Four Strikes

I'm always worried about Junior and Bo but now Mayhem is on my list to worry about. Sigh.

I swear that mare is cursed.

* Born the wrong color (sorrel)
* Has an umbilical hernia
* Had/has colitis (it may be on a one time only episode so lets keep our fingers crossed)
* Has a heart murmur

And now, she managed to poke her eye on something and instead of it recovering like I'd hoped, she went blind. I know some will think that I'm being irresponsible for not taking her in immediately but having a horse that lost sight in his eye (Thor), I wasn't too quick to take her in because it looked like she'd already lost the sight in that eye. And after the last dealing with a vet who doesn't understand horses losing their sight and not talking//moving quickly, I wasn't too quick to haul them in. Of course, I wouldn't go back to that vet anyway so I guess I'm in the wrong. I have no idea what she did. If it had been a tree branch poke, I don't think it would have been that fast. But it's hard to say. Within a few days, her eye went from slightly fogged over to completely white. There is absolutely no vision out of that eye. Luckily she's adapted to it already and isn't too spooky. She's hanging close to Rabbit to get her bearings until she adjusts. She's a smart one.

Just very frustrating. I had high hopes for her but it seems like life keeps handing her lemons. And I feel terrible because the blindness happened under my care and it's my fault. The colitis may very well be my fault as well. She was born with the umbilical hernia but all hell broke loose not long after getting her and I haven't had the time or funds to get it repaired. It's not going to be a cheap fix after talking with my vet. We are looking at $1,000 not the $500 I had figured. It's not like I have an extra $1,000 lying around. Hell, I don't even have an extra $100 lying around.

Tis the season for vet bills. I swear the horses wait until fall when I'm trying to save up for the winter hay. I think they like stressing me out over trying to come up with money to cover vet bills AND the winter hay supply. We don't have our winter hay yet but the spare round bales we picked up this fall are holding out. I wish I could say the same for my bank account to gather funds to cover hay.

So now I'm stressed over Mayhem, funds for hay, AND the upcoming winter (and I'm not even AT work yet where there's the normal stresses of day-to-day activities).