It keeps getting better

Today I get to the barn at 10 am with the plan of possibly riding (if Ava’s not too sore), and then going to the GMO meeting (which I’m a board member on). I get to the barn and the girl doing chores tells me Ava got out last night and went hog wild on the grain bag left in the aisle.

I had an instant heart attack.

No one knows how my horse got out. Her gate was open in the morning and Ava was found gorging herself on grain in the barn aisle.  No other horse was out. Everyone swears the gate was chained securely as of 6 pm last night. No one checked the horses after 6pm.

Ava was obviously not feeling very well, so I called the vet. He told me to give her PeptoBismol. Have you ever tried giving nasty tasting, chalky liquid to a 1,100 lb animal without a delivery method? And I’m not talking about just a wee bit…  I tried everything I could think of to get it in her.

I had the bright idea of filling a plastic water bottle and squirting as much in her mouth as possible. I thought this was a brilliant idea. I’m all congratulating my self for my genius, feeling smug… I get the mouth of the bottle into the corner of Ava’s mouth and squeeze as much into her mouth as possible.

This is when I suddenly see the flaw in my plan.

Ava, having decided this crap is vile, is trying to spit it out while vigorously shaking her head.  I grab her under the jaw and try to lift her head up to try to keep it in. It took 3 seconds for Ava to prove that she is indeed the stronger of the two of us and pink goo goes flying.

At this point Avas entire front is coated in pink. It’s dripping off my hands and running down my wrists. I kept trying to wipe it on my pants to get the worst of it off my hands, but now my pants have pink streaks running down them.

Ava gives me this “I hate you” glare while sporting the prettiest, bright pink lipstick. Maybe horse lipstick could become ‘a thing’? This could be my ticket to making the big bucks… selling designer horse lipstick.

Anyway, Ava didn’t feel all that great most of the day, but didn’t appear in pain. By supper time she was acting like her old self again. She’s on hay only rations the next few days, which she is very angry and confused about.  I’m hoping the worst is over.

I was spitting mad this morning when I found out about this. Not only did my horse get out, but that the barn carelessly left the grain out. This is the second time this month (within 2 weeks) where horses have gotten loose in the barn and eaten large quantities of grain that was left out.  The grain room (with a very nice door on it I might add) was less than 6 feet away from the bag that was left out.

I’m thinking I need to push my departure date up a couple weeks.