I'm not lost!

Hi, everyone. I'm not lost in the snow banks or taken up refuge in the barn. Though it feels like I have spent most of my time there and at work these past few days. Wednesday we had a real bad ice, snow, sleet, freezing rain day. School was cancelled all over the place. I even made sure that none of the volunteers went in to the Library where I work and I didn't go in, either. (That's my day job - I'm an assistant librarian, among other things :)

So, Thursday, I don't usually work, but this week was necessary. Friday work. Saturday morning, work.

When I'm not working I'm in the barn cleaning stalls, dosing medicine - still. Sigh. Poor Elias. Every time I go in to see him, it seems, I'm giving him another shot. We started out with 3 a day, now down to 2 a day. Once in the morning and again at night. Roger, the Vet, is in Colorado - or in the air, even as I type. He will be on TV Saturday and Sunday! Back early next week. Sigh.

The swelling in his leg is going down, a little more every day. It's almost back to normal. I will take pictures tomorrow afternoon, hopefully. We are supposed to get another storm tomorrow.

I posted some bright, sunny pictures of flowers I took this summer up at the Library as I can't stand to see the snow piles through the windows! We are also having a display from a local photographer who takes pictures in WARM places of coral reefs and exotic underwater life! I can't wait to have that in February!

So, Aspey seems to have gotten over her choke thing. Um, but I'm still NOT feeding her the hay replacer pellets that made her choke in the first place. Feeding it to the guys, who seem to have no problem with it.


For those of you who might want to have a horse but don't have the means and/or place to keep one, consider making a donation to a local rescue - or a not local rescue - check them out, make sure you agree with what they do and they have a good reputation. Two that I support - sometimes not always with money - are www.springhillrescue.com Spring Hill Horse Rescue. They just took in 110 animals around the first of the year and they were beyond capacity before that. Even $5 for a bale of hay feeds a horse for a day! The other is www.NewEnglandEquineRescues.com New England Equine Rescues. They cover all of New England.

Keep everyone warm, with plenty of good food and LIQUID water - horses cannot get enough hydration from snow - and if it's warm, all the better! They don't like cold water in cold weather. Kinda like eating ice cream when it's freezing out. Chills them like it does you (sorry, not me. Lactose intolerant. Don't like the stuff because it makes me feel like I'm breathing liquid fire!)

Support a rescue. Support a Humane Society.

Eek. I have to do what?!!?

Here we go again. At least it isn't an emergency call. A box this time. Full of antibiotics. Two types. One antibiotic, twice a day. One, once a day. BIG syringes. For the next few days. Until all the meds are gone. Sigh.

At least his leg doesn't look like a stove-pipe. It looks like it has a little more definition. Not good enough, though, it seems.

So. More meds. More walking. Sigh. Another vet bill. Sigh.

On a totally different note, set your live feeds and your timers on your television to watch the AQHA Fort Dodge Versatility Ranch Horse Championships :Competitions
Location: Denver Colorado: Date/Time: 01/14/2009 8:00 AM - 01/15/2009 8:00 PM Roger will be representing Vermont. Go, Roger!

At least the weather outside was nice - in the high 30's today. Already cleaned stalls, did water and set up for tuck-in time tonight.

Now I have to go cat wrangling. Brought my girl friends cat to the spay/neuter clinic today. After I followed her around the basement because she went out of the cage, up my arm and jumped off my shoulder. That's ok. No damage done. But no more babies. Yeah. Way too many of them running around these days, anyways.

Off to basketball.

:)

Warning - Soap Box Alert - Warning

Warning, everyone. Soap Box Alert. If you don't want to hear me rant and rave, you might want to skip tonights post.

My most ultimate of pet peeves.

If you don't have the money to take care of the animals you own (let's not even get into discussing that verb at the present moment) then you have no right to own those animals at all. Period. End of subject.

Here's my ranting. The horse was choking. I called the vet. Now, today, comes the discussion that maybe I 'shouldn't have called the vet.' Sorry. My barn. My rules. You actually want to tell me that I'm taking too good of care of your animal? That if she didn't make it, I 'shouldn't blame myself if stuff happens?'

