Somehow, within the span of twenty-four hours, we have gone from being an assisted living facility to an acute care facility. And my worry list has grown once again.
Yesterday morning, after taking the horses up to the upper pastures for their morning grazing time,
I then went into the donkey yard to put on the girls' grazing muzzles so that they could go out into the front pasture with the pigs and sheep.
I put on Chloe's mask after she willingly came to me. Strangely, no Daphne was to be found. Normally Daphne is right there in line for masks, but not yesterday. I found her standing still in her house. In order to coax her out, I let Chloe out the front gate into the pasture. Slowly, Daphne emerged and it was apparent why she had hesitated.
She was limping on her left front hoof. In 24 hours she had gone from perfectly healthy to completely lame. I texted Dr. Becky, who felt she likely has a hoof abscess and suggested that I start Epsom salt soaks until she could get down to check Daphne. Unfortunately, she was not able to check her yesterday.
With Hubbs' help, I soaked her hoof for a while.
Then later in the afternoon (and evening) I repeated the soak.
Hopefully the soaks will help to draw the abscess to the surface, but most times opening the hoof is necessary to clear out the abscess. Hopefully we can address that today and Daphne can be relieved of the pain in her hoof. I feel so bad for her. The thing about donkeys is... they are absolutely the most stoic animals. I know she hurts because of her limp, but if it weren't for that, she'd never let us know.
These two girls are the sweetest souls. I love them so and love just snuzzling their soft noses with kisses. My worst days are when something is wrong with one of the animals. I'd rather be sick myself, than have anything wrong with them.
At least when I am tending to them, I have lots of help! Moll is there for Daphne's emotional support,
and to make sure that I am doing everything according to protocol.
Meanwhile, the cheering section is outside the gate offering their "get well" sentiments.
Comments
More beautiful fabric :)
Easton is the sweetest ever. Maybe next time we should go to the polls with him. xoxoxox
How sweet Easton is. That is such a magical time of life.
Blessings!
Hope the Epsom soak helps!
Mary
I would love to know the fabric company that makes the second and third print from the left. It would work perfect for some of my Christmas pillows.