Don't Touch Me There, Mister

I hauled a few of our horses into Missoula today to see our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown.  In the photo above, Bill is taking out the sutures from blind Cash's hernia operation a few weeks ago.  Bill's vet tech Betsy  L. is holding Cash, who's making it clear he does not like whatever it is Dr. Bill is doing down under there.  Notice that back leg pulled up!  He danced around like this for a while, first that leg then the other one, but he never kicked out.  Despite the little equine protests, Bill had the sutures out in no time flat.

Here are the other two who needed to see the doctor.  That's old Crazy Horse on the left -- he's actually not blind, just ancient -- and blind Laddie on the right.  Both have lameness problems ... Crazy Horse's is just really bad arthritis, and Laddie's left front leg is very stiff and lame from an old injury.  Crazy gets cortisone injections in his joints, which so far has made a dramatic difference in his ability to walk.  So he was in for another cortisone treatment.

Laddie seemed to have a rear leg or hip problem a couple of days ago; his gait was off and his right hip would thrust up when he walked, but we couldn't quite tell what it was from.  Bill examined him and determined it was from Laddie compensating in a new way for his left front leg's limited movement.  We X-rayed his front knee again this afternoon but didn't see any noticeable deterioration.  The treatment plan for him is also a cortisone injection in that leg and other anti-inflammatory medication.

With that, I loaded the young, the old, and the lame back into the trailer and headed for the ranch.

(Click on photos for larger image.)

Comments

[Janet]

That's the way horses will kick at flies on their bellies. It shows Cash's good manners that he didn't strike out.

[Shirley & James]

No matter young, old or lame every animal at the RDR has equal footing! Thanks for doing such wonderful work in taking care of these wonderful creatures!