I got ya with the title this time, There is no escaping the verbiage!

Foal update: we had two foals this past week! A palomino filly and a sorrel colt, both healthy and happy babies. The filly was born in a matter of literal seconds, I was told this mare sneezes and the foal just flies out, that was no exaggeration! We have aptly named her Farrah because her blonde locks resemble Farrah Fawcett’s. She received a gold star for her record timing of standing, eating and pooping. Work it Farrah! Our second foal has yet to be named, as soon as he is I will update on Instagram. We were able to make it to the barn just as he was about to pop out, I wasn’t able to get much video as I was making sure all was progressing well but mom did a great job. I caught a tender moment between the two shared just minutes after he was born.

She is a great mom!

Farrah is just so darn adorable! I can’t get over those ears!

I’ll most likely be flooding Instagram with photos and videos this next week.

Personal Updated: I adopted a cat this past week, she is currently trying to steal my computer power cord. Here is proof:

I’m sure Boo will be making more appearances as she distracts me from blogging.

I know, I know.. You’re dying to know why I’ve titled this post with scrotum and tea. Those two things should never go together. In my world nothing is off limits or too weird. This morning I was caring for the, now, gelding who supplied us with the lovely epididymis photo last week. While I crouched behind him cold-hosing his tenders I enjoyed my morning tea which was finally a drinkable temperature. It made me reflect on how I got to be so comfortable with everyday life and dealing with gross things. I have plenty of photos from over the years of wounds I’ve dealt with and dissections. Sorry to disappoint but I will not be posting them. There are some things you don’t need to see.

It started as a child, I was always fascinated with doctoring and making things all better. I would pan through my mothers veterinary books just to get to the “gross” photos. I think I went into the right profession to say the least. My mom would bring me along for vet visits, because after school daycare was absurdly expensive, and I LOVED it. My grandmother would let me play vet in the kitchen with the innards of the whole chickens she would cook, because I just wasn’t weird enough. Maybe it was my family that started it all. I got over the sight of blood very early, not much phased me. Although I did faint one time in college but that’s a story for another time. It’s hard to explain the joy of healing wounds without sounding like a complete lunatic. It’s easy to forget that most people can’t comprehend seeing the the inner-workings of an animal while it’s living.

Starting college and learning I wasn’t the only freak on the planet who enjoyed these things was like a breath of fresh air. I could literally talk to my fellow animal science students over a tri-tip sandwich about a necropsy, dissection, or case of mastitis and no one would throw up. HEAVEN. You might call us weird but we were at peace. There were so many late nights spent in the library studying reproductive anatomy, penis photos spread out over the desks, with no shame. Non-animal science students, I think, learned to just accept that they went to an AG school and there were “those” kind of kids there. See below:

All jokes aside, learning how things work together and function are essential to helping animals. We have to experience the bad times and the gross times, in order to learn how to make them better or avoid them on the next go round. Though drinking tea and staring at an open wound may sound like the worst morning to some, to me it’s just another animal I’m helping heal and get back to normal. Another day at the ol’ nine to fiver. Though I’d like to say I haven’t had days or mornings like this often it’s just not the case. It doesn’t matter how bad a wound might be my reaction is, usually, the same “Oh, that’s nice.” followed by a calm manner of routine care. I think I’ve truly panicked maybe once or twice in my life when it came to injuries with horses, and they were truly on the verge of death. It was probably more from the adrenaline those couple of times and I thank all the experiences I’ve encountered for prepping me on how to calmly deal with these times. I think grandma knew what she was doing when she gave me chicken innards. When it comes to working with horses there is an age-old question that never fails to be asked, “How did that happen?”. Most of the time we never know, and it’s THE most irritating thing in the world. There is nothing worse than not knowing how your horse injured itself because you can’t prevent it from possibly happening again. Horse mysteriously tries to take it’s leg off and there isn’t a speck of blood on the fence, stall, or pasture…Seriously?!

One of the most interesting jobs I’ve held was with an equine plasma company. You want to talk about the ultimate way one horse can help another, this is it. For about four years I collected plasma from horses to be used as an aid in helping sick horses and immune compromised foals. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “You collect seamen from horses?!”, that joke got old fast. NO Hendrik… Plasma is not seamen. Plasma makes up about 55% of whole blood, it is about 90% water, contains proteins, electrolytes, nutrients, wastes, gases, and hormones and is the lovely color of apple juice. The big selling ticket with plasma donation are the antibodies that are jam packed into one liter. I’m going to plug a little bit because Plasvacc USA Inc. is a wonderful company and holds the most USDA patents for it’s products. #ad.

How it works: say you have a horse with a career ending injury, but it’s just not their “time” yet, they can be donated to Plasvacc. They live in a herd setting on irrigated pastures and come into the barn once a month to donate plasma. These donors are hyper-immunized to produce desired antibody levels for West Nile Virus, Rhodococcus equi, Botulism, e coli., as well as antibody rich plasma that will simply boost the IgG levels in foals. Giving plasma alongside conventional treatments helps to shorten treatment times, the amount of drugs needed to be given and can even aid in avoiding hospital time. When it comes to foals, plasma has proven to save many lives when a foal fails to nurse in an appropriate amount of time post birth. Why is IgG important? Immunoglobulin G (IgG) protects the body from infection, foals do not recieve passive transfer of immunity through the placenta and are very dependent on the colostrum (first milk) post birth. It is very important for newborn foals to receive this first milk ideally before the first 6-12 hours of life as their digestive tract starts to close up and won’t be able to absorb the important antibodies needed for a healthy immune system thereafter.

Even though I knew I always wanted to help horses and learn as much as I could about helping them live their healthiest life, working for Plasvacc USA really sparked my interest with breeding and foaling. How amazing it was to create a product that would go on to save a foals life. So here I am, helping foals come into this world and here is this company ready to help them when I am unable. If you are ever having issues with your foal, horse, or DOG (they have canine plasma too!) talk to you vet about administering plasma, IT IS WORTH THE PRICE! http://www.plasvaccusa.com

I have three mares due all in the same week! I’m hoping to bring you exciting news soon, and possibly more typos, don’t judge I won’t be getting much sleep, I can feel it already. Until then enjoy your warm beds, I’ll be here supplying you with all the cuteness.

 

–The Equine Midwife