La Cuenta

Before tomorrow's x-rays Raven's vet bill comes to $1300 and change. (Only our cat Spike holds the dubious distinction of incurring an even larger bill against a more mysterious affliction.) I'm not telling you this to garner your sympathy, merely to satisfy any curiosity you may have about largish equine expenses. A couple of months of juggled finances will see this paid off, for which I consider myself truly lucky. In honour of yesterday's news I finished the last manure bin with recycled nails instead of going out to buy new ones.*

*Actually, I am just lazy.

Hardworking Henry

With the ambient temperature at 5 degrees Celcius and the relative humidity at 80% it is hard to get turnout sheets dry without bringing them into the house (which I try to avoid -- we don't need the smell of wet horse layered over the smell of wet dog). This morning I washed Tonka's 1200D sheet and draped it over the conveniently-horse-shaped Henry to dry with the assistance of two oscillating fans.

Meanwhile Tonka looks like a private school girl flirting with skirt length rules in his new sheet, which is considerably shorter than his other two.

Raven was feeling better today, moving well and eating like she had never eaten before. Kerstin spoke with best leg vet in the Fraser Valley and he agrees that her symptoms are consistent with bone and/or cartilage damage. He recommended that we put her back on one gram of bute per day and Kerstin will come do the x-rays later this week. We recently got a newsletter from her practice saying that they had purchased a digital machine, so I should have news for you in near-real-time.

Up and Down

I'm on campus today, but David called to say that Raven is very stiff. She was quite lame this morning until she got going, and then she seemed more comfortable. Kerstin was emphatic that Raven should remain stable or continue to improve, and that anything otherwise would probably indicate damage done to the underlying bone. I did palpate the joint quite assertively last night, and there is no suggestion of continued infection -- it is smooth and dry, with just a little nub of tissue around the wound itself. My fear is that my not-so-tender ministrations aggravated a bone chip that is responsible for her continued pain. Hopefully Kerstin will be able to get some x-rays tomorrow.