It's Friday. Snow fell all night and it's a beautiful, bright morning. The air is still and I was able to wander around outside without my gloves on for the first time in a while. What a lovely day! (I think I'm starting to feel better now.)

I love our black walnut trees in the snow:

Still some walnuts hanging on:Beautiful:
Playful:

And a crappy pic of Scout, still in his temporary enclosure this morning.
Good boy!

Scout got the go-ahead today to come off bute and try a bigger area. And none too soon! He was starting to rearrange the panels in the barn, and I'd caught him taking off at a run and having a bucking fit in his little 12x16 stall. Not enough room for that kind of nonsense in there.

As I expected, he became a fire-breathing idiot when I let him out. He ran, fell, bucked, and then just ran right under the temporary fence I'd set up for him. I hadn't turned on the charger yet. My bad, I know better than that. Anyway, he was fine, still enclosed in the regular fencing. He had a good graze while I went and plugged in the fence. When I put him back he was a bit of a jerk. Stall rest is not good for manners in a youngster. But he's calmed down now and is quietly eating his hay. That's a lot of exercise for a wee man who hasn't been out in two weeks. I'll check his leg this afternoon. Hopefully no harm has been done.

All this excitement when I'm not feeling well and should be down for the day. Not that I mind. It's good to see him out in the air again. I'm going to go sit in front of the TV and maybe even take a nap before the kids get home. Bella will have to take the day off. I'm sure she'll be heartbroken. :)

AHA! Apparently I've been working on getting sick. Tonight I feel awful. It's kind of a relief though, to know it's just a bug. I was beginning to think there was something really wrong with me mentally.

Scout got to come out of his stall for the first time in almost two weeks. We went for a little walk. He was kinda high spirited but not as bad as I'd feared. The leg still has a very slight swelling in it (I think) but I couldn't see any lameness at the walk. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a video of us at the trot so I can see how he's moving. It's hard to see, not having help.

Bella and I played a bit today as well. I had planned on saddling her up but ended up just doing naked groundwork :) and going for a walk. We went in and out of one of our ditches, through the narrow and the wide, the deep and the shallow, just to work on being mindful of our choice of steps and not rushing. She never once tried to jump or get ahead of me. She's such a nice girl. Altogether too sensitive sometimes, but that can be worked on. I found a broken old rusty T-post half buried out in the field, and when I threw it over the fence she startled pretty badly. So I practiced my javelin hurl for a while and did some waving and silly stuff that would have looked pretty stupid to anyone who happened to be passing. In her defense, it was a cold and windy day that would have had any horses' nerves up. Normally she's not quite so jumpy.

We have lots of snow coming. Or not. Depends on which weather site you look at. Currently it's snowing but it's supposed to turn to rain. And it's very cold and windy. Blech. But I have been getting out with the horses, if only for a little while. That's a good thing.

A question on forelocks:

I realize I'm a bit vain about my horses' manes. I like them as long as they'll naturally grow. I figure they're there for a reason. Defense against flies, maybe warmth. I think the forelock may help protect from the sun too. But Bella's is so long and fine that it's constantly getting into her eye and sticking. Her eye gets boogery and you can hear the lids slapping together as she blinks to try to clear it. Every now and then it actually wraps around her eyeball. So I've considered trimming it. Would you? Or would you just braid it? But if it's braided why have it at all?

Which I guess brings me to the next question, since I think I may want to trim it - how do you trim it and keep it looking natural? Would you cut it in a V shape and then use thinning shears? I'm no hairstylist but do know that I definitely don't want her to look like that one stooge, the one with the bangs. Moe?

Today I put it in a ponytail. Then eventually I braided it because the ponytail still got in her eyes.
I haven't had the time or the drive to work with her since last Wednesday. Lame of me, I know. Today I just got her out and played for a half hour. She seems to be getting a bit of a work ethic. Me, not so much. She'll never get there if I don't. I need to quit making excuses. But with the weather the way it is, it's hard. Why yes, I would like some cheese with my whine, thank you very much. :)

I feel so much better when I get out and play with a horse. I wish I knew why I have so little energy, even for something I love so much.

But! Onward and forward. This lethargy will pass, and so will the winter, and I have many years ahead to play with my fuzzy friends. I saw a pretty wall plaque the other day that says, "If you're lucky enough to have a horse, you're lucky enough." And I am. :)

Bella and I did some more ground work today and it was good. Tonight I went out and gave her an apple and a little massage and scratched her udder for her.

