From The Department Of You Can't Make This Stuff Up

On the very same day that Maisie put something in her mouth that she shouldn't have, the mouth broke off my favorite sheep planter. Seriously.

I hesitate to even share this next story.  

The very last thing I do when I'm pulling the horse trailer is walk all the way around to check every door latch, even the doors I know I didn't use.  This trip I was in the trailer with Maisie so she would be less stressed on the ride to and from the clinic.  I asked someone else to check the doors and was given the all clear.

As we came around a turn on Newtown Pike, one of the side doors flew open!  I quickly threw Maisie to the back of the trailer, grabbed the door and slammed it shut from the inside.  Are you kidding me?!?  If I hadn't have been in the trailer, Maisie probably would have ended up flying out the door into oncoming traffic.

I realize a trailer door coming open is a very common worry, but really, how many times do you hear of one actually coming open?  Only the Danger Lamb...  

The only consolation I got from this - yet another - horrifying experience is maybe this means that whatever little evil gremlin who's been trying to kill Maisie SINCE THE DAY SHE WAS BORN realized that the string wasn't going to do it and had to move on to the next thing.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

The vet from Hagyards called me first thing this morning to confirm that he'd spoken to several other vets and they were all on the same page with leaving things be until there was an obvious problem and then send her for surgery.  He recommended contacting Ohio State (our closest vet school) to make sure they were in agreement and didn't want to follow a different protocol and so they'd also be at least familiar with her case should she need to be admitted.

I called up there and was put in contact with an extremely kind and knowledgeable ruminant surgeon and we spoke twice today discussing options and risks and probabilities of success...  He thought there was good chance that if it stayed tied in a knot that it would stay in her rumen and not cause much trouble.  Apparently she's not the first sheep to eat baling twine.

If the knot unraveled and headed further down her digestive track it would mostly likely cause trouble, but as long as nothing twisted and cut off the blood supply, we'd have up to maybe 24 hours to get her into surgery, and the surgery, while far from a sure thing, wasn't a completely lost cause.  Definitely worth a try.  

So, we will continue to watch her like a hawk and hope and pray we never see any sign of trouble.  We're going to look into putting a security camera behind the barn where she and Baba and Lila sleep, so I can peek in on her whenever I want throughout the night without having to get up, get dressed, walk out there, turn on the lights, disturb everyone else...

I wish I could fix this whole awful mess so we never had to worry about Maisie ever again, but for now, this is the best I can do.  And besides, who am I kidding.  She's always going give us something to worry about :-o.

"Momma says since I give her so many heart tax she can post as many embarrassing pictures of me and my teefers she wants."

"That's okay."

"I know I'm really pretty and that everyone loves me."