Galena's Colt

As soon as I opened the door to the indoor arena I knew something was wrong. Galena's colt was not acting normal. Usually he comes galloping up to see me and today he was just standing with his head hanging down. I brought them into a stall and ran down to the house to get a thermometer as he was obviously running a fever. Sure enough he had 103.7 and I took it 3 times.  Dr. Hoerr was sent a text that I need to bring in a colt this morning. He sent a text back that he would be back to the clinic at 9:00 am so right after the walk Galena and her colt were loaded into the stock trailer. I pulled in at 9:00 am, right before Dr. Hoerr arrived. Galena was put in the stocks so she would not interfere as he worked on her colt. The first thing he did was to take his temperature and it was still 103.7. Next he listened to his lungs to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. It wasn't. The ultrasound machine was pulled out to sonagram his umbilicus. That too was clear of pus. Blood work was drawn then Dr. Hoerr put in an IV giving him fluids, a fever reducer and two kinds of antibiotics.  The blood work showed he has a bacterial infection, it just doesn't show where.  By this time the colt was feeling much better so we were sent home with more drugs. The colt will get a shot each day for the next 4 days and on Sunday he will get two shots. If his fever spikes back up I'm to give him 1 cc of banimine orally.
As soon as I pulled in at the farm and unloaded it was obvious someone had been here. The stalls were cleaned and the water buckets filled. Sarah came out to drop off a new rug for our rec room. A BIG thankyou for all of her hard work.
That gave me time before the farrier was due to pull Anna's colt out to get updated pictures of him for his owner and the website. He turned a month old yesterday. He has quite the 'lift' in his trot and canter. He takes after his sire, Valiant.

Next was to get Valiant cleaned up before his pedicure. Faith and Berlica showed up just as Chuck Millburn, our farrier arrived. Faith held Valiant so I could snap a picture with my phone.  Chuck made the remark, "it isn't everyday you see a little barefoot girl holding a big stallion."  As awful as Valiant is toward Evan he is careful around people and would never hurt them on purpose. By the way Faith ONLY held the lead rope while the picture was snapped, then she and Berlica picked grass to feed Valiant while I held him the rest of the time. 

We are expecting snow on the weekend. On Monday morning April 9th, just 3 days ago,  Joan delayed school so the kids could build a snowman before it melted. We thought this might be the last we see of snow this spring. The picture below was actually taken Tuesday April 10th. The snow man was leaning back, arms raised as if praising God for the sunshine. Joan joined him.

It looked pretty funny as all the snow had melted off the lawns. Anyone looking at it would wonder how they got enough snow to make a snowman. That wasn't the only thing they made Monday. Joan also made a big batch of snow ice cream for the kids. We had a beautiful warm 78 degree day. That will help the grass to grow!