Horse Illustrated Magazine

Easter morning couldn’t have been more beautiful, the sun shining down on the spring-green fields that gently slope up from the Monocacy River toward Maryland’s iconic Sugarloaf Mountain. This year, we took our chocolate bunnies to go, on our way to Monocacy Equine Veterinary Associates. Hmmmm you say. Who’s in the hospital?!

A few weeks ago, Chico (my aunt’s adorable yet hot little driving Haflinger pony) had a minor eye injury. The opthamologist wondered if a hard little piece of grass had poked him in the eye when he laid his sweet head down to sleep in the field. The eye seemed like it would heal up without a lot of to do. I thought it cute that the opthamologist asked “Do you know which side Chico sleeps on?”

But despite the doting, exhaustive around-the-clock care from his caretakers at the barn, fungus and bacteria hampered the healing. Chico’s eye was worse. He was in pain.

The news that sweet Chico had to go to the hospital alarmed me at first. The only time I’d actually been to Monocacy was on the awful day I had to put down my beloved mare, Windy, three years ago. My memories of the place were hazy and infused with grief. Over the past two weeks I’ve gotten frequent phone calls from the vet who used scary phrases like “corneal dystrophy,” “subpalpebral lavage,” “indolent ulcer” and “fungal infection with bacterial super infection.”

But it’s not all that bad. Chico is comfortable and happy in his stall at the hospital. Everybody at there seems to love him. He’s getting daily peppermints and plenty of hand grazing. During our visit, he was as bright-eyed and bushy tailed as any Easter pony with an eye injury could be. He may not be home for another week or two, but there’s good news: he’s expected to make a full recovery.

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