Cherokee

We have a patient here at the moment… the toughest horse on the property in fact.

Have you met Cherokee yet?  He’s not big, but he’s fast and he is fearless.

(Dash has taken to riding him lately, but he is Mr I’s gun mustering horse.)

As I have said before:

He’s hard and tough and wiry, just the sort that won’t say die… (name that poem)

I have seen him muster paddock after paddock, take on any kind of terrain, and barely blink when charged by an out-of-sorts bovine.

The horse is basically Chuck Norris.

The injury happened as we were working at our top yards – they are under construction, so I had done a one-person emu parade to pick up anything that looked like it might cause a problem, before we unsaddled Cherokee and let him go rest in a yard while we worked on foot.

After trucking a load of cattle away later that afternoon, however, Mr I arrived back to to the yards to find his fearless steed very lame.

He was not improved the next day so the vet was called – he was showing signs of infection so we hit him with antibiotics, Tuff Rock and injections twice a day.

Mr I scoured the yard where the injury happened and found (what we believe is) the culprit… a steel rod in a trough.  It looks like he pawed as he took a drink and the end of the rod (bent deep down IN the trough) has caught behind his heel and as he’s pulled back, lifted and spiked deep into his hoof towards the frog.

NASTY.

Although unless you see him try to move, you’d hardly know he was injured – a small bandage around one hoof is the only giveaway!

It’s now almost two weeks later and he’s only just beginning to put weight on it.  He is now getting poultices to draw out whatever nasties are still in there, and are looking at specialist treatment later this week.

Thankfully Cherokee is a great patient… he has three ‘nurses’ waiting on him (Mr I, Violet and me).

This is Violet giving him his Bute (for pain).

He is still getting antibiotics, now in powder form (thank goodness, I hate giving needles!)

Let’s hope this tough sweet Chestnut boy comes good… we have everything crossed he makes it back into the mustering gang.

Will keep you posted!

Amanda