Thankfully, there are a lot of top veterinarians who can help treat every kind animal back to health.
Horse doctors are included among them. Yet for some reason there is a unique difference, so it seems between veterinarians and horse doctors.
Veterinarians can be horse doctors, and horse doctors can be veterinarians, but horse doctors have a different sense. They seem to have a lot more “horse sense.”
Now if that jabbering doesn’t sound meaningful then unfortunately acquaintance has not been made with a real horse doctor.
Obituaries always bring sad feelings, and it was even deeper heartfelt loss when reading that of Dr. Bryan Barr. He was a horse doctor.
Generally referred to as Doc, Dr. Barr was frequently also known personally as Bryan or Bryan Barr, whatever.
First meeting with Doc was decades ago stopping at his Emporia clinic with a racehorse-in-training enroute to the Eureka racetrack. The owner asked Dr. Barr to give a calming drug to the nervous horse wearing himself out before race time.
There forward, Doc became a friend who gave acknowledgement whenever paths passed, not too often actually. Conversations almost immediately generated to horses.
Privileged to judge several Lyon County horse competitions, Doc and his family were always in attendance. Son Wade was a friend of everybody with congenial, bright, shining smile, quick wit, and positive attitude. Sure, a semblance of his dad Doc and mom Gelane.
Following in Doc’s bootsteps, son Lee was a great horseman, now reflecting his participation in a Western riding class. An event then new to 4-H shows, and still now not seen too often.
Riders are supposed to change leads of their horses loping through a series of maneuvers. His horse never changing leads once, Lee still won because he completed the pattern while no other 4-H riders did. With Doc as partner and coach, Lee became and is a champion roper.
Whenever the horse issue was above and beyond local veterinarian treatment, Doc was called. Personally, professionally dedicated Doc’s “horse sense” far exceeded college levels. When castrations were required, Doc would readily drive 75 miles from his office to perform the surgery.
Every male horse has two naturally God-given testes yet sometimes they fail to descend into the scrotum scientifically called cryptorchidism. Not an easy procedure, Doc always knew what to do.
One time with such a young stallion drugged out on the ranch lawn, Doc had a difficult finding the second teste. Never one to give up, Doc’s knowledgeable perceptive hand kept searching inner body of the colt. He finally located and removed the missing testes about the size of a pea.
Abdominal hernias are another common issue in horses showing up as a bulge at the bottom of the body wall. Readily treatable by most veterinarians, Doc had a personal knitch for remedying the problem without surgery or any extra pain. Just a certain kind of tree twig clamped above the bulge and within a couple days it’d fall off.
Always present for the ranches horse sale, Doc was called the following day when a baby colt treated for lameness was extremely ill. Doc and Gelane readily came back Sunday morning to see what special care could be provided.
The colt succumbed later that day, and the owner wrongly made some snide remark to Doc about “killing that colt.” Of course, the comment didn’t set well with Doc which it shouldn’t have. Yet, he remained a good friend always anxious to help anything to do with horses.
Maintaining his birthhood ranch holdings in Riley County, Doc made frequent trips there managing the place and cutting firewood. He’d often stop to look at and talk horses.
With occasional visits to his clinic, Doc did routine horse health work, always accompanied by philosophical conversation. One of Doc’s office wall hangings, “Just Tack ’Em On,” taunted farriers a bit. Shoeing his own horses, Doc knew farrier work required considerable expertise, “horse sense,” not always prevalent in certain trade professionals.
At his immaculate Lyon County ranchette, Doc had a weedless garden with tall, sweet corn bearing giant ears.
Of course, several horses were in the barnyard with horse trailer nearby. After retiring from veterinarian profession, Doc was horseback every day at Buster Wheat’s feedlot pour down, blizzard, or record hot sun.
A few years ago, unhealthy seniority forced Doc to dismount. “I didn’t want to be tempted to ride every day, so I just sold my horses,” he said.
Still with an interest in everything horses and livestock, Doc regularly attended rodeos and livestock events. With passing of one son, two wives, and parents, Doc’s maturity overcame him.
Aside his deathbed was Doc’s heavily read and worn lifetime Bible scriptures underlined with sidenotes intact. Proof of never-failing belief in God the Almighty as his savior for eternity in Heaven.
One of the shortest obituaries likely ever printed didn’t do justice to the humblest of “horse sense.” Funeral attendance wasn’t large, but substantial number of cowboy boots and hats verified Doc was the most admired horse doctor.
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