Time for a vet visit (Demeter or vet-student)

[daine3]

Owner's Name: Lukas Ambrose
Patient's Name: Hollywood Dun Gone Red (Holly)
Age: 16
Wormed recently: Yes
Temperament: Sweet, kind, forgiving, and slightly standoff-ish, but not a mean bone in her body
Symptoms: Inability to walk without stiffness, muscle atrophy along back and shoulders, lack of interest in feed or water lately, hesitance to move, swelling in right knee, fetlock, and shoulder, fever, flinches when back is touched
Allergies: N/A
How long have they been like this: Two years
Any treatments given (this includes herbal remedies): VitaFlex (two scoops daily), Bute (two grams given as needed), Arnica (Mountain Daisy, to help with inflammation), Bee Pollen (added to feed to help overall health), Celery Seed (to help with digestion), Fenugreek (to help in weight-gain), Glucosamine (to help keep joints healthy)

---

Lukas sighed as he filled out the forms in the vets office and sat down to wait, eyes tracking through the window to where his mare stood, her lead looped loosely over a tree branch, as the lam knew she wouldn't go anywhere, even if she did feel like it. Even from the distance, she looked ill...

Luke pulled is eyes away from the poor looking champion mare and gazed around the office. He'd called earier that week to leave a message that he'd be coming in today with a mare he wanted checked over... but he hadn't mentioned what shape the horse was in or anything. Truth be told, Lukas was terrified that the vet would advise to have Holly put down. He'd already spent thousands on her after their fall two years prior, trying to help her the best he could...He didn't want to put her to sleep... not if he could help it... ot if she could be kept comfortable... The man knew that, in the long run, it would proably be a kinder thing to do, but he didn't know if he could make that type of decision...

He sighed and picked up a magazine, flipping through it as he waited for the vet or one of her students to show up. To most, he seemed quite relaxed and at ease, butif a person knew what to look for, they'd see the tightening of muscles at the corners of his eyes and the tenseness that was seeped into his body. Yes, Lukas was extremely nervous as to what this visit would bring...

[Demeter Carr]

Ok, you're the second person who has brought their horse in a trailer. The Equine clinic is part of the Academy campus, the horses can just be walked, I just gave the animal medical practices their own category cause it's not exactly part of the rest of the equestrian area.

Demeter had been sitting in her office, mug of coffee in hand, and nursing a headache that just wouldn't go away no matter how hard she tried to get rid of it - and by now she was tempted to try a tranquillizer even if she knew that she never would.

It was a movement through the frosted glass on her office door that caught the woman's attention. Rising to her feet, she walked to the door opened it with a smile already on her face. "Sorry, I didn't hear anyone enter the clinic." She apologised as her eyes landed on a man reading a magazine. "How can I be of help today?" She walked over to the desk and looked at the form that hat been filled out. She arched an eyebrow at the number of herbs the mare was already on and was lost. At least she knew what bute was. She frowned as she read through the mare's symptoms, her tongue running across the back of her teeth. "Cara!" She knew that the girl was in the barn somewhere as the tiny teen had knocked on her door when she had arrived half an hour earlier.

She then saw the truck and trailer outside. "I'm guessing that Holly is out there? If you would like to being her out, we can put her on one of the stalls and have a good look at her." She glanced down the hall that led to the barn where she heard the sound of hurrying feet and then the vet student appeared. "Cara, this is Mr Ambrose. He has a mare that needs to be looked at." She held out the form that the man had filled in.

She then turned back to Lukas. "I'll come and lower the ramp for you and then show you where to bring her." The veterinarian's opinion on the mare's outcome wasn't good.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara had come to the equine clinic to spend some time with Pixie. Over the last few days the rose grey mare had seemed to have withdrawn into herself, which baffled Cara since the mare had been at the Academy for a month and she couldn't work out why the mare suddenly seemed to have just given up.

She was sitting in the mare's stall, watching as Pixie shifted her weight from side to side the mare also watching her. The girl thought that she was getting somewhere with the young Welsh mare, her grazes were healing beautifully from the ingredients she was using to bathe them in, she was pleased that the mare's nose was also healing up nicely, she had started adding a burdock brew to the mare's feed to help assist in the regrowth of her hair.

