First Blog! And I must say this should prove to be fun ;)

So Fugly Horse Of The Day inspired me to start this and lets hope I can do a remotely good job at keeping this blog up. If I can even be half as creative and everything that Fugly is I'll be happy:) So To start off let me give a brief background of myself and it will let yall know why I'm doing this blog.

My name is Heather and I'm 26 years old. I live in TN and manage the equine section of a farm store. I've had horses for numerous years and have made it my life to educate myself and other as to the proper care, handling and stabling of horses. I started a degree at MTSU in Horse Science and unfortunately have yet to finish it, though as of Spring 2009 that will be remedied when I start classes again. As the equine mgr of this store I am employed at I see my fair share of good, honest hard working horse folk and like everything else those good people are often times shadowed by plain old idiots. It's these idiots and the havoc they create for me that gave me need to start a blog. Lord knows my co-workers are tired of hearing me rant to them ;) So my first rant is going to be about wounds and wound care....

Today first thing this morning before we even get the lights turned on to the store a woman comes beating on the door visibly in a panic over something. We get the lights on the registers up and running and unlock the door. As I'm opening up the door shes pushing past me talking about a mile a minute. "I need vet wrap, where is vet wrap??? I need Penicillin and syringes, i need tetanus shots... etc etc " She's talking s fast I barely understand whatshe is wanting me to find her. So I calm this woman down and ask her what exactly is she needing it for. Turns out her horse somehow got hung up in the bars of his stall and ripped from his knee down to the cornet almost down to bone, she claims you can see bone on part of it. they don't know how long he had been hanging there like that but he had been there for a bit (her exact words) b/c he had urinated and thrashed around enough to get cover in manure, the urine and shavings and also be drenched in sweat. So she is wanting all this stuff b/c after they cut the bar and freed this poor horse she's going to Dr it until he's well. Well right there I wanted to stop her, smack the shit out of her and say "Are you FUCKING STUPID?????" First off if a horse has had his leg caught in the METAL bars of a stall why are you coming to the local feed store instead of calling your vet? There is no telling how much internal damage that poor horse has sustained. Secondly how do you think you can doctor a wound as severe as what this gelding has and do a good job of it? It's been open so dirt and germs are more than likely abounding in the wound... penicillin is NOT going to cut it for antibiotics, you'd need something stronger. And did I mention she said the horse still had not gotten up after they cut him loose? Whats sad is I see and hear things like this on a weekly basis. Sometimes even on a daily basis. You know some minor wounds are ok to treat yourself but leave the big nastys to a vet , don't come to the feed store and expect us to tell you how to bandage a gaping wound that probably needs stitches and xrayed. CALL A DVM For those that don't know what the letters mean that means CALL A DAMN VET!!!! Ugh idiots kill me sometimes. It's folks like this woman and many other customers I've had in the last couple of years that make me believe that before you buy a horse you should have to take a test and pass it with flying colors and then be allowed to buy a horse but you have to be checked on periodically for 6 or more months before you are turned loose to go at it alone. And sadly just since that woman came in this mornig I have had a phone call askign what to do if a horse has a huge oozing knot on the side of it's jaw that has not gone away after 2 weeks..... sigh my resposne.... Call the vet and please find the horse a new home