Hampton's impeccable timing

Last week I was all set to farm sit for BFF Liz for 3ish days up in Indiana. I had plans to drag Hampton along with me, and go take a lesson from JK while up there since I would be close enough to a one-day haul in.

My plan was to leave Thursday morning.

Guess who had a 104 degree fever Wednesday afternoon?

I does not feel good

I had crosstied him and he just looked ... funky. Hamp is a stoic guy but man when he doesn't feel well it is written ALL OVER HIS FACE. I checked his temp. 104.

I gave him banamine and thought maybe it was a reaction to his recent vaccines and I would make the call in the morning. I alerted my vet who agreed with my plan of action. On Thursday morning his temp was down to 101 something but he wasn't really eating his breakfast so that made my decision very easy. I would just leave him home.

He never showed any other symptoms. Just sort of ran a fever off and on the entire weekend.

By Sunday he was 99.7 and has stayed there.

Much happier when I went out to the barn on Sunday

I looked in every nook and cranny for signs of a tick bite (like I ever pried open his butt cheeks. Total violation). I never found anything. So not sure if this was another spell of anaplasmosis, something viral, reaction to vaccines, a combination, or some random immune response to something. Thankfully no other horses got sick. He's on a round of antibiotics just in case it is tick-borne. The deer tick - the one who carries the bacteria - is most active late fall to early spring, so we fit within the time frame.

But otherwise he seems no worse for wear. We went on a light hack Monday and he seemed just fine.

Plus, with Hampton calling in sick to work I went ahead and stole Royale back from Liz to take to my lesson instead!

... to be continued.