She rose to her feet when she heard her name being called and arched an eyebrow toward Pixie as she walked to the stall door. She knew that the veterinarian had a headache, so she was intrigued to know why the woman was calling her.

Hurrying down the hall, she skidded to a halt as she entered the waiting area and saw that there was a man waiting in there. Although she was a quiet as a mouse, she could easily read people and this man was tense, which made Cara want to be elsewhere. Gathering herself, she tuned into what Dr Carr was saying. "Sir." She said, her clipped English accent whisper-soft, as she bowed her head respectfully toward the man. "Yes, Ma'am." She added as she took the form. Her eyebrows rose, impressed, as she read through the number of herbs the mare was taking compared to conventional medication.

[daine3]

Notes: Sorry! For some reason I have been thinking that the vet clinic wasn't part of the campus... Edited my post!

---

Lukas looked up as the woman ntered and as soon as she mentioned not hearing anyone enter, he knew that she must be the vet. Honestly, hhe'd been expecting someone... older... and male... but... He shrugged the thoughts away and set the magazine down before standing and stretching. "I called a few days ago to let you know I would be coming by today." He said as a greeting. Luke was usually an extremely nice and friendly man, just when he was tense, he could get short with a person. As he realized what he was doing, he mumbled an apology, once again looking out the window and glancing back just in time to see the vet raise an eyebrow as she read the form he'd filled out. Lukas figured he knew what was so shocking, but he'd been advised by some of the best veteranarians in the country to use those herbs... and they had worked... to an extent.

"Yeah, Holls is out front. Hello, Cara." He turned to face the girl that had appeared, giving her a small smile, though the tenseness never left his face or stance. His eyes were worried. He was trying to be nicer than what he had been just moments earlier. "I guess we'll meet you at the stalls." He turned to gaze at the girl, the student, "Care to show me the way?" He asked, as he did not want to get turned around and keep Holly moving any longer than she had to.

Lukas disappeared outside to get his mare with a nod to the vet. He approached the horse, running a hand gently over her neck before he grabbed her lead and stood, alternating scratching her between the eyes and rubbing down her neck as he slowly urged her to take a few steps in the direction of the barn and stalls.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter racked her brain and her eyes widened as she remembered the phone call. She shook her head as she massaged her temples. "I'm sorry, Lukas. I do remember your appointment now." She made a mental note to herself to drink more coffee when she'd had long days.

She saw a look cross Cara's face and raised an eyebrow, wondering what she saw that was making her so cautious. "I'll let Cara get a stall ready while I show you the way." She said as she followed the man outside. "She's been an assistant here longer than I have been the vet so she will know exactly what I need."

She saw the dark chestnut horse outside the clinic and her heart went out to the poor animal. "Follow me, the gate is this way." She slowly led the way through a gate, into the barn and down to the stall that her student was standing by the open door of, she nodded her head at the whispered words of the girl and gestured inside. "The stall has a spongy floor so it will help relieve her legs."

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara bowed her head as the man, Mr Ambrose greeted her, her eyes widening slightly when he suggested that she show him the way, she shot Dr Carr a slightly alarmed look and all but dropped a relieved curtsy when the woman walked outside with the man.

Once alone she shook her head, telling her to get a hold of herself as she walked back through to the barn and walked passed the stalls until she got to the one she wanted and opened the door.

When the vet arrived she gave a ghost of a smile. "I'll go and get the things you need." She said before hurrying off to the feed room and returning moments later with the woman's stethoscope, a clipboard with a patient form and pen attached, and her bottle of rescue remedy.

She closed her hand around the remedy bottle as she handed the other items to the woman. She then stood outside the stall, she used this time to study the gentle mare's face - liking what she saw - and balancing on the balls of her feet, ready to move if asked. She wanted to ask of she could offer the mare some of the remedy, as the tension in the mare was as plain as that in the man, but she didn't like it when adults were tense and her courage deserted her.

