Monsoon

The hurricane from the south presented itself to Crofton in the form of endless rain. It rained all night Thursday and the horses were in. On Friday morning, we turned them outside so we could power clean the stalls before the arrival of the vet and dentists. I met Joy Hoover, an eleven year old dressage student, in the indoor. She rides each Friday before school. Her mom is a cytologist at Johns Hopkins who holds a busy schedule and we both agree that the early mornings are good for anyone looking to be involved in horses. I sent a text to Carey to see if she can print out a stall chart and horse use log for the dentists. I managed to clean two stalls after Joy's lesson and before Elena's. Everything is right on track.

Once a year, two dentists come from Spain. They bring power tools, look inside every mouth, and have heated discussions about the technological advancements in equine dentistry. Dr. Mende, the vet, sits on an overturned muck tub and reads up on journals. She is just there to administer and moderate sedation, so "dental weekend" , as we call the two full days of annual dental work, is basically just a chance for her to catch up on reading and follow-up calls on her patients. I take full advantage of this and try to spend as much time as I can picking her brain in between staring between the incisors of horse after horse. It's like a living classroom.

This year, since there isn't much else for her to do, we decided to have Dr.Mende administer fall shots the same weekend. She went through and checked weights and temperatures while giving each horse a 5-way vaccination. She saved time, and we saved a barn call fee.

When we were through with the vaccinations, I started in on the first conversation I had planned to have with Dr.Mende while I had her on my turf. The subject was Bandit, my new training project whom we recently purchased for the lesson program. Bandit is a little paint pony with a medicine cap. He is eight years old but has a swayed back which is an indication of spinal trauma in his young years. His back legs stick too far out behind him, and his fetlock joints are closer in to his body than his hocks (sickle hocked), but he is really quite a nice little horse to ride. His ground manners are impeccable.

Dr.Mende thought with the correct riding (that we emphasize at the center) that his back would continue to strengthen and he would develop into a nice little school horse.

When his teeth were done later (under sedation with the power tools), the dentists took care of the sharp hooks he had developed. The hooks could easily have had an influence over how he carried his head and therefore his back.

The rain broke around six in the evening, and I called for the horses to be turned out. Even with the predicted rain, the temperature was estimated to stay in the mid-sixties and they really hate to be cooped up.

Around four pm, the evening lessons are in full swing. Kids are out of school, working adults have skipped out of the office an hour early. Four pm at Equilibrium means that the horses have been fed, brushed and tacked. The arena is sectioned off, instructors are shouting over each other ("Get off the rail! How do you know you are keeping that horse straight if you are using the rail for balance!"/"That's not a twenty mete circle, that's a ten meter olive pit!"/""Exactly, Erin! Now he is reaching!"/"RED LIGHT....GREEN LIGHT...Hannah wins!").

This Friday, I ran to my car before lessons began. I had a saddle in the back seat that one of my students was going to try. She wanted to buy her very own (what eleven year old rider doesn't want their own saddle), and I thought she had ought to try this one. As I neared my car, I found Bandit at the fence. His head was dropped, his nostrils were dilated, his muscles were trembling. I called to my student to come get the saddle herself, and fashioned a halter for Bandit. He couldn't wait to get inside. I was afraid that with his breeding he could be HYPP positive. His muscle trembling seemed characteristic of what I had seen when Magnum had a full blown attack back in the spring, and even though I hadn't seen Impressive in his bloodlines, quarter horses tend to be interrelated and it can be difficult to trace. I had Karo syrup on hand so I grabbed a bottle and squeezed it right into his mouth. He was happy to swallow that up. Kathi paged Dr.Mende (who had left only an hour before), and we took his temperature. 98.1. Which is low. Average is 100.2. Kathi found Angus' s old blanket and put it on him. All said, it could just be that he was feeling cold. The fall feels a bit more foreign at its head than it does in the midwest. The wet days with their wind and clouds made it take hours to feel dry again. Bones are sore this time of year. Feet are perpetually soaked. The horses are beginning to develop a winter fuzz but it is barely noticeable. You'd have to be away for a week to notice the difference in their coats at this time of year.

I got a call back from Dr.Mende. She thought my diagnosis seemed highly likely. She thought that since the muscle tremors seemed to have stopped with either the karo (if HYPP) or the blanket (weather, shot reaction), we need not medicate and we agreed she would look at him in the morning.

