Sometimes I do the right things. Not often. Much of the time I later say, why didn’t I do this, or think of that? I guess today I got lucky. Yeah, that’s it.

I spent the past three days clearing Signy’s pen (formerly the foaling pen) and the bigger enclosure of snow. I mainly cleared off the rubber mats, so that I might more readily be able to get at the manure. I also took out most of the snow. As I was doing this, I thought to myself that it was not really a priority – I really needed to be using the scoop shovel and clearing the pathways we use to get to the cars and the outhouse.

But I instead pen cleaned. And this morning I cleared the path that goes from behind the garden area to the horse pens. Again, this really wasn’t what most needed to be done. It was physically very draining work, and I grumbled some because Pete had the easy job. He’d fired up Raoul, our tractor, and was moving the snow off the driveway.

Raoul decided that there was too much snow and quit working. Pete called Andre, and Andre came over and said that Pete needed to move a differing lever. So, Raoul was running again.

Victoria then showed up – she was hoping to hook our trailer to her truck because she needed to know if the electrical circuit was working. She got here and discovered that there was no way she’d be able to get her truck up our driveway. So we visited for a bit, and then we went down the horse enclosure.

It was as we were glancing at the fence that we noticed that something was wrong with Tinni – he had a goodly amount of congealed blood on his forehead. I couldn’t tell how bad it was, but I figured that because there was that much blood, that it was bad. Pete and Victoria moved Tinni and Hrimmi to the small pen, and I called Dr. Wellington. Dr. Wellington’s phone mailbox was full. There are not many veterinarians around here, so we were momentarily in a bind.

I ran back down to where Victoria and Pete were standing – it crossed my mind that we should call Dr. Susan Dent—she is a veterinarian, has a part-time practice. She said that Tinni probably needed to be sewn up, and that she’d do the job. In the meantime, I put a blanket on Tinni and Pete rigged up a light, using five extension cords.

Victoria went home. Dr. Dent arrived and went to work. She shaved around Tinni’s laceration – what I saw after she did this made me woozy. He had opened up a six inch flap of skin. She sedated him and sewed him up. I became the fetch it person, getting her the things she needed, like Furazone and paper towels and Bute.

I was pleased because Tinni was his usual gentlemanly self. He did not jump around or throw a fit. Rather, he stood fairly calm while a stranger clipped, stitched, and gave him injections. Dr. Dent even said that she was able to do a better than average job because he was so well behaved. So, we’ll have to wait and see if the skin sloughs off or re-adheres to his forehead. The temperature is dropping, and this has me concerned. He still has a hairy face though.

I’m pleased because we made Dr. Dent’s job easier than it might have been. She had a snow free area to work in, and Tinni had been blanketed. And the pathways were relatively clear, making it easy for us all to get about.

No, I was not thinking about the what ifs when I chose to focus on cleaning the horse pen and shoveling the pathway. It was just a coincidence. Once in a blue moon, things have a way of working out. I’m particularly glad in this instance because I love this horse dearly. Tinni is an amazing fellow, and I am so very lucky to be his owner.

Next: 368. 12/15/12: Being Horse, Being Human