Equine Shenanigans

I used to have a little white horse whose name was Oliver Twist.  

It seems he disappeared this week and in his place was left 

this dirty grey horse whose name I know not. 

I heard tell it was all due to a plot hatched by the donkey girls, those divas.

They challenged the horses to a contest to see who could get

the absolute dirtiest during the past three days of rain.

Of course, the donkeys would never think of participating in a challenge

such as this.  They never get dirty.

After all, they have their images to maintain!

It appears, however, that Ollie was not about to be beat.

My competitive little chap set out to get as filthy as possible.

First he stood out in the rain, and then he rolled in the mucky dry lot.

And if that wasn't bad, he then rolled on the dusty floor of the stall...

working on his "look" until it was absolutely perfect

and he looked absolutely horrid!

Almost every inch of white fur is now the color of charcoal...

and it's too cold for a bath!

The other horses tried their best to soak up as much mud as they could,

but no one was able to top Ollie.

And as you can see... the donkeys don't even pretend innocence!

The horses will all dry out if we have a day of sunshine...

at which point, they will all get a good brushing...

and maybe a little scolding as well.

You might remember this past summer that Chloe had surgery to remove

a sarcoid tumor from her neck.

Following that she had a several week course of subcutaneous chemotherapy,

where cisplatin beads were placed in the area of the tumor to help

eradicate any leftover cells.

Well, it seems a new tumor is beginning to grow in the same location.

At this point it is about the size of a nickel.

Dr. Becky is going to examine her and most likely will do another

surgery to remove the present tumor.

It looks like this is going to be a part of Chloe's life,

as sarcoids are very hard to cure in donkeys.

I'll keep you up-to-date with her situation.