Mustang Saga

I worked on my saddle pad project today. I think I posted about it but maybe not... There is a wonderful tutorial in the works on Linda's blog (and it's a wonderful blog to read any old day - I love her photography). I don't have photos of my process but she has plenty. Here's Part 1 and here's Part 2.

I have gotten to the point where I've put it on my horse under the saddle and marked my edges but I'm not going to cut them out until tomorrow. I've put my stinky, spray painted canvas in the pump house for the night so my house will smell better. I'm going to hopefully have my roving soon. My friend Melissa has generously offered to trade me enough roving in exchange for part of the purchase price of a saddle I sold her. So we just have to find time to get together. I haven't seen the roving yet. I know there's mostly white and a little grey, but don't know what shade of grey. I can't decided if I want to do a strip of white, then grey, around the edge, or just grey around the edge and then all white in the middle. Linda's photo titled Signs and Wonders shows a pad like this under a saddle. What do you think, white on the edge or grey? I don't have enough colored wool to make two stripes of grey, I don't think.

Other than that, I wormed the horses today. I used Zimecterin Gold for the first time. I usually use Quest Plus for my midwinter worming, but I still think it was the Quest that made Bella founder, even though a vet told me that doesn't happen, so I don't know if I'll use it again. I don't feel good about using only Ivermectin year-round though, and I don't have a lot of faith in the other wormers out there. I ought to call my vet. What is your rotation? I know the new protocol is to have a fecal test done and then decide whether to worm, but every fecal test I've done has come back positive, so I just assume I do need to worm quarterly.

Cisco is funny, he always has to tell me exactly what he thinks about being wormed before he submits and takes it nicely. Used to be he'd run backward with his head in the air, but I just calmly followed him, then rubbed him with the wormer tube, then wormed him. Now he just pops his head up a couple times and then stands nice. Scout also protested a tiny bit. Other than that it was pretty uneventful. Tonka was trying to take the wormer out of my pocket, he was so eager to get his so he could have treats afterward.

I think I've hurt my back again. Well, I know it hurts, but I'm not sure exactly what I did. And my toes are kinda numb/painful. Not sure if the two are related. I'm only 33, I really don't think I ought to have this much trouble with my body already. I'd like to trade it in, I think it's defective. Good news though, I have health insurance now! So I'll be making an appointment to see the doctor very soon. I think I might ask to be tested for rheumatoid again, and maybe do some physical therapy for my stupid back. New x-rays would be nice. My lower back looked awful a couple years ago, but it's my upper back that always hurts, I'd like to see what my spine looks like there. I was diagnosed with degenerative joint disease/osteoarthritis in my back a couple years ago, which made getting insurance an adventure, let me tell you. I'm still not sure how we're going to afford the monthly payment...

Enough of my whining. I think I'm going to go stretch again (which is really hard when every time you sit on the floor your dogs pile around & on you and want a belly rub).