The Sound of SH

One of the joys of owning a gelding is that periodically, one must become more familiar with a part of him that can't normally be discussed in polite company. Some horses love that clean feeling "down there". My horse, Bay, in fact, enjoys it a little too much. Jorgen, on the other hand (no pun intended), acts as if he is being molested. Lifting his hind foot, he tries to scrape my hand away.

You may ask why it is necessary to clean a horse there. Nature had a way of self cleaning during use and in submersion in water. Neither happen to a domesticated gelding. Jorgen was to the point of having what looked like asphalt adhered to him and he was swollen. Something had to be done. With a horse that won't "drop down" or allow you to be intrusive, you must sedate them or have the vet come do this.

I called the vet's office to get an estimate as to how much it would cost to just have the vet come.
"I need an estimate to have the vet come out and clean his sheath," I told Linda over the phone.

She began looking up prices. "It will cost about $60 for a simple case pluse the trip charge ($24) and sedation ($30), and up to $100 if he has to use the grinder."

Grinder? I am thinking. OUCH! To give you an idea of how hard the stuff was up in him, and how bad he looked when he did drop down to pee, I envisioned a little hand held tool...... Well, anyway, I guess I just thought the vet ought to know what he was doing. But grinder?

"So, this is going to run me, worst case, about $150 or more? I am trying to do it myself but....."

"Well, we don't recommend anyone trying to do their horses' teeth themselves."

Teeth? The little bell went off and I laughed out loud. "I didn't say teeth. I said sheath."

Linda likely had tears running from her eyes as she realized that we'd been talking about two different things and what an idiot of an owner who thought one might use a grinder on a horse's privates. I laughed with her, knowing that this story was going to make the rounds of our little town in no time.

Check at http://jmatt.net/ElecEq/sheath.html if you'd like humorous, yet accurate, directions as to how to clean a sheath without a grinder.

As to the end of the story? We ourselves gave old Jorgen a shot of Rompun/Ace from the vet and cleaned him ourselves. He's now as fresh as spring air.


Farm Notes for Thursday

Cleaned chicken coop and moved it. The baby chick is getting big and shows signs of being a rooster.

No rain in the forecast. Bought a new sprinkler and have it running all the time. $2 sprinkler didn't stand up well to 12oo pound horse rolling on it, but I think I fixed it.

Lots of peppers to pick. About the only thing my garden produced this year - hot peppers. I never even have time to pick them. I am thinking of giving up gardening until I'm older, have more time, and no one to eat the produce.

Found another chrysalis on basil I picked to dry. It is also a Monarch. Hung it up in container with other chrysalis which doesn't appear viable anymore. Maybe I'm being given a second chance?

The truck, used for a myriad of hauling and work, is beginning to sound like Darth Vadar.

The creek is completely dry except for a small puddle where some frogs still reside.