Rainbow is now resting quietly on her dog bed, convalescing. Yesterday, later afternoon, I chose to do obstacle work with the horses and dogs. We all had a really wonderful time; that is, me, Raudi and Hrimmi, Rainbow and Ryder. I worked them all separately. All remained enthused about going around the cone weave poles, over the cross poles, and over the two cavalletti jumps. And they also seemed to like working on stay, which involved their waiting on a piece of plywood until I told them to come. And Raudi really liked working on turning – I used the same piece of plywood. After, I deemed the two hours of work a success in that I did not once grow impatient.

As, after, I was walking Rainbow back up to the house, I noticed that she was limping. I recall thinking that this was odd, I hadn’t worked her hard. I then conceded that her agility days were over.

I took her inside. Rainbow climbed up onto her couch. I went to yoga. I returned home, and went to get the dogs their dinner. Ryder and Jenna bounced around the kitchen. I looked in the living room – Rainbow wasn’t on her couch. I looked in the kitchen – she was in her den, next to the kitchen table. I figured that because she hadn’t come out for her dinner, that her leg was really bothering her. I rattled her full bowl and coaxed her to her eating place, to the left of the woodstove.

I set her bowl before her and noticed droplets of blood on the tile. She yelped when I touched her side, so I went and got my headlight. Rainbow trembled as I shone the light under her belly. I looked and saw a large gash under her belly.

It was wide, red and yellow – the yellow being fat tissue. It was 9:30 p.m. I called and left a message for Pete who was at work. I told him what was up. He got back to me at 10 p.m. and said that he was on his way home. Once he got home, we wasted no time – we loaded Rainbow into the truck and drove to Far Country Animal Hospital.

The night staff – a receptionist and vet tech, were very helpful. The receptionist filled the intake form, and the vet tech assessed the situation, first looking at Rainbow who was in the truck. She was in such pain that she didn’t put up a fuss when we lead her into the office. The vet tech sedated Rainbow, who promptly threw up.

The veterinarian who was on duty was doing exploratory surgery, so it was determined by the vet tech that there would be some down time before Rainbow was tended to. So we left her at Far Country and headed home, sans dog.

We got a call at 2:27 a.m. Pete talked to the veterinarian who said that she’d stitched Rainbow up, and that we could come and get her at 9:30 a.m. According to the veterinarian, it was a very serious matter – the tear was lengthy and went down the inside of Rainbow’s leg.

Pete went and picked Rainbow up this morning. I stayed home and tended to the other animals. We are going to keep an eye on her because (as we were told) the area where the stitches are could again tear. So this is what we are now doing.

Post Script: Rainbow healed up great and is doing fine.

Next: 284. 10/25/14: Rainbow Convalesces