Stick A Fork in Me

'cause I am done.

Well, for a few days anyway. It might even be a couple of weeks - I am taking a PE class on Tuesday and Thursday night after work, and then next week I am taking another Tuesday/Thursday night class on the Professional Learning Community (PLC). Eventually, after taking five more of these class, I'll get bumped over to the next pay column which means a raise. In between classes, you can find me wrapping Speedy's legs. 

This entire winter has been made up of me tackling one equine problem after another, so adding in these two classes while I bandage legs should feel like par for the course. Just how many problems have my boys had this winter? Let's review.

Sometime in the fall, Izzy abscessed, but I didn't take him to the vet right away as his body seemed to be taking care of it. It was still a giant worry though, and I poulticed it for the better part of a week until he was mostly sound. The problem with wrapping him is that he doesn't get ridden. And every day that he isn't ridden, his energy level goes through the roof guaranteeing a doozy of a ride once my butt is finally in the saddle. 

Kind of like this.

I finally took him to the vet when Speedy abscessed. Yes, that's right. Both horses had an abscess at the same time. It was decided that Izzy was  over his, but Speedy got a nice hole carved into his foot. The very same day that he seemed sound, Speedy abscessed on the other foot. We repeated the trip to the vet for a matching hole on the second foot. He improved, but then he got worse, a lot worse. I loaded him back up for yet another trip to the vet where he got an even bigger hole in his foot.

Somewhere during all of this, Izzy pulled a shoe while my farrier was in Arizona. We finally got it replaced, and then there were about three days where everybody was healthy and all shoes were where they were supposed to be, and I got to finally ride Speedy.

Whee!

The Universe just can't leave well enough alone though. During all of the abscessing, it was determined that Speedy now has Cushing's Disease and will need to be medicated for the rest of his days. Big sigh.

And then of course, a few weeks ago, Speedy tore open the front of his fetlock requiring sutures. After we got home from the vet, I turned him out and rode Izzy. When I came back to put Izzy away, I saw that Speedy had sliced open the other leg. We'd only been home about an hour. All I can say is that boy has a thing for symmetry. ​

​Over the weekend, both boys made another trip to the vet so that Speedy could get his sutures removed. Since I was making the trip, I decided to have Dr. Tolley give both horses their spring vaccinations and do their dentals. I've driven out there so many times this winter that it didn't make any sense to do it again in a few weeks.

​When I unloaded Izzy from the trailer, I saw this.

Like I said, put a fork in me. Sheesh!