OW Mom! I Don’t Feel So Good!
Beau Geste
If Sonny is the King of the Wimps, then I guess I’m the King of the Accident-Prone. Despite our size and strength, horses are physically fragile, especially me. I’ve been to the horse hospital twice, cut my knee badly enough to need stitches, fractured my skull, contracted Lyme disease, popped a splint, damaged my hoof, and needed multiple chiropractic adjustments. Although whacking my head hard enough to shift my growth plates wasn’t fun, puncturing my hoof was even worse. In fact, that injury almost ended my life!
It happened on one of those perfect summer days when the sun caresses the earth with gentle fingers and the air smells as sweet as cotton candy. I pitied any creature who wasn’t me as I grazed peacefully in a verdant meadow. Suddenly, a blast of pain exploded in my foot. A deadly weapon had been lying hidden in the lush grass: a spear of wood so long and so sharp, it pierced the tough shell of my hoof, penetrating the soft inner tissues.
When my trainer noticed that me limping, she called the vet. As soon as the doctor examined me, she knew I was in serious trouble. She called Mom and then brought me to the horse hospital. What a horrible place! It was full of strangers, unhappy horses, bad smells, and scary things—like this metal box they kept trying to place next to my leg.
Mom patted me and said, “Hold still, BoDo. It won’t hurt you; it’s an x-ray machine that will show the doctors what’s wrong with your foot.”
Spotting the infection brewing inside, they told Mom I’d have to stay there if there was any hope of saving my life. They inserted a tube in my neck and flooded my body with medicine. Every day, people were sticking me with needles, poking the sore spot, soaking my foot, and packing it with goopy medicine.
When Mom visited me, I begged her to take me home, but she wouldn’t. “I know you want to go home, Bo Do, and you will, very soon. But you need to stay here until your foot gets better and your fever goes away,” she said, hugging me.
Normally I hate the sight of horse trailers; I’m not interested in “earning my keep” by going to shows or having lessons. But the day I spotted Mom’s trailer pulling into the parking lot, I nearly busted out of my stall in my eagerness to climb aboard.
What a relief to be back with my friends in my own barn even though I wasn’t allowed to leave my stall for another month. The tube was still in my neck, and I had to soak my foot every day, but happily Mom was my nurse, not those smelly strangers. Finally, after what seemed like forever, my foot was as good as new, and I was allowed to go back outside into my little paddock with its sparse tufts of grass. I never wanted to see that green meadow again. Dirt may not be edible, but at least it isn’t hiding hoof-penetrating weaponry.
Like millions of youngsters, Nancy Di Fabbio was infatuated with horses and never gave up dreaming that one day she’d be riding one of her own. She eventually realized her dreams and got her first horse, followed quickly by her second, third, fourth and finally fifth. Passionate about sharing her love for this amazing animal, she’s written Saddle Up! – And Live Your Dream, a comprehensive how-to for the budding equestrian which will be released this fall. She also writes a children’s column about the exploits of her herd, but the stories are informative, funny and touching enough to appeal to everyone. You can share their adventures on TheExaminerNews.com website under the heading: NEIGH-borhood Tales
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.