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He leaned in for a closer look, one hand on the mare’s hip.
Tally swished her tail, slapping Grayson in the face, and stepped away from him.
“Should I call the vet?” Beth asked.
“Do you have the number?”
“She’s a friend of mine—you remember Lena Larson?”
He nodded. Their families had grown up next door to each other.
Beth fished her phone out of her pocket and dialed. After a quick conversation with Lena, she disconnected. “She’s on her way.”
An hour later, Beth still stood at Tally’s head in the barn aisle. They’d brought her from the pasture into the barn with slow steps, letting the horse set the pace.
Tally hadn’t been keen on leaving Remington and Maverick behind. She’d heaved several loud whinnies, calling out to them. Remington had answered several times.
Grayson watched Lena finish wrapping the wound. Every so often, the mare lifted her leg as if to kick, but he couldn’t tell if it was from pain or fear.
“The antibiotic will hopefully stave off any infection.” Lena tossed a leftover roll of tape into her vet kit and rechecked her crisscross bandaging over and under Tally’s hock joint. “That should hold if she doesn’t get rowdy in here.”
Beth reached for Tally’s forehead, but the horse tossed her head up. “Poor girl.”
“The good news is that it doesn’t look like she ruptured the tendon. Only the tendon sheath. I tell you, a breath farther, and we’d be dealing with a much more serious injury.”
It still didn’t sound like very good news to Grayson.
“I don’t know that she’s going to come out of this a ridable horse.” Lena stood and gestured toward the leg. “Even though only the tendon sheath’s been breached, that’s still a dangerous injury.”
Beth pressed her lips together in a frown and rubbed the horse’s neck.
“Watch for any signs of infection. If you see any swelling, redness, call me right away—day or night.” She wiped her hands on her utility coveralls.
Grayson nodded. “Will do.”
She handed him a bottle of pills. “Here are some antibiotics to give her once a day when you feed. Mix them in some applesauce. Obviously, I couldn’t stitch it due to the location.”
“How often do we need to rewrap it?” Beth asked.
We? Huh. She probably meant it as in “we at the camp,” not the two of them specifically. Except, they were the two at the horse camp, so there was that. And he wasn’t sure what to do with the realization.
“You’ll need to change out the Telfa pad daily. Because the sheath is breached, there’s going to be fluid loss. The less movement, the better right now.”
“We’ll have to keep her on stall rest,” Beth said.
“Once we’re done here, I’ll bring in one of the other horses to keep her company,” Grayson said.
Lena nodded. “Do all that and the rest is up to nature.” She pulled a medication tube from her kit. “You can give her bute once a day for pain, one to two grams. The local anesthesia will wear off over the next hour.”
He took the tube of anti-inflammatory medication from Lena and slid open the stall door. “Do you want me to take her?”
“I can do it.” Beth led Tally step-by-step into the stall kept bedded for emergencies, then removed the halter. Tally threw back her head.
This would be fun.
“I feel so badly for her,” Beth said. She closed the stall door and went straight to prepping the stall across the aisle for a second horse.
“Sorry to run.” Lena handed Grayson a stack of Telfa pads and rolls of self-adhesive bandage wraps. “I have another call. You guys take care.”
