Super good patient!

 Drunk Dan is so nice! He's being a remarkably good patient so far! I know it won't last... but I'm so proud of him! He hasn't even woken me up overnight... it's been Lyric rubbing her big ol' butt on her feed bucket! He's been quiet... not kicking.... eating his meds. Hand grazing quite politely. Today he stood quietly in the cross ties getting bemered while I cleaned his stall. And he even stood patiently while I changed his bandages! His incisions look good too!

He's so silly. I love him so much!

 

And I'm so silly! I couldn't help myself though. 

Off to a good start!

 

 So.... Danny is being quite good! I'm sure the 20 trazadone twice daily is helping! Poor guy is a bit stoned. BUT.... he was pretty quiet all night and I slept great! And he seemed happy enough. I think having his patio makes a big difference. Plus lots of grazing. 

 

And then today we had the saddle fitter come and Marvin and Kelli came too, so there was lots to keep him entertained. Hopefully he'll continue to behave and then after 2 weeks when his stitches come out and his bandages can be kept off, he can start some small turn out. 

 

Home!!!

 And he is HANGRY!!!

Trazadone going in stat!!

I took him for a little tiny walk to graze the grass in the front yard and he reared up once. But then angrily snacked. Kicked out with each hind foot once or twice too. Then I put him in his stall and he wasn't too bad.. just a lot of back and forth. He kicked the wall hard once too. Come on sir! Eat your trazadone!! He did drink a good bit and then ate some hay. And ate his whole dinner, with all 20 tabs of trazadone and his "tendon and ligament" herbs. I left Funny in next door and gave them both two big piles of hay. I've heard a little bit of commotion but... at the moment, all seems quiet. Almost suspiciously quiet.... perhaps I should go check! I just don't want to anger the beast if he's peaceful now! Doh. But I guess I'm going to have to go do bed check and toss more hay before I go to bed. 

The good news (hopefully) is that tomorrow the saddle fitter comes and she has to come here again because Ashland is having their show, so... there will be some excitement to entertain him. Or... make him go bonkers... I can't decide. Hopefully the former. I'll probably leave Fleck in with him since I'll have to take both girls out to ride potentially. 

Pray for us all! :) Seriously....  

Another broken promise

 

But this time it's not my fault! And... it's only a slightly broken promise.

 

I dropped Dan off for his surgery yesterday. And I tried to hug him in the parking lot and he was snarly and wiggly. But after I paid my deposit and talked to the vet, I snuck back over and gave him some nose boops. And he was snuggly. And then I cried on the way home. And prayed. And felt pretty convicted that I had heard God correctly. 

 

(His sad little face when I left!!! Wahhhhhhhh)

And then I prayed throughout the night, every time I woke up. And again this morning. I had a friend bring her horse over for treatment because he was sleep deprived and falling. It was a good distraction and I pray that I helped him. (So far, not sleeping, but... hopefully soon). During her visit, the vet called and said that Dan was up and his surgery was a success. There was a little bit of bruising in his tendon, but it went well and he went ahead and did the renovo after looking at a little more research. He said that "in typical Appaloosa fashion, he laid there out cold, then suddenly popped up, stood up, and was completely sober". Yay Dan!! hee hee. That does sound about right. Thank you God!!! 

So then I took Funny for a ride, because... bless her, she misses her brother! When my friend pulled up with her trailer, which looks exactly like mine, Funny was so excited! And then she was like "WTF are you?!" when it wasn't Dan. Sorry baby girl.. he comes home tomorrow! So we had a great ride. I almost took her with me to visit him but didn't want to get them both upset. So I took her home, unhitched, took the hay trailer to Judy's, picked up my feed, and then made it to visit Dan before they closed. I walked in and said hi and snuggled with him a bit. He was eating dinner (soupy yay!) and was making faces at me but let me hug him. And then.... I noticed... um.... why did y'all bandage his left hind? Oh no... OH NO!!! So... the other vet walked by and said hi and... I was like "Umm.... He was supposed to have surgery on his right hind..... ". Her face. The poor girl. Her face fell and she looked panic stricken! She was like "let me check with the other vet" and bolted. I can't blame her. So... then she walked past the outside of the barn and yelled to me that the vet that did his surgery would be back shortly and come talk to me. So Dan and I snuggled. He let me hug on him and scratch him and smeared his soup all over me. Man I love him. I missed his face! And I think he missed me!

So then the vet pulled up and was like "oh man... I messed up.. how can I fix it?". And then he offered to do the surgery tomorrow morning at no charge. So... you know.... I can live with that. We all make mistakes. I get it. And because of Dan's shoulder atrophy, he didn't lay him down on his side... he laid him on his back... and both legs were clipped because we had ultrasounded both to compare and make sure he didn't need both legs done. And... some surgeons say to just go ahead and do both anyways.... And then he said it was bruised... So, maybe, just maybe, this was God's way of giving me a two for one deal. ;) And saving me from having to go back on my word about another surgery and another stall rest. Because.... Daniel, you can go under anesthesia for 26 minutes again tomorrow and not have to add an extra day onto your stall rest/rehab protocol MUCH easier than we can do this again in 6 months to a year and have to start over yet again. 

So... I'm choosing to look at this as a blessing in disguise. Though I am going to be praying again hard tonight and tomorrow that he wakes up and recovers as well as he did today. And he still gets to come home tomorrow because... he's a tough cookie. I could have brought him home tonight had I had the trailer.. and he not needed a repeat ;) 

Oh Dan.... sucks to be a vets horse because.... it's always us. ;) But.. hey, at least you get lots of shockwave and bemer and acupuncture and chiro and rehab and drugs and supplements. 

I love you sir!

I will bring you home tomorrow! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Grateful

 And stressing!!!

 

I'm trying hard NOT to stress. I trust God... I trust His plan... I've heard Him... I've appreciated the signs He's sent... but I'm still a worried momma. Dan has surgery on Thursday. I'm praying hard that I've made the right choice... that I heard God correctly... that Dan makes smart choices and gets up from anesthesia uneventfully.... that he and I both survive the rehab/stall rest and that at the least he's comfortable for trail rides and farting around. If we get more comfort and get to do more than that, that is icing on the cake. And I'm hoping and praying for that. I would LOVE to be able to get my bronze on him... let him strut in the show ring.... I would LOVE to be able to do a Training Three Day with him.... I would love to do more parades and beach rides and chase cows and fox hunt... and just enjoy him doing all the fun things. But, ultimately, he's so much fun hacking out on the trails, that if that's all we can do comfortably, that's enough. 

 

And that's what we did today. We went to Ashland and just rode around and enjoyed ourselves. There was no excitement in the jump arena so there was no jigging or nerves. Just a happy pony with a happy rider on a beautiful farm on a beautiful day. 

 

We just walked and enjoyed ourselves but I did get in one last short canter... just in case. And maybe not even just in case... more because... we could. And it'll be a while. And we both love it. 

It was a good day! 

 

And then he got his teeth done and despite it being a year, he wasn't too bad. And he didn't have any issues with his head and neck being manipulated. Dr. Febles is so good and kind and made sure to not put too much pressure on him. I adore her! And... Dan does love Flecky! Fleck had to get three teeth pulled. When they were working on him Lyric was his emotional aupport pony and hung out with him comforting him. But once it was done, she and Funny wandered off. Dan came back and hung out, even in the stall for a bit, with Flecky until he had recovered enough from the anesthesia and then they both wandered off. He does have a soft heart underneath his T-rex exterior! Of course he was also intrigued by the blood, but.. he definitely sat with Fleck.