Mostly medical whinings

Juniper is doing great, super sweet, and learning a little bit about picking up feet and not biting people when they don't love her enough.

Duncan had his hooves trimmed, half by me and half by my husband, who I was teaching about trimming for the first time. Duncan was nervous and it was a lot of information for John to absorb at once. John said, "Let's hire a farrier." :) Which I would if he could get up and down my driveway. We won't be able to use the driveway until Summer, I swear. Too much ice.

I am in so much pain right now! Did you know that if you overuse ibuprofen you will have withdrawals coming off it? I sure didn't. I thought I was trying to stay on top of the inflammation in my neck but I shouldn't have been taking so much ibuprofen. It may be causing some of my problems. So now I'm cut off. I'm doing a short course of prednisone. I guess it's supposed to get me through the withdrawal period. The neurologist also has me starting an anti-depressant to boost my serotonin levels, which may help my brain heal. It could take another year or more, but he hopes it won't. The truth is, they don't really know why the brain does what it does. Or doesn't.

I also learned that I do have a herniation at the base of my brain, not related to the accident. It's probably been there most or all of of my life. It's called a Chiari malformation and mine isn't severe but it does explain some problems that I've been having for a long time. Nothing to do about it. There is a surgical option where they remove part of your skull to make room for your too-big brain, but I'm not into that at all. That would be more for people with a much more severe case.

It's interesting what I don't remember from my visit with the neurologist yesterday. I took John with me and he keeps telling me stuff I don't remember the doctor saying. I guess I'll have to ask the doctor to go over it all again when I go back in 6 weeks.

He did say he had no reason to think I won't ride again, but I didn't tell him I land on my head sometimes. I'll save that conversation for next time. Weighing risks versus rewards, I'm thinking I might be a hiker rather than a rider now. But time will tell. I can't see myself without horses to care for. So they can at least pack my picnic.

Good Little Donkey

I don't have any pictures because I've only been able to play with Juniper in the dark. She is so sweet. She's kinda itchy and she has a couple spots of rain rot, so giving her a good scratch makes her very happy. She's clingy. I feel bad leaving her behind. I could probably take her to work with me but she wouldn't fit in my back seat. :(

Last night I rubbed her all over and practiced picking up feet. She was very cooperative. I'm not asking much yet, I didn't try to keep her feet at all.

She's so skinny! You can't tell in her pictures because her coat is at least 2 inches long. She would be scored as "poor" on the donkey condition scoring chart. I'll deworm her on my next day off. And again later. Then hopefully she'll just keep on growing and gaining weight. She just gets free choice grass hay now, and I think that will be enough to help her gain weight once she gets rid of all her little parasite friends. She's started eating her vitamins and minerals as well.

I know straw is a popular feed for donkeys because they need more fiber and less sugar, but I just can't imagine a donkey eating it. Bob and Pedro wouldn't have. They were pickier than any horse I've ever met. I'll probably buy some and give it a try at some point.

The Adventures of Juniper Jones!

She's home! It took some time to load her in the trailer. The step-up was really high, it was loaded up with shavings even higher, and it had just been used to haul pigs. She wasn't really freaked out about it, but she just couldn't take the leap to get in. So two people formed a human butt rope and shoved her in. Not ideal at all. But I have all the time in the world to work on trailer loading now.

Because of the ice and the hilly road, we had to park at my neighbor's and walk home. I wasn't sure how that would go. She hustled right on home! I wasn't dragging her, she was making me hurry. :) She has that forward, adventurous nature I was hoping for.

Above and below are the same picture. I love this phone app.

She's never been in electric fence before, so the first thing she did was duck under the temporary fence. Poor planning on my part. But I did put the safer horse in next to her just in case. The fence didn't shock her because her hair is so long. She and Bella had a few words, but that seemed to be all they needed and they got along fine after that.

I could tell Juniper was about to head out to the big pasture, way too close to Scout, who would hurt her if she somehow got in with him. Liam and I scrambled to make things more secure by adding a second strand to the temporary fence and the gate to the big pasture. She shocked herself once and now I don't think she'll do it again. She was very wary of the fence after that. 

