Time for Everyone

My friend the toad.

Dakota'a crooked legs and bad hooves. Still no word from her farrier.

The mares. They are so much alike.

I parked them in various places and asked them to stand. They did very well!

Detangler attracts dirt.

Least overgrown hoof (self trimming)

More overgrown hoof.

Bella's hooves.

Bella looking long in the face.

Scout started mutilating his tail when I gave him access to the barn. Going to have to keep him in 100% electric until he heals, I guess. And it had been looking so much better. I'd had an appointment for him at WSU and canceled it because he was so improved, but now I kind of wish I hadn't. Still no tail movement, acting colicky (pain before pooping), and now obviously it feels weird or hurts, causing him to rub it.

My son is growing like a weed. He may be as tall as me this week and he's only 12.

Pedro thinks training in the round pen is dumb. We kept it short and he got lots and lots of praise.

Bob didn't want to be left out. He's such a sweetie.

Holding Pattern

Scout is about the same. Pooping plenty, eating soaked hay at regular intervals, very swollen and sore. No use of his tail yet. I suspect he can't feel it but he sure can feel everything in front of it. Poor guy.

I had to buy baby wipes and ointment for him. He doesn't mind, except when I touch his sore butt. Mostly it's his tail that gets messy anyway.

Are grapes ok to feed to horses in small amounts? I have him one and he really liked it.

Pedro and I had a couple more great hikes.

Now back to working 6 days a week. Yay.

I feel better about Scout's injury today. I talked to a vet at WSU and he explained things to me in a way that makes sense. If his sacrum was broken, he likely wouldn't have anal tone, but he definitely does have that. It was one of the first things we checked. This vet thought it would be ok to keep giving the high doses of Bute for 5-7 days.

I hadn't considered using steroids. That scares me. I don't know a lot about steroids, but I do know there is a risk of founder when they are used, so I'm not comfortable with them.

When I added up how much we are actually feeding him, his decreased poop output made more sense. I'm going to keep feeding him every couple hours, but I'm going to increase how much soaked hay I give him. I'm also going to add some Epsom salts to his diet for a laxative effect. The extra magnesium should be good for him too.

Today while he was grazing loose in the yard he discovered one of the apple trees, and I had to firmly chase him away from it twice. I think that made him mad and he started galloping all over the place, doing sliding stops when he came to obstructions. He was obviously enjoying himself and not hurting too badly. Goofball. After I put him up he produced 3 big piles of nice soft poop.

In other news, Jasper has gone on to a home on a ranch in Oregon with a mule experienced family. He'll be moving cattle and packing big game. They're really happy with him.

I had an update on Joseph too. His owner loves him. They've been all over several different wilderness areas this summer.

I have been very hesitant to get a new horse. And now Scout has used up my savings on his vet bills, so it's a moot point. I had just about decided to just start getting myself and Pedro in shape instead of getting another horse anyway.

That said, there is a new horse here. I am kind of leasing her, although I haven't been able to ride her, first because of my leg injury and now because her owner can't get her farrier here to take care of her overgrown hooves. She has one shoe on. She is an 18 year old paint mare who supposedly a has never had a lame day in her life, although her front legs are terribly crooked and I'd consider her lame right now, on the front foot where she lost her shoe. She may be sound in shoes. Her name is Dakota.

She has pretty eyes.

I rode recently for the first time since my injury. It was good to be on a horse again! Scout is pretty unresponsive to leg, although other than that he was a rock star. My leg is a weird combination of numb and painful, so I could only ride for about ten minutes at a time.

I discovered that Pedro doesn't at all mind leaving the property without Bob, and he LOVES to get out and explore. He also likes PB&J.

And he doesn't need a dope on the end of his rope when we're on a narrow trail.

Last but not least... Winston. Is he thinking deeply? Attempting a Jedi mind trick? Completely mindless? He makes a very odd and totally hilarious dinner companion.

Oh poop. Or not.

Scout pooped 6 times over the 12 hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday, but has I my pooped 3 times (one of the pretty small) in the last 23 hours.

He is on 2 grams of Bute twice daily, which is a lot, but is not his maximum dose for his over 1220 lb body weight. I don't like giving him that much, but it has been barely controlling his pain, and if he hurts he doesn't want to poop.

I suspect Bute is probably not helping his digestion. Is that correct? Too late to switch. I can't have him in incredible pain during the washout period before meds could be changed.

No x-rays have been done. I think I will do those today, if I have time. Of course our machine won't penetrate his croup area. I may also draw blood to at least check his hydration status. I have my first day off in two weeks tomorrow, and I may take him to a different vet that can put him on IV fluids if necessary. John can take time to take him today if he needs to go sooner.