[daine3]

"It's ok, Ma'am. I take it you've had a rough day?" He questioned, though he didn't really require an answer. He raised an eyebrow at the vet assistant's look of alarm, though when the vet herself walked out with him, he pretended to not notice the look of relief. Must be a timid type…

Leading Holly was slow business, and it took several minutes For Lukas to convince the mare to walk solidly alongside him as they followed the vet into the barn and to the stall, where he saw that the student, Cara, he'd heard the vet call her, had already affixed the stall and had the door open. Lukas urged the mare inside, asking her to turn to face the group once she was inside and he dropped her lead to the ground, effectively ground-tying the horse. "Thank you, Cara." Lukas gave the girl a soft smile, racking his brain to see if he had yet met her. He didn't think he had yet, as she wasn't in the class he instructed.. and other than the few students who had shown up the other day, he hadn't met very many people.

The man scratched Holly along the length of her face, down her blaze, and smiled softly when the mare sighed. His eyes shone with affection for the mare, though he was still nervous as to the outcome of this visit. She just looked so… sad. Lukas hated to think that the mare might be giving up, but she hadn't been interested in her feed in several days now and had gone off water yesterday morning. The man hoped something could be done for the horse. Even he could see that her one front leg was swollen badly in the spots she'd broken, fetlock ,knee, and shoulder… and her other front leg was swollen as well from her putting so much weight on it to keep off the one that hurt.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter took the stethoscope from the girl without even needing to turn around and face her as she moved forward to study the mare, both visually and physically. "Cara, can you please go and collect for me a syringe and a handful of vials so we can take some blood." She ran her hand down the mare's nose. "I'm just going to have a look at your legs." She told the mare.

The vet looked at the uninjured, but still swollen, leg, running her hand down it. She knew that the leg was like this for the same reason that pregnant mares' legs filled with fluid, lack of movement. She then went to the injured leg. "You say that she has even lost interest in water?" She said as she pressed her fingers gently around the horse's shoulder. "You still need to make sure she has a good intake of fluid, even if that means using a large syringe - like a wormer tube - and squirting it into her mouth." The woman was carefully watching the mare's ears as she worked around the leg, as she knew that they were her key on how the horse was really feeling.

Demeter took her hands away from the mare and gave Lukas a grin. "I wonder if she likes Gatorade?" The vet quite often prescribed it to her patients, as she had yet to meet a horse who didn't like the sugary liquid.

She looked at Cara who was standing by the door again, holding what she had been sent to get. "Ok, Dr Kitchi." She said as she took the syringe along with one of the vials and grinned at the girl, ignoring how the student's face took on a grey colour. "What would you suggest?" She stepped back up to the mare and prepared to draw blood.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara bowed her head to the man as they entered the stall.

She forced herself not to drop a curtsy as Dr Carr took the stethoscope and asked for the syringe and vials. She slipped away soundlessly and went into the medical storage room where she collected a syringe - of course brand new and in sterilised wrapping - and the required vials. She then walked back to the stall and stood on the other side of the door to the others so that she didn't make the mare feel too claustrophobic - she knew that she didn't like to be surrounded when she was in new places and out of respect didn't want to over-crowd the horse.

She jumped when the vet spoke to her, her face paling slightly as she was referred to as a doctor. She chewed on her lower lip, her eyes darting from the mare's owner to the horse, then to the vet and back to the man again. She suddenly felt as though she were between a rock and a hard place. Her training forced her to obey the woman, but another part of her training forbade her from speaking freely in front of a male.

She wet her lips before she pressed them together. "I would suggest swapping the arnica for Boneset, Chamomile and Clivers, as the former will help the pain in her bones. Chamomile, to help relieve the stress, and also it has good anti-inflammatory and analgesic actions, making it useful for aches and pains. And the latter, because it is good to help with fluid retention." She clenched her teeth, keeping her eyes on the mare's chest. "For the stiffness in her back, I would recommend some flexing exercises. Even if she can't walk much, she can still do poll and neck stretches. And offer her toys, give her a reason to want to move. A ball that dispenses "treats" things like that." She shrugged her shoulders, suddenly wishing she hadn't opened her mouth, and when she had said treats, she didn't mean those ones you bought from the feed store, she was talking about anything the horse really liked; alfalfa cubes, carrot chunks...

She took the vial filled with blood from the vet and handed her another before quickly writing down the day's date and the mare's name in her neat and precise handwriting.

