Happy Birthday to me!

Thank you God for the birthday gifts!!! 

 

I had to get up early to meet the farrier, but we got all the horses done in time for me to thaw out a tiny bit, have a bowl of cereal, and get to the vet on time. We started with Dan and the hematoma was still there. But it did look bigger, so we're hoping that it's because it's getting shallower. Hopefully it's close to growing out. He was a bit fussy and leaning for Patrick today too, so I do think doing his pelvis and neck with sarrapin will help! We'll see! But also, back to the foot... there wasn't that big bulging of the white line that you typically see with keratoma's. Patrick pared out as much of the bruise as he felt comfortable and then packed it with copper sulfate and we put the frog support pad back on. 

 

Dan and I got to the vet clinic and we got to go inside the heated barn. It was toasty warm! Then we took him back out to trot him and he looked great behind, and honestly pretty good up front too! I showed the vet the photos we took with his shoe off and he pulled up his rads. He said that he wasn't convinced it was a keratoma and that he was a bit suspicious that he cracked a chunk of his cofifn bone off (which would have been the acute lameness) and then resorbed it before we took the x-rays (which makes sense because.. we originally thought abscess so we didn't do rads immediately), and thus.. the hematoma. And he's slowly been getting sounder on it, so.... while I don't love the fact that he basically broke off a chunk of his coffin bone.. you know... where he holds ALL his weight... I DO LOVE the fact that he doesn't have a keratoma and thus doesn't need surgery! WHOOO HOOO!! Thank you God for the answered prayers!!! Plus, his suspensories looked good but he said it was time to start stressing that right hind so that the fibers lined up a bit better. He still didn't have any swelling. Yay! So we got cleared to add in 5 minutes of trot each ride! The vet recommended that we don't do five straight minutes, but instead do 5 one minute increments. And ideally on straight lines and hard/firm ground. He mentioned that he might feel a bit wonky at first, but not to panic. So yay!!! Happy Birthday to me!

 

So of course, we headed straight to Ashland! It was cold! So cold still! I had on fleece lined leggings underneath my fleece lined pants, a fleece lined shirt, a thick patagonia knock off sweatshirt thing, and a jacket, my winter gloves, and hiking boots and I was still pretty cold! But riding bareback helped! 

 

We had a great ride. We hacked out to the XC field so he could snack on some good green grass! And the water complex was frozen! It looked like it was frozen solid, but it may have just been the top layer. But it was the entire complex! So we didn't get to water treadmill! We walked to the lake and it had a large sheet of ice over a good chunk of it. You can tell where the deep parts are! Dan wasn't interested in going in or getting a drink, so we headed on. I did our first trot across the dam and it ended up being a good timed thing as it took right at a minute. He was so good. Then we did a bit of walking, then trotted alongside the tree line in the walnut field. Then took another walk break. Then did another minute of trot in the hay field, and then we snacked a little bit. Then we went into the woods and did our last trot up the hill to the backside of Ashland in the woods. He spooked at some deer so we were 12 seconds short, so once we got down the hill and around the turn, we did another 12 seconds, which turned into 16 seconds. ;) ha ha. Then we walked the rest of the way home. 

   

Ahhhhh, it's amazing how much better I feel! But God wasn't done. He gifted me an amazing sunset too!! I'm so blessed! And it was great to get all the birthday messages on facebook. There were some really kind and thoughtful messages too. And Keri and the kids sent me a cute video singing happy birthday to me. And Mom drew happy birthday in the snow and sent me a photo. It was a darn good day. Thank you God for your blessings and love. 

  

 

 

 

Frady Cat

 Danimal!! You best be careful.. you might lose your bad ass eventer card! 

I couldn't help myself and decided to take him for a walk about today. He does need to do his rehab! It was still icy on the roads this morning and there was still snow, but... by 1:30ish the sun was out and things were melting. At least in the sun. Although it was still barely 34 degrees with a windchill of 30. But, the roads were mostly dry so I figured I'd give it a shot. Besides.. they were clearly bored! 

 

I had gone out earlier this morning because while I was chatting on the phone I noticed that Fleck was laying down in the field. And Lyric was practically nosing him... and Funny was close.. And then Dan walked up. I knew Fleck was alive because he was lifting his head up every now and then, but... maybe he was stuck? Colicky? Regardless, the heathens were surrounding him, so.. I figured I should investigate. Of course as soon as I headed out there he got up. Poor guy.. was just trying to nap I guess and the heathens were bored. Dan came up to me and grabbed my jacket. He just held it for a bit but then he started tugging. Then he grabbed my sleeve. So I walked off a bit. Then I jogged and he trotted up after me. I grabbed a stick and tried to get him to play tug... but he wouldn't. And then I tossed it... But then he wouldn't fetch. Ha ha. He's not a dog Holly! Then he went and rolled. And then he came at me with his teeth bared! I'm pretty sure it was just play because he retracted well before he got close to me, but I did chase him off anyways. Then I found the sheet he shimmied out of last night and he entertained himself with that while the girls harassed me. Funny played with my hat and Lyric mugged me for cookies. Sillies! So yes... he needed to go for a ride. At that point though the arena was completely covered in snow still!

