River is okay!

Thursday the track vet came out to try to scope Riv...  Operative word being "try".

Twitch?  No.
Twitch + tranq?  No.
Twitch + tranq + ear twitch?  No.

Vet pulled the plug on it.  He had a $$$ scope destroyed by a bad horse a few years ago, and he could see it happening again with Riv.  I totally understand and don't blame him in the least.. he was doing me a favor by coming out at all; no reason for him to put himself or his equipment in unnecessary danger!  He said he does anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 scopes a year, and Riv was one of the worst he's had in years.

(Track vet is amazing.  I met him over 4 years ago when we took Wilson, my dearly departed gelding, to him for xrays.  Vet took one look at him and said "oh, this horse is screwed."  I mentioned it to him, and he remembered.  And when we were waiting for the tranq to kick in, he glanced at River for literally about two seconds, looked away, and goes "he's got a problem with his left knee."  Me:  "....."  Him:  "Inside, high."  Me:  "......"  Him:  "Here *points*."  Then he said that Riv's off the track and you'd have a hard time finding an ex-racer who doesn't have something.  So I'm not worried about it.  Just like, holy crap, he barely even looked at him and saw something!)

So track vet left and I had a meltdown.  Not because TV was mean, because he wasn't, but because I was so stressed and scared and frustrated.  Once I more or less stopped crying, I called my vet, who'd just gotten off the phone with TV.  She was ready with a new game plan and reassurances.  I also told her I had just noticed swelling on his face and that it felt kind of squishy/crinkly.

My vet came out Friday morning.  She tranq'd him (different drug than TV used) and did radiographs of his head.

Yeah.  Apparently it's normal.  *shrug*

Then we tried the scope...  Success!  Apparently the different drug did the trick!  He still did not appreciate it, but she was able to get it done.  She let me look a couple times, which was really cool.  If you've been lucky enough to never need a horse scoped, you haven't seen the amazingness of it.  It's so clear and bright and just cool.

Well, the scope showed nothing significant.  Just a little blood on the floor of his nasal cavity and a little blood clot.  She didn't go into his guttural pouches, but she did get him to swallow and nothing came out.  The most likely conclusion was just trauma.  So bute for a couple days and antibiotics for a week.

Friday morning, he had almost no blood.  He has had absolutely no blood since Friday evening!  The swelling on his face has gone down as well.

He's been on stall rest since Wednesday, and today he finally got to go out!  But we were mean.... since he and The Mare haven't been together in a while, we decided to put them in separate turnouts.  The Mare went in a new paddock with lots of grass quite a ways away.  Apparently she was pacing and calling when she first went out, but by the time I got to the barn to give Riv his antibiotics and turn him out, she was fine... unfortunately, she heard the gate clang as I was putting River out, so she started fussing again.  *eyeroll*  Riv couldn't decide if he wanted to eat or roll or spaz out or stare longingly at The Mare.  I had to leave for work, so I couldn't stay to watch..  dorks.

Have you seen How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days?  (If not, you are missing out.  Hilarious.)  You know Andi's friend Michelle, who has terrible luck in relationships because she get so clingy?  Yeah, that's The Mare.