How Did I Get So Lucky?

I have been panicking while watching my bank account slowly drain itself this week as my deposit on Misty got withdrawn, then board, and now VET BILLS. I'm officially horse poor.

Yes, out of my three horses that I'm working with right now, only one of them is sound. You thought this was going to be an upbeat post about how I got to be so lucky to have three awesome horses, right? Well wrong.

I think I mentioned that Jetta had a baby cut on her knee. She got it last Monday while turned out and I thought it was healing fine, I've been putting antiseptic ointment on it. Anyways, this Monday she was a little off when I rode, I didn't see her on Tuesday and then Wednesday she was definitely off. I called my vet friend to see if she could come look at her (which would have been awesome because no fee!!) but she was out of town and she told me to have it looked at asap just to make sure it wasn't getting infected though she didn't think it was since her lameness was so slight.

Anyways, I had a local vet out this morning to look at it. Besides trying to develop proud flesh he said it was fine and that it wasn't really hurting her because she didn't mind flexing it. He pinched and whacked her hoof to see if maybe she had a bruise or abscess going on but there was nothing. So, he thought she was just being a baby and it was just a little uncomfortable to her. Typical delicate flower. He gave me some bute and called it a day. I lunged her fully before sticking her in the stall and her lameness seemed less than yesterday, just barely noticable. Still frustrating though.

Then Misty. Yes, my brand new horse is lame. She also has a baby cut, this time on her back leg, just below her hock. Yesterday I saddled her up and lunged her and didn't even notice she was off until we changed direction and she was noticeably limping. I looked at the gimp leg in question and wondered how I HADN'T noticed it. Her whole leg is swollen and had a nice stream of dried blood down the back (though in my defense I thought it was mud). So off to the wash rack we went. I hosed it off and cleaned it up. It's a fairly shallow cut, just like the one on Jetta's knee. I don't understand why she's having such an adverse reaction to it, though I do think it's because she has a cut and (hopefully) not because it's a tendon issue. I put some antiseptic ointment on and called it a night.

Baby cut.

This morning I expected for the swelling to have gone, assuming that it was just a reaction to the trauma the day of getting the cut. But no, it was still swollen and the cut has oozed a little bit so I washed it up again and put more ointment on it before sticking her back in the stall.

So Misty and Jetta are gimpy buddies now. They didn't get to go outside, instead getting a gram of bute each. Tomorrow if the swelling is still going on with Misty's leg I think I'll wrap it, just to give it some support and get rid of the fluid stocking up. I didn't have the vet look at her, so I do hope he won't need to come back out. Because I don't think I could take another farm call and exam fee, even if there is NO DIAGNOSTICS done. Geez, I know I want to be a vet and you don't make that much as one, but as a horse owner it's spendy!

Pretty girl is all decked out. But I can't ride her...

On the plus side though, if there is any, is that I think my dark oil tack all fits Misty. She is so tiny, but Jazz's old bridle is quite adjustable and the semi-QH bars of my saddle seem to be a better fit than the full QH bars on the saddle Queenie's using now. Plus the dark color looks pretty on her, now if I could just actually RIDE her. I'm getting excited to try out cow stuff with her though. Found this picture on Facebook and am stealing it to share with you:

Can't wait to do this