 I love her! She's such a sweetie.

Staring at Winston:

She's not sure what to think of the dogs.

So I got a different story on her this time. Now they say she is the daughter of the 16 hand jennet who was also rescued. I had hoped she might be because they look so much alike. But at 12.2 hands at 2 1/2 years old, I'm not sure I believe it. Here's her (supposed) mom, Olive Oyl:

And there is the possibility that Juniper could be bred. I'm going to talk to a vet about that this week. I probably will just wait and watch. I'm not sure what the risks are with aborting a pregnancy, but it scares me more than having her give birth at a young age. 

Heck, I'm even scared to deworm her. Not sure what to use to make it safe, considering she's probably never been dewormed. Luckily I work with a bunch of good vets. :)

Donkey Day!

Juniper is coming home today! With no notice, really. I'd given up on it happening this week, and suddenly got a text late last night that today was the day. So I have some work to do this morning. I'd had everything set up for her, but over time the horses took over again. So I have to move the boys, make sure they have access to shelter (even though they won't use it) because a bunch of rain is coming, and fill their trough. Not too much work, except the snow is knee deep and the temp is below zero. I've gotten pretty used to the cold though.

It was only 10 degrees yesterday, but it was a beautiful day. I got Duncan out for the first time in months. I remembered how much I like him. :) We just walked around a bit.

He decided the untouched deep snow would be perfect for a roll.

My phone will only sometimes take pictures without shutting off, so it's really hard to get good pictures. Either I need a new phone or a camera.

These pheasant landings were too cool not to share:

Anyway, wish me luck getting my girl loaded and led home from the nearest safe parking spot. My driveway is still impassable, but luckily it's not too slick to walk on. 

I'm sure I'll have more to share later! :)

Frozen, Part 2

Today the temp at 5am is -6 and the house is a little chilly, but no frozen pipes! The heater in the pumphouse is doing its job well. (Auto-correct wanted to call the pumphouse a penthouse. I'd like to live in a penthouse for the rest of the winter, please.)

However, I do have to walk maybe a half mile to get to my truck today. You know how a diesel pickup doesn't like to start in the cold? It's a long story, but my driveway is blocked by my mom's motorhome, I can't bring my truck home to plug it in, and my wonderful neighbors set up a little spot for me to park and plug in so I can still go to work. It's going to be a chilly walk. But I sure do like my neighbors!

Cross your fingers for me that my mom and AAA can get her motorhome back on the driveway and out of my fence. What a stressful deal for her.

Frozen!

I woke up this morning to no running water and -4 degrees outside. I put a good heater in the pump house and had water within a half hour. Just in time for everyone else to take a shower. :)

I'm going into my month of extra work, doing more than full time for the first time in a while. I'm looking forward to the better money but I'm also glad it's temporary. I'm finally just beginning to feel the itch to play with the horses again. I've barely touched them in months. But it's too cold right now anyway!

Juniper Jones

I'm half tempted to start a new blog titled "The Adventures of Juniper Jones." We're going to have so much fun.

I visited her twice over the last couple days. She's a little spoiled now. Definitely gets treats and lots of love. She gets jealous if you pet anyone else. And if the water gets half empty, she stares into the windows of the house and brays until they fill it. Did I adopt a little princess?

She leads OK, but she does have her own opinions. Luckily she hasn't learned she can get away, like some of the other ladies there have obviously learned in the past.

Next weekend she may be coming home. A lady who is adopting some of the donkeys offered to go out of her way to haul Juniper home for me. Because of the snow, she'll have to drop her off at the end of my road. We'll have to walk about 3/4 of a mile home. It might be interesting.

This lady is also possibly interested in buying Duncan. I am at a point where I think that might be a good idea. But it's a hard decision to make. I may not ride again, and if/when I do, I shouldn't be riding a green horse. Duncan would be better off with someone who can ride him well, sooner rather than later. We'll see.

