It’s tremendously satisfying when we intake a new horse and can speedily get them up to date with all their care and keeping. This process can take anywhere from a few days (not very common, but there are some rare times when the stars align and the horse is gentle enough that we can get them all squared away before you can say ‘wow, their intake quarantine period is already over?’) to several months, in the cases of those who are wild and untouchable. For Arrow, who was a truly gentle man, we were able to get him set and scheduled for all of his necessary appointments relatively quickly after his arrival.
The first step was to get him gelded. While he was quite a nice stallion, this only meant he would make an even nicer gelding. When the day arrived, he bravely walked into the covered arena, despite it being his first time outside of his paddock since arriving at SAFE, and sedated easily even in the strange new environment. The procedure is actually a relatively quick one, and we waited for him to wake up a bit in the arena before taking him back to his paddock, a new man.
Because he was an older guy at the time of his gelding, and also had testicles that were rather large, he had some excess scrotal material that revealed itself after his surgery. So unfortunately, he had to go under the knife again just a few days after his initial procedure. Luckily for us, he is such a champion when it comes to handling, and our vets were able to easily remedy the issue and get him all fixed up. Since that second surgery, his healing has gone off without a hitch. He stood very patiently for his cold hosings and completed his forced exercise like a champ. Now, several weeks later, his surgical site is looking about as good as it can look, and we will soon be introducing him to some friends.
While his gelding was the main item on our list, there were a few other, also very important things that our little Arrow needed in his life. Having his feet done was one of them. He had gone without a trim for some time, and his hooves were in need of a little TLC. Luckily, we were able to slot him in to one of our upcoming farrier days that happened to be shortly after his arrival. He once again proved himself to be a real rockstar of a horse, and let us trim all four feet without much hassle.
We also got him to the point where walking into the barn to have his teeth floated would be a possibility. After having gotten to know him a bit and realizing exactly how smart of a boy he was, we figured this wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but a few practice runs beforehand wouldn’t hurt. On the day of, he was well prepared to be comfortable for sedation in the grooming stall, and was a very good patient. We had Arrow vaccinated and microchipped as well, ensuring his safety in multiple ways.
It has been a real treat getting to know Arrow, made even better by how easy he has made the entire intake process for us. He is one special guy!