An hour later, I took his temperature again. 102.8. SHIT! I called her back. A high temperature is not an indication of HYPP. It is a symptom of a shot reaction. Bandit had been under sedation for his teeth, he had also had his 5-way vaccination. I had no previous medical records on him, as he came from a downtrodden backyard farm. I gave him 2 grams of bute and went home to watch the presidential debates with Casey to give it time to kick in.

We went back at eleven pm. There is a secret utopia which exists in a barn after hours. We arrived at the time of evening just when the Society of Dignified Feline Mousers was meeting in Marisol's empty stall just outside the office. The now-still and puddled rain was rising up in great tufts of slumbery smoke to haunt the air around the white house. If you don't look too close and just allow yourself to be a little scared, you can hear the voices of the ghosts we speak of during the day without much belief. At eleven, the feed room is at quorum with mice chittering over new business and leaving behind the old. A forgotten, overturned wintec saddle is covered with droplets in the dirt outside the schoolbarn. A light was left on in the hayloft. Victor built the school barn and designed the loft to look like that of the homes he built in the neighboring suburbs. We drive right up to the long and low building which is the boarder barn combined with riding hall. Casey's compact 2005 focus fits perfectly over the bridge just before the entryway. We cut the lights and exited the vehicle.

Bandit whinnied loudly (which I took as a great sign). We helped ourselves to Odwalla from the fridge in the office while I prepped the thermometer. Jacques crept down from the hayloft and flashed his one eye around. I refilled his food dish.
I had switched Bandit's blanket from Angus's overly large one to a cozy plaid Baker blanket. His body temperature felt normal to the touch. His eyes were alert. He had one piece of quivering hay stuck to his lip. I pulled the end. It came in one long string from deep in his esophagus. I battled disgust. Poor guy. His temperature was down to 101.5.

We tucked him back in and walked the long way down the aisle. The emergency lights which were always on spun a strange candlelit cavern effect. Each horse in its orange-cast box looked majestic or imprisoned. I wasn't sure which. I showed Casey Arrazzo. Arrazzo was Amir's new horse who was estimated to be worth a fortune. He was a beautiful, 17hh chestnut gelding with three pure gaits. He had his butt turned to us and had managed to unlatch his own stall by rubbing against it.

The rain began again in earnest as soon as we reached our cars. As we drove down the driveway, Macaroni pony's tiny head was visible through the lower two fence slats, eating the richer and greener grass on the other side. We were drenched running up our front steps and into the house. Rain in Maryland is unlike anything I was used to in Michigan. Everything else is the same. Same inability to sleep at night when you are worried about a horse. Same short period of time between when I lay down at night and wake up the next morning. Same nagging pain. Same constant weighing out of decisions, panic, sense of responsibility, of vulnerability. Bandit seemed okay. Should I check again? Was his temperature high or low when Dr.Mende did his physical early in the day? Had he ever had a vaccination in his life? Is he a registered paint or quarter horse? Should I go and check on him again? Would more Karo syrup harm his system if it's not HYPP? Does he need more in case it is?

Saturday mornings always tend to seem dark. Maybe because I get up so much earlier, but this Saturday, in addition to being particularly early, was still cloudy and wet. It felt like night. I went over to the farm with mismatched socks, a formless grey turtleneck, and a fuzzy ponytail. I was so tired. I walked into about fifty inanimate objects.
Bandit's temperature was back to normal. We deduced it was a shot reaction. We decided to keep dental weekend vaccination free to avoid stressing the horses. Dr.Mende looked at Jame's feet. The thrush was gone. Nick, the farrier, came by and did eight horses on the trim/shoe schedule.
I plowed through my lessons. Zach tore up the stadium course with Keynote. I cut Skye's mohawk. Carey and I stopped at Leo's Vacation Center to look at her new trailer, and then I finally ended up at home where I crashed on my couch. I didn't wake til Casey came home at eight. He made dinner and rubbed my knee. He asked about Bandit. Bandit was doing okay. I felt there was a chance I'd get some sleep.

Today is Sunday. I slept like a baby. The heavy rain prevented our scheduled hay delivery. I am at home with just my bird and my dog. Casey is at work. The house is quiet. Tomorrow morning everything will start again, but today I will just read books, listen to music, and lose track of time.