Worried for nothing

As usual, all that worry was a waste of time and energy. The neurologist said it's just post concussive syndrome. From what my doctor had said and how the symptoms matched, I was thinking it might be chiari malformation, which would be more serious. Consulting Doctor Google is often not a good idea. :)

Anyway. I'm in the middle of another days-long headache, so I don't really have much more to say.

Oh, Happy New Year! Here's hoping for a better year this time.

Brain

So maybe it isn't my neck after all. My MRI results came back and my doctor saw a couple things that weren't right. One, my brain position is wrong low in the back of my skull.  "Like a herniation, but it's not a herniation." The other thing he didn't say. I have to wait to see a neurologist to make sense of it.

I love my doctor, and I think he was trying not to worry me or give me a false diagnosis, but I'm worried. What is it? What will it mean for my future? Will I be able to ride? Will I be able to continue to do my job or will I have to look for something more sedentary? I should just go with the flow and know that it will all turn out OK. Staying up all night worrying and thinking about selling horses, maybe selling the farm, etc... isn't going to help, anyway.

My parents have a friend who is a really good neurologist and he's going to take a peek. Maybe it's nothing. Or maybe it's treatable. Cross your fingers for me.

Also, there is a lot of snow. It just keeps coming. We've gotten another foot or so since these pics were taken.

Nothing New

The snow just won't go away. We had a pretty cold spell and now it's hanging right around freezing, thawing some, but just enough to tease me.

Juniper has been signed over to the person who rescued her, who would be more than happy to sign her over to me if only I could go pick her up. I try not to think too much about it or it would drive me nuts.

I've got 2 weeks off from one job, just working a couple days a week at the other job. I've had so many doctor's appointments lately it hasn't felt like a vacation. And my neck is getting worse, not better (my own fault, I got impatient and tried to do some extra exercise). I'm hoping my insurance will approve some more imaging before the end of the year.

Oh! I do have one picture to share. I just happened to notice that it looks like the spirit of Gumby was hanging out with us on Kamiak Butte one day. Check out this shadow:

That's about all I've got. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Super Solstice! Joy in whatever you do!

(The days age getting longer now!)

Snow, snow, snow

Stalled too long.

We've had some snow, and have up to 13 inches more coming over the next several days. So I may not be able to pick Juniper up for quite a long time. The steepest part of my driveway is shaded, so it takes a looooong time for snow and ice to melt.

On the brighter side, the owner has supposedly mailed a bill of sale to the lady who rescued her. So I could go get her soon, if only the weather had stayed clear.

Donkeys are so smart

As I suspected, she didn't sign over the donkeys. Apparently she has no interest in keeping mine though, so we should be good to go eventually. She is very confused, thinking grass hay is alfalfa, claiming she had hooves trimmed that were done after they were moved. She wasn't able to tell them apart and even thought that some of the other donkeys there belonged to her. She complained that the donkeys are being overfed and are too fat. They are not:

As you can probably gather from the above picture, Juniper wasn't super happy about halter training at first.

She caught on really quickly though. She even yielded her fore and hindquarters a couple times. Unlike her spoiled herd mates who were mobbing us and almost impossible to move.

I found a fun new app called Photo Lab:

I took the halter off and rubbed her a lot, and I can't remember exactly what she did, but she let me know she wanted me to put it back on and play some more. So we did. She just loved the attention. When I took it off and walked around she stayed with me and mildly tried to boss me around a bit, telling me to stay put and rub her. I didn't let her tell me where to go but she did get lots more love.

 I got a closer look at her teeth and she is a two year old. I'm no expert on donkey growth but I doubt she'll grow much more. That's OK. I already love her. I'll train her to pack and pull a cart if we can't ride.

Also, in regards to teeth, her premolars are a mess! I know she's at the age for the caps to be shedding and her permanent teeth to be coming in, so it's normal, but I wonder if it's making eating difficult.

She loves ginger snaps. (Scout and Duncan think they're poison though).

She likes to sniff noses and considers being naughty and nibbling my nose.

She has such a lovely snoot.

I may have ownership by Wednesday. I hope so. And I hope the roads are free of snow & ice so I can go get her.

