Good Results from the Vet Appointment

The last few days have been a blur, which seems to be the norm these days. With the President’s Day holiday, I was able to schedule a vet appointment. Originally it was to do a follow up on our little minpin, Trouble. But I also decided to schedule a float for Brego. About this time every year, he starts to drop weight and doesn’t pick up the weight again until he’s out on pasture. It’s been like this for the past few years so I decided to have his teeth floated and do a quick overall exam on him.

Yesterday morning, I decided I would push my luck and see if Rabbit would load. The last time we tried to load her, she wouldn’t have anything to do with the trailer. But this past winter, I’ve been messing with Rabbit a bit more and within about 10 minutes, she was loaded and standing patiently in the trailer. I take that is a huge accomplishment because we hadn’t had her off the place since we brought her home three years before. I’ll take full blame and responsibility for my negligence in not taking her to the vet sooner.  Brego of course loaded like a dream. I threw the lead rope over him and told him to get in, which he promptly did. He’s such a sweet horse.

We had to drive slow because the roads were terrible. I’m not sure why I insist on vet appointments in the middle of winter. The weather was starting to warm so the roads were slushy. We’d gotten rain, and then freezing rain and snow during the night (I slept through it).  The sidewalk was super slick but maintenance had been out plowing the snow and throwing salt/sand on the roads so they weren’t as bad. We couldn’t go more than about 50mph otherwise the truck would get sucked into the slush. I’m perfectly happy going slow. I ended up taking the stock trailer instead of the 6-horse trailer. I’m glad I took the smaller trailer because of the road conditions but I felt bad that the horses had to ride in a more open trailer. I double blanketed Brego to make sure he was ok. Rabbit was tucked in to the front of the trailer, out of the wind. I was worried they would be soaked when we got to Madison, what with all the semis throwing slush up onto us. But they didn’t seem the worse for wear.

Amazingly, Trouble cured herself of diabetes. Or at least we joke that she did. She had other issues that were triggering the problems but she got a clean bill of health from the vet. Then it was on to Brego and Rabbit. We brought Brego in first. He wasn’t too sure about the vet but we’d never had him in for a float before. He wasn’t too keen on the idea of being at the vets but he behaved and followed me. When the vet checked him, he said Brego’s teeth weren’t all that bad. I had expected with his weight loss that his teeth, even for a nine year old, would be terrible. Nope. They were good enough that the vet just did a hand float with a little bit of sedation. Of course the sedation really kicked Brego’s butt but we weren’t in any hurry to leave. The vet also listened to Brego’s heart, which sounded perfectly fine, no heart murmur. So when I asked about the weight loss, he said Brego is a nervous horse (which I almost busted out laughing), and said that he’ll just be harder to keep the weight on. But the more I think about it, the more that makes sense. Brego isn’t high strung like I think of normally. He’s not like Zeke or Bo but he is anxious. And being at the bottom of the pecking order, he does have to watch himself a bit more than some of the more aggressive horses. So the nervousness isn’t external, it’s internal. And that makes more sense. So I guess we’ll be pumping him full of high fat foods, like we do with Bo. I don’t know what it is with those bays, but I have no luck with them! I’m going to have to avoid bays from now on!

Rabbit was next. I really figured she would have terrible teeth, what with not having taken her in before. I pulled her blanket off and put her in the stocks. The vet sedated her and went to work checking her out. She too wasn’t bad, which threw me for a loop. I figured with as messy of an eater as she is, throwing grain everywhere that she needed a float. The vet decided that all she needed was a hand float as well. I was flabbergasted. Rabbit wasn’t as willing a patient as Brego but she got her float done. What a difference some sedative does. Rabbit was a completely different horse during her dentistry work. Of course, she was born with a lot more white showing in her eyes, which throws a lot of people, but I’ve learned that is just part of her beauty. The vet looked Rabbit over and said she had really amazing teeth for being 21 years old. All of her teeth were there and in really good shape, so we’ll have Rabbit for a number of years still!!! I’m afraid that her teeth won’t be what gives out (I expect it’ll be her heaves that will be the death of her). I also had the vet take a look at her right eye. I know she has uveitis in it. That right eye will weep all summer.  I also figured she was going blind in that eye because it’s a bit more fogged over. The vet said, nope. There are a couple of scratches on the surface, but she’s not blind. She just has to look through those scratches so it’s tougher to see. It would be like looking through Plexiglas that’s about three inches from your face.  So on the bright side, she’s not blind and she’s already adjusted to looking through her “Plexiglas” eye (at least that’s what I’ll call it). So it’s good news that she’s not blind and has wonderful teeth.

When we pulled in to mom and dad’s after the vet’s Mike heard a hissing noise and looked at the back tire on the truck. Sure enough, I’d driven over a piece of wire that had punctured the tire. I unloaded the horses and threw them in the pen. I’d never had Brego and Rabbit together before in a pen but they behaved themselves and just wandered around for a bit. Mike couldn’t get the spare off the truck (we’ve never had to change a tire on the truck and the truck is now 10 years old….sigh). So Mike ran back in to Madison to get the tire fixed. Luckily it was a fix that the tire shop could fix instead of me having to buy a brand new tire. I’m thankful that we weren’t on the way home when the tire blew. We would never have gotten the spare down. The tire shop had to take a sledge hammer to the spare tire! That’ll teach me not to check my spare more often. So even though we had a puncture, it was more of a blessing. Apparently there were two spots in that particular tire that were bad, the wire that punctured the tire and then the slow leak that Mike knew about but couldn’t find (the air stem, or whatever it’s called, had corroded and was causing the problem.)

So all in all, odd news but it all turned out pretty well. I honestly wasn’t sure if Rabbit would load again at the vets but with just a little bit of hesitation (and patience), she loaded.  I love the trust that these horses give me.  After unloaded the horses at mom and dad’s, I again wasn’t sure if Rabbit would load. But with just a little bit of time and patience (less than the other two times), she was loaded up and ready to roll.

I was excited to get home to make sure that Rabbit understood that we were just going for a quick appointment, and that the trailer doesn’t mean you’re leaving forever. Half of the horses already know that the trailer just means a fun trip somewhere (ok, maybe not fun). But they know the trailer leaves with a herd mate, but it always comes back with the same herd mates. So I was happy to get Rabbit unloaded and back into her pen. She let out a low nicker to Mayhem and the ponies. I think she was happy too. I’m sure she was exhausted after her trip.  I really do think that Rabbit too could be a heart horse.  When I was unchaining the gate, Mayhem came up to me and bumped me in the back with her head. I have yet to figure out why it is that the mares always bump me (of course I think Ivan bumped me in the butt the other day too.)

This morning I pulled blankets, much to the herd’s dismay. No one wanted me near them long enough to pull blankets. I don’t tend to halter anyone to pull blankets but I was almost to that point. I had to chase everyone around, except for Rain. Stubborn horses. When I got to Rabbit, she could care less.  I pulled her blanket off and gave her a great big hug. I really do want to get her to be a heart horse too. I think she was handed a hard lot in life and wasn’t ever given the opportunity to be pampered.  So from here on out, I’m going to pamper her even if she is standoffish.  I’ll fix that. I’ve also figured out what makes a heart horse. But I’ll blog about that later.