I am feeding thoroughly soaked hay to keep him hydrated. About 1/8 flake every 2 hours. He gets soaked alfalfa pellets with his Bute, and I added a large scoop of Probios last night and will continue to do so. I think I might give him some ground flax this morning too. Maybe that will make him poop.

He won't drink water when I keep him with me at work all day, even if I bring it from home, so he's going to stay home with John today. That way he can go for regular walks too.

I'll have a post about something other than illness and injury someday, I promise.

Bad news, good news

Scout is injured, painful, and colicky. He hurt his tail real bad, got it caught and pulled so bad he ripped out and broke off the whole thing (hair, not flesh). Which makes him not want to poop. And he's not drinking enough. We all know where that leads. I'm so busy at work, and the vets there are so busy, that I'm not sure he's getting the proper care. So I think I'll run blood work and see how dehydrated he is, and maybe send him to another vet to be put on IV fluids.

He did have a full exam after hours with oil administered and rectal palpation. Yesterday was frustrating though, with the lack of care. Maybe I'm just not playing the wait-and-see game patiently enough.

His tail isn't working, but I hope that will pass as the pain and inflammation subside.  It is still alive.

Good news is his retina healed from his accident as a foal. So it's just the corpora nigra cyst in that eye that's blocking his vision.

Wish me luck getting him well. I think he's going to be ok but boy is he hurting.

Bob is doing better

Today he is walking just about normal.  The abscess is still open and draining.  Hopefully we've seen the worst of it!  As usual, I was probably freaking out over nothing.  :)  I've been enjoying my time with him, even when he's being sassy.  I gave him the run of the place again today, and when I went to get him he came hurrying toward me.  I was thinking, "Oh, how sweet," but it turned out he was hurrying past me to get back to the good grazing in the shade.  He didn't want to be put away yet!  I let him get away with it.  He was easy to catch later.  I gave him a piece of watermelon.  He thought it was disgusting.  He'll stick with carrots, thank you very much.

Bob

Good old Bob has a bad hoof abscess. Poor thing could barely walk yesterday. I am hoping it heals quickly now that it has drained & been soaked, cleaned , and bandaged, but I'm also pretty worried. His hind end is pretty arthritic and now this. Poor guy. It makes me realize that all the times I've said, "It's probably just an abscess," to someone else, I was really not being very empathetic (although I was just trying to be reassuring). Some abscesses are not *just* abscesses, and it's scary when you don't know how it's going to turn out. Hopefully all my worries will be for naught.

Wordless Wednesday

Still Here

I am still around, sitting with my leg up.  It's getting better very, very slowly.  I can't stand still or sit still with my feet on the floor.  Which would be why I haven't been blogging.  That and my life is VERY boring, with all this sitting around. 

I can walk, as long as I don't do it too much.  Occasionally I wander out and say hello to the beasties.

Jasper is still sweet and adorable.

 Pedro is less than impressed with the over the saddle pack panniers I just bought.

Forgot pictures

Still Alive

I'm still here, just not taking the time to blog.  Hurts my leg when I sit upright in a chair for too long.  I guess I ought to tell my story real quick though.

While we were out camping I discovered Jasper high-lines very nicely.  I saddled him up and he seemed more proud, less worried about everything around him.  Ready to be a big boy with a job.  We went for a long walk, John and I took turns riding Scout and leading Jasper.  All was well.

When we got back to camp I thought, "What the hell, he is a riding mule, I'm just being a big chicken," and I asked John to hold his head while I mounted up.  Jasper's head shot up and looked at me, all panicky.  He obviously wanted to get outta dodge, so I rubbed his neck, said some reassuring words, and went to dismount.  I got hung up on the horn and he started bucking, dragged me sideways like a ragdoll for a couple feet, I hit the ground, he landed on an launched off my leg with a hind foot, and broke away from both me and John, bucking.  So.

I've had my leg checked twice now - x-ray and ultrasound.  Not broken, no sign of blood clots.  So far no need to drain the multiple hematomas, but it is starting to seem infected, so I started antibiotics yesterday.  The ultrasound sucked.  I'm still hurting from it, not that I wasn't already hurting like hell.  And I find I really don't like pain pills.

So, I'm sure you're all wondering what I'm going to do about this.  Me too.  I'm leaning toward selling him as a pack mule.  I know this is partially my fault, and it doesn't feel 100% right to walk away, but I can't see myself throwing a leg over him again.  I could do all the desensitizing and ground work he needs, but I don't think I'd hop in that saddle again.  I don't want to get hurt again, and I don't want to ruin him.  He is a wonderful boy, very loving and willing, not a thing wrong with him other than he's scared to have me in the saddle, and he's just a little skittish in general.  I made a mistake buying him in the first place, thinking he wouldn't be any worse than Tonka.  He may not be, but we don't have the history to make it work, and now with this wreck behind us, I'm not going to be able to ride him again. 

