Ugh. The bad luck fairy visited me again this Christmas, because so far life has not been too terribly great since then. Basically, Cass got kicked by his pasture buddy two days before Christmas and ended up having to go to the vet hospital… all while I was in the midst of a 14 hour journey through air travel hell to Utah. When they x-rayed him, they found he had fractured his patella and now a 1 cm piece of bone is floating around in his stifle. Recommended course of action is arthroscopic surgery to remove the chip. Fortunately, it wasn't imperative that he have the surgery done right away.

In the meantime, I was stuck facing a $1500 vet bill because, under the contract, I am technically responsible for any injuries that occur - even ones that I have no control over. The frustrating part was the fact the contract also states the horse must be covered with major medical/mortality insurance in case something like this happens. For whatever reason, his owner took 3 months (despite my frequently reminding her) to actually get the policy. However, at the time of his injury, neither of us knew if the insurance was active, as she faxed it in right before that fateful day… hence me facing the reality of a large, large vet bill for 5 days.

So, for my entire Utah visit, I was consumed with frustration ("I told her 95 times to send the paperwork in!"), worry (I was still 2000 miles away from Cass), a little bit of embarrassment (for not being available when the injury was discovered, and relying on someone else to wait for the emergency vet/subsequently hauling him to the hospital - and then home the next day), dejection (it would be at least 3 months before Cass could go back into work - past the lease term), and anger (Strike 2 on my "horses that have killed any hope for me competing this decade").

There's more to the story, such as the lease contract binding me to paying for expenses until he's "fixed" and therefore not being able to afford riding until April or May. I also feel a certain degree of resentment toward the horse that did this, as this is NOT the first time the cranky bastard has kicked someone… last time being his own human. Cody was no angel either, but he never laid a hoof on a person as far as I knew.

Moral of the story: Always, always, always buy major medical insurance. You can't afford NOT to get it.