The Fiduciary

Here is Joe Pete taking care of our friend Nicole when she was 10 years old.  He has always been our fastest
horse, the best athlete, but also the most sensible and dependable, too.  Joe is trying to recover from a broken
bone in his right shoulder.  We think he fell on the ice.  Now we have him in a double stall and he is getting
around on three legs, using the broken leg as a prop, but gradually putting a little more weight on it as the days
go by.  A few days ago we saw sawdust from the barn floor on his left side, which meant he had been down
in the night and was able to get back up again.  This is quite an athletic feat on three legs, and most horses
 couldn't do it, but Joe can.  That's significant because one of the biggest dangers in this recovery is that the
 other three feet, and especially the other front foot will get laminitis (which is life-threatening in itself) from
the constant stress.  If he can lie down and give those other legs and feet a rest, laminitis won't be a worry.
 The problem is that getting down and especially getting back up might put enough force on that break to keep
 it from mending properly.  We are letting Joe decide how to deal with this, and we still have a couple more
weeks to go before we'll know if this break is beginning to mend.  We just can't think of putting him down.
                                                                                                                                          Paul