Cob Jockey

I got that email no one wants to get from their BM today. It was simply titled "Shae". So far, all of Angie's Shae emails have been things I didn't want to hear, and this one was no exception.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Shae's neck broke open again this morning. I think this is something we will just always deal with."

This was 2pm, and although Shae is on-campus and just a half-mile away from where I work, I couldn't go see him. Not that I wanted to; this isn't the first time I've dealt with this and I know the difference of a few hours is negligible. So I waited patiently until 5pm, sighed, and headed out to the barn to find...

A neck that wasn't broke open. The upper sore had a scab the size of a child's fingernail surrounded by healthy pink tissue. The lower sore was clearly not happy, but wasn't broken open and bloody and weeping like I expected from previous breakouts. It was just a slightly darker pink than normal, and still scabbed, but that one has healed slower than the top one anyway.

(Differentiating between the two is a little misleading, a it's all the same wound. However, it healed into two separate scabs that behave differently.)

So I cold-hosed him (neck and body both - it's so hot!), put his Nolvesan cream on it and threw him outside so he could roll. His neck had more mud on it than normal around the wound site when I went out to get him initially, so I'm wondering if he maybe rolled and irritated it a bit. I am not getting the feeling that it's going to break open again, but I could be wrong.

I just want this to be over, mostly for his sake.