Ain't happening. It would be one thing if I went out in the morning and found her and there was nothing I could do about it. But to tell me to purposefully leave her out there to sort things out for herself? I don't think so. NEVER.

Ohy, vey. You've got to be kidding, right? The vet bill for that night, which I offered to split, was $136.00 Yep. That's it. Her half was $68.00 Doesn't have the money right now. Fine. I'll pay the vet, you pay me. "No, no, don't worry about the vet. I'll pay him when I get it." No. I'll pay the vet - check went out in the mail today - and you can pay me.

Remember that wonderful relationship I have with my vet - the one where I pay my bill and he comes to take care of my horses when I call him, no matter what time of the night or day of the year it is? There is a reason for that. I PAY him. Duh. That's his job. That's how he pays his bills. Feeds his horses. Takes care of his family. Pays for his house and truck.

If you don't want me to take care of your horse, your trailer isn't blocked behind a snow bank. You can take her somewhere else. I'm not making any money at it. Yes, you buy your hay. Yes, you buy your grain. Yes, you come every other weekend or so to clean her run in shed. Yes, you give me some hay in exchange for keeping her here. Trust me. If it were a paying business, it's a good thing I have a day job.

Don't tell me not to blanket her when she's shivering and it's cold outside. Don't tell me not to feed her in the stall when the weather is nasty. Don't tell me not to do what I normally do for any horse under my care. Don't tell me not to baby her. Too bad. So sad. You don't want me to do those things, then move her.

You have to be joking, right? Not only do I live in a fishbowl (right on the main drag through town) and EVERYONE driving by can see all my animals AND (just in case you are someone who doesn't know me and hasn't googled/anywho'd my name) just because I am the Constable/Animal Control Officer for our town AND I work with many rescues AND I live in my grandfathers house, right next door to where I grew up and EVERYONE knows who I am... even with all that, don't you think that I'm going to take just as good care of your horse as I do my own because that IS JUST WHAT I DO.

For Pete's Sake. I'm not well off. I live in an old farm house that we are fixing up as we can. We drive second hand trucks. I take VERY GOOD CARE of my animals. I take VERY GOOD CARE of my children. I TAKE VERY GOOD care of my husband.

When you have an animal, it's a privilege. A responsibility. Not a RIGHT. No animal ever asked to be in your care. If you can't care for that animal properly, GET RID OF IT. Sell it, give it away, put it down. Do what is best for the animal. DON'T complain to me that you don't have money. If you can't afford to take proper care of your horse, DON'T HAVE A HORSE. DON'T HAVE AN ANIMAL. Don't even have kids. Have a plant. If that plant dies, then, well, sucks for the plant, but at least it wasn't an animal. Or a kid.

God help us. This world truly does suck most days. People think they 'deserve' to OWN things. I think people should be very careful about what they think they deserve to own. I think most people don't deserve to own a plant, much less a child or an animal.

Get a clue. Go buy a book if you want to own something. Not a breathing, living, beating heart.



Ok. Sorry. I just got up to get something to drink and re-read what I wrote. Hmmm. Guess I should let you all know exactly how I feel. lol.

Well, at least I feel a little better venting.

By the way, Elias is doing better. However, the vet called tonight and we have a (gasp) regular! appointment to have him come over to see Elias and see if we need any further injections of antibiotics. And the on call vet for when he is gone lives right up the road. Cool. Don't even need a new phone number. The answering service will page him for me, too!

Got the second bill today. Gulp. Can't wait to get the third and fourth. Good thing I have to work extra this week until they get my new boss hired. Might also start looking for another part time job - maybe ask the vet if he needs an assistant. Will work for vet bill. Sigh.

Gotta go hug those horses. I truly do feel privileged by having them in my life and them trusting me to care for them. Bleck on people. Ok, not all people. Just some people. Bleck.

A Day in the Life

Ah, another winter day. At least it was tolerable as I was outside today freezing my fingers off while cleaning stock tanks, moving them to new locations in the pastures and filling them. Nothing like water and cold and winter all together in one nice little bundle.