[daine3]

"Yeah, she went off water a few days ago. I've been force-feeding her water as much as I can. Force-feeding her her grain, too." Lukas shrugged, though it was more of one of those 'I don't really know what to do now' shrugs instead of the uncaring shrug that some people would give. He watched as the vet-student took off and returned with the syringe and vials to take blood. It was a good thing that such things didn't bother him.

He also watched the mare as the vet examined her legs, though Holly did with the vet what she'd done with him when he'd last checked her legs that morning; flinched away violently before stumbling over herself as she attempted to get away from the cause of the pain... in this instance, the vet. Lukas quickly grabbed her lead and let her brace against it as she steadied herself. "Easy... easy Holls. Thatta girl..." He murmured to the Quarterhorse, stroking her blazed face affectionately. There was no doubt that he adored the mare.

It was a look into her forgiving personality that Holly didn't once pin her ears at the painful prodding the vet was doing, though it could have also been because she didn't feel like it... The mare sighed and dropped her head to hang low after regaining her balance, eyes dull.

"I've never thought about giving her gatorade." Luke admitted, scratching Holly under her forelock. He listened to the vet-student as Demeter deferred to her and nodded slightly at her words, filing it away so he could look it all up later. He liked knowing exactly what it was he was giving his horses, especially Holly, as he didn't want anything to react with her other medications.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter was careful with the mare, she knew that what she was doing was causing her pain, she knew that she could sedate the mare, but then she couldn't properly asses how the mare was, if she was doped.

She filled a second vial full of blood and turned to her senior student as the girl spoke. The vet's mouth dropped open at the amount that came from the child, but she quickly recovered as she handed the second vial to the girl. "If you could box them for me and I'll take them to the lab once we're finished here." She said, still astounded by what the girl had said, Cara obviously knew more about veterinary science than the woman had given her credit for.

When the girl had walked away, Demi turned back to the man with his horse. "Gatorade is awesome. It's full of sugary goodness, and horses love sweet things. You might need to buy a few bottles though to find a flavour she likes." She rubbed the mare's nose. "I know you're in pain, hun." She said softly. "And we'll see what we can do about it." She looked back up at Lukas. "If you'll excuse me, I'll just run those bloods and see if they come up with anything." She didn't want to tell the man, but there was always a chance that mare could be suffering from blood poising - one of the downfalls of having a bone injury that didn't heel properly.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara once again wished she hadn't opened her mouth when she didn't even get a verbal recognition from the man that she had even spoken. Children should be seen and not heard, and when possible, not even seen. It was a saying she had grown up with, and one she lived by if she could help it.

She took the second vial and wrote the same information on it as the first and nodded before she left the stall and took the vials to the medical room again and boxed the vials up to protect them from the harsh UV rays while Dr Carr took them to the lab to test them - even if the lab was just in the barn across the clinic grounds - and handed them to the woman as she arrived at the door.

As much as she wanted to walk away, the girl knew that it was bad bedside manners to leave the patient - and owner - standing waiting for the results. She walked back to the stall and looked over the door toward the mare inside. She closed her eyes, willing her courage to surface. "May I ask what happened to her leg, Sir?" She knew that she could go and look in the mare's records, but then she could feel like she was snooping.

[daine3]

At least, Lukas thought, Holly didn't mind being stuck with needles, as she didn't so much as twitch when Ms. Carr drew blood, though the mare's ears did flick back slightly as the poking and prodding continued, and she shifted slightly, though she didn't try to get away again, not with her owner holding onto her rope now.

Lukas, meanwhile, was still mentally going over what the vet student had said. He turned to glance at the girl again as she did what the vet asked and left to box the vials. As she went, Lukas turned back to Ms. Carr, "Is she your only student?" He questioned curiously, "What's your opinion of switching out what Holly's already on for what she said?" Lukas definitely was open to trying anything new to help relieve the pain his mare was in, though he wasn't going to just take the word of a vet student. She was a student for a reason, he knew, though he also realized that she must be quite intelligent since she'd even surprised Ms. Carr with her answer.

