The pasture horse, Gibby Crazy Horse (who is getting less crazy the more he does lawn ornament duty), has an abscess in his front left hoof. I am very familiar with abscesses and hooves, to my sadness, because of my late, beloved Ohia, who was laminitic.
Of course, the lingering craziness of Gibbyʻs mind makes treating the issue a little more difficult than Iʻd want. I find trapping him in his stall, stalking him until I can put the halter on (a matter of two minutes now - rather than 15) and firmly pretending heʻs not scared at all works just fine. Horses are very amenable to suggestion: projecting that theyʻre not panicking tricks them into thinking they arenʻt panicking. Itʻs pretty fun to watch. The nice thing about horses that are scared of people is they reliable run away from you, not over you. Donʻt take that as safety advice - it works for Gibby, but not for every horse!
I slapped a poultice of bran, epsom salt, and iodine on his hoof. Heʻs still a little sore this morning, but much, much more comfortable.
Nice to know I still got it - although I hope I donʻt need it that often!
2 comments:
I'm glad to read that Gibby's hoof is improving. I sometimes wonder why I didn't go into veterinary medicine, especially big animals. I had a good job, though, and no time for a parallel career. I once met the famous Monty Roberts, of "The Horse Whisperer" fame, at his Flag Is Up horse farm near Solvang. He was such a gentle man! He had a way of looking at those wild mustang rescues, almost as if he did speak Equine. I almost got my daughter to consider a veterinary career, but her mother pushed her to psychology. Shucks!
Keep up the blogging. I stopped, but inertia still wins. On the bright side, I do get more stuff done....
And yeah, graduations are so tedious, but they only happen once.
Graduations only happen once - except when you have lots of kids :). I think itʻs just because I have three graduating this year, all at once.
I didnʻt like science enough as a student to be a veterinarian, but I have picked up a lot stuff over the years with horses and ruminants. Itʻs very helpful.
Post a Comment