36 New Geldings !!!

The gelding clinics went great! We somehow picked a small gap in the rain and wind this week and actually had pretty good weather and even some sun.
I'll spare you the close up pictures of the surgeries but we got some great shots if anyone is interested email me.
 The first clinic was held at Epona Farms in Galt. Kelly and I arrived in the dark  to set everything up. There were already 10 horses who had been brought in the day before . We cannot thank Catriona at  Epona Farms enough for her generosity in letting owners bring horses in so they didnt have to take the day off work . The vets and UC Davis students arrived in their bus. Some fugly blog readers may remember my suggestion to get a bus to go around gelding horses, well Dr Eric Davis really has the Gelding Bus!

The students got right to work unloading equiptment and Dr Davis started right in on the surgeries.

They made sure each horse was comfortable and even put pillows under their heads



This is where the bad kids had to go stand . I think the guys were just getting a little uncomfortable with all the women and castrations going on , they seemed to get further and further away



We had a great group of owners and friends of owners at the clinic. Thank you to Michelle and her crew for helping set up and  making sure everyone had coffee and food . Here she is with her boy Charger as he is starting to feel the sedatives.

This pretty pony was quite a character. He looks like he knows whats coming doesn't he?

 Grumpy is trying to get his bearings after waking up , he was so small we all thought the stall was empty when we first walked by.

The students were so nice and so professional , it was a pleasure meeting them and watching them work.

Everyone had a good time even this guy was smiling

Two of the best behaved ponies , pals Kokomo and Ranger patiently waited their turn

The Galt clinic had 21 horses succesfully gelded, 6 of the horses were cryptorchids, even though we were only expecting 2 to come. Dr Davis is so skilled at finding the anatomical landmarks that the cryptorchid surgeries didn't seem to take any longer than the "regular" guys.The students were very lucky to have such a good teacher .

Cryptorchid surgeries can be very expensive , some quotes were $1000-$2000 and when an owner can't afford it we see the horses being sold off or sometimes people have even resorted to just removing the testicle that was showing and not telling the next owner. Our hope was that by offering the surgeries at an affordable price we could prevent that very dangerous practice.  Every castration, even the cryptorchid surgeries was only $75 for the clinic  . Each surgery went very well and each patient was checked over before the owners were sent home with the vet's recommendations for aftercare. The clinic and cleanup went until almost 8pm making it a very long day for everyone. We were all exhausted but very happy to have been able to help the horses, owners and offer a great experience for the UC Davis students

 7 am seemed to come pretty quickly and we were back at it again in Auburn at The Shiloh Horse Foundation's gorgeous barn. They are boarding horses at Shiloh to help support the rescued horses they are rehabbing , it is the nicest barn and great facility - visit the theshilohfoundation.com for information on boarding and see some wonderfully rehabbed horses that are looking for homes.

Cindy McClinn (in the green jacket) is an amazing teacher and equine technician Cindy has more than 12 years of experience as a surgical assistant, veterinary nurse, and field anesthetist, over 8 of them at the University of California’s veterinary teaching hospital.

This cute little colt  is waiting his turn to be an even cuter gelding

Another cute Arabian , and his caring owner Sue. There were quite a lot of Arabians at the Shiloh clinic. Each time we have a mini donk scheduled to come to the clinic they always seem to cancel . This little guy "Donk" missed the Galt clinic but was able to make it to Auburn. He was definatly a crowd favorite and so sweet. He will be used for a petting zoo so it was a good choice to get him gelded .

Just look at that beautiful sky pasture and horse! The weather was supposed to be rainy windy and cold with chances of thunderstorms and even snow possible in Auburn, but both clinics we had great weather.  Rowdy was a sweet boy with wonderful owners




  Another pretty Paint , this guy was the only one out of all 36 that gave us a little to worry about . He had a little trouble with the anesthesia and fell down bonking his head and hip . After being checked out he was ok and had no problems after that and was gelded without any problems. His mom was so sweet and worried about him. We know he has a great home there and is a lucky horse.

This little Arab has been studying ventriloquism , he can make a deep rough whinny without moving his lips.
 

We even had a zebra at the clinic

Just kidding it was BITS' own little Duffy the 2 year old POA. . This guy is a blast to have around. He even fetches toys! . He was in a bad spot and two other rescuers wanted BITS to take him in until his owner could pick him up The new home plan  didn't work out though it wasn't anybody's fault . If they had met Duffy they would have snatched him up in a minute because he is such a playful character , pretty flashy colored , and  is so entertaining to watch charging around the pasture challenging everyone in races  or down on his knees playing with the mini Tater Tot. We will be putting him on the website soon after he heals up. He will be a great addition to any home but we are hoping he will have a home with lots of room to move around and be a 2 year old. A big thank you to Beverly of  healingthruspirit.com for sponsering Duffy's surgery . He may not be happy about it yet but we are.

Thanks to Julie for waking up at the crack of dawn to help get the BITS horses down to the gelding clinic!

The Auburn clinic had 15 horses and 6 of those were cryptorchids as well.

Both clinics went really well and we got to meet some very nice horses and owners as well as the great vets and students . We really hope we can continue these important clinics . They take a little work and planning  and we are exhausted from lack of sleep and lots of work but we are happy to do it for the horses . We are so grateful that the vets we have worked with  Dr Mather from BearRiver Mobile Vet , Dr Jeske and Dr Davis understand the importance of controlling the horse population to help the horses now and for the future.
 We would love to expand the clinics to more areas and were so happy to be able to bring a clinic to Galt this time . We will continue to look for more vets and facilities in other areas and would appreciate any volunteers to help in our search.
Thank you to the wonderful Dr Davis and the amazing Cindy McClinn and all the students from the volunteer group , they must be exhausted but never showed it
. HUGE THANKS to Catriona Watson of Epona Farms and Cheryl Rankin at The Shiloh Horse Foundation for allowing us to come to their facilities to hold the clinics. Clinic volunteers Kelly Reade and Jenni Odum were fantastic .We could not have held the clinics without their help . Kelly made it to both clinics and is probably still recovering from exhaustion . Kelly has an absolute passion for learning about anything to help horses. She has studied equine dentistry and is continuing to study about every aspect of horse care and particularly healing horses through body work , her enthusiasm for learning everything she can to help horses is amazing.    Jenni's business is NaturallyCowgirl.com and she does everything from website designs to Bowen Therapy for horses as well as makes the most amazing natural soaps and bath items.
You gotta check out her website http://naturallycowgirl.com/

We would also like to ask you to help with a very special guy . There is a little rescued colt that is HYPP N/H , he could not be done at the clinic because of his condition but Dr Davis has agreed to help with his surgery in a facility for a reduced cost. Zero the colt needs your donations to get the surgery done so he can go to his forever home. Please if you came to the clinic and appreciated what we did consider donating to Zero'scryptorchid surgery . The cost will be $500 which although significantly lower than the original $1500 quoted its is still quite a lot . If you can help in anyway please do you can paypal through our website or email us for more information. We believe the R-vets.org could take the donation directly as well. Please be sure to tell them it is for Zero the HYPP N/H cryptorchid colt.
This guy has a real chance at a great home if we could all pull together and help get this surgery done every dollar helps . Paypal is at the top right of this post , go help Zero's hero please !