He’s a little bit like James Herriot, a little bit like Dr. Pol. and a lot like our elderly, laid-back pediatrician, and all of that in one package makes the man our farm could never do without.

He hasn’t been out since there was last winter’s snow on the ground, and as much as we love him, that’s a GOOD thing. It’s been a pretty easy year as far as the critters go.

But he came out yesterday because my little mini needed her teeth done, the pony was dropping feed and my youngest daughter’s guinea pig had the slobbers.

We crawled around on the ground holding tools while did the yearly maintenance on the mouth of my little horse, my daughter listened intently as he explained how her pony’s teeth are aligned as close to perfect as a horse’s teeth can get, and then we all came inside and had a cup of coffee while he performed a kitchen table dental exam on the guinea pig with the massively overgrown incisors.

He left like always, leaving us with two things: a pocketful of country wisdom and horse sense…

…and a smiling and grateful heart for small town farm vets.

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All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

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