Monday was Vet Day!

A cold and cloudy day for a full day of vet care. Dr. Little from Desert Pines was at Shiloh from 9am until 5pm, working on rescue and Boarder horses. (Above, the ranch dogs greet Dr. Little.)

The day started out sad as Coal was peacefully euthanised. This was a very difficult decision for us to make, one that we have all been dreading. We had a long discussion with Dr. Little and Shiloh's Farrier, Geoff. They both examined Coal's horribly Foundered feet, and both concluded that his pain was just becoming too intense. His coffin bone was just so rotated that there was a real fear that it was going to soon penetrate his sole. Coal was a wonderful gelding, one of our Wanderer herd. Coal was ready and passed very quickly and quietly while being comforted by many volunteers, his pain is now gone. He was put to sleep in the Wanderer's area, close to his herdmates...

Adopted Kite (now named Gem) was sedated and laid down so that she could finally have her hooves trimmed. Gem's owner Betsy has been working very hard to get her used to handling, laying Gem down was a, hopefully, less stressful way to get that first trim done correctly. Freemont was also laid down for his trim (picture below), his nuerological problem makes trimming his hooves dangerous for both him and Geoff. Sitka was laid down to take the pressure off of her crippled foot, she just cannot stand on three legs to get her hooves done. All recovered without a problem.

Maverick's eye socket was checked over and his final stitches removed (below).

Pregnancy checks were done on three mares. Skittle, the pony (who, pictured below, looks very interested in her ultasound results) was checked first. Her small size makes the ultrasound unreliable. We will have to wait a while with her. Inspirada, now heavily pregnant, was palpated, her foal is, according to the vet, "the size of a cat". Inspirada is very large for her due date, so she was checked for twins. It appears there is only one foal, she is probably due in 30-60 days. Plymouth was checked, we were told she was pregnant at the auction, she is not, which is best for her. Now Plymouth can start her evaluation for a new home. We tried to check Apache, but she was not cooperative. She is getting bigger, but the best we can say is "maybe she is pregnant". Time will have to tell with her as well.

But, by far the most excitement was "the great goat gelding"! Three of our goats were finally castrated! Billy Goat (BG), John Henry, and Barbaro can now roam freely. The operations went great, although BG had some extra bleeding. He is doing fine now. The pen was full of people and dogs wrangling the goats. It was very exciting (at least for the people)!

Anita holds a heavily seadated John Henry...

BG looks on nervously...

Even though it is for his own good, a sedated BG begs Marianne to have the gelding procedure stopped before it's too late...

BG begins his recovery...

A sleepy, new improved, John Henry...

Barbaro wonders "What the heck just happened?"

Galt, Marquee, and Lincoln, all adopted horses were checked over.

Echo Echo's gelding was postponed due to time. He will be gelded at the next visit in the next few weeks. EE is so easy to handle that it is no big deal to keep him a stallion a little longer. Dr. Little will also do some dental work on the Pig, Oscar Meyer during his next visit. Now that will be interesting!