Not a happy husband

“Holy crap, Barbara! We could go to Hawaii for a week for the cost of this frippin’ horse and his medicine!”

Her husband was freaking out about the cost of her beloved horse’s stomach medicine. And he was only looking at the bill for the first month of medicine. Her veterinarian had mentioned some horses were on it for years.

Barbara was feeling a little sick to her stomach. And also feeling glad that she had paid her veterinarian in cash for the next few months of medicine.

One of her friends was on board to help her find a compounding company to get it even cheaper. But that would take a while. So much money! And right when her husband’s job wasn’t going so well.

But was it her fault he was having trouble selling Lexus cars in this economy? I mean, the kids were out of the house now and nearly done with college. With less child expenses, it made sense to Barbara to finally have her dream horse.

And her horse was sick.

And now her dream horse was sick.

She had gotten so lucky finding George, her beloved bay gelding. Only ten years old, with low miles. The owners had gotten a divorce and she had been so pleased to pay only $15,000 for an Oldenberg like him.

George always nickered to her on her arrival. He never ignored her like her husband and her kids did. They just expected her to be there for them. Which was fine, she thought, that’s what a mom is supposed to do.

But her own horse, her own best animal friend, that was a different story. He was always there for her. So when George needed her, she was going to do whatever was necessary to help him—no matter what it cost!

At first when he started acting cranky, her trainer guessed George just needed a new saddle.

“Barbara,” her trainer said, “I suggest a new saddle for George. Custom fit. Because he has put on a lot of muscle since you started him in training, and that saddle he came with just doesn’t work anymore.”

At first Barbara had rallied for saddle pads as a fix, instead of a saddle. But her trainer replied, “You can certainly try that. The thing is, good saddle pads run $300-$400. So by the time you try a few of those, you’ve spent a down-payment on a saddle.” Stress!

But then Barbara had an genius idea.

She had gotten her husband to buy George’s new $4500 saddle as her birthday present. Her friends were shocked when that happened! But the timing of their middle child graduating college and getting a good job helped work everything out.

After the new —custom fit, expensive saddle— George’s crankiness eased up a bit, but he still remained unhappy. He used to eat his food quite calmly, but now pawed and laid his ears back.

The vet came out

Finally Barbara called the vet out (omg if my husband sees the checkbook!). George was diagnosed with ulcers. But $950 per month for the medicine! She had nearly fainted when the vet had told her. But that was the best medicine and would definitely fix George.

The relief in being able to help George fought with her fear whispering ”Where will the money come from? And if it’s too much, will my husband make me get rid of my horse?”

Horses were more expensive than they used to be when she rode as a kid. She had her own pony growing up. And had showed a bit in the local shows. But now board fees never stopped going up. (And we have to argue over every drop of shavings!)

Barbara felt lucky to get some of her show clothes on clearance. Unfortunately, she couldn’t brag about that to her husband. He would just complain, not understanding that you couldn’t show with your leather boots starting to crack.

Ulcer medicine is so expensive!

“Oh what am I going to do about this ulcer medicine?” thought Barbara. “ Even getting it the cheapest way possible, there’s no way I can keep this under my husband’s radar for long.”

And if he sees the real cost of this, he will want me to get rid of George! That cannot happen. What can I do?”

Barbara needed another genius idea.

Desperate to find a plan, Barbara asked all her friends. She was actually shocked by how many of her friend’s horses had ulcers. “Why hadn’t they mentioned it?” she had asked.

“Well, we were told most horses have them and so it’s no big deal.” they replied in one way or another.

Some of her friend’s horses were on herbal ulcer treatments. “Yay! Cheaper!” And yet Barbara’s husband already nitpicked about George’s “expensive” vitamins. (If he only knew they were the cheaper brand!)

What if George could be rid of his ulcers?

It would be a lot easier if George could get rid of his ulcers completely. Didn’t people get rid of their ulcers? This was so confusing. And the research she was doing on the internet wasn’t making it any easier.

So much of the internet was “vet speak.” Yes, she could understand the grades of stomach ulceration when seen by endoscopy. But who really cared! No one was talking about why horses now “commonly” have ulcers. But they didn’t used to. Barbara remembered she had ridden the lesson ponies before getting her own pony. Those ponies were kept in straight stalls, fed gallons of sweet feed, and only came out for riding. Now that is stressful! But you never heard about ulcers then. What’s up with that?

Barbara had a lot of unanswered questions.