Emilie Archives • Page 10 of 11 • The Prodigal Stranger

3rd March 2017

Grooming is Awesome

How can you tell if your horse loves your touch? Emilie would like to show you how much she likes her massage / brushing. Apologies for the fluctuating picture quality, the lighting wasn’t too great.

Hello. My name is Emilie. I have known this guy for roughly a month. I’ve spent more than half that month in animal hospital after colic surgery. In other words, I’ve been a stressed out little draft horse.

I’m a trusting soul but I still like to be able to see what goes on. So I wear a hairclip when I am being groomed.

Please be careful with my belly near the surgery incision. I trust you, but I’m still going to keep an eye and ear on this.

My mane, on the other hand, you cannot scratch it enough. I love this, I love this so much I am offering scratch-backs to the air.

I will make all the faces if you promise to never stop.

Er. Right. I like to be groomed in my box without restraints. That way, I can move around and show you where I want you to scratch me.

You are my grooming mate and if you scratch me, I scratch you. I use only my lips but you should probably not let me scratch bare skin anyway.

You don’t need to worry that I will squish you or trample you. I am entirely too busy standing still and enjoying this.

That’s it! You all need to get yourself a groom minion like mine. Emilie out.

27th February 2017

Today is Emilie’s birthday and she turns five years old! She got the best present I think she could imagine: Getting out of the surgery bandages! We were hoping to get her home tomorrow, but she’s displaying a teeny tiny bit of fever so they want to keep her an extra day or two, just to be on the safe side. I am cool with this — better safe than sorry!

Emilie’s biggest problem today was staying still. She’s used to being outdoors a lot, not being cooped up in a box. She danced, trotted, and at one point bucked in a small circle around Alvin. And here’s one more way I know I got the right horse: For all her antics, at no point was the lead rope ever tight. Dance, hop, and bounce, but stay close to my human. Meant we had to keep the visit to the outdoors brief, though, as not to tear her stitches.

We got the price guesstimate for her surgery today, too. Put together with Pilar’s sickness and eventual death, Emilie’s purchase, and three vet visits before hospitalisation, we’ve spent more than 100,000 DKr on horses this month. I am very, very happy that our economy is sound and our bank is being understanding because hell, that’s a lot of money.

And of course, it’s worth every penny.