Horse Troubles

We should have seen it coming. The garden is growing like a weed (so are the weeds), work is fine (7 1/2 days of school left), we're healthy enough for our age, finances are ok, we're making BIG plans for the future. Something's got to go wrong, RIGHT?

We were at the barn Sunday and I noticed Ranger make a funny turn. His right knee was pretty swollen, and he had a dime-sized hole right in the middle of the joint. We all know a horse's joints are nothing to sneeze at, but it was Sunday, after all. He was still getting around on it, so we waited to take him to the vet yesterday. I had taken the day off to "catch up" on things - ha!

Turns out, Ranger will be spending the next several days at the fanciest equine facility I've seen. If we'd given him a shot of antibiotic on Sunday, that probably would have improved his chances, but as it is he'll have the wound flushed several times a day and is on high doses of the good stuff. With just a preliminary exam, we were given about a 60% chance that he won't end up lame. We're hoping that number goes way up! We already support 2 horses that are way past their prime. We don't need another one on the dole. I can just hear Daddy now: "It's a horse, Susie, not a pet."

And just in case we weren't feeling bad enough about him getting hurt, he made sure to holler and carry on as we walked out of the holding stall. Just about broke my heart in two. We drove up to the house, with an empty trailer, to see Roxy - my mare - going nuts, looking for Ranger. Big John and I had talked on the way home about how glad Roxy would be that Ranger won't be bugging her for a few days. Guess we were wrong. It just goes to show, you don't know how much you care about someone until they're gone! And poor Big John. Ranger is his first horse, and they were really getting along well. You know how hard it is to find the "right" horse - one that fits a rider in as many ways as possible. Ranger fits Big John. And he's a sweetie - they both are.

Keep your fingers and toes crossed. We told the vet to call us at $1000, and we'll have to make some decisions.

Hey, who needs kids when you've got horses?