__Nimhe was once again reluctant on getting in the trailer, so we had to wait a while longer for the veterinarian to visit us. Upon arriving, Nimhe recognized him at once and began flailing in her stable. Clearly she wouldn't let the man any closer to her, so he had his nurse examine her while he watched from afar.
__"I wish I could have been better to the horses in those stables," he told me, "but there were just so many that the staff didn't have the time to comfort them. We did what we had to do to make them healthy again. It would be up to their new homes to bring joy back into the horses' lives."
__Nimhe is quite healthy now, though she is due for some shots. The nurse handled the vaccines as well. As they left, the nurse told me one of the hooves ought to be cleaned and looked after. I obliged and set straight to work.
__I persuaded Nimhe to let me see one of her hooves; I would get to the bad one last, giving me the time to learn what and what not to do. The first one went well, the second, not so much. I scraped a little too hard and she kicked me. Hard. I had to take a minute to recover, and my leg still aches as I write this. I'm lucky it didn't break; my bones probably aren't very healthy.
__I did get the second hoof clean, and then the third I was extra careful with. Once those three were spotless, I gave Nimhe a treat for cooperating and moved on to the fourth, her front right hoof. It wasn't quite as bad as I had expected, but still I had to be gentle. She kept flinching and I knew her patience had begun to run short. So we took breaks, but I had to finish cleaning it tonight.
__I could tell she felt better and better as I cleaned her hoof; she gained more patience with me. I think she's starting to like me.
