Justin B. Long - Adventures of the Horse Doctors Husband

Adventures of the Horse Doctors Husband

Justin B. Long

Other books by Justin B. Long, written under the pseudonym J. Boyd Long

THE DIMWORLD SERIES

Genesis Dimension

When Good Plans Go Bad

Inside The Machine

Adventures of the Horse Doctors Husband

This is a work of creative nonfiction. The events are portrayed to the best of Justin B. Longs memory. While all the stories in this book are true, some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of the people and animals involved.

Copyright 2019 Justin Boyd Long

Written by Justin B. Long

www.JBoydLong.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Published in the United States by Springhill Media

Newberry, Florida, USA

https://SpringhillEquine.com

Cover Design by: My Custom Book Cover

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer Warranty:

The author shall not be liable for your misuse of this material. This book is strictly for entertainment purposes.

First edition printing August 2019

ISBN 978-1-948169-20-2 (Ebook Edition)

ISBN 978-1-948169-21-9 (Paperback Edition)

ISBN 978-1-948169-22-6 (Hardcover Edition)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019909112

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

F ORWARD

Chapter 1: In the Beginning

Chapter 2: Honeys New Years Eve Bash

Chapter 3: End of the Trail

Chapter 4: Living in the Animal House

Chapter 5: Three Ring Circus

Chapter 6: Those Donkeys

Chapter 7: Rescuing Highway, the I-75 Miracle Horse

Chapter 8: Foster Parents

Chapter 9: Follow the Doc

Chapter 10: The Forked Tongue

Chapter 11: Big Bouncing Babies

Chapter 12: Vacation

Chapter 13: Hurricane Preparedness

Chapter 14: Horse Show Madness

Chapter 15: Sleepless Nights

Chapter 16: That Sinking Sensation

Chapter 17: Bored Boarders

Chapter 18: Stars, Bars, and Scars

Chapter 19: Our First Thanksgiving

Chapter 20: Final Thoughts

Forward

J UST SO THAT WERE all on the same page, I want to tell you a few things about this book. These adventures really happened, but its important to remember that these all happened with real people, and real animals. The horse world is relatively small, and I dont want anyone to feel that I am putting their laundry out for the world to see, or that their confidence in the privacy practices of our veterinary practice has been compromised. In that spirit, I have changed a lot of names and details. Perhaps the people who were involved in a particular situation might recognize their story, but thats about it.

Another thing Id like to mention is that there are a lot of medical details that I did not include. My amazing wife Erica is the doctor, not me, and I dont even know half of the things she is looking for when she glances at a horse. Some of the stuff I do know, but when I write it down, it turns an adventure story into a textbook of dense medical terminology, and that just sucks the fun right out of the story. So, please consider what you read here as entertainment, and not a step-by-step on veterinary medicine practices.

My goal in writing this down has been to share with you a glimpse of my life. I have new adventures all the time, some of which are not appropriate to share, and some of which are. I hope that youll learn a few things, and have a few laughs, and maybe even be sad a few times. I find it fascinating to learn about things that are happening in the world all around us that we never see, and in the case of these stories, in the backyards of people right in our communities. So, relax and enjoy!

For Erica, who has made the world a better place for horses, and their people

Chapter 1

In the Beginning

I GUESS I SHOULD START by introducing myself and telling you a little bit about how I ended up with this amazing life filled with adventures. My name is Justin Long, and Im an author, a business owner, and a podcaster, as well as a horse doctors husband (a full-time occupation in its own right). My wife, Dr. Erica Lacher, is an equine veterinarian, and we own Springhill Equine Veterinary Clinic, which is a large-animal practice near Gainesville, Florida. I handle a lot of the administrative aspects of the business such as bookkeeping, paying bills, managing the website, recording and producing our podcast (Straight from the Horse Doctors Mouth), and that sort of thing, as well as some of the other more exciting things that Ill be telling you about.

Back in 2014, I was living in an army town near the coast of Georgia called Hinesville. I was single, reasonably well-employed as a purchaser and inventory control specialist with an industrial equipment manufacturing company, and I was doing my best to live a full life. I was an active member of the local Arts Council, and my friend Tom and I were on a quest to see every state park in Georgia via motorcycle. I was dating on occasion, and generally happy. Through extensive discussions with my therapist, I knew what I was looking for in terms of a long-term relationship, but I was really losing hope in actually finding someone who met my criteria.

One day, after yet another fruitless search through the online dating world, I was expressing my frustrations to my best friend, Kristen.

Why are you wasting time and money on these dating websites? she asked. Kristen is very good about speaking her mind with me, which is invaluable.

Where else am I going to find someone? I countered. Im not going to find the right woman in a bar, since I dont drink anymore. The odds of running into the one person in three hundred million at a bookstore or an art class are proving to be extremely low. I dont know where else to look. Resignation filled my voice, as it always does when Im facing an impossible barrier. At least the dating sites are screening out all the ones who are NOT the one, I added, which is all of them, so far.