Wounds that Heal

My wonderful, ranch assistants-Krista and Steve--called me out of a meeting late this afternoon to report that JoyFull had a large cut on the upper part of her leg.  I left the meeting because they said it was quite large.  Indeed she had a cut about 8' long (about 6" below and to the right of her tail) and it was swollen and stretched to about 2" wide at the widest point.  It looked like it could have been the result of a kick (though I had separated her from the worst of her herdmates, she was still with Triumph and Treasure) or possibly a cut from something else that she backed into.  (It didn't seem round enough for a hoof, but if only one side of a shoe made contact, it could have made a cut that long.)  After calling 4 vets, I did finally get one to call me back and we decided to wait til tomorrow morning because of the swelling.

Krista and Steve came down in the barn to help me get it cleaned up (though there was a surprising lack of blood).  JoyFull was quite uncooperative at first.  I was trying to give her some bute so that when I got to washing, it wouldn't hurt so much.  Finally Krista went and got the "Hydration" music and while she was gone I change my approach slightly (came with the bute tube from the top of the nose vs the side of jaw and in 3 tries, she was much better...Then the music...she went over to the door near the speaker and her eyes got all soft.

I decided since she had not be able to allow me to get near the cut in the aisle, that we would put her in a make shift stock to wash the wound.  We kept the music playing and Steve, who was holding her starting stroking the top of her nose while I approached and retreated with the water...She got pushy a couple of times, but soon, Steve had her on a loose line while Krista handed me medications...by the end, she looked like she was just about a sleep.

As I was  cleaning her and was wondering what I could possibly learn from this, it was like I heard the Lord say, by caring for this wound, I had to open my heart to her more...  remember the "Owl" post where he told me to not be afraid to give her my "whole" heart?!

I planted more joy seeds...

And wondered...how did my heart get so protected...and thank him for gently, ever so gently, peeling off the layers of protection, enabling me to open my heart a little more..