With weather going from rain to sunshine at the drop of a hat, I continued trekking towards Durazno.
We arrived after 3 days on the road and were welcomed by a chef who is the president of the local Criolla (Rodeo) Association.
“Welcome to Durazno, tonight you will eat a delicious barbecue at my restaurant,” Eduardo said shaking my hand.
We turned out the mares in a pasture before the city and drove to his home. After a much needed shower, Mario and I drove to Eduardo’s restaurant for dinner. Everything was absolutely delicious.
The following morning we were interviewed by every media outlet in Durazno. From 9:00 am to lunchtime, I answered questions about the journey. As hard as it is to tell the same story over and over again, these moments are extremely important for me to talk about the Barretos Cancer Hospital, the early signs of childhood cancer and the importance of an early diagnosis.
Once the question period was over, we drove to the field where the mares were resting, for me to ride the 10 kilometres left to Eduardo’s home. But when we arrived I made a terrible discovery.
Andariega was lame on her front right leg. Really lame.
“Oh man this is not good,” I said to Mario as we inspected her leg for any cuts.
There was nothing. No cuts, no swelling, no heat… And in the morning, when we fed the mares, she was walking fine. We tried to understand how this could have happened, but had to quickly move on to figuring out what the heck to do.
Luckily, like many times before on this journey, when you need an angel, they appear. Javier, a Gaucho with a horse farm and a close friend of Eduardo’s, offered to haul Andariega the 10 kms while I rode Cautiva. I thanked him and began my half-day in the saddle.
Every stride Cautiva took I worried about what would happen… How I would continue with only one horse… If Andariega would be able to finish the ride with us… It was the worst 10 kms ever…. Even though I rode next to a gorgeous river and beautiful green park, worrying was all I did.
When I finally arrived at Eduardo’s home, Andariega was already there, still extremely lame, calling out for Cautiva. I untacked Cautiva and began inspecting Andariega’s leg and hoof again. She was in a lot of pain and put very little weight on it. But there were no signs of what it could be.
We called a local horse vet and waited for him to arrive. Just before dusk the white haired vet showed up with his tack box filled with medicine and syringes. I told him what had happened and he inspected Andariega’s leg and hoof. After about 15 minutes he told me he believed she had hurt the tendon in her hoof and that she would need some time off.
“By the way she is walking right now it looks serious, a 4 out of 5,” he said immediately noticing my worry.
He prescribed 4 days of intravenous anti-inflammatory injections and told me to place her leg in a bucket of ice-water for 30 minutes daily. After we injected her with the first dose of anti-inflammatory and soaked her leg in the icy water, I pet her neck, telling her things were going to be okay.
I was lying, I had no idea what was going to happen. I was scared.
