The Dreaded Vet Day~

The Vet came and went today. He was scheduled to;

1. Pull coggins on all horses that were either going to a trainer or will be on trail rides this year.
2. Geld Cotie
3. Pull wolf teeth
4. Put my old Rott. Heidi to sleep

What happened is a different story;

First we have had rain for more then 2 days. It's mushy, soggy wet out there, with nice sized puddles everywhere. It was still drizzling while he was here.

Getting Prepared!
I had designed and set up these little feed pens for each horse, just like we set up for our horses when we are out on a trail ride. Hot tape and all. The horses that were to have thier coggins pulled were in one each. Cotie was in his pasture, so there was no need to confine him.
I fed early, got everyone brushed as best as possible since for whatever reason possesses a horse, they MUST find the biggest deepest muddiest pit to roll in, Just so they can show off thier ability to be the dirtiest thing possible when being presented to the vet. No one resembled thier true coloring. UGH! So a brushing I must do, a LOT of brushing I must do. I'm sure they were all thinking, just wait until I am out of here, I'll show her what wallowing in the mud is! Gross beasts to say the least!

And we waited, and waited. Finally, Dr. John appeared! Hooray...... sort of.
I allowed the horses that weren't to be messed with out. Left the others in who were having thier coggins pulled and went to talk to Dr. John. Dolly took to rearing up for whatever her reason was acting a total fool. Opal stood there looking at Dolly. I swear I heard her laughing. Grace, who was on the other side of Opal was tossing her head having a major temper tantrum. Sandy stood there yelling at me and Zelda, OMG, Zelda. Acted as if she was dying! Tossing her head, pawing, charging the fence, stopping, backing up, then charging it again. What the hell has gotten into these horses? The whole time, Opal is standing there just watching the idiots on either side of her, still laughing I'm sure! I was!

Finally, I pulled Dolly out for her test. She about bolted out of the gate. Put her up, grabbed Opal, found out this mare has a small star. Huh! Never saw it before, EVER. We've had her for HOW many years? How can one miss such a thing I ask? Observant aren't I? Put her up, grabbed Sandy. Who stood there like a perfect angel. I wouldn't expect any less from her. She's always A#1!! NEVER a worry from my Sandy gal! Put her back, and I see Zelda having a total melt down. I thought, well damn, I best let her out or she's going to come unglued completely. So I let her out, which made Grace go into over load. That head was a tossin' and a rollin' and those feet came up and she stomped, and she was just having a total fit. Now this horse, NEVER ever has a fit for any reason. EVER. She is a pretty steady Eddie. So while I had my back to the gate, Darling Miss 36 yr old Zelda, zipped out of the gate. Normally (notice I say NORMALLY), this isn't an issue, cause Zelda never leaves the front yard. She has never gone on a "walk" off the property unless there is someone on her back. She didn't do it today either. But what she DID do was run, Yup, RUN, over to Cotie as fast as she could. Tail flagging the whole way. Some 36 yr old! Brat. Whatever, she'll stay in the yard, so it's nothing to be concerned about right? So I take Grace out into the yard to have her coggins pulled. She is excellent, doens't flinch at all, but is still pretty peeved at me. I put her up and put her in the large pasture and she takes off like a bat out of hell. Close the gate and what do I see? Zelda is teasing Cotie. Tail up, she's winking at him, he's teasing her and she is having herself a grand ole' time. OMG! He's supposed to be Gelded today. What's wrong with this picture!?

I see her driving Cotie crazy who's pulling out all the stops to impress Ms. Thang and say to Dr. John, I guess I best go get the old hussy. You know, she must think she's a 10 yr old by the way she's acting. He looks up and starts giggling. Sees her teasing him and says go ahead, I'll catch up. Dear Lord! Some Old fart! I get close to Zelda, who promptly turns with the zest of a 5 yr old and takes one look at me and says See Ya..... Catch me if you can... Oh boy what a BRAT. What in the world has gotten into these kids today? Cotie is now totally beside himself. She's running all over the yard, determined not to be caught. Dr. John is laughing at her as much as he's laughing at me. I get to the gate that Cotie's behind and say, Co come here. He lowered his head and meandered up like Ho hum, OK if I Haaaave to Mom. I snap a lead on him. Dr. John stuck his arm through the gate and pulled the coggins. Cotie just stood there like it was no big deal, which it's not, trust me, he's had probably close to as many different needles stuck in him for one thing or another then most elderly horses have had in all thier years.

Dr. John looks Cotie over again and said are you sure you want to geld him? He's such a Nice horse. He is built very nice, has good muscling, and has the best temperament he's seen on a stallion in quite some time. He "should" be a stallion. I said, well, there's no one knocking down my door to breed to him, not that I am advertising at all (cause I am not), nor is there a shortage of horses in the world right now. He said, I know, but damn, he's one nice horse. I said, well, I was told he is turned out at the knee some. He said, no not really, just a tiny bit, nothing that will affect him or his offspring. I said, well, yeah, but, I would really like to ride him. He said he thought he would be a "wonderful wonderful ride". He had actually gotten a chance to watch him canter around his pasture. I actually saw him smile! Dr John, not Cotie. LOL I said, I thought it was best. I really want to ride him and if he's a stallion, I can't. He said OK, BUT... can we please wait until it's pretty outside? He was afraid that Cotie would slip and do the splits. That's a visual I can do without, thank you very much! Plus I had to get into work as fast as possible, so I thought it best to go along with his "plan" for now. So Cotie did not get gelded. Sigh... I hate building something up in my mind, only to have it denied!I have to reschedule his gelding appointment and Sandy's cortison injection for another day, a Pretty day, where it's a bit warmer and the sun is out with firm footing and no worries of Cotie falling and injuring himself worse then being gelded.

Now Heidi, I had not slept much last night. Fretting, worrying, being upset at the prospect of loosing my Heidi. I thought I was prepared. I was wrong. I backed out, chickened out. I just could NOT do it. But, Dr. John to the rescue! He had a drug on board that he's been using on his elderly boxer bitch. It's working wonders for her, so why not give it a shot and see if it helps Heidi? I'm game, anything to keep her realitively pain free and living as normal life as can be for a 12 yr old Rott. It is expensive, but, Heidi is worth it to me so we are giving it a shot. If it works, then she will stay on it until it no longer works. I should see a definite improvement in 4 days. I haven't a clue what it's called, but I don't care. I am going to use it and hope that it does the trick for Heidi. I'll miss my old dog terribly, but when it's time, I'm confident she will tell me it's time.

Dr. John gave me the bill and said, don't forget to reschedule. He's going to pull up Sandy's digital x rays and see which bursa is inflamed. He'll decide if we should do an additional set for comparison. I hope not, they ARE expensive, but really worth it. Then he left.
Wow what a morning. But at least Cotie was left with his dignity intact and Heidi is still here, at least until the next appt. ; )