No Bull!

Pookey Bear is back home.

No bull!

Well, okay, a little bull.

A little six-month old bull, to be exact.

A little six-month-old bull who has been making himself very useful in Pookey's absence!

Number 66, aka 'Tuffy,' was staring wide-eyed at the trailer as we wheeled down the drive this afternoon, bringing Pookey Bear back home from La Mesa Equine. During the week that Pookey has been hospitalized, Tuffy and his buddies have been doing their part for the war effort, mowing down the grass so that possibly, hopefully, ideally one day Pookey can be turned back out in his little pasture again.

Of course when that day comes--if it comes--he will be wearing his grazing muzzle and wrapped in head-to-toe bubble wrap.

But it is amazing that I am actually starting to hope again that the day may someday come!

I am allowing myself to hope a bit because he is doing fabulously well at his one-week post-surgical benchmark, having received 'the nod' from Dr. Wilcox to head home, sans NSAIDs, to continue healing in the comfort of his cozy little barn. Pookey's good friend Joe gave his feet a good inspection before sending him merrily on his way, recommending that he return in a few weeks for a trim and a reset and, hopefully, a good scratch behind the withers as well.

Leigha: as a former monitor of Pookey's digestive health, you will be glad to know that our current Chief Manure Inspector, Tex, reports 'all is well' with Pookey's droppings. Amazingly, despite a short course of NSAIDs, he seems to be completely free of any ulcer-related pain, and in fact is no longer nipping at me when I brush his belly, as he had been doing for the past several months.

What a joy it is to see him so relaxed and happy! I am confident that his tenotomy has relieved him of the chronic pain he has been battling for months, pain that rendered him out of sorts and even a tiny bit grumpy.

Now, his expression each time we walk into the barn says, 'Oh, hello there!' instead of 'Help me!' or, even worse, 'Leave me alone!'

Tomorrow, a pic or two of Pookey on his therapeutic walk. We will be very, very careful not to take him by Tuffy's pasture--he has WAY too much Poco Bueno blood to stroll casually past a cow!