I had a lot of fun with the dogs today. Took Huck and Blue through the bank drive through. They said I have to bring them in next time so they can pass the pup around. :) Then went to get a coffee (I try not to splurge but my coffee at home had a dead earwig in it.) and the coffee lady in Potlatch is so awesome. She gave them each 3 big treats. So now Blue is learning the joys of the drive-thru. Huck knows the drill so well he's alert and drooling before we even get to the window.

Then we went for the puppy's second shot and wormer. He's almost doubled in weight! And thank goodness, the heart murmur is gone.

I'd kinda like your opinion here. It's a long story but the point at the end is this question: Is three an unreasonable number of dogs? Mainly I'm just kinda ranting though...

There's this vet that I can't stand and my dogs don't like her either. A few years back we had a couple emergencies and couldn't avoid her. At the time, we had a rescue dog, Ben.
He was a super lovable chocolate lab who had lived his life in a filthy kennel and had bad mange and was kinda old for his age. I spent hundreds of dollars on getting him well, which isn't really the point, but it's part of the story I guess. His days here were filled with happy running and playing with the kids, and lots of love. Eventually his knees gave out. The cruciate ligament snapped. This vet had the gall to rub it in my face that we "couldn't afford" the surgery for him because we had "so many dogs." That wasn't the case at all! Even if I could have afforded it I wouldn't have spent thousands of dollars to put him through surgery and rehab for both knees. Or even one. It just wasn't even a consideration in my mind.

Now, every time I see her in there, she greets me super cheerfully and makes some sort of jab about all my dogs. Like today, "She's always getting puppies! She just can't help herself!" Excuse me, but this is my second puppy...

And - We only have 3 dogs! We've never had more than three dogs. Is that a lot of dogs? To me it's the upper limit, but it's reasonable. Certainly not hoarding or anything. And the fact that we're in at the vet with them and current on everything shows we're not neglecting them. Besides, look at how healthy they are. Well, besides India, but she's just old. She gets daily meds for her arthritis, plus several arthritis supplements my vet recommends, and they get some of the best dog food on the market. And they all get plenty of attention.

Maybe she thinks we still have the dogs that have died over the years, and the strays I've brought in to scan for microchips. I'm about to the point where I'm going to confront her on it. I know I should just let it pass but it also wouldn't hurt to nicely point out that I don't have fifty thousand dogs. And it might make me feel better. She really ticks me off.

Today I remind myself to be thankful that I have another horse to play with.

Isn't it silly? Ridiculous? I have an old arthritic horse with a sinus tumor who can't breathe, a younger lame horse with EPSM and a healing severe hoof abscess who just recently recovered from a DDFT injury, a young horse who is now painfully lame and on stall rest, and so I'm trying again with the horse that had to have stifle surgery and then foundered. What the heck is wrong with my luck? What happened to the idea that mustangs are tough and hardy? Of course Soxy's not a mustang but the rest of them are. I think horses may as well be made of glass.

I'm not including Grace in my count because she's not really mine and I'm not sure she's a permanent resident here.

So anyway, back to Bella. She's a challenge, in a very mental sort of way. She's sweet as long as I don't ask her to do anything. She gets resentful when I ask her to work. She was downright pissy under saddle yesterday. But she's so darn sensitive any amount of pressure sends her up the wall. I find myself really thinking hard and wondering what is the right thing to do with her.

Something that the trainer said to me last week keeps coming back to mind. If a horse thinks you are on the same level in the pecking order, or lower, it will resent being asked to work or told what to do. What an eye opener that was. Here I've been all concerned about my horses' feelings, and feeling bad myself because they didn't seem to like working with me. And then this new information is stated and I'm thinking, "Wow, that is so obvious, how could I not have known that!"

Which in turn takes me back to when I was watching Keith work with Scout and it made me realize I was making way too many allowances for Bella because she's so emotional.

So I'm going to do some Bella Boot Camp. She's going to be asked to toe the line, and if she has to get emotional about it that's just what's going to have to happen. I'm not going to be mean or super bitchy, but I'm going to ask her to do what I want, when I want and come down and end on a good, relaxed note. Sounds so simple. But I think she's going to have a hard time with it. So am I. Like so many of us, I'd much rather just be her friend. But I don't want to get hurt because she thinks I don't have a right to ask her to walk out when I'm in the saddle.