 

Anyways... I went in and had lunch and then went back out to get Dan. I groomed him and he's shedding like crazy! But despite being dirty and hairy, he's pretty shiny! He wasn't too grumpy for currying but not a huge fan of the sof brush. He didn't mind the shedding blade interestingly enough. I put the bareback pad on him and bridled him up with his nicely warmed up bit. We headed out towards the lake. He was driving me bananas because he had to stop and sniff everything... stop and stare... Then when we got to Tom's house, the dogs were out and distracting. So we had to stop and stare at them. Then we walked 5 feet, then stopped again. And then, we saw Brooke walking her dog up by the tennis courts and he had to stop and stare at her. And then his heart started pounding and he tried to spin and bolt a time or two. Dude.. come on!! You have pads on all four, you're rehabbing, I'm on blood thinners, it's cold and potentially icy... and it's a person and a dog! We even chatted and she slowly kept coming and he threatened to bolt about 3 times before she finally got close enough that he chilled out and then tried to sniff her dog. Seriously Daniel... you're not usually this silly. We tried to continue on but he was not having it, so I gave up and just walked back towards home with Brooke. Which was nice.. it was nice to chat with her and catch up. But he was still being kind of silly and spooky and his tongue had come out when he was freaking out about her and then when I tried to carry on. Sigh.. But we walked past the house with her and then Dan started to get a little bouncier as we got towards the edge of our property line, so I decided to bail and head back. Brooke came with us and then we headed home and she carried on. 

  

I decided to take him to the arena to check it out and besides.. we had not done our 30 minutes! He had to stop and stare at Jean's horses too. This was the longest 30 minute walk!! We finally made it to the arena, which was still frozen on the one long side. But the majority of it was rideable. At least at the walk. We just did a few laps, walked through the ground poles 3 or 4 times, and did some leg yield. And his tongue came out again. Sigh... I don't know if it's pain at this point, or just anxiety. I suppose it's anxiety when he was upset earlier about the dog and Brooke, but then... was it pain in the arena? Anticipation of pain? Ugh. 

 

We headed back home and as we were about to cross the gate at the end of the driveway, he saw the statues and freaked out and almost spun and bolted. Dude! For real! It's the same exact statues that you've walked past repeatedly! Even 10 minutes ago. I finally got frustrated enough that I just got off and walked him past them, telling him how silly and ridiculous he was. (Did I mention I had a migraine brewing, had been taken off birth control pills cold turkey, and was upset about my friend passing away... so I think there was a lot of anxiety/grief/pain/hormones going on). 

 

So yeah... didn't exactly help my mood today. But, we did it. And I am grateful that I got to ride him again, even if it wasn't the most fun ride. It was nice to be back on his back again after being in Florida for 5 days. 

Second Snow!

Well, this is unusual! We got two snows this year! And what's even weirder.. it snowed in Destin! ON THE BEACH!! And in New Orleans.. in the swamps even! How bizarre!! 

This one was more ice and not nearly the volume. Which is fine by me. It's pretty at first but then it just makes such a mess. And it's a pain trying to keep the pipes from freezing, keeping waters full and not frozen, keeping ponies hydrated. And my fingers are so cold.

 

Poor Mike, he had to feed ponies for 5 days while I was in Florida for a vet conference. Luckily it didn't snow until the afternoon after I got home. But it was frozen before then. Mike left things dripping but that was all. Unfortunately, because it was a few days in a row, we had another busted water line. Luckily just up in the barn ceiling so it was way less expensive to replace. 

I'm glad I went to the conference though. It was so helpful! I cannot wait for my supplies to come so I can start treating Dan and Lyric! 

I did get home by 1ish, so... my plan was to catch up on things and groom all the ponies since they've been wearing clothes non stop for 6 days. I did manage to get Dan groomed. And perhaps he missed me. He wasn't too fussy to groom him and he's shedding like crazy. He let me curry him quite happily but the brush isn't his favorite still. I did do a little bit of fascial work too. Then I blanketed him back up and turned him back out. By then the others had wandered off and I had already cleaned stalls and fixed waters and such, so... I went inside to warm up a bit before feeding. Guess no one else is getting groomed today.