Horse Care During Tropical Storm Andrea

No, it wasn't very exciting. We just had rain, no wind. (Thank you weather gods!)

Regardless, today I just did not want to go to the barn. I didn't want to see what Lily's leg looked like, I didn't want to have to ice it, I didn't want to have to call the vet, I didn't want to have to walk her and even less, sedate and ride her. I just didn't want to go. I didn't want to know.

However, I can't stand the idea of her being locked up in that stall 24/7, so I went. 

Thankfully, after dragging myself out to the barn in the pouring rain today, her right front looked much better. I squeezed the crap out of her ligaments, and she didn't flinch at all. I didn't call the vet.

I took her for a 20 minute walk in the rain, around the barn. The indoor was being dragged and I wanted to walk her on concrete again after a couple of days in a row on sand.

Wet Lily

Walking through puddles

Rain gear

We then cold-hosed and iced her leg.

A mostly pain-free back

The side reins are working! Her neck doesn't look as upside-down as it appeared 2 weeks ago.

She went into her stall with the ice boots on. And then I made up her supplement baggies, since Smartpak's automated system screwed up when I changed up her supplements last time. (Long story; they fixed it awesomely as usual, but the final solution involved baggies for this month.)

Lily got her alfalfa/hay cube mush. After taking photos of her neck, I decided to bump her up to 4 oz of rice bran oil.

Yum...says Lily

I took the ice boots off, and the right front was completely and 100% normal. Finally. She got a scoop of bute with crumbled Stud Muffins, and I dabbed her leg with Surpass again. You're not supposed to touch it with bare hands because it's a transdermal NSAID and it can kill your liver. So I applied it with a small folded up paper towel. Lily spooked and snorted at the paper towel. That was folded up into a 4" square in my hand.

Mare.

It's a good thing you're cute.

I went home, and discovered that her insurance had sent me a check. I was VERY happy with the amount they sent. That was one week. One week from the time I sent them the paperwork to the time I received the check in the mail.

People, insure your ponies! Totally worth it!