Which brings me to yesterday when we had a nice working session in the round pen. I saddled her and bridled her in the Myler comfort snaffle. I had been riding her in a bosal, you may remember. That was just another allowance to keep her mental discomfort level down, so I decided she's going to have to ride in a bit. This is a wonderful bit too, all my horses have loved it. She liked it too, settled down and quit mouthing quite quickly.

Ground work went very well and she flexed and gave to the bit very nicely while I was on the ground. When I got in the saddle she did well, except she had a hard time giving to the bit and backing at the same time. This was tough for her in a halter as well, when she was learning to lead. No big deal, just stuff to work on. But when I asked her to walk out she felt comfortable enough to start tossing her head and I felt her body bunch up under me. I don't like that feeling at all. I stayed on and walked her around, did some more work on giving to the bit, then did some more ground work, then got on again. Same attitude. I think what I need to do is push her up into a trot. It scares me though, the idea that she may buck. So I'm going to keep doing ground work and building respect for now. It shouldn't be long before I'm in the saddle again.

I'm not upset or complaining about Bella, I actually think it's kind of nice to have an "Aha!" moment that gives me things to work on and think through. We're both going to grow. Constantly growing, with all there is to learn and do with the horses. It's good stuff.

This all must be very boring to read. But it helps me get my head around it.

The vet just left. No definite diagnosis but the problem seems to be either down in the joint or around the sesamoid. I guess that's better than high in the tendon. It could be the suspensory ligament. He may have just twisted the joint. He might have a bone bruise, and he might have a fracture of the sesamoid but he thinks that's unlikely because of the amount of improvement we've seen so far. I'm supposed to call him on Thursday with an update. We can do x-rays if we need to at that point. But for now the treatment is stall rest, ice 2x daily, and bute. Basically what he told me to do anyway but I feel better now for some reason. I guess it's just nice to have some information.

I just read that one of my favorite bloggers is in the process of passing away. She's been fighting cancer and met every challenge head on, but suddenly she's slipping away. I "met" her online many years ago, long before I got Tonka, on a mustang forum. She's a wonderful, brilliant, caring lady, a talented artist, a horse lover. She'll be missed. I'm glad she's not in pain but I really wish things could have turned out differently.

Well, today was discouraging. Scout's swelling went down quite a bit. Enough to feel the lumps on his tendon that show this is probably not an abscess. If it is a tendon injury, and I'm pretty sure it is at this point, it's much worse than what Tonka did this summer. I'll call my vet in the morning.

This afternoon I put Grace in with Tonka and Bella for the first time. I took Tonka out initially, to try to control the chaos. They had been living right next to each other for about a week, so they'd had time to hang out. Which turned out to be a great thing, because it went over with very little drama. Bella let Grace know she was in charge, and they settled down to eat. When I let Tonka in, Bella kept him away at first with just a little posturing. When she let him approach they simply said hello and that was it. Later they decided to tear around a bit, but I think it was just in fun, or maybe something spooked them, but they weren't fighting.


We raked about a ton of leaves out of the yard today, but we took a break in the middle to play with the puppies.

This picture cracked me up:
India loves apples, and it's an all you can eat buffet this time of year.

Big fart, little fart, and old fart. :)

Scout hasn't improved yet. The swelling is worse today. I'm hoping to see a draining abscess next time I go out there. But all these worse case scenarios keep going through my head. I'm a worrier. But I'm doing what I can, for now. If nothing resolves by Monday then we'll have the vet take a closer look. I'd hate to have them do a bunch of diagnostics just to find out it was an abscess after all.

On a brighter note, Blue is so smart! He's not quite 9 weeks old and today I started teaching him a few things. He learned "sit" and "shake" today. We started heel but that will take time. He's just following the food. He LOVES food. Goes totally gaga over it.

I've been doing a little groundwork with Bella and Tonka, hoping I can get to riding them again. It's pretty ridiculous that I have 5 horses here and not one I can take out for a ride.

The weather should be nice tomorrow, so I hope to enjoy lots of horseplay! Hope you all have a lovely Sunday too.

