Honey, Blueberry and Cactus Jack

I realize that the headline sounds like the ingredients for some kind of odd fusion cuisine, but those are the names of the horses I took into the vet hospital in Missoula today.  Each had something totally different.

In the photo above, our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor, is examining Cactus Jack's eye.  We have been treating this eye for several weeks now.  For a while the eye would seem to return to normal, then Cactus would begin squinting and tearing again.  You may recall that during a recent trip to the ranch, Erin had done a pressure check and eye exam because this same eye seemed painful.  But progress was fleeting, and we decided it was time to have Erin look at it again.  Today it became clear that he had a deep ulcer in the bottom of the eye that wasn't responding to treatment.  We decided to remove the eye, and Erin will do the surgery tomorrow. 

She is going to insert a prosthetic device to fill in the eye socket to keep it from sinking in and getting the concave look.  The device is called an equine conforming intraorbital implant and it looks like this.  We routinely use implants on our dogs when we do eye removals, but this is the first time on a horse.  The dog implants look more like black or brown marbles.

Erin is a board-certified veterinary surgeon -- this means she has three years more training than a regular vet, and although her specialty is large animal surgery, she's becoming quite the ophthalmologist, too!

Next up was Honey, our blind Quarter Horse mare who is -- let us be clear -- no honey when she is in heat.  She gets very crabby and in the past year has begun getting very kicky when she cycles.  Normally she is a very sweet horse, but when goes into heat, she becomes a ... well, let's just say it rhymes with d-i-t-c-h.  One thing we will not tolerate is a horse who kicks.  So what do you do with a mare like this?  You get her spayed!  Yes, just like a dog or cat -- although the procedure is a bit more complicated.  Spaying is not always a fool-proof method for ensuring an 'attitude adjustment' in a mare, but it usually helps.  In this photo Erin's vet tech Julia N. is drawing blood from Honey.

Finally, there was Blueberry, shown here being a goofball in the trailer while waiting her turn.  Blueberry is our personal horse that we adopted several years ago as a riding horse for Alayne.  She's 24 years old but acts like a 12-year old (Blueberry, not Alayne).  A former dressage star in her day, she still has the graceful moves of an equine ballerina.  But by the end of this summer she began to look like she has Cushing's -- long hair coat, a pot-belly, plenty of flesh on her yet her ribs are noticeable.  So it was time for a blood test to find out if she does, in fact, have Cushing's.  Results will take a few days.

As for the names ... well, Honey and Blueberry were already named that when they came to us.  Alayne gave Cactus Jack his name, and although I never quite figured out why, I suspect it had something to do with the latest Louis L'Amour western she read.  Honey should have been named Sybil for her multiple personalities, and Blueberry should have been named Bayberry, since she's a beautiful bay.  But no one asked me.

(Click on photos for larger image.)

Comments

[Jeanne Stidham]

What's up with you Steve? You're becoming quite the comedian, you had me laughing out loud the past two days with your comments on the daily blog. Have my coffee with you every day & always end up saying "I just love this place". Keep up all the wonderful work you do & God bless all of you.

[Mary]

Boy a busy day for you at the vets. Good luck with surgery Jack. Love you big boy!

[Boundforglory]

I'm sure Cactus Jack will feel much better after his eye is removed; the eye socket implant is a great device!
I hope (sour) Honey's disposition sweetens after her altering and that elegant Blueberry gets simple test results back so she starts to look better.
Keep us posted on thier progress; sour, sweet or cranky; we love them all!