Real quick

I may be able to pick up Juniper this weekend! I've stopped visiting her in case this whole thing falls apart. I didn't want to become too attached. Supposedly the neglectful owner is going to sign over ownership tomorrow, but she's showing up in person and I'm afraid she'll change her mind.

A quick pic of another Kamiak hike:

And I've signed on for a second job temporarily. The vet clinic I used to work at has soooo much turnover. For a reason. But I'm just covering 2 days a week for a month to 6 weeks while someone has a baby. Not sure exactly when that will start.

Impatiently Waiting.

I went to see the donkeys the other day and spent some time haltering them to see which ones would lead. I love them all.

These two are wonderful. The spotted girl on the left likes to back into you for a but rub & has terrible feet. The white girl likes to be constantly physically attached to you and has OK feet but a hump in her back.

Here you can see the spotted girl's spots better.

This little girl is very sway backed and we thought she was in foal but the owner insists she just has a big bag all the time.

I had to run away to try to get a pic. They like to stay close.

This girl looks so much like Bob. John named her Marion.

I think he really enjoyed meeting them today.

I've been a little undecided about her name, but I'm pretty sure she will be Juniper. She looks different in the rain. And she likes me a lot better when I'm not holding a halter.

This tiny baby girl is so adorable and soft! And look at those whiskers!

Juniper likes John & John likes Juniper.

After reading more about incisor eruption, I think she's a yearling or maybe even older. I hope she still grows some.

I love this picture. John looks like such a happy dork. He said I need to quit taking pictures of him when his eyes are closed.

What a happy ass day. :)

Looking Up

I saw my baby again last night and it sounds like they're getting things straightened out. Thank goodness. But I still don't know how long it's going to take.

The vet saw her yesterday and said she is 6 months old, not a yearling. That means she would be highly unlikely to be bred. The jack was supposedly in with all the ladies 3 months ago and not since. Not that I wouldn't welcome a cute baby, but she's too young.

She's about 12.1 hands according to my rough measurement, so she should be big enough to ride in several years.

The vet gave her a body condition score of barely 3. Her spine sticks up so far! I rubbed her a lot (felt all of her bones) and she really enjoyed it, but her main focus is food.

The donkeys ate a whole mineral salt block overnight and are emptying a 150 gallon water tank 3 times a day. Obviously they haven't been getting what they need. One will foal very soon and quite possibly die in the process. Another is pretty imminent too but in better shape.

I can't remember if I posted this pic of the little boy:

I'm still tempted to take the baby boy as well, but the idea of having to train two of them to pick up their feet makes my back hurt. I tried picking up a foot on one of the adult girls (who looks a lot like Bob) and she threw a little fit. I like her a lot too, but again, ugh, hoof training.

The sweet girl who looks like Bob:

Good news on my ongoing injury symptoms! The dizziness and nausea I've been having are probably due to my neck, not my head! So it can be fixed. I think. There is hope for me yet! I like my new physical therapy doctor.

Excitement! Disappointment? and Last Chance Creek

This is the yearling girl I picked out to bring home.

She's the only one with decent feet, but even before I knew that she was the one who caught my eye.

I was going to pick her up today but now there's a hitch in the rescue effort. I don't know the full story, but I hope these guys don't go back to the owner, who had a stroke but obviously wasn't caring for them before that happened. She had 30-some donkeys and the Jack kept "getting out" so now all these skinny ladies with HORRIBLE hooves are nursing and pregnant.

I would love to take this little guy and his mama too, but I don't have time for that many equines. Look at those hooves.

Look at these hooves. So much bad going on there.

This is my girl again, at an angle that shows her poor condition.

I'm really bummed and I hope it all gets straightened out and we can move forward with this. And I hope these donkeys get the care they need.

I think I'm going to go up today regardless of the news just to love on donkeys and help with vet and farrier work. Unless it's pouring rain.

We went hiking out at Last Chance Creek yesterday. 5 1/2 miles of fairly level at a good pace. My sister and nephew rode while my step-dad, Henry, and I hiked. The horses are generally slower than the humans, which I think is funny.

We were pretty soaked and cold at the end. I wasn't prepared for rain. But we still had a great time!