Emergency!!

Sorry the posts have been slow.. spring and summer is so busy that it's hard to take a shower sometimes let alone post to the blog. It's been mostly enjoyable as most of the things we see this time of year are routine. It's nice to see horses happy, healthy, and not in distress once in a while!

I recently saw an emergency that was a pretty common laceration; a horse reared in the trailer and hit its head, cutting it open. Usually these are ugly (there's not a whole lot between skin and skull and when people see bone they FREAK OUT). Even if you can see bone, it's really not that big of deal.

At any rate, this horse was bleeding and his head was ripped open. I called the next few appointments to reschedule so that I could go see this appointment-- mostly to subdue the overly panicked people. I was an hour away and on my way. However, the people needed to call me 3 times to ask where I was. SERIOUSLY?! I just rearranged my whole day. Would you like me to time travel too?

Long story short, I got there, fixed the horse, it was fine. Rah rah rah.

Days have been too long...

Foreshadowing

I have the sweetest client who has a mare that is due to foal anytime. It is her most favorite mare who she has shown successfully and absolutely ADORES. This is the mare's first foal and the owner's first foal, so as expected, they are very excited and very nervous. They are even having a party for the foal later this month!

The foal's official due date was yesterday  (May 3). Obviously, I am pretty nervous for this delivery too, because if anything goes wrong, it will be a catastrophic disaster off the Richter scale for this client. So I'm REALLY hoping all goes well, the foal pops out, stands up, drinks, and goes on about it's life normally.

This post is just to simply record that two nights ago I had a dream that the foal was a sorrel filly with a big white blaze. It came out  without any problems, and it was a big happy, and easy event.

Dear God, I hope I can see into the future and this isn't my subconscious jinxing me...

Emergency Coverage

It's been a while since I posted. I think it's mostly because the last few days have been enjoyable, and I've had little to complain about. The weather has been good, there hasn't been an insane amount of calls, nothing crazy weird, or unexpected. I guess that means that my karma is coming. Oy.

I would like to bring up a subject that has been bothering me though and see what you all think. A nearby all equine veterinary clinic decided last fall that they would no longer see emergencies. I understand this-- it's VERY easy to get burnt out quickly with emergencies, and sometimes you just have to put yourself and your family first.

As far as I can tell, the decision was arbitrarily made and none of the clientele were informed. In fact, if you call the office one minute after 5:00pm, the phone just rings and rings. There's no message, no notification that they will not be calling you back, no name and phone number of a veterinarian that will see emergencies, nothing. Many times, our clinic has received emergency calls from these clients who are downright enraged by the situation. We have even picked up a few clients who have made the switch to us because of the lack of emergency coverage and poor communication about the decision to stop providing it.

My hunch is that this clinic did not inform their clients because they do not want to lose any business to us (the only people in the area that see 24 hour equine emergencies) or to anyone else. Do you think it is unethical to leave your clients high and dry like this? Does not providing the name of an emergency clinic count as "failing to provide emergency service" as it says in our licensure rules and requirements? I'd like to hear anyone's thoughts. The whole situation irks me to no end.

Valentine's Day. I'm going to pay for that one!

Yesterday I finished my mostly office related duties and went to ride my horse. I was on call for Valentines Day and my husband was making the one and a half hour trip back from his job in order to eat dinner. The evening had all the makings for being called.

I cautiously rode my horse, answered a few phone client calls, and headed to the grocery. I checked my phone every 5 minutes with no calls. I get home, clean up some animal puke from the ground, help cook dinner, still fervently checking my phone. I sit down to eat with my husband, eat, and even clean up. Still no calls. Was my phone broken? This is just unheard of! Am I really attending a planned event that is not ruined by an emergency call at the most inopportune moment? SUCCESS!

I got through the entire evening without a call. Take that universe! Ok maybe I shouldn't taunt it too much. It will pay me back, I'm sure.