The Best Horse

Monastery Honey Almond Creme is one of our "good little Catholic horses".  A friend of mine lives near the Texas Monastery that raises miniature horses and when I decided to move from large horses to small ones, she convinced me that I had to have one raised by nuns. After receiving photos of the horse I was interested in there, I sent my friend to check him out. While there, the Sister showed her this little mare who was the half sister of the horse I was interested in. She offered a real deal on both and I grabbed it. Honey and Suede were about 18 months old when I went to pick them up in 2006. 


Suede has a mind of his own, but Honey and I became real pals immediately. She is patient, kind, calm, smart, playful, brave, willing and sweet natured.  Lucy was a little older when we got the three horses, so she was the first horse we cart trained. A year later we began the groundwork with Honey. She loved every minute of her training and learned so rapidly that her mind was ready before we felt her body was mature enough to actually pull people. When she was three we hitched her up, climbed into the cart and drove like she'd been pulling folks around for ten years. 


Since that time, we have trained and driven 4 of our horses, but Honey is the one I love most to drive. She's never spooky, responds to the slightest touch of my little fingers on the reins, and is always happy to go for a spin. She's the horse I hitch up when we have guests. I can put any total novice in the cart and let them take her up the road and around the vacant land next door without worry.  When my husband was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma and we spent all our time and energy getting him through treatment, all I could do was go out and feed and sit with the horses for a little while each day. After over a year of not being driven, we hitched Honey up one day and went for a perfect drive. Every day I hug her neck and remind her she's the best horse.


Three weeks ago I raced out to feed the horses a little early because a news crew was coming out and I needed time to get myself ready for them. I fed Honey first, moved toward the next stall and realized she had not walked to her feed bin. She was standing with her butt against the stall panel nickering like a hungry horse, but not moving. I quickly finished feeding and went to her. She was totally unable to move. She could not bear weight on her left hind leg. I checked her hoof to be sure there was nothing  wrong there. I checked for heat, swelling or cuts. She was terribly tender around her stifle and hip. I checked the stall to see if she'd gotten caught anywhere and there were no signs of any struggle, rolling or damage to the fencing. She was alert, hungry and talkative, she just could not move. 


I had the vet out the next day and he could not pick the injured horse out when he walked through the barn. Honey was standing, alert and nickering for a treat when she heard me. The vet was surprised when I pointed her out as the patient. After running through the check list I had done the day before and manipulating her leg, the best he could do was make an educated guess that the injury was either in the stifle or the hip.


Now, I don't talk badly about Vets. My Aunt was a vet, my cousin is a vet and I've received excellent help and advice from all but one or two large animal vets in my life. But I have to say, that as far as the Phoenix Metro area equine vets go, they're really letting down miniature equine owners. The money is apparently in large horses simply due to the fact that there are so many more of them than their smaller cousins. We have fabulous vets, but they apparently do not have the small sized equipment necessary to ultrasound pregnant mini mares or do pelvic x-rays on minis. 


I have read about, seen and have heard friends talk about having the vet "come out" to take x-rays of their horses or ultrasound their horses. Can I get that here?? Hell no. "Bring her in." Well, since she can't really WALK, and since we don't know what is wrong that might be made worse by travel, that's a little difficult. Miniature horse owners are at the bottom of the heap in the large animal medicine world. 


Most equine vets have little or no experience with minis and some refuse to gain any experience with them. "I don't do miniatures sorry." was one local vets response when I brought home Lucy, Honey and Suede.  Only ONE vet in our area even knew to look out for fatty liver in miniatures that go off their feed.  The rest I've had to teach. I'm totally on my own here if a mare develops problems during labor because my only recourse would be to load her up and drive her 50 miles to the clinic that every vet sends all horses with reproductive issues. Now this. We have a world class equine orthopaedic surgeon about 30 miles away but he doesn't have the equipment that would be needed to diagnose miniatures. 


I'm mad. I'm mad that vet schools do not teach enough about small equines. I'm mad that none of the veterinarians here take the time to learn about small equines on their own. I'm mad that our horses are not seen as equals to quarter horses and thoroughbreds. I'm mad that not even the long time established clinics have seen fit to buy the diagnostic tools necessary to help small equines. I'm mad that in this day and age of superb diagnostic technology that ANYONE has to load up a seriously injured horse, spend an hour on bad roads, to "bring them in" to a clinic rather than having a vet with a well fitted out van come out to the farm to at least assess whether or not surgery is needed or that it is safe to move the animal. I'm mad that my horse and countless others are paying the price.


I want to scream. I want to throw things. But all I can do is hope that she manages to recover enough to be happy and pain free with the treatment method known as a tincture of time. So, I take her treats. I hug her neck, breathe her scent and tell her "You know you're the best horse don't you? You are the best horse."