Vet Clinic

Walker has since been admitted to the vet clinic. Don't worry! He has not taken a turn for the worse. I simply got a text message from my barn owner saying she was uncomfortable giving him injections since his neck was infected (presumably from injections). I of course leaped at the opportunity to send him to the vet clinic because now I can sleep at ease knowing he is in the hands of professionals. Also, little does my vet know, but now that he is there, there is no way he's leaving until he's 100% better!

Straw = yuck

Other than being a little lonely, he seems to like his new digs.  I'm less than impressed that he has straw bedding (never been much of a fan), but it's super thick so at least it seems fairly comfortable.

He also has his own personal window to the outdoors, which he seems to enjoy.

I went and visited him yesterday and he wasn't eating much.  The vet thinks that besides finding it difficult to lift and lower his head, all the meds he is on are probably affecting his appetite.  They decided yesterday to leave his hay on the ground to see if he would eat it like that, but he wouldn't so I hand fed him instead.  Today they put up a haynet and that seemed to work much better.

I'm happy to report that he will be staying at the clinic at least until next week.  He's getting injections every day all weekend, and then next week they're going to switch him to an oral med.  The vet wants him to stay there for a few days until they can see how that's working.  I'm much more content now that he's there, and frankly I don't see why my barn owner didn't suggest it in the first place.

Hand-feeding the pony

When I arrived to see him, I was met with this lovely sign.  Nothing like sending me into a panic than seeing that your horse is on quarantine!!  However, it turns out that it is merely a precaution.  They don't know if he's contagious (although they assume he isn't), but because they have another horse in the clinic, they decided to partition him off just in case.

The other poor horse got his foot caught in a feeder and has some sort of broken bone or something.  He's a good looking horse too so hopefully it works out for him.  Walker can't really see him from his stall, but when they were bringing him out of the stables and into the clinic to x-ray, Walker perked right up and called out longingly for a friend.  I'm glad that I am done school and have the chance to go out to the clinic everyday.

Since all I can really do is groom him, I've been giving him the royal treatment.  I've been brushing him thoroughly to help with his shedding, and yesterday I even clipped his whiskers.  It's a testament to how bombproof Walker is that I was able to pull out a razor, clip around his mouth and his eyes without him being tied or even with a halter on.  Yep.  He just stood there loose in his stall while I took a razor to his face.  Gotta love my baby.

Although the vet assistant may be a little cranky that he is hard to catch.  Apparently he's up to some tricks and he spins around in circles in his stall so that they can't catch him and give him his meds.  Oh Walker!