Scout gave me a scare today. I found him pointing his right front foot in front of him. At first I hoped it was my imagination, but nope, he wasn't just shifting his weight. Then I found one of the wooden hay feeders torn to bits. Boards with screws sticking up strewn about. Crap.

I scrubbed his hoof, didn't find a puncture. Checked his leg, it was swollen up to the knee but I didn't feel any irregularities. He reacted to pressure but I think he thought I wanted him to pick his foot up.

I called my vet and in the course of describing the problem realized I'd probably overlooked the obvious because of that torn up hay feeder. I think it's a hoof abscess. Last Tuesday I noted that he was toe-stepping, specifically on that foot. I attributed it to hoof pain because of the newly removed shoes. I rode him Wednesday in Easyboots with no problem. But now it's much, much worse. The heat and swelling seem to be the worst in the heel bulbs. I exfoliated the sole and still did not find any sign of a puncture, bruise, or anything of the sort. (His heels were slightly bruised when I removed the shoes but that was old bruising.) I also found that he walked better over time as we headed from the pasture to the barn. I'd think that might be indicative of an abscess, since movement is supposed to help. But maybe I'm grasping at straws. Abscesses are great, I like them. Because once they rupture the horse is fine and dandy. What I don't want is a puncture, infection, or tendon injury.

I'm following the doctors orders and soaking in Epsom salts and warm water twice a day, with bute twice a day, until Monday. If an abscess doesn't rupture I'll probably have the vet out to see if it may be a tendon or a puncture.

Meanwhile poor Scout is stallbound, to keep his hooves clean and just in case it is a tendon and not an abscess. He liked it at first but when he saw me out in the pasture playing with Tonka he did some banging on the gate. I think he's getting bored. He dumped all his water and scattered the few things I left in reach of the gate. He's pretty predictable that way.

It's puppy picture time! I worked at the spay/neuter clinic today and came home with a headache so no horse work. (Shh, don't tell anyone, but I think I may be allergic to cats.)

Rawr!

This moose is Huckleberry's favorite toy.
I won't be offended if you laugh at poor little goofy Blue.

And here's Huck at the same age. He was kinda silly looking himself. And wall-eyed too. So hopefully Blue will grow out of it. And if he doesn't, so be it, he'll be cute. But I'll want to call him Igor.

Today Scout loaded in the trailer with his saddle on for the first time (stirrups tied up of course). He wasn't very comfortable about it. I need to do some trailer loading practice. He wants to walk into me, and I want him against the wall on his bad eye, which he doesn't want to do. So, practice makes perfect.

I also used Easyboots for the first time today, on all 4, and he went a lot better than he did yesterday. He was toe-stepping for the first time in his life. I think having shoes on set us back. Unfortunately he's right between sizes for Easyboots - 2's are too big and 1's are too small. Irritating. But for our purposes today the 2's worked.

We had the opportunity to go to another one of the group lessons, and it was a lot of fun. I think I really need this. I hope we can make our schedules match at least some of the time.

My notes for today:
Groundwork at liberty:

• Need to be able to turn to the outside or inside (I've taught him to only turn to the inside). Need to make my cues for each type of turn more obviously different. It's kinda hard working in a round pen that's bigger than what I'm used to. (Excuses, excuses)
• SPANK HIM when he's bad. He kicked out at me today as I was sending him off in the round pen. The trainer said, "He'd love to kick you right now" and I disagree with that. If he wanted to kick me, he has plenty of opportunity every day to do that. He's flipping me off, not punching me in the face. But either way, it's rude and not the kind of relationship I want to build. So I need to REALLY get after him when he shows attitude, every time. This could lead to more of a can-do attitude instead of the "Jeez, this is boring and I hate it," look.
  
• Speed it up, expect more, and expect it NOW. (Same theme as last time)
• On the line, we did some prep work for our later riding work - turns on the haunches. We were working on our "send." We'd back the horse, and if we're sending to the left (my left, Scout's right) we'd lift the lead (direct rein) as the horse's right foot was leaving the ground, making it easier for them to move in that direction. Both ways, of course. He did it, but we need to do more homework on this one. He's so lazy, I need to get some life in him to make it go better. (Same theme as always)

Riding:

