Day 42 - Gelding Day!

We did it!!  The rain held off long enough for Dr. Jen to successfully complete Doc's "brain" surgery.  Of course, the first thing that she said when she saw his legs was, "Oh WOW".  Yet again, the pictures don't do the wounds justice.  She has some concern about the damage to the tendons and veins underneath all of the proud flesh and scar tissue, but seems optimistic that we can get him fixed up.  She doesn't want to start cutting on the wounds until they have shrunk down more, and some good old-fashioned exercise helps to start re-building the structures underneath.  She wants me to continue with the ointments, and gave me some guidance on which ointments to apply at what time.  She also wants to wait until spring to do any surgery because of the improved healing time during the warmer months.  She says that if we were to cut on them now, going into winter, we would have a much longer recovery time.  In essence, we would be swimming upstream.  It sounds like a good plan to me because I wasn't looking forward to daily bandage changes in the frigid rain and muck.

She and her team were so gentle and kind to him, and she allowed Alicia and I to stay with him to help comfort him.  I am very grateful for that.  It was important to me to not make this a horrific experience for him, and it certainly wasn't.  In fact, I think he enjoyed all of the attention!  He got a little skittish when she inserted the needle in his neck, but after a second or two, he allowed her to hit the vein and sedate him.  The surgery went very well, and after a day of rest today, he needs to be exercised for 20 minutes twice daily to encourage drainage.  Alicia has the first shift in the morning (in the rain!).

Here are photos... if you are squeamish, you may not want to look...    :)



"You are getting veerrry sleeeeepy"




Go team go!




Snip snip!




Throw them behind the horse please!

 Dr. Jen educated Alicia and I on the proper etiquette with horse testicles after they have been removed:  If it is a racehorse and you want it to go fast, you throw them in front of him - that way he will always be racing to catch up to them....   Needless to say, I preferred to throw them behind the horse, thank you very much!

Huh???  What happened??



My tongue doesn't fit in my mouth anymore!



"Would you like a blankie?"

Poor baby was shivering a lot after waking up, so he got a crash course on blanket wearing, and we stopped to buy one for him on the way home. 
His new halter also arrived today!  Hooray!!   Doesn't it look great??   http://www.horsenheart.com/  Thanks Maryann!

Sporting his new clothes!

In addition to all of this, he also got his vaccines today.  It was a big day for our boy!  Oh, and a new name to consider popped up today:  "Drifter".  What do you think?

I just want to tell you how grateful we are to those of you who have donated to his cause - in whatever form.  The money you have sent all went towards his surgery and vaccines.  If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have been able to give him the excellent care that he got today.  Thank you!  Also, thank you to everyone who has been reading this and giving us your emotional support.  I can't tell you how much it means to have you all rooting for us.

He is going to need a lot more care by Dr. Jen, so I am just going to put this out there again:  If any of you can help us out financially, we really do appreciate it.  We are not a formal rescue group, we just saw this horse in need, and Alicia's big heart brought him home.  When you see a helpless animal in pain, you don't think about the money, you just do what you have to do to help.  He is going to need a lot of help.  We set up a rescue fund at Dr. Jen's clinic for him, and any donations (cash or checks) can be sent directly to her:

Dr. Jen Powers
Above and Beyond Animal Care
22294 Spyder Lane
Palo Cedro, CA  96073
(530)524-7044

Just tell them to put it towards Huckleberry Diamond (aka: Doc) under Alicia Mosher's account.

Thank you!
~Jackie