Basher Bainbridge Toxic Warrior

OK K8 posted in her pretty party dress and masquerade mask . . .we do things a little differently down here!

Well it was bound to happen - although our "boys" haven’t been near any other horses for years . . we have Equine Flu. Not so much a problem for Chippy who is the younger of the two and definitely more robust, but thanks to a loss of paddock fodder and underfeeding through the Winter, Laurie has become very thin and obviously susceptible to the virus. He’s coughing with the snots and as of this afternoon, has a temperature that needs medical attention. So this afternoon, it’s an early mark for me to swan off to the vet and purchase some Bute – more correctly called phenylbutazone a Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) which relieves all sorts of discomfort from flu symptoms to arthritis (I might keep a sachet handy for the future). Unlike anti-biotics, I don’t have to administer it with a needle! My sister has a broken finger to prove how tricky it can be! That's right, the vet just leaves half a dozen 'horse sized' syringes, gives you a 2 minute lesson on how to administer and departs. Easy peasy . . . You should try playing darts with a pissed off pony’s neck! They don't like it one little bit.

So . . . lunch hours are a thing of the past. We're already feeding three times a day - a $235 a week habit! (ah, maybe eating Marijuana would be weight gaining . . . certainly cheaper than friggin' hay!) But spesh thanks to Babysis on who’s property they now dwell, she's doing the morning and evening feeds.

The sensible thing would be to move them back home where I can easily feed, water and medicate three times a day because there's always someone on site. Just need to do a little fence mending. However, thanks to our newly quarantined status . . we’re stuck for 50 days from diagnosis. That means they aren't going anywhere for quite some time. We now have to spray shoes and car tyres, scrub fingernails and change our clothes each time we leave the property. Even blow our noses, before we wash our hands, before we touch our horses. Tomorrow I will be buying a very attractive pair of King Gee pony snoteralls which I can leave in the feed shed.

ThePlumber has been very good lugging feed up their 500metre driveway to his little shed because the feed dudes can’t go within 800metres of horses. Seems weird, ours got the flu anyway . . .even Dishy Douggie said it was just as likely to spread on the wind as via contact with humans and other horses.

So my life for the next 50 days entails daily round trips to Glenorie during my lunch time to add a third daily feed to help the old boy gain weight, sticking a thermometer up two horses' rectums twice a day to make sure they're not overheating and decide whether Bute is required. Without doubt, the stupidest thing I have ever done in my entire life, without any question, inexorably, is buy these two horses. Three years of pleasure . . . 20 years of . . . expense, heartache and husbandry!