A "Come To Jesus" Talk...

No amount of Hollywood horse movies could have prepared me for dealing with something like this in real life. Horse Whisperer, Dreamer, none of them.

Luna was sedated when Paul bandaged her up yesterday.

Today it was my turn. All by myself. No sedatives. Crap.

Talking sweetly and approaching softly, Luna cowered in the corner of the corral, her skin crawling with anticiaption of the pain that will come with my presence.

I sat the bucket of bandages and syringes down so as to not spook her any further than she already was. I had never seen her so skittish before. The terror of being tangled in wire was still fresh in her mind, and the urge to flee from my approach was more than she could bear.

She settled a bit to my voice, but not much. It was like she didn't know me, or was too scared to know what I had in store for her. I whispered to her, stroked her neck. I noticed her hair was curling with sweat. I put the halter over her nose and behind her ears and fastened it, then tied her to the tree branch above her head.

I put my hand on her withers so she could feel where I was, and let it glide down her back, over her rump, and down to the leg. She tucked her hoof away from my touch. Ugghh..this was not going to be easy.

I grabbed her hoof and pulled it to me, carefully unwrapping the top bandage. The sound was similar to velcro releasing, and she buckled in fear. "Eeeeasy girl, easy." I said, nervously trying to keep my wits and reflexes about me. A little more unwrapping and she about exploded ontop of me. I fell back and onto my ass, hoping to get out of the way before she blew.

"Whoah girl!!"

My nerves were rattled. I stood up and tried to shake it off, telling myself I could do this. My rattled nerves rattled Luna's nerves even more.

I tried again, reaching down and peeling away another layer, again she spooked away and I lost my grip. CRAP!!

I hollered to my dear Isabelle to run in to the house and fetch me a pair of scissors (carefully), a tool I stupidly forgot to pack in my bucket of first aid necesseties.

I stood by the tree and waited for Isabelle to return, letting my nerves relax a bit. I whispered to Luna, asking her to please bear with me, to let me do this so she can get better. Her ice blue eye stered deep into mine; I could see her fear, her worry, and she could feel mine, neither of us knowing how all of this will ultimately end.

Isabelle returned with the scissors, and I knelt back down to her hoof, soothing Luna as I reached for her hoof. Just needed to cut the loose wrap as it was spooking Luna as it dragged the ground. I got it cut, and proceeded to unwrap some more, but she buckled over me again, this time I thought she was going to rear.
"WHOAH!" I hollered, there was no time for soothing words, I needed to to quickly remind her I was still underneath, within crushing range. She veared away, thanfully, but was still refusing to cooperate with me.

Enough of soothing, I was getting pissed. At this rate, merely unwrapping her bandage was going to take all night just to avoid injury to myself. Luna needed a Come To Jesus Talk, or I was going to get hurt.

"KNOCK OFF THAT BULLS**T!!! ENOUGH!!"

Luna snapped her head up and away at the tone of my voice, but at the same time, collected herself into a tight ball. A tight ball is what I needed, not an unnervy, fidgety 1,000 pound everywhere horse.

I reached back under her, grabbing her hoof, and with another firm tone said "Now WHOAH!!"

I was pissed enough to just get it done, and Luna was listening to the determination in my voice while keeping it together and holding steady.

I got the last layer of bandage off and peeled away the gauze. The sight was enough to make me pass out. I got out the bucket of water and sunk her hoof in it. She retracted her leg out of it as soon as she felt the cold, but then realized what a relief it really was, and slowly sunk it back down.

I had to scrub it, air it, dry it, then salve it back up and rebandage it. A few firm "WHOAH"'s and a couple of"KNOCK IT OFF!!!"'s, and she was freshly bandaged.

Last but not least, an injection of penecillin in her neck, and that was all I could do for her.

I sat down by her hoof finally, and dosed her some Reiki healing. But not just her hoof, I dosed all her chakras, because no deep healing can be done if all of the chakras aren't covered. I felt a sad ache swoop over me, as if I was drained suddenly. But Reiki is not to be draining since I am channeling the energy and not using my own. Still, an inner drain was felt, perhaps the adrenaline from doctoring my own horse up was flooding out. Tears welled up, and I felt myself calling out for any spirits to help me, help me heal this horse. I can't possibly do it alone.

I gathered myself and up to my feet, giving Luna one last hug and kissing her nose, it was all I could do for now. I let her go and I went inside.

I still don't know how this is going to turn out, but I am hoping for the best. She is a wild spirit, and not just saying that for drama effect...she really is. I pray she can get over this.

My beautiful Luna.