Page 14 of Roping Her In

She backed away from the horse’s mouth, impressed that yet another equine had allowed her to simply start pawing at their mouth. But the horses here seemed used to being handled by people.

Tempest dropped her head and nosed hopefully at the front pocket of Hailey’s sweatshirt. She smiled and offered her an empty palm to inspect. “Normal temperature, normal perfusion, bright attitude, and a very healthy interest in snacks. No current evidence of systemic illness.”

Only then did she move around Tempest and once again get confronted by Jake himself. And his good looks. Oh, and that somewhat surprised-yet-still-surly look on his face.

“But I’m pretty sure she’s got a little bit of a swollen pastern back here.” She took steps down the horse’s body, once again keeping her hand on her hair. “Left hind leg.”

Tempest moved, lifting that foot and settling her weight on the other one. Hailey laid one hand against her hip before running it down her leg. She pulled off the glove so she could feel the temperature better, as she’d already detected the swelling.

“Mild swelling of the left hind pastern, with localized heat.” She bent and held, trying to listen to her gut and the horse at the same time. “No swelling extending above the fetlock.”

But there was definitely something going on with this foot. She muttered as much, knowing she’d have that on the recording and that she’d edit it out in the final notes. She simply talked through her thoughts as she examined an animal.

She parted the mostly dry hair with her fingers. Nothing, nothing, nothing, oh. Along the back of the leg, Tempest’s skin was pink and irritated, with several small, crusted patches along the pastern.

“Superficial pastern dermatitis, likely aggravated by prolonged moisture and contaminated footing. Three crusted lesions, largest approximately one and a half centimeters.” She leaned closer and took a breath. “No purulent discharge. No foul odor.”

Tempest pulled away, and Hailey straightened. “Mild pain response on palpation.” She glanced at Jake, barely registering his reaction and bent again. “Give me another minute, honey. I just need to look at your hoof.”

She lifted the hoof, relieved when Tempest didn’t resist. Further relief flowed through her at the sight before her eyes. “Hoof capsule intact.” She brushed away the bit of dirt beside the frog, then pressed her thumb into the sole near the toe and again along each quarter. The horn gave more readily than it should have, slightly pliable beneath firm pressure rather than hard and resilient.

“Sole softened from water exposure but no visible puncture, foreign body, or solar bruising. Frog is soft with normal debris packed in the collateral grooves. No black discharge or significant odor consistent with active thrush.”

She hadn’t seen Tempest walk, but she could untie her and lead her around the arena. She and Leia had done it with a couple of other horses, and since Tempest had some issues, she’d like to see her walk.

“Mare is weight-bearing, and I’ll check for her stride when I get her walking.” She’d check for stride-length and obvious head bobs, but for now, she continued to dictate. “Assessment: early moisture-associated pastern dermatitis with mild soft-tissue inflammation. No evidence at this time of cellulitis, deep infection, hoof abscess, or penetrating injury.”

She stepped further from Tempest and met Jake’s eyes. “Recommended treatment: move to clean, dry footing. Clip only the affected hair if needed for access. Gently cleanse once with diluted antimicrobial wash, rinse thoroughly, and dry completely. Apply veterinarian-approved topical medication. No aggressive scrubbing and no forced removal of firmly attached crusts.”

Jake actually smiled at her, seemed to realize he’d done so, and straightened his mouth again—all in only the time it took for Hailey to take one breath.

“Recheck temperature, swelling, pain, and gait in twelve hours,” she dictated. “Photograph lesions daily for comparison. Escalate for veterinary examination if swelling progresses above the fetlock, discharge develops, temperature exceeds one-oh-one-point-five, or lameness increases.”

She reached to pick up her phone, where she tapped to stop the dictation. “I still need to untie her and make her walk, so I can see how much she favors it, but…yeah. That’s what we’ve been doing.”

She couldn’t hold Jake’s gaze for long, and she moved back to Tempest’s head. She grinned at the mare. “I’ll make sure the official record reflects that you were very brave.”

She needed to do the same thing, and she moved back to the end of the rope-aisle where Jake stood. “I can email the transcription to myself, clean it up, and put it in the notes as soon as I’m done with the stride assessment.”

He nodded at her. “Fine.”

“Fine.” She hated how she’d repeated him, but the man had a way of scrambling her wits. “Do you agree with my recommended treatment of the dermatitis?”

He bent and examined the skin along the pastern. “Yes. This doesn’t look too bad, and you can do what you…dictated.” He straightened and looked at her. “Did Leia show you where our supplies are out here?”

Hailey waved to the cabinets down on the end of the row. “Yep. We’ve done a couple of treatments.”

His eyebrows went up. “Leia can do that,” he said. “You can’t.”

Hailey’s defenses went up. “I know that.” She grinned at him. “But I got everything else right, didn’t I?”

He dropped his chin and used that not-so-sexy-anymore cowboy hat to hide his face. Hailey hated that and had seen plenty of cowboys do it.

“Didn’t I?” she pressed, wanting to reach out like an angry mother and force him to look at her. “Jake.”

He raised his head slightly, just enough to meet her eyes from underneath the brim. “Yes, all right? That was a great assessment.”

She nodded, glad he’d finally admitted it. “That’s because I’m the best. I told you I was, and I meant it.” She took a step closer, her pulse skittering in the way it did right before she said something she hoped she wouldn’t regret.