No, I don't think it's saddle fit or placement or chiropractic problems.  This is the same saddle tree he was happy with at his previous home.  I can find no sign of pain in his back.  I think it's a mental/visual thing, a problem with switching eyes and a lack of trust.  He needs a lot of desensitization and a re-start with someone a lot braver than me.  Or he needs to be a wonderful pack mule.  On one hand it feels like failure, and on the other hand it feels like practicality.  No animal is worth breaking your neck over.  And it could have easily been my neck, not my leg.

So...  Don't expect to be hearing from me for a while.  I can't ride, I can barely sit up in a chair, and I'm a bit heartsick over this whole thing. 

Don't think I'll be riding for a while

Details later, but boy does my leg hurt.

I Lost my Ass on Lost Creek

 

That title sounds like it could be the name of a sad, sad country song.  But my dog didn't leave me.

Jasper is quite interested in the view here.

I brought Blue along, after some thought.  I wasn't sure how Jasper would do with a dog darting around, but Blue is pretty good about listening to commands as long as he's not running with Huck.  "Get on trail," and "Get ahead," are the two I most commonly use, along with, "Leave it!"  He disappeared to the side of the trail a couple times (he dreams of catching chipmunks but they're too fast), which isn't really okay, but he never spooked Jasper.

Happy Blue

Wet Blue

Well behaved Blue

VERY happy Blue (he'd found a jawbone)

Goodbye Blue

  

It was around here, and without any forewarning, that Jasper bolted sideways and broke away from me (after giving me a little rope burn).  Yesterday I was really worried about this happening, and pictured what I'd do if I lost him in this huge forest area.  I'd thought about putting a bell on him just in case, but I worried that would spook him more.  Yesterday went fine, and today he waited until I was relaxed and we were on our way back to give me a heart attack.  Whatever he spooked at was near a pond we'd already visited.

Luckily he stopped about 20 feet from me.  GOOD BOY!  He just stood and stared at whatever he was staring at, and I walked carefully up (telling Blue to "Get back" because like any good cowdog he was ready to jump in and "help" me chase that mule far, far away), and I gently took hold of his lead rope.  After reassuring him that he was okay, and telling him what a good boy he is, I got a good grip on it with both hands, wrapping the rope slightly around my off hip for leverage.  Sure enough, he bolted again when we got back to the same spot, but I had a good grip on him and I told him to knock it off.  We went on our way. 

Jasper says, "Wow, did you see that?"

 

"Almost lost my cool there."

(We're gonna die!
We're gonna die!
I'm going to throw up, and then I'm gonna die!
Mommy, tell it to stop!

...
Almost lost my cool there.)

Name that movie.  My very favorite scene. I'd watch the whole movie again just for that.

Then he shook it off and we moved on.

Hello again, Blue

I think sometimes he doesn't love me pointing my phone at him.

But he did love the view of the big meadow.

When I got home from running errands tonight (a rather disturbing experience - grocery shopping can make you lose your faith in humanity) a gorgeous storm was hanging around the edges of my world.  It's raining with lightning and thunder right now, and I think I'll head outside and enjoy it (and check on the critters).

 

Too many pictures?

I think we all enjoyed our hike today.  Jasper walked right into the trailer without even pausing.  I was ready to give him that moment to look at what he's getting into, and he just marched right in.  When we got there, Liam unloaded his bike, I unloaded my mule, and we went trucking down the trail.  Jasper was really moving in the beginning, but he started to relax and slow down after a bit. Every now and then I'd ask him to stop and back up.  Neither is a problem, but he hasn't yet figured out how to back up without pushing his nose into the halter.  I think he's starting to make a connection, but it's not like butter yet.  It will be eventually.  I remember having this exact same problem with Bella and Scout.  They could back, or they could give to the halter, but not both.  Jasper is just barely starting to give his face after a few steps when he backs.

Oh, but wait, Pedro needs a moment in the limelight: 

Look at that happy face:

Selfie:

Taking a break:

 Going,

Going,

Gone.

Back at the trailhead:

Exploring:

He looks photoshopped:

Hard to get far enough away for a full body shot:

Zen meditation mule:

We'll play in the meadow next time.

I'd like to go out again tomorrow, but I'm not sure we'll have time.  I should probably put in some riding time in the round pen instead...