Yesterday morning we went out to the barn to do early turnout, as I had to go to my volunteer gig. Oakley had managed to reach over the door and get his nose into some hay--and not the hay I wanted him to get, hay we thought we'd put out of his reach. Needless to say he was heaving and rocking (due to his COPD), and not looking as pleased with himself as he should. Poor bear! I was immediately heart sore to see this. What made it worse is the heavy rain and humidity--we had to keep the barn door shut to protect the hay, so all of the dust and molds Oakley is so sensitive to were kicked up, and he stayed in out of the rain, which only increased his exposure.
I gave him some bronchodilator and antihistamine, and turned him out with Winston, but they came right back to the barn, so I soaked some hay and left it out for him.
I called our vet during my volunteer shift, and the plan was to check Oak's condition when I got home in the afternoon, and if it was worse I would have to get the vet out, likely with an emergency fee since he was already fully booked.
I rushed through my afternoon errands, which included a trip to the farm store for huge tarps to hang in front of the hay so we could leave the door open without fear of it all being spoiled.
Oak was a bit better, so the plan from the vet was another round of steroids that I would pick up later. The rain and my fatigue from stacking hay the night before led to a chill that sent me indoors for a while. I went back to the barn before heading out to pick up G and Oak's meds.
Second horse owner fail of the day:
Oakley was anxiously looking towards me as I approached the barn. Where was Winston? I found a bale of hay in the middle of the barn aisle, where I was expecting to find Winny. Then it all became clear! I obviously hadn't shut the latch tightly enough, and with a little leaning and naughty quarter horse smarts, Winny had opened the door, and was happily munching the greenest hay from the middle of the giant stack right about head level. Oakley was likely anxious because the area was far too narrow for him to follow-so I'm grateful he didn't try. And for all I know Winny was giving some sort of naa-na-na-nyah-nyah look at Oakley, which just would not do.
This is where he was:
He barely had room at the end to turn around, yet there he was, facing me, eating without an ounce of guilt in his eyes.
I slipped his halter on and walked him out calmly. G and I laughed quite a bit about it later. That crafty Winston!!
It was NOT funny this morning though to find another stack of bales crashed down, and Winny eating loose hay from the middle of a giant pile, likely put there by Oakley. The door wasn't open. Oakley the giraffe likely reached around the wire mesh, and pulled the whole thing down, where it all conveniently toppled to within munching range.
 |
| cheeky Winston! |
It's our four year anniversary today. But instead of doing the things I wanted to today for G, I will be cleaning, restacking, and horse proofing the hay, once and for all. Sheesh.
This episode could lead to pneumonia. Oakley might not be able to work tomorrow--we had a lesson scheduled with our driving coach. Maybe we can just work on driving finesse, through obstacles and the like, without actually hauling any weight. That wouldn't be fair to him. The thing is, he'd do it, whether he suffered or not.
Love you brave boy! Now stop breaking my heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment