, you wouldn’t notice any difference in his actions.

A bigger issue for Coal is the fact that he’s missing teeth. Our horse vet — Dr. Karen Bolten with Myrtle Beach Equine — has been working to keep all of our horses healthy, and to do this, it means a dental exam twice a year. Coal’s first exam showed he had already lost some of his teeth and sadly had a couple more that had to be extracted to ensure his overall health.

What this meant for Coal was no more hay. We had noticed when he was eating his hay, he would end up with a wad of hay that he seemed to just roll around in his mouth and probably was swallowing it as a wad. This could’ve cause digestions issues and blockages. Without all of his teeth, it’s impossible for him to chew the hay as he should for digestion.

An interesting fact that many people may not know is that, unlike most other mammals, including humans, a horse’s teeth continue to grow through their lifetime, rather than becoming worn down. For this reason, their teeth grow into points and create issues for them to grind their food as they should and can create painful cuts to their gums, so keeping their teeth smoothed makes for a happy horse.

The process is very intriguing to witness; the horses are somewhat sedated just like we are with drugs in the dental chair. The vet then uses a power tool called a “float” to grind down the points (called floating the teeth) to ensure proper alignment for chewing and comfort. A high pressure water treatment is then given to remove tartar; horses can get cavities, too. To top it all off, our vet even flosses their teeth, resulting in a beautiful, healthy smile!

In light of these issues for Coal, he’s fed a senior horse pellet that we add a little water to, and this creates a softer mush for him to eat, and he’s given a little extra to make up for the lack of hay. In addition, since he can’t have hay, our volunteers will often take apples, quartered for easy chewing, to make him feel special. Coal is a character and has come to expect an apple from anyone visiting him.

He’s a smaller horse than most, but his attitude says otherwise. He prances and has a beautiful coat and thick mane. Coal doesn’t just trot, he prances gracefully, head held high, while his thick mane flows in the wind. He is a beautiful creature.

Friesians are a breed of horse originally from the Netherlands. They were used as war horses in the Middle Ages. If you’ve seen “The Mask of Zorro,” the horse that Antonio Banderas rode was a Friesian.

If you’d like to help Coal and his family at SC-CARES go to our website, www.sc-cares.org, to find out how. Donations to our nonprofit are always appreciated, since the kindness of others is our means of survival.

This story was originally published February 3, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Coal reigns as SC-CARES’ elder horse."