December diverted

Warming up for my lesson, I saw Mara was stage 3 lame. (Obviously lame at the trot, occasionally at the walk, but weight bearing normally.) When KT arrived, I apologized, and she watched her trot, and felt her leg and hoof like I had 10 minutes before, and felt nothing. There's no digital pulse, there's nothing to be seen or felt anywhere in the hoof or leg.

I can see Aarene shaking her head at me now, because I had just spelled out my P-p-p plan for December. P-p-p Powerbook was a 2004 prank where a scammer was scammed by a Seattleite, and I feel like December just played a prank on me.

I gave her 8 ml of Bute and the vet arrived the next morning. He tested her hoof and did flex tests. The tests were positive higher up near the shoulder/elbow area. He thinks she probably injured herself playing, so I'm to give Bute the next week and then contact him in a week if she's not better for nerve blocks.

I could see he was leaning toward restricting movement but I never do that unless absolutely required, I think even a horse on Bute will take care, and she has, she's not filthy from rolling today, and when I watch them at pasture, I don't see galloping.

He also gave her a Rhino shot, called Herpes or EHV-1 here, and gave me all my Praziquantal and Ivermectin for both animals at the end of this month.

He noted that the area of her Passport indicating whether she's for slaughter or not was not completed, so he filled that out and we both signed it. Not food, my horse. Also, full of Bute. The vet showed me his notebook where, by law, he must record all substances given to horses who are on the "to be eaten" list. (And I confirmed that a horse who has ever had Bute is not legal as food at any time - there is no 6 month waiting period.)

The vet confirmed that Mara is on the verge of being too fat, which in my opinion means way too fat already. My goodness, she is an air fern. She gets nothing but freechoice crappy yellow hay and a pasture with not so much grass. And just enough grain to cover the taste of the vitamins. All I can do is reduce the hay a bit I suppose. I had to go get a sleazy because she's getting a blanket rub because the blanket is so tight around her chest. The other day while trying to squeeze her into that Amigo blanket, I started singing Fat horse in a little coat.

I switched to the Schneiders blanket which I hate (rain comes right in the neck, and it puts pressure on the wither area), but at least it is roomier. Burgundy looks so much better on Mara compared to fire engine red. I look forward to the day when I can throw it away, but for now it's a good backup. I am very close to putting an Amigo Bravo Wug on my Christmas list. Does anyone have this blanket? Something in me resists getting a blanket with a Bawwy Kwipke lisp.


Baasha's Jammies.



As you can see she's weighting her legs just fine. It's the RF that is sore.



This picture reminds me, as I was combing her mane, she suddenly started trembling all over. Whole-body shaking, what's going on? It turns out she was terrified of two little blond girls playing in the street, just out of sight, taking photos of each other and singing. Singing girls terrify my horse. *sigh*

Of course, my new riding/hiking boots just arrived, and I have a new piece of tack arriving in the mail today.

Last night I got a call from the sheepskin company that is making me a custom saddle blanket for my Eurolight.

When we can't ride, we shop.

Wait, what is this? Someone explain please. Note that it apparently requires a 2nd person to remove:


Then I had some fun comparing my first ride on Mara (March 2013) to this past Summer. I remember having not a clue about this horse. If only I'd known at the time what I was buying....