The Silver Lining

Amy’s plans take an unexpected turn for the worse, but it may not be all bad.

Amy couldn’t wait for the first horse show of the season. All winter long, she’d practiced showmanship, western and English equitation, and pleasure. Her goal: the all-around year-end buckle at the Lost Valley Riders’ Club. It was her second show season with Blackjack, her 15-year-old Quarter Horse. Last year, they’d made reserve champion, and now that they were a perfect team, she was sure they had a good chance at champion.

The week before the first show, they practiced every day. Blackjack still needed to set up quicker for showmanship, and he still tried to trot too many steps before transitioning to the lope.

Bath Time Blues

The day before the show, Amy got up early to shave his bridle path and polish his hooves. Her friend Becca from down the street rode her mare Dew Drop up so they could get in one last practice before they bathed them.

The practice went great, and Amy was excited to show off all their hard work the next day. They tied the horses to two corral posts for baths. Amy went in the tack room to get the sweat scraper. As she reached for it, she heard Dew Drop squeal and Becca scream.

“Oh no! He’s bleeding!” Becca shrieked. Amy went closer and saw Blackjack’s right front leg had a very deep gash in it.

Amy called for her mom, who took one look at it and dialed the vet.

Dr. Byers examined Blackjack’s right front leg.

Broken Dreams

After thoroughly cleaning out and stitching the wound, Dr. Byers wanted to check for bigger injuries below the surface.

“It’s a pretty severe kick wound,” she said. “We’ll need to do an X-ray to see the extent of the injury.”

The X-ray machine was portable and quickly pulled up digital pictures of the bones in Blackjack’s leg. Luckily, nothing was broken.

“Will he be able to go to the show tomorrow?” Amy asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Dr. Byers said. “He’ll miss a few of the upcoming shows as this wound heals.”

Amy couldn’t believe it. That meant no chance at the year-end belt buckle. She started to cry.

“I know it’s disappointing, but if you take good care of him, he should make a full recovery and only have a small scar,” said Dr. Byers.

Waiting for next show season to go for the allaround title seemed like a million years away to Amy, but she nodded.

Dr. Byers told Amy Blackjack’s wound would need to be carefully cleaned and re-wrapped every day. Once it was fully healed, he could slowly start back to under-saddle work.

She showed Amy how to wrap Blackjack’s leg and gave him a prescription of bute for the pain and swelling. (Bute is like ibuprofen that people take when they have a headache or other pain.) He also got antibiotics, since deep wounds often get infected.

Healing Begins

The next day, Amy took Blackjack out of his corral at home to let him eat some grass on the