• Walk, trot, turn on haunches into the fence (this is where the liberty work turning into the fence will pay off). Leave the turn at the same gait you went into it (hah! - again, more homework). To turn on the haunches into the fence to the right, direct rein with the right rein, follow with an indirect left rein and a push of the left leg. Trot off in the new direction. I'm not totally sure about that indirect rein though... Maybe I made that part up.
• We did some serpentines, way more complicated than I've done before. All my appendages are attached to Scout's appendages and my legs got tired and I'm not sure we got anywhere... The idea was to have all 4 legs equally reaching through the turns. My direct rein moved his inside front leg, indirect rein lightly and my outside leg pushing at the front of the girth to drive his outside front , and my inside leg back, pushing his hind end out. Something like that, anyway. That's not much to remember is it? And then to feel whether it's going right? Gah! They worked on this last week so didn't spend much time on it today. That's what I get for being behind.
• Turn on the haunches starts by backing, and I need to get Scout backing with his face vertical, not behind the bit. Basically it's the same as what we did on the ground - back, then direct rein to the side as that leg is leaving the ground. Then, building on that, push the outside leg to push his outside leg over. Then, building on that, take another step back and repeat. Eventually we would be just rocking back between steps rather than backing again.

These are the keys to starting to get collection. A turn on the haunches requires that the horse be on his haunches. When he's on his haunches he's able to get collected and have his athletic ability available for use.

Tonight I got Tonka out and did some of the groundwork with him. It was really nice to see that his muscles aren't all bound up and he's moving pretty freely right now. He's a good boy. I wouldn't mind taking him for a ride, even if it's only for a few minutes. I'll see how he feels over the next couple days.

I really have not been spending enough time with the horses. But I did get a ride in with Scout tonight. He's still a good boy. He did a little bolt when we spooked an owl out of the trees but it was understandable. I'm just glad he didn't step in one of the holes we were standing right next to. Other than that it was a great ride, with progress made.

Huck says, "Yay! I found my kid!"

Huckleberry and Blue are playing a game right now that involves Huck flaunting a bone and Blue racing back and forth and pouncing. It's pretty cute. They just ran all the way across the house together, Blue going "pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat" and Huck going "thumpa-thumpa-thumpa." I'd like Blue to go to sleep so I can go feed without his help. But at least they're being entertaining while they're being inconvenient.

Speaking of feeding horses, what times of day do you feed? Do you keep on a strict schedule or are you more lax about it? Why?

I don't keep on a schedule but I do my very best to space their feedings 12 hours apart.

Happy Halloween!

Huckleberry was more than happy to hold the bucket, but the other boys weren't quite as obliging. I did manage to get a couple quick pictures before they lost interest.

Funny how they're such dorks, except when I want them to be.

Self portraits of a ride are so uninspiring.

Looking ahead:

Looking back:

Yesterday Scout and I had a wonderful ride here at home. We started out in the round pen since it's been over two weeks since our last ride, and I wanted to work on some homework from that lesson a couple weeks back. I also rode him with chinks on for the first time. You never know when they might get scared of something new flapping and slapping around. He didn't mind them though.

Eventually we went out of the round pen. I opened and closed the gate from his back for the first time. We'd opened it before but never closed it, although I know Keith did gates with him. Closing it is harder, I think partially because he's thinking he's free of the round pen and wanting to go do something more fun. Which we did. Lots of walk trot whoa in the field, and weaving around trees, facing a scary tiny bird in a pile of newly cut branches, etc. Basically we just dinked around but it was a lot of fun. I need to ride more often. I think I'm out of my horse funk now, only to be thwarted by this puppy!

Which is what happened today. I had intended to ride with Easyboots and rain slicker, since he's never done either and we have a big ride planned for tomorrow. But everyday work and the puppy being awake and very interactive at the wrong time meant that I just tried the boots on him and flapped my slicker all over his back. He was fine. But I'll ride him in the round pen before we go, if we go. The weather forecast is looking a little icky and Melissa is worn out from all the work she did today, so we may not go. Either way, I'm going to find a way to ride. :)

Okay, I promise my next post will be about horses. But for now I have more doggie pics.

Sometimes this is how Huck feels about his little brother:

And sometimes this is how he feels about his little brother:

"Play with me!"

I totally love the look on Blue's face in this next one.
You might have to enlarge to see how funny it is.
Very hard going for a little guy.

Awww. Now that's my good dog.

And here's my good horse. I wish I had more time for him.

There's nothing quite like rolling around in the grass with your dogs for a good laugh. Good pictures too.

