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[RC] BSF Part 3 of 9 - April JohnsonWe went up to the check-in tent to get the ride pack and introduce ourselves. Karen knew me instantly (no idea how...maybe it was the Cambodia t-shirt I was wearing?). I told her I was planning to be a vet secretary for the vet-in and when did she want me to come back. She answered, "Come back at 3 and I'll give you a clipboard and a pen." It was around 1 PM or so, I guess. So we went back to our camp to continue setting up. We keep experimenting with the pen and coming up with new ideas for arranging it. Finally, we ended up with a decent sized pen, using the entire side of the trailer as part of the pen. That turned out to be very handy, because it was the side of the trailer with the door to the dressing room, so it was very handy to dole out hay and beet pulp and the tack was easy to reach without going in and out of the horse pen. Then I fixed some cold sandwiches while Daniel read the ride packet and we discussed how we wanted to do the away vet-check. Daniel was thinking he would just drive the truck and camper up there and crew for me, but we didn't want to disturb the tarp and the ride info stated that parking at the vet check was limited. We didn't really have a good answer until almost sundown. After lunch, we also put up a big tarp to give us some shade from the sun. Well, I say we, Daniel did most of the work! LOL. He had disconnected the truck from the trailer and had pulled the truck up, leaving a living space between the camper (on the bed of the truck) and the trailer. So he hooked the tarp on the top of the camper and then across the space to the trailer. Made a nice shade. I pulled my tennis shoes on (I'd been wearing sandals), asked Daniel to bring Tanna to the vet in at some point during the next 3 hours, and headed off to the check in area to start my volunteering for the day. When I got to the vet check, I was assigned to work with Otis Schmitt. Fun, fun! Right off, Otis picked up a livestock marker and started drawing big letters and numbers on the nearest horse haunches. For the next 2 and a half hours, we had a good stream of horses to vet in. Most horses were quite frisky. There was a breeze, the humidity was low, and the temperature was very pleasant. After the rain of the past days, the weather was too good to be true. Some of the horses were very vocal, some were just jumpy. I got to see lots of horses. Most vetted in ok. I only know of one horse that failed the vet check due to lameness. That horse later worked out the lameness and was supposed to start on Saturday's ride. There might have been other horses that weren't allowed to start, but that was the only one I saw. I did get to see a 1200 pound Percheron cross that was entered in the LD. Huge animal! I also saw a horse that passed the vet check just fine, but he had huge sores on his right heel bulbs due to easy boot rubs. The result of somebody (not the rider) pulling the easy boot strap up too high. The horse was not ouchy, surprisingly! Daniel brought Tanna to vet in sometime after 5. He also was a little jumpy, but not bad. He was being quite good. He vetted through with all As. Good for him. :-) Daniel went over and weighed him for me. 784 pounds. I also saw Howard at the vet-in. I knew it was him, due to War Cry calling to his buddies (that were nowhere in sight, btw). After awhile, the flow of horses to vet in slowed to a crawl and then stopped. Otis left for home, so I laid down my clipboard and returned to my camp. There were still other horses to vet in, but another vet and his secretary took care of that. I enjoyed my time as a vet secretary. Nice to see all the horses and watch the people and just be part of the action. ...To Be Continued April Nashville, TN =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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