Esmae's Easter Accident

I think the pets have a deal amongst themselves that one of them needs to have emergency medical attention every holiday or holiday weekend. They must take turns being sick or injured after hours, on weekends and especially on holidays, as that seems to be when it always happens. Obviously the effect is to make us spend as much money as possible on vet bills.

This Easter Sunday Esmae was fine, I saw her at 2pm and she was acting normally. At 5pm when I went to feed her I noticed her front left leg was not in use and she was holding it up. She was severely lame on it and did not want to put any weight on it. Her limp was really, really bad; it was alarming. I saw some blood but not much, and no nail or anything in the hoof. Since foot and leg injuries in horses can be a big deal, I called Idaho Equine Hospital immediately. I didn't want to trailer her in and maker her put weight on it.

The vet came in about an hour and said he could not tell if it was an abcess or a laceration wound but agreed she was really lame. She got painkillers, antibiotics, had to have her foot soaked and bandaged once a day, and was scheduled for a re-check today. (Luckily today was the day I had the spring vaccines set to be administered).

Although I was *quite* worried Sunday when the seriousness was not known, today she is doing better and she appears to be using it much more. The vet said it is a laceration, she must have caught it on something, but that the hoof is sound and she'll probably heal by the weekend. The extra good news is I can discontinue the antibiotics, which is good, as she is NOT taking them anymore. (I tried applesauce, corn syrup, molasses, grain, apples...she was not having any of it.) She did a great job soaking her foot the first two days but tripped on the bucket yesterday and refused treatment today until I switched buckets.

Luckily my friend who usually rides Buster agreed to help with the horse doctoring. It is just *not* a one man operation. It can be done but it is a lot harder that way!

Esmae's bandaged foot and her whole self are pictured here. She is between her winter and summer coats right now. In another month she will be sleek and shiny all over.

Meanwhile, Callie got referred to a neurologist in Portland and we have an appointment Monday. That means this month's vet bills will be staggeringly high, in the thousands....but then, they are worth it. It would just be nice if once in awhile they could need a vet between 8 and 5 on a weekday!