They asked me to be there by 7:45 AM. My alarm was set for 6:30 but of course I was up an hour before that. I woke up going over my loosely laid plan, feed the mares into the arena and shut the gate. Groom Tito and load him in the trailer, letting the other mares out to graze… load Otis in the backseat of the truck and off we go!
I sent prayers up for a smooth and uncomplicated departure. Sometimes if you just ask for help, from this side or the other… you get what you hope for. It couldn’t have been better. There was no traffic except for one woman in a little red car who just knew I was holding her up and stayed on my butt the whole way to the highway. That’s OK, this is a special day for Tito. Transformation day. No mas cohones (testicles) after this little visit. The vet clinic is closed to all but essential services.
Thankfully, castration is an essential farm service to keep female animals from getting unnecessarily pregnant. Thanks Coronavirus…
He rode perfectly in the trailer and backed out beautifully. I could tell behind all of the paper masks… The staff was smiling and appreciative of a well behaved boy.
A cold front blew in last night so the temperature went from 80°F yesterday afternoon to 42° this morning. That was a little shocking and his testicles were not hanging very low. Dr. West had to kind of look for them this morning. Not sure if he was cold or hiding them because he knew what was getting ready to happen. I handed the lead rope to the closest vet technician and watched them walk down the hill to the clinic. They had me offload away from the receiving area. That’s actually OK with me because I don’t want him to relate me to this procedure at all. When I come pick him up I want to be the rescuer if you know what I mean.
(Update) The vet has called and he came through just fine! More later… 
When I Ride... 
Hurray! It’s a bigger deal than most people realize — good thing you sent him to the vet clinic rather than doing the procedure out in the field. Best! Dawn
I’ve done a lot out in the field, it only takes one traumatic experience to put an end to that. One colt jumped up and his intestines came out of a hernia in his abdominal wall. It was horrible to put him down after that. Always taking them to the vet now
Lissa Burnette-Rabon 20995 Ranch Rd. 12 Driftwood, TX 78619
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I fully agree — it’s a bigger risk than we had been lead to believe. Good girl, it takes a lot of strength to breed!
Great job! I admire you Alyssa! I tried to comment several times but it interrupts me and goes to another page. Could be user error. Lol
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Thank you for trying! I appreciate you reading… It’s always nice to know someone’s interested in what you are writing about
How interesting that the Farmers Almanac has that information? Tell me more! As a farmer’s daughter, and grown up with broodmares, how did I never see that before? Hope all is well for Tito. Please post an update on Otis, too 🙂 MJ