Quality of care

Last night I went to visit the pony and got an unpleasant surprise.  His left eye was watery, a little goopy, and rather swollen.

The shiny goop under his eye is Swat, but yeah, not ideal

Oh what the hell, papi?

The usual feeling of dread kicked in.  What do I do, how do I manage this, what is my next move?  I cleaned the mess up, braided up his forelock, checked for eyelashes and whiskers that might have curled the wrong way, and added some Swat to keep flies away.  The barn manager saw me working on his eye and looked surprised.  His eye was fine when she brought him in from turn out and it was looked at by a vet the day before when he got his rhino booster, so this just happened.

Kind of looks like a prize fighter

That was enough to get me breathing again.  This wasn't something that had been sitting unnoticed since Monday.  It must have happened in the two to three hours between him coming in and me showing up to ride, probably from rubbing in his stall.  Just giving him some attention and cleaning up the area had the eye looking better so I took him for a 15 minute bareback walk/jog in the indoor.  The barn manager rummaged up some banamine for him and promised to text me at night check and breakfast with updates.

The banamine worked a treat and his eye was at about 90% of normal by morning.  Theo's eyes always water (he and I have the same seasonal allergy schedule) but the swelling was down to almost nothing even after the banamine wore off.  No need to call a vet, looks like he got carried away scratching his itchy eyes and the anti-inflammatory broke the cycle before he could do himself any harm.  He'll get checked again when he comes in and then I'll see him tonight.  If the swelling comes back, the vet is getting a call.

I never get tired of seeing him like this any time I visit during the day

This is completely and utterly different than what I'd gotten used to.  I'm used to no one knowing there's a problem, having no resources outside of what I have on hand, and needing to do all care on my own.  Now I'm getting texts at 7:30 in the morning with updates on my horse's eye.  The barn manager not only knew what to do but had banamine on hand.  I was staring at Theo, trying to make a game plan, and she stepped right in.  I stopped by the barn on my way to work this morning.  I had to see his eye for myself so my anxiety would settle. I apologized to her for my pony-noia while I was there.  It'll take awhile before I get used to having someone else taking care of my horse.

But this is why I moved.  I know if something happens with my horse, they'll take care of him.