it's so slashed and torn

My daughter came over and made me dinner Wednesday night. How sweet is that? Afterwards, she and I went out to the big field to bring the horses in. They were standing just east of the gate and when they saw us, they neighed and came along the fence line towards us.

I picked out a couple of stickers from Yalla!'s lower leg again. I wish she would stay away from the cactus. The other evening, she had a cluster of cane cholla cactus thorns embedded in her upper lip. It must have been very painful. She didn't want to stay still for me to pull it out so I finally headlocked her and sort of pushed it out from behind. Ouch!!

As we were haltering the horses, I noticed the tip of one of Annie's ears appeared darker than the other. I looked closer and freaked! Somehow, she had spliced the tip of her left ear in two. The blood had already dried up and she didn't seem to be in any pain. We discussed calling the vet- it was after hours- and decided that it was too late to use glue or stitches on it anyway. I'm not financially in a position to spend a lot of money if they can't do anything, so we decided to let it heal on it's own and watch for infection. She just had her tetanus shot in May. I know, you're probably thinking- bad horse owner!

I was surprised at how very little blood there was on her. I'd always heard that ears bleed profusely but I didn't see any dried blood on Annie's legs or face or anywhere except a slight darkening at the very tip of her ear where the injury was.

I wonder how it happened. She has had runny eyes lately. (I actually cancelled a vet appointment for her eyes last week because they were looking better and I didn't want to deal with trailer loading issues.) I think she must have been rubbing her eye on her leg while standing too close to the fence and then she caught her ear on the barbed wire fencing as she came up.

Today, I climbed on the barn pipe rail fence and took this picture pointing downwards. It's the clearest view I've seen of it. It makes me ill to look at it (shivers). I feel so bad for her.

I called five tack shops looking for Scarlet Oil in the spray bottle. Three of them said that they usually carry it but were out. The others had the aerosol can but not the liquid. I didn't think I would be able to spray her with the aerosol can. Finally, on my way home tonight I stopped at one last tack shop that I couldn't remember the name of so I couldn't call it. I got there five minutes before they closed too. They had the liquid in stock so I bought it and poured it into a spray bottle. I haltered Annie up, carefully slipping the halter over her ears, and climbed up on the top rail of the fence, straddling it for balance. Then I coaxed her up to me. I very, very carefully sprayed her ear with the spray bottle. She doesn't like me doing it but she also knows I'm helping her so she was very, very good and I got the injured area pretty much covered with the Scarlet Oil. Now her ear tip is all red instead of black. I will put some more on in the morning. And I'm going to pray it heals well with no infection.

I will leave the horses in for a few days so Annie can recover. The weather is cloudy and there is a possibility of rain- I hope- so the grass can grow. There isn't a lot of grass out there but daily grazing has really done a world of good to my horses' conditions. Scout is fat, Yalla! is growing, Nadia and Annie have put on some needed weight, and I haven't had to use my hay. And it's been bad for them too- cactus stickers and now Annie's ear! So, my dilemma is, once Annie's ear is healed, (Oh, why, why did this have to happen?) do I continue to graze them, knowing the risks, or do I keep them inside?

It's so slashed and torn - song: Under Pressure, artist: David Bowie and Freddie Mercury