I still had a horse that, very loudly, was telling me not to touch his bum today...but, unlike yesterday, he had lost the pep in his step, and was very stiff in his hind end, especially on his left hind.
Ruh roh.
All of his vitals were good (outside of his temp being up a teensy weensy little bit), so I gave him a small dose of bute and will check in with L in the AM to see how he's doing. I foresee a vet visit in his immediate future, though. My gut says that this could be Lyme, as it's EXTREMELY prevalent in this neck of the woods. I'm wondering if this is a preexisting condition as well, as it would explain a lot of things...which would be nice, because otherwise, I just have a weird pony that needs his head fixed ;)
After having him move on the end of the line a bit for L so I had another pair of eyes on him to confirm what I was seeing, he stood in the middle of the paddock with me and (for lack of a better way to put it) cuddled. He rested his head against my chest and gave me a big, blustery sigh as I rubbed his ears.
Sometimes, I fear that I'm going to end up doing something irreparably wrong to this horse, by accident. It's a bit paralyzing at times, so much so that I wonder if I am capable of being the person this horse needs. Then things like that happen, and I realize that we'll find a way to figure it out.
This picture is obviously not Image...but it keeps making me giggle every time I look at it.
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| "Maybe she's born with it...maybe it's Neighbelline!" |
I used to worry too, but you follow your gut and just love them and always do right by them and they will be fine.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I get caught up in my own head far too often, so a small reminder like that does me a world of good :)
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