Two for one - or when it rains it pours

Remy's cough and snotty nose came back, just when I thought we were over it. Then on Tuesday while Jim, our farrier, was trimming Remy JP called from the barn "we have a small problem". I hustled down to meet them and immediately saw a lot of blood on the floor. WTH?? Jim said he nicked what he thinks is a canker sore (small, shallow ulcer) at Remy's heel, and that this area is full of blood vessels and therefore bleeds a lot. As I had already called Crystal, our vet, about the cough I now had to add the foot issue.

There are two ways to look at this: Either "When it rains it pours" or "Two for one" = One barn call: Two issues. I try to keep a positive spin on it and stick to the "Two for one". At least both issues run concurrently, so Remy is off not for one reason, but two. Hopefully by next week we are back into the swing of things. Bummer is that we were scheduled to ride with Jan this weekend, and I was looking very much forward to it. Alas, there will be a next time - and by then we can work on tempis (nothing like a stretch target).

Luckily Crystal was able to come quickly, and Remy ended up with oral antibiotics for the respiratory infection, and treatments for his heel. Three days of antibiotics wrapped around the wound, then Dry Cow*, and then cross our fingers that the area doesn't need to be cauterized.

Good thing Remy is not pulling the usual guy thing - none of the "Help me I'm dying because I have a cold" shenanigans. It will be tough to wean him off the applesauce, though. As soon as he sees me coming with it (I mix the antibiotics in it) he starts to salivate. What is applesauce for Remy is Henri Bardouin for JP (hmm, lets see, what could I mix into this???).


*ToMORROW Dry Cow is Cephapirin Benzathine, used for cows with mammary inflammation. It comes in syringes for intra-mammary application, and is great to treat thrush.