Vet Trip

 It's been hard to find incentive to do much with my horse the last few weeks. Our weather has been up and down (mostly down), and everyone is very over this winter that seems to be neverending. I think it was almost 15 Celsius yesterday, and tonight it's snowing again. 

This is just off the highway towards the barn. Both sides of the road have flooded fields and ditches from the spring melt. The culverts often don't melt as fast as everything else, so water doesn't have anywhere to go. There are a few places that I'm worried the water might flow over the road, including one spot on the highway. Today's rain isn't going to help much.

Maybe it's a good thing, because Stitch had a visit from the Wither Fairy this weekend.

It looks like he's been wearing a too tight blanket, but no, he's been nekkid for the last week. That's just a lovely dip in front of his withers that wasn't there before

For the last couple of weeks I've been wondering why he's been looking like an oversized pony, and realized a few days ago that it's because his shoulders were jammed up against his withers again.  I didn't make it out over the weekend, and on Monday while watching him run loose in the arena I noticed his much pointier than normal withers. I even stopped him so that I could check to make sure they weren't swollen because he had fallen on them because of how pointy they looked to me. 

My measuring stick was in my locker so I put it up to him. I set it at 16hh, and while I'll admit it didn't quite touch him, there also wasn't much space under the bar. 

So it looks like I'm going to have to sell him.

He knows the rule. Less than 16hh!

Just kidding. 

He can stay. 

On Tuesday I took Stitch for a car ride to the vet to get his teeth done and his spring vaccinations. He was a good boy about loading and unloading, but pawed every time the trailer stopped. At the clinic he was a cheap drunk (a big change from Phantom!). He still has a couple of baby teeth left in front, his bottom canines have come in, and his top ones are just under the surface. There were some sharp edges so I'm glad that I got him in and will plan to get him in again in the late fall before winter hits. 

Post-dental/pre-trailer loading snooze in the vet clinic parking lot.

He'll probably have some sort of reaction to his jabs, so he's got another few days guaranteed off. Maybe I'll manage to get on this weekend and just do some walking, if not it won't be until late next week, before I go away for the weekend, and can try again the next week...