The Trip to the Vet..........Wrapping Up.....

Part 1

Not long after we'd come into the clinic, the vet had asked me if I wanted to tranquilize Dare who was making quite a ruckus being left behind in the horse trailer. While I knew she was distressed, I also knew she wouldn't be stupid about it either. I knew it wouldn't take long for her to accept we'd taken the colt and to settle down her protestations.

My vet couldn't get over Dare's attachment to this foal that wasn't even hers. On Sunday when I'd first pointed her out as the colt's adopted mother he'd laughingly replied I had plenty of those. I knew from his response he didn't understand the depth of the mare's commitment to her mother's foal. Now as the mare continued to worry about the little guy out of her sight, the vet began to see how seriously Dare took her new found responsibility.

By the time the examination was finally over, samples of fluid had been removed from both hocks and the right Achilles tendon sheath of Solidare's colt. The fluid from both hock joints had been better than expected but would take further examination under the microscope to determine if cultures should be done.

The fluid from the sheath of the tendon was a totally different matter. There were unknown "chunks" suspended in it that were anything but normal. It was clear the infection had definitely invaded the tendon sheath but considering the amount of pus that had been squirting from the hock that fluid didn't look as bad as it could have been.

While those chunks were unusual, the color of the fluid was not as far off the usual color to warrant flushing the sheath at this time. Because the procedure is so invasive, we decided it would be better to wait for the results of the culture before making the move to do the invasive procedure. In the meantime we would wait and watch for signs of progress in the colt.

Again I asked the vet if he'd found any clues to how this invader had managed to attack my colt. Shaking his head he relayed we would probably never now, saying it's been a strange year with all kinds of anomalies happening to horses. All we could do was treat this thing and hope we'd caught it early enough to be successful.

The colt had had stood pretty well for each procedure despite Dare's random calls for him. While those calls no longer seemed to be frantic they did seem to be telling her boy that she was still out there waiting for him and the colt always seemed to acknowledge them with either a raise of his head or a flick of his ear. Even if Dare wasn't standing there right beside this colt, he was getting some comfort from knowing she was still out there waiting for him.

Before we left the clinic I asked the vet again about the prognosis for this colt. While I have never had to deal with this type of illness in foals, I have witnessed the devastation it can cause. I know the ups and downs and how rapidly they can happen but still I was hoping that somehow for this colt there would be something to set us apart and make things different.

My vet knows what Solidare meant to me having been there through many of the decisions made about her over the past few years and more importantly he was there each step along the way this entire past year. He knows what Solidare's colt means to me as well. He looked deep into my eyes shaking his head. The unspoken words clearly conveyed he couldn't make promises. This wouldn't be over until it was over.....................one way.............or the other....................

To be continued...................

The Second Treatment

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