Billy runs into trouble

Billy crosses the finish line; or, painting completed

The painting is completed, but unfortunately for Billy and me, today I found out he has an injury that will take about 6 months of rest to heal. In a nutshell, he has a tear in his lateral collateral ligament (that’s the one that stabilizes lateral movement) of his right hind fetlock (that’s the joint just above the hoof). Bad news. It will heal, but we don’t know how well the ligament will repair itself. We’re going to help it along with PRP ( “platelet rich plasma”) therapy, and shock wave therapy. The good thing is that these techniques developed for human athletes can also be applied to equine athletes. The bad thing is, it costs a sizable chunk of money. I would never spend this much money on myself (although I guess you can say that since I want to keep the horse around I really am spending it on myself!) but I suspect most animal lovers are like me and find it difficult to impossible to abandon their companions and partners. I’m writing this at almost 3AM because I just can’t get my head around this enough to let me sleep. Good thing I don’t have to be at work at 8AM, but bad thing that I don’t have to be at work at all!