A Major Gripe About A Horse Vet Books...

Now that we have gotten moved, I went back over the mountain and picked up my adorable, bratty, gnarly mare.

I got her settled in at our new place only to notice she had a boo-boo that really bothered me. I have a lot of experience dealing with horse boo-boos but this was one that I can't think of dealing with before. So, wanting to do the best thing for my dumpling, I hustled into the house and picked up my handy-dandy vet book, one of the newer editions that's out now.

Everywhere I looked, the book literally screamed at me to 'Call the Vet' and OMG, it COULD be a LUNG ABSESS or something just as horrible. There was a whole list of things shrieking at me. But, me being me, old fashioned in other words, thought 'No, I'm going to check the ol' tried and true vet book first. The one that has stood me in good stead through many years of horse owning.'

This good book's author-vet said that in her many years of dealing with this problem, it has never failed to fix itself, no need to do anything on the human's part except keep an eye on the horse...as you would do with any problem. Sure 'nuf, gave it a few hours and the problem was cleared up. My angel-girl has been right as rain since then.

As usual, with most problems you have with a horse, most of the time, 'Time' is the ticket for the cure whether it's lameness or a cough. Of course, you have to do your part but not every little hiccup is a vet event as my first vet book seems to think.

This got me to thinking about the differences of the vet books. The newer one(s) (I have several) are of the 'controlled panic but panic nontheless' type but the older tried and true ones are the 'let's wait to see what we have here before we go off the deep end' type.

To my mind, it's good to know when to panic and call the vet and it's good to especially know when NOT to panic and let time and the Good Lord take care of things. Have your books at hand in case you can't get hold of the vet (or in my case, I'm new to the area and no vet yet) but temper any panicky feelings by reading several vet books and taylor your responses, if any, to the situation.

Now, get out there and hug your horse!! :-)