Sunday, January 18, 2009

I've got two awards all the sudden! I've never had a blog award before. This one is the Lemonade Award, generously given to me by froglander AND PalyReiner, all in the same day.

This award is supposed to be given to bloggers who show gratitude or great attitude. Coincidentally this is something I feel very strongly about. I believe that to get through life happily, one must be grateful and look on the bright side. Gratitude is not the same as a feeling of indebtedness, which I think can be a negative thing. Gratitude is simply being aware of the goodness in your life, and being glad of it. Focusing on the important stuff, not steaming for hours over the guy who cut you off in traffic. Because that's not doing anybody any good, it's just prolonging and passing on negativity and stress. And in saying all this I'm not claiming that I am always successful in my endeavor to gratitude, I am not the Buddha or Christ, after all. I get mopey and mad and morose and all that sometimes. But I try not to.

However, today is one of those days where it's harder to be chipper. Cisco is colicky. I'm sure he'll be fine, but I can't help but wonder if this is going to be the time I'm wrong. He's one of the things in life I'm really grateful for. We finally have a good horse for John. Do you know how many years it took to find this horse? Let's see... 8-9 years I think. So he darn well better stick with us for a while. He's being a big sweetie, loving to be loved on. Then he'll get really agitated and ear pinny and wiggly and kick at his belly. He went down on his knees 3 times earlier but never all the way down. He had one poop that was REALLY dry. So, even though his water is heated, he hasn't been drinking. I've stalled him with his own water bucket, and after I take a break for a while I'll go out with hot water to re-warm it and give him some more love.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to update on the new saddle. I've had to experiment with where to put it on his back. But I think we have it figured. It sits more forward than I'm used to but it flares well over the shoulders and of course the tree flexes a bit. I'll have to ride more to make sure it's okay with him there, but I rode the 4 mile loop and it seemed like it worked great.

Will you all forgive me if I don't pass on the award today? The idea of setting up all the hyperlinks and going to 10 people's blogs to tell them they have an award is a little overwhelming right now, and I need to get back out and check on Cisco.


6 comments:

Kara said...

Poor Cisco. Do you feed beet bulp? I've had someone suggest that when they are dehydrated, give them really runny beet pulp (if he's used to eating it). I hope he pulls through!

Andrea -Mustang Saga said...

Kara, thanks for the suggestion. Funny, I was thinking along the same lines. I gave him some really runny beet pulp with a little molasses to make it more enticing. I don't know if he's ever had beet pulp before, but he was hungry enough to give it a try. Took him a little while to convince himself though. He dumped some of the water out but I think he got a little bit, plus what had soaked into the beet pulp.

Tracey said...

Andrea, how has the day gone? Is he doing okay?

The beet pulp is a great idea.

froglander said...

I hope he's okay! But yeah, I've read the same thing, to feed soaked beet pulp in the winter to increase water consumption.

A friend of mine's horse was at the breeders to be bred one year, she got a call that the mare (Swirl) was colicing. So she drove down there (I got to go with) and we stayed up with her all night. It was caused by not drinking enough water (she wasn't used to an automatic waterer and that's what was in the stall). Crazy thing about it was that she managed to stay bred and had a cute colt (who is now like 6 or 7 years old!).

I hope Cisco feels better!!

arlene said...

Sorry to hear that Cisco has a bad belly. I hope you don't loose him now you have finally found him. Sending Cisco and you good vibes....

Linda said...

Hope he's doing better tonight, Andrea. I hate dealing with colic--I've always given a warm bran mash to help them through, with a little Banamine--just a little--to take the edge off and keep them from rolling, and I take them for trailer rides. If none of that helps, I call the vet.