Which Needle? Which Syringe? What am I DOING???

Gotta love those Friesians. A lesser horse would be climbing the walls by now, but our beloved Marieh is just taking it in....the neck.

She has a catheter in her vein to make giving her antibiotics a lot less of a pain in the butt. This being my first experience with catheterdom, she may have preferred the sore bum to putting up with my fumbling. By the time this week is over, we'll both be experts - me at doing the syringe switch and her at holding herself reallllly still so I can do the switching.

Here's what our schedule looks like:

First thing - flush the catheter
Go away for a while - grind up some bute in a delicious paste and put it into a syringe
Come back with breakfast - While horsie eats, stick thermometer in horsie bum, flush catheter, give antibiotic, flush catheter, pause the hay intake long enough to give horsie a paste in the mouth, remove thermometer, look at wound sites, record temp and other vitals.
Go away and let the poor girl finish her breakfast
Later - another flush
Later still - yet another flush - gotta keep that catheter open...
Supper time! Includes a flush, antibiotic, flush, another kind of antibiotic, flush, and some topical stuff for around the wound so potent that gloves are recommended. I recommend two pair.
Last thing before bed - Tuck her in and flush that catheter!

She still loves me. The mare is beyond price.