Whisper Goes to the Doctor

With horses one thing you can count on is that there will always be something happening. About a month ago I noticed that Whisper had an odd lump on his belly. The stable vet happened to be visiting and I had him take a look at it. He diagnosed it as a melanoma – quite typical in gray horses – and advised watching it for changes. Well a week or so ago it began growing and looking rather nasty so, back to the vet who determined it was a sarcoid and advised immediate removal. For more information on sarcoids: http://www.gaitedhorses.net/Articles/EquineSarcoid.htm

It was removed last Thursday. Whisper spent one night in the barn then rejoined his pasture buddies much to his delight. He is officially on ‘no work.’ Our quality time consists of me giving him antibiotics and hosing down his belly. The good to come out of this is that he is losing his fear of the washrack and I’m slowly getting his tail clean.

One funny instance to relate. When I have to work my mother takes over medicating and hosing. Friday she put Whisper in the washrack,and looped his lead thru the bars in the window. She left him there and went to find the hose nozzle which typically had migrated to the bottom of whatever receptacle she was searching. By the time she found it and returned, Whisper had apparently gotten tired of waiting and ambled off. True to form he was moseying down the lane to his pasture. He was waiting at the gate, regaling his buddies with tales of his adventures when she caught up with him. The two of them returned to the washrack. It appears we don’t have to worry about him taking off over the rimrock. His pasture is his happy place. Thus far the few times he has gotten loose that’s where he’s headed.

I’ll continue to post when there’s anything worth relating but until he’s recovered there probably won’t be much. Doc and Spice are taking good care of him, keeping him entertained until he can return to the arena and his training.