Vet Visit

So today was vet day for all the ponies at Shar's place.  (Well, two of hers and the one of mine, not the baby or the other boarders.)  But first, we cleaned out the stall we were going to use for the teeth floating, then I wanted to shave Arya's brand so the vet could read it if she wanted to be sure she was signing the right BLM paperwork (in order for the prior owner to officially take ownership from the BLM, and then be able to officially transfer ownership to me, someone official (like a vet) has to sign off that the horse is in an appropriate facility and being taken care of.

First, I got her mane out of the way.  Cute pigtails, Arya!

Ready to attack with clippers.  She eyes me warily.

All done!

The first set of clippers didn't cut her hair at all, and the second set had a guard on that barely let it trim any hair, but luckily Shar has THREE sets of clippers, and the third time was the charm.  After all the futzing and false starts, she didn't mind the actual clipping at all.  Just as I finished up, the vet drove in, and Shar hadn't gotten her horses out yet, so by default, Arya got to go first.

We discussed what she's eating and the vitamins she gets, which the vet says are fine.  We discussed what vaccines we should do and when.  Then the vet took a peek in her mouth, and declared her teeth quite good.  She pulled out a file and filed down a couple sharp edges, but said they weren't bad at ALL, and that was all she needed.  Arya didn't LOVE having someone poking around in her mouth and filing down her teeth, but I rubbed her face (which she loves), and it seemed to calm her a bit, and she settled down.

However, since she didn't need to be sedated, I'm on my own for cleaning her boobies now.  Gonna have to actually get her used to it myself.  Oh well.

The vet signed the BLM paperwork and we chatted a bit while Shar fetched her horses, then Arya's part of the appointment was over, just like that.  Easy-peasy.

Flash wasn't so lucky--his teeth were bad enough, and his demeanor non-easy-going enough that he got the drugs.  It's so funny to see a "drunk" horse.  Their eyes droop, their lower lip droops, and they stagger if they try to walk.  When they propped his head up on the padded stand, then propped his mouth open with the speculum (yep, similar tool to that one), at first Flash wanted to protest, but he just couldn't bring himself to care enough, and eventually kind of gave in and just napped.

Flash, still not sure about what's going on.

All done!  Just gonna take a little nap now...

When his teeth were done, his down-below got a little groping (checking for a "bean" in the end of the penis), then he got to go sleep it off out in the round pen, and it was Goodwin's turn.  He was even less amused at all the harassment, starting with the shot.  But he, too, got over it with a little help from chemistry.  Once HIS teeth and private parts were done, he joined Flash out in the round pen and we settled up with the vet.  It all went by much faster than I'd expected.

Goodwin's turn!

So I fetched Arya from where she'd been tied to the trailer, and compared her brand to what it should be, based on her registration number and the cheat sheet.  It matches!

The first symbol means she was captured on US lands, the next part after that is the last two digits of her birth year, with the first on top of the second, then the next two digits indicate which state she was gathered in, and the last four are unique to her (within the birth year and state, of course).

While the boys slept off their drugs in the safe confines of the round pen, I turned Arya loose to mow down some of the tall grass around Shar's place (with her blessing and at her request).  Then I spied one of the cats and had an idea...

Arya was busy eating, so barely even noticed, and the cat was unsure at first, but then realized this was a nice warm fuzzy place to sit, so he stayed there a while, actually.