Snip, snip
Bzzzt! I'm worried and my arms are tingling because I haven't drunk enough water today (side effects!) Tony and I dropped our colt off at the vet this morning to have his procedure. He's being gelded--castrated--because I'm not going to use him for breeding, and he will be easier to handle and train, as well as easier to bring to mixed gatherings where mares will be present, like horse trials and events. It sounds cruel, but it's all done under anesthetic, under antiseptic conditions, and he'll get thorough aftercare. I'd be worse in the long run to keep him entire.
He loaded on to the trailer fine, I put my mare Clover on as a travel buddy, and we made the short trip to the vet clinic just dandy. The colt had already made his maiden voyage when he was delivered to me--6 hours from northern Maine, including a service stop for brake repairs. My regular vet (who is a Tony Stewart fan, boo!) and the head vet examined him and confirmed what I'd felt but wasn't sure of, having never had a boy horse before: that one of his testicles had descended, and one was on the way. Dr. "Irv" told me I'd saved my self about $1,800 on that one! Whew!
Originally I was going to drop Keane off for his surgery and merrily go off to do some last minute--ok, all of my--Christmas shopping, but decided maybe I'd stay home and do house cleaning instead just in case something happened and they called. I'm worried. I hardly slept last night. At my last working student position, I had a bad experience with gelding aftercare, which was more poor planning on the barn owner's part. Who the hell schedules gelding in July, the hottest, buggiest time of year, then takes off on vacation? Anyways, I'm neurotic under the best of circumstances.
So we'll see how it goes. I'm going to call around 3:00 to see how the surgery went, and hopefully go pick him up so he can start recuperating at home. Worst case, they had to go in a little deeper and he stays the weekend because of the holiday.
He loaded on to the trailer fine, I put my mare Clover on as a travel buddy, and we made the short trip to the vet clinic just dandy. The colt had already made his maiden voyage when he was delivered to me--6 hours from northern Maine, including a service stop for brake repairs. My regular vet (who is a Tony Stewart fan, boo!) and the head vet examined him and confirmed what I'd felt but wasn't sure of, having never had a boy horse before: that one of his testicles had descended, and one was on the way. Dr. "Irv" told me I'd saved my self about $1,800 on that one! Whew!
Originally I was going to drop Keane off for his surgery and merrily go off to do some last minute--ok, all of my--Christmas shopping, but decided maybe I'd stay home and do house cleaning instead just in case something happened and they called. I'm worried. I hardly slept last night. At my last working student position, I had a bad experience with gelding aftercare, which was more poor planning on the barn owner's part. Who the hell schedules gelding in July, the hottest, buggiest time of year, then takes off on vacation? Anyways, I'm neurotic under the best of circumstances.
So we'll see how it goes. I'm going to call around 3:00 to see how the surgery went, and hopefully go pick him up so he can start recuperating at home. Worst case, they had to go in a little deeper and he stays the weekend because of the holiday.
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