We’re home from Colorado. Vento got a big bran mash with carrots and Bute in it. I called the farrier this morning to get his shoes put back on, and tomorrow he goes back to work. I’m going to enter him in the Parker horse show up in CO the first weekend of June, and this time he doesn’t get to B.S. us. We now know the score.
So, what is the score? First CSU is _amazing_, and the people are wonderful. It’s part of the Agriculture college in Fort Collins, Colorado, and it’s a jumble of buildings in the midst of a green zone with a big pond out front. Geese were roaming about when we arrived, and as we were unhooking the trailer a _seagull_ was gliding overhead. Talk about being lost.
I had hitched a ride for Vento with another horse who was also going to CSU for a bone scan, and I followed behind to ease lane changes, etc. After getting our boys settled into the “Bone Scan Stalls” we checked in at the Hilton and found dinner. I ended up with a waiter who wanted to tell me all about his TV pilot and about an S.F. idea he had. He didn’t seem to understand why I didn’t want to hear his idea, why it was a potential lawsuit for me. *sigh*. And my food was cold when it arrived.
I was beat after driving seven and half hours so I went to bed early. And woke up with a horrible backache from the too soft bed. A hard workout in the hotel gym helped, but I was still sore. I then went over to give Vento his grain, and saw good morning. After breakfast I waited around until they did the work up exam at around 1:00pm. Dr. Goodrich is a tiny, incredibly cute brunette with green eyes, and a wonderful personality. She flexed his legs, used the hoof tester, he trotted back and forth, and she declared,
“This the first sound horse I’ve seen today.”
She then said she wanted to bring in Dr. Holt to consult. He’s one of the two chiropractic/acupuncture vets at CSU. That happened late in the afternoon, and he found that Vento’s low back was completely locked up. He worked with him, and got his back moving, and told Goodrich that he’d love to see a bone scan. We agreed that needed to happen. He then taught me a series of exercises to do with Vento to improve the mobility in his back. He said to do them before and after I rode, but only three times a week.
I was supposed to go stay with Connie Willis, but the timing on everything was so iffy that I decided to stay at the hotel. Bad decision. I did have dinner with Connie and Courtney in a nearby town, but returned to the hotel. And by Tuesday morning the too soft bed had me nearly crippled. I got up at 6:00 just to get out of that bed, and did another hard workout to loosen up _my_ back. Then I went to feed Vento, and wish him well. Two of the young vet students were in the stall pulling his shoes for the nuclear bone scan. Apparently he had to wear booties, and the shoes would tear up the booties.
I wrote a little bit on the Urban Fantasy and the third EDGE book, but it was really hard to concentrate. What would they find? Would it be a career ender? Connie came over and we had lunch together and then hit a couple of bookstores to sign stock, and talk about a potential autographing in the fall. I asked if I could stay with them, and she very kindly agreed.
I went by in the afternoon after Vento was back in his stall. It’s disconcerting to see the yellow RADIATION warning triangle on your horse’s stall. I couldn’t touch him, had to stay two feet away from the stall door. So I stood back and threw carrots into the stall for him. He looked confused and disgruntled over not getting his ears rubbed and being loved on.
I continued to wait and I finally heard from the vet at 6:00 pm. The initial scan looked good. Nothing major. There were a couple of spots they wanted to X-ray just be sure, and they would have the full report on Wednesday morning. My ride needed to get back to Santa Fe for a horse show on Friday so we were discussing whether to leave on Wednesday or on Thursday morning, and realized we had to play it by ear. I then headed to the Willis’s and another ecstatic greeting from Smudge the bulldog. (Who is cuter than any living thing has a right to be).
After a night’s sleep in a good hard bed Connie and I visited, took Smudge for a walk around the campus (where he greeted his adoring fans), and then I headed back to Fort Collins and CSU for the final report and a review of the back exercises. Upon closer inspection they had found a small bone spur on one vertebrae so they injected it with an anti-inflammatory. His hocks and stifles were perfect. And Lauren and I were right. The problem was right where we’d felt it when we rode him.
We got released around noon, and headed home. Through hurricane winds in Colorado. My right arm is still sore from holding my car steady on the highway. But I’m a happy girl. I feel like the weight of the world has come off my shoulders. My horse is okay.
I can manage this with the exercises, periodic chiropractic and acupuncture. He’s going to have his career after all. I have to say, I wish I lived in Colorado so I’d be closer to this wonderful facility.
