Hi Dear Reader,
Welcome back to the blog.
Life Update/Vet story:
This past week has been busy at the Bock household. My maternity leave ended and I started back to work. It was a little sad as it seemed like the 6 weeks went by so fast and part of me wasn’t quite to go back to work. The other part of me was excited to get back to my clients and their horses. Maternity leave felt a little like a self-imposed isolation and I am looking forward to talking about horses again.
So Hubby and I packed up the two kiddos and took them with us this week. One of our first appointments was to geld a colt. It was a bittersweet appointment as this was the last colt that my client had bred as they are getting out of the horse breeding visit. Thankfully, the appointment went well. The colt behaved and the surgery went smoothly. Baby Bock came along and spent the hour in the arms of my client’s wife while Big sister sat next to me and watched the whole surgery. She is not squeamish with blood. :)
A few years ago, I had to geld a colt for them. He was huge, wild, and a little mean. They tried to handle and halter break him before hand but he was pushing 16 hands (a hand is 4 inches) and knew that he was bigger than the humans handling him.
I went to sedate this horse for the surgery and he towered over me, looking down his long nose, like “come on, Doc, give it your best”. As I slid the needle with the sedative into his vein, he reared up, striking out with his front feet. Dodging the flailing hooves, I was able to give him the medicine. But it wasn’t enough to calm him down. After another dose, he was sedated enough to be brought out to the grassy area. We always geld the colts laying down in a flat area covered in thick grass. Most of the time, it is in people’s front yards. I gave him another injection which puts him under anesthesia and Hubby helps the horse to lay down on the grass.
Hubby’s job is to monitor the horse, give more drugs if needed, and to help the horse lay down and stand up. He was monitoring this horse and said, “You better make this quick.” He placed a blindfold over the eyes to help the horse relax.
The surgery went well. As I was finishing up, Hubby called out, “you done?”
“Yep.” I dropped my surgical instruments into a bucket.
“Then, you better get back. He’s going up.”
I pulled off my gloves and stepped back.
The colt jumped up like he had been taking a nap, tossed his head, and sent the blindfold flying. Then, he took off.
Hubby held onto the lead rope trying to wrangle this young horse into the barn. Did I mention this was a future racehorse? They went around in circles in the yard, tearing it up, until the owner was able to make a runway into the barn. We herded the colt into his stall and slammed the door.
That was an experience. That horse is currently being trained as a racehorse and they said that he is fast.
Thankfully, this year’s colt was a perfect gentleman.
Writing Update:
I am just getting back into the swing of things. I was listening to a podcast. Unfortunately, I can’t remember which one. The podcast was about making time to achieve your goals. The guest made a comment that to do a little bit every day, even if it isn’t close to how much you want to achieve. I thought about that and he was right. My ultimate daily goal is to write about a 1,000 words per day. Before Baby Bock #2, I was able to do that. But with the new baby, I find that I am tired and don’t have an hour to get those words down. Plus, my creative juices are lacking. So, I set up my writing station on my desk. Whenever I have a few minutes, I sit down and stare at the page. The first few days I wasn’t able to get much written. Then, I was able to write a sentence or two. After about a week, I finally am able to get a few paragraphs done every night. It isn’t close to the 1,000 word goal, but it is better than a blank page. I had hoped to be done with this story soon but I am only about 25% done. That’s ok. Slow and steady wins the race, right?
On the newsletter, we are reading the 10th chapter of Second Chance with My Bull Rider. If you are interested in reading it with us, check it out at alliebock.substack.com.
Here’s a cute picture of my horse, Amber. We are getting ready to go for a ride, but we had to brush off the winter hair and mud first.
That’s all for now.
Hugs,
Allie
No comments:
Post a Comment