The Doctor Is In

Spring Vetting

My vet came this morning to do the basics for all three Boys.  This includes a Coggins test, flu and rhino vaccines, strangles vaccine, teeth floating, and sheath cleaning.  While I can do the last myself, it's always easier to clean after the horses have been tranquilized for the teeth floating. 

We ended up working from hardest to easiest.  Any guesses??

Chance was first.  He's fine for everything except his teeth.  Actually, he's not bad, but he does seem to take an extra dose of tranquilizer to get through the whole floating as he starts fussing towards the end. 

Tucker was next and he was generally quite good with just a bit of protest at the end of the floating procedure, but not naughty enough to need more medication.  He was quite well behaved, actually, so I think he deserves a gold star. 

We finished with Toby who was almost perfect.  In fact my vet had to do some of the floating on her knees as he simply dropped his head for her.  And, at times, it looked to me as if he was actually leaning into the float, positioning his head as if to help. 

This was a new doctor from my vet's office as the last partner has moved out of New Jersey.  It goes without saying that she was excellent, both in her professional skill and in her handling of the horses.  My vet office has a super group of doctors and I was really pleased with the entire morning's effort. 

I left the Boys in to recover from the sedation when I went food shopping to pick up a few more things for dinner.  Then I just let them out to spend the afternoon in the very warm--80F--sunshine. 

Both Tucker and Chance need to go on diets and I have already started cutting their feed.  But I am also going to get some of the low starch feed again, and really work on controllng intake.  Of course, once I get shoes back on Tucker, I will start a more consistent exercise program for him.  Chance's work is a given and I'm likely to do some longer trails with him, including some hacks around the fields now that I have gained even more confidence in his level head out in the "wilds." 

I took a pot of my homemade French onion soup, a special salad and some filet migon over to my friends' house for dinner and made them a nice meal.  They've often hosted me and since they are now going through some medical issues, I wanted to share some of my cooking skill with them for a change.  I am pleased to say it was a pretty successful dinner. 

As they say, a nice time was had by all.