He nodded his agreement to her comments about trying Gatorade, already planning on trying it just to see what it would do. "We'll be here." He said in reply as the vet moved to leave, waving her away in a way to let her know that he would be fine staying with the mare.

Luke glanced at Cara when the girl came back and offered her a small smile, "I thank you for your input." He told her kindly now that she was back, "I was advised by some of the best vets in the country to use on her what I've been using, but sometimes… sometimes the smaller, often overlooked things can be just as good." He said, thinking aloud. Lukas looked down at the girl as she asked what had happened to the horse, then gazed back at the animal, a small smile gracing his face, though it didn't reach his eyes, which remained rather sad and tense, though, as he thought back to their accident, the memories still so fresh even after two years, Luke had to blink rapidly to keep a tear from falling. He still saw their accident as solely his fault. He'd done this to the poor horse, and he knew, deep down, that he'd never forgive himself. "She was a competition horse," He started, playing with Holly's forelock again. "We did trail and obstacle challenges. She was… is… a champion." He corrected his words quickly. She was, in his eyes, still a champion. "We took a fall during a competition. It was the final two obstacles. All we had to do was lope down a trail, jump over a log, and lope up to, go over, and jump down a step-up obstacle to finish our ride." He frowned slightly, biting his bottom lip for a moment as the memories of that day threatened to overwhelm him. "I don't know how she did it, but she got her front legs criss-crossed and took the jump from too far away. She came over the jump at a gallop and clipped her legs on it. We nearly fell then, and I wish we had. Instead, I couldn't get her slowed down in time and we hit the step-up at a run and she didn't jump." Lukas moved his hand to scratch Holly's blazed face, causing the mare to sigh softly. "Instead of jumping onto the step-up, we flipped over it. That's what happened to her. She broke that leg," He motioned to the one leg that the horse was attempting to keep her weight off of, "in three places; fetlock, knee, and shoulder, and she destroyed her back when she landed." He offered Cara a small grin, though it didn't last long, and returned to scratching Holly's face. She had asked, after-all, and he wasn’t one to mince words.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter shook her head to the question. "No, she isn't my only student, though she is my most senior student as she was assisting here long before I became the Academy vet." She looked at the man, her face missing the smile for once as she didn't want him to mistake her next words for playful banter. "She may be tiny, but I have never seen her misdiagnose the herbs a horse needs yet." She shook her head in wonderment. "I couldn't even begin to get a grasp on the knowledge she has on the different properties of herbs. If you want my honest opinion, I would try the herbs. She has read what your mare is already taking and wouldn't have suggested anything that would react against it." She shrugged her shoulders as she finished with the bloods and returned the syringe and needle into it's wrapping so she could dispose of it when she went to get the bloods.

Walking down the hall, she took the box off Cara and walked out to the surgical barn - also her lab - and began all the necessary tests to make sure the mare's blood was clear of any toxins before she returned to Lukas and the mare. "The good news is that her blood, although a few minuscule toxins were there, is clear." She gave the man a sad smile. "I would suggest giving her a light sedative to get her back to her stall, as it will mask her pain and allow her to walk easier, try the new herbs for a week. I'm sorry, Lukas, but you might need to think of saying your farewells." She hated to suggest putting an animal to sleep, but it was her job to suggest the best outcome for the animals and the mare was in so much pain that it would be nicer to end it.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara bowed her head at the man's gratitude. "Even the best vets can miss the obvious when it right under their nose." A hand flew over her mouth as her eyes widened. "I am so sorry, Sir." She shook her head. "I have no idea what came over me." She couldn't believe she had just said that.

She listened attentively as the man told the mare's story, flinching in empathy for the mare at her injury. "I thank you for your honest answer, Sir." She didn't like it when adults sugar-coated things when telling things to children, and it was quite nice to hear the blunt truth of the mare's injuries. "And I am sorry she got hurt doing what she loved."

She looked up at the sound of approaching feet and she knew it was a good time to bow out. "I am going to go and check on Fée." She glance at Mr Ambrose again. "Ms Carr knows where I keep the herbs if you would like to try any of them in her feed." She bowed to each of them. "Ma'am, Sir, I will leave you in peace." And with that, she vanished as silently as she did every other time she walked away from the stall.