Alone Time

It seems the scare was for nothing; Fancy was fine through Monday night and, yesterday, she went off to Davis for her spay surgery, which will take place today. This will be the longest amount of time Kachina's has been alone in the paddock (and possibly in her life), so P and I made an extra trip out yesterday to spend a little time with her.

She was extremely cute and happy to see us, and she nickered to us as we came up the driveway. Inside the paddock she was friendly to the point of being a pest, putting her head over our shoulders, sniffing our hair, and nuzzling out cheeks.

After cleaning up the paddock, I played a few games of hide-and-seek and tag with her, which she loves. She throws her little tail up in the air and bounces around, tossing her head and chasing me, always staying a safe distance. It's amazing how athletic she is, and yet she's so conscious of where P and I are in the paddock, careful not to run into us or jump on us when she's running around, bucking, jumping and rearing in play.

It wasn't long before Odin came down to see us, and the real game was on! She herded her fuzzy cow up and down the paddock, stopped him and turned him around, and herded him the other way. Poor Odin was so tolerant of it, but he eventually opted to abandon the paddock and wait for us to come out to shower him with attention.

Because we wanted to leave on a good note, I prepared Kachina's supplements and grain just before leaving and added and extra carrot. She was so enthralled with her treat that she barely noticed our exit, so I'm hoping she did fine alone the rest of the night.

Donna won't know how the surgery went until later today, but I'll try to update as soon as I get information. The paddock will have to be roped off into two separate sections while she heals, which I'm imagining will be difficult for both she and Kachina.

It's amazing, as a dog trainer spaying is no big deal; it's such a basic operation, hardly worth getting worked up over. But when it's being done on a horse it's a different story. The size difference alone is enough to make me fret, not to mention Fancy's age, the fact that she's already had two foals (that we know of), her compromised physical condition, etc. I'm impatient for any news on how she's doing, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's just a spay, same as any other spay, just different.