Which one is your favorite?

#1:

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

#6:

At 1 a.m. when I'm making a trip outside for puppy potty, and then we come back in and he just won't quiet down and go back to sleep, I wonder what the heck I was thinking.

But today when I took him in for his wellness exam and found out he has a heart murmur I realized how attached I already am. It's probably nothing to worry about. Sometimes their heart grows faster than the valves.

He's a vicious little goober.

He's getting stronger every day, and is more like a little dog and less like an infant. I have a crate for him to sleep in and he's gone in voluntarily 3 times today to take a nap. But the poor guy sounded like I was killing him when I stuck him in an empty trough to keep him contained while I was with the horses. Puppies sure can ki-yi.

Tonka hurt himself last weekend. I don't know what he did, but he peeled back a thick hunk of skin under his jaw. He keeps breaking it open and making it bleed again. I'm mostly leaving it alone to heal but I'm keeping an eye on it and cleaning it now and then. It definitely hurts, and it's hot and slightly swollen. No pus. If it doesn't improve by next week I'm going to have to have it looked at. I'm not sure how deep it is. Dang these accident prone horses.

Soxy's thrush is hugely improved. One hoof still has a wet nasty pocket. The rest just need to stay thrush-free and grow a new frog. I was soaking, medicating, and wrapping them with diapers and duct tape but now I'm just cleaning and spraying it with Thrush XX every day. That stuff stinks! But I like the spray, it's easy to apply and I like that it's a moisture barrier. There are so many products out there these days, it's hard to know what to choose. If this doesn't work I'll try one of the purple products. Fungidye or Thrush Buster. No Thrush hasn't worked very well for me.

They're sure keeping me busy. Tomorrow I'll pull Scout's front shoes. Did the hinds already, and boy was that a chore. I wish I had some nail pullers but hate to spend the money when I may not shoe again, and if I do I'll have a farrier to do the work. Those shoes just didn't want to let go. Keith did a good job putting them on. I'd been afraid they'd come off since Scout's hooves are soft, but that sure wasn't a problem. Hopefully the fronts will go better.

Now I'm off to try to get some sleep before the little beastie wakes up again. Hopefully by the next time I post he'll have a name. Right now we're trying out the name Blue. If his eyes don't stay blue and his coat loses its silver hue it won't fit, but oh well. He'll be Blue Berry Jones. Huck is Huckleberry Finn Jones or Huckleberry Fiji Jones, depending on my mood. My first special dog was Harpo Fiji Jones, and he was a lot like these Aussie boys. I think he was part Aussie. I wish I had a good picture of when he was young. Here's one just months before he died at the ripe old age of 17. He was my ring bearer.

This little puppy is so stinkin' cute I can't stand it. But he's wearing me out too. He's a lot like a human baby.


Huckleberry goes back and forth between really wanting to play with him and not liking him much. He's jealous sometimes. He definitely does NOT want to share his toys. And when he saw the pup chewing on my fingers he thought he needed to reprimand him. But he's doing really well with it, overall. I think he'll love his little brother a lot more when they can play together. I guess that's a lot like having human kids too.

I like this picture. Doesn't it look like they're on a secret mission? "Be vewy, vewy quiet..."

I don't even know what to say about this one.

Awwww

More awwwww.

Play?

Sweet little bean.

India doesn't mind him at all. She does the same thing she does with all dogs. She really wants to play and gets the cutest look with her ears perked up, but she doesn't play. She's afraid of getting hurt.

Awww, again. Do you think he's looking into the future? I wonder what he sees.

I also really wonder what his name is. We all can't seem to agree on anything.

Bashful brothers.

Whoops! Fell down.

I didn't go to my group lesson today, and unfortunately won't be going back at all. Darn it. My sister tells me it was a great lesson today and they did some bodywork. Oh well, I can't do everything.

I had an opportunity to volunteer at a local low-cost spay and neuter clinic so I started that today. Wee pup went along and had to live in a crate all day, except for loves from the staff and a couple potty/meal breaks. He did fine. I had a lot of fun too. Only one dog, and about 20-22 cats. I was on the waking up end, waiting for them to be awake enough to pull the tube out, clipping toenails, massaging and warming them up, moving them, etc. It was fun and the staff are all really nice. I'll get to learn more and help out more as I go more often. Good stuff.