No Such Thing as a Free Horse

Those of you who own horses already know this to be true.  But, here is a reminder for those of you who need a refresher.

Who could resist this face?

Back when I was a horse-crazy girl, growing up in a quiet suburban town in Southern California, my parents were offered a free horse.  They had a daughter (me) who spent all her money on Breyer horses and rental horses, and all her time at the neighborhood horse stable doling out sugar cubes and kisses.  I begged and pleaded for a horse.  For years.  My parents didn’t have a lot of extra money and there were three of us kids.  They surely didn’t have money to buy a horse.  But free?  Hmmm, worth investigating.  They received an education in the expense associated with owning a horse and quickly (and I like to think, regretfully) declined the free horse.  Although I didn’t think so at the time, they made the right decision.

We currently have a couple free horses on the ranch.  We took them both (Pistol and Luek) with the full knowledge of the financial outlay that any horse represents.

Yesterday, was an $800 day for Luek.  He has been off for about a week.  He also needed a blood panel done so that he could continue on his joint medication.  So, we took him to our vet for diagnosis of the hoof problem and blood work.  It turns out he has an abscess, most likely the result of a hot nail.  X-rays did not reveal any fractures or other issues.  X-rays for a horse are expensive, especially when they require sedation.  The blood work was normal relative to the joint medication (so we got a big bottle of that); however, he is anemic.  So, we are starting him on medication for that.  Fortunately, he is basically a healthy horse and these are pretty routine things that come with horse ownership.  Abscesses are very common and pretty easy to treat.

Luek enjoyed his foot soak in Epsom salts this morning.  While his foot soaked, I groomed him.  Afterwards, I applied a poultice and wrapped his foot.  Ten minutes later, he was filthy and the wrap was coming undone.  He has a history of abscesses, and he was a circus trick horse, so I’m sure he is also a master at undoing a foot wrap.  Not to brag or anything, but after all the years of dealing with Jackson’s abscesses, I am pretty dang good at wrapping a hoof.

I’m pretty sure he’s laughing at me