Poor Donnie

"Donnie"

A little over a week ago it was noticed that Donnie didn’t have a normal wet spot in his stall for a few days.  Since he wasn’t acting differently and didn’t have a fever, we assumed maybe he was urinating before he came in but determined to watch him anyway for signs to make sure he was alright.  The lessening amount of wet in his stall continued for a few more days and we decided to have the vet come out and take a look to make sure he was okay.  In the meantime, we thought maybe it would be a good idea to check his sheath to see if he needed a cleaning or maybe had a bean. 

The night before the vet was due to come, my daughter thought she’d go ahead and do a sheath cleaning and perhaps live up to her nickname “The Queen of Beans!” (Just kidding ;-)  After donning a glove and upon further examination, she concluded there were no beans and every thing else seemed okay, too.  There was a minor exception:  Donnie seemed to be swollen just inside and when she was cleaning around that particular area Donnie went into “dog-being-scratched-behind-the-ear” mode.  He actually lifted his back leg up practically over his head and was very happy to have an area he couldn’t reach scratched.  At least we know he’s very flexible in the future for longe or riding work.  This poor guy was so happy someone finally figured out what was bothering him, he started trying to "groom" the wall of his stall. 

When the vet came and donned the long glove, Donnie looked slightly worried but was a good boy during the examination.  During the exam he was very technical and mentioned things like "more corrugated," "irritation," "swelling," etc.  We’re standing there basically thinking in laymen’s terms that I won’t go into here for censorship purposes.  He took a culture, which we haven’t gotten the results back from yet.

In the meantime he suggested we treat it as a yeast infection and go to the drug store and pick up jock itch medicine.  Now this stuff comes in a spray, though applying that inside a sheath could be tricky, so the cream option seemed best.  This medicine doesn’t come in a big tube, so many tubes are needed.  My daughter had to try and explain this to a pharmacist:  “Um, you see we have a horse with a yeast infection that requires this medication.”  Then there's the down his nose look.  And you really just want to promise:  “No really, it’s for our horse, not the football team.”  But instead you pay for it and, glancing around hugging the bag close, slink out of the store in shame.

Donnie is feeling much better with his medication.  So much so that whenever my daughter enters the barn he starts nickering and can’t wait for his treatment.  Not quite the reaction to the meds she was hoping for, but as long as he's on the mend, I guess....  Amazing the odd things we’ll do for our horses isn’t it?

Until next time

Quote for Today

You never get the pleasure of owning a horse; you only have the pleasure of being its slave.