As a side note, the silly horses were doing their usual 'I'm a horse, so I'm going to act all freaked out.' Boneheads. They make me laugh. So hard that I cry. Oops. Frozen tears of laughter. I was trying to wrap the connectors between the water tank and the extension cord with a plastic bag to keep out the water and snow. One of them got away from me and skittered across the snow. You would think it was a mountain lion the way Buddy jumped and ran away. Lacey bucked and tore around. Smokey just chased it down like it was a snack running from him :) Once Smokey grabbed it (with me right on his butt), Lacey came around to see if it was any good to eat. I left it on the ground once Smokey and Lacey were done with it and, after a while, Buddy figured it wasn't such a big deal and smelt it. Smokey stands about 3 1/2 feet at the shoulder. Lacey about 5feet. Buddy close to 5 1/2 feet. Biggest is the most scared it seems. Brrrr.

Then the sun went down. And it got cold. And the wind started to blow, gently, but enough that made it chilly. Go inside to warm up and get dry gloves on.

Elias is doing well. The swelling is going down, ssslllooowwwllllyyyy. Too slowly, I'm afraid. Oral antibiotics. Yep. Bute. Yep. Syringes of antibiotics. Yep. Walking. Yep. More walking. Yep. Clean Stalls. Yep. Grain. Hay. Water buckets, er, Ice Pops. Scoop out ice. Yep. Calling the vet again tomorrow as I'm out of syringes. Yep. Paying the first vet bill in the morning. Yep.

I'm slowly going MAD! (Ok, ok. For those of you that know me, that's not a very far drive. Scenery is sometimes boring:) Research on the Internet. Hmmm. Seems that Thoroughbreds are more susceptible to stocking up. For many, many different reasons. Oh, great. That's nice to know. Now. Would have been nicer to know BEFORE! Oh, well, wouldn't have made a difference then. Doesn't make one now, either.

Going to bed as I can't take any more excitement today. Going to be up early to check in with the Vet to see if he is going by or if I can make arrangements for a regular farm call that doesn't cost the extra emergency part on it. Sigh. Some day life will be dull and boring and I will have to remind myself that dull and boring are a good sign. Sigh.

Oh, my, oh, my....

It doesn't look good. Guess it could be worse. Got up this morning to do my 20 minutes of laps with Elias. And give him his shot. Gulp. Ok. I'm not so worried about the shot thing. I had to give my daughter shots for almost 3 years, every day. But that needle was tiny compared to the needle on the syringe I need to give Elias. Here's the orange square on his neck that target gray spot is located :) I learned a trick from the vet I used to have. She would poke, rather hard, at the spot the shot was going to go. Then, after poking hard two or three times, she would stick the needle in the spot. The horse didn't seem to feel it as much. Guess what - I tried it and it really did work. He didn't even flinch when I pushed that huge needle into his neck. The only thing I was really worried about was getting my finger out of the way in time before the needle went in. Whew. Didn't need to antibiotic myself.

He's looking at me like 'what are you doing?' I'm taking pictures of his leg after I gave him his shot. He looks like he has a moose head in this picture. His head is SO BIG compared to the others in my barn.

So, he's walking a little better but the swelling has not gone down much. But he has been in his stall all night and he doesn't have a lot of room to move around.

So, I will let him go out and have the day in the paddock area. I'll spread the hay and his grain around so he has to move from pile to pile instead of standing in one place all day long. I'll see how he does by tonight.

I went out and checked on Elias before going grocery shopping with hubby. He seemed to be doing better.

When I got home, I went out to walk Elias. This time, we walked 19 circles in 20 minutes. That is up from 15 earlier today! And he was trying to walk ahead of me, which he hasn't done since all this started. And the swelling is down a little.

I washed it with betadine and put some goopey neon yellow stuff on it. One more shot tomorrow and I'm sure I'll hear from the vet on Monday.

Keeping my fingers crossed that we are on the uphill side of all this. Man, oh, man. I'm so ready for this all to be over with. I'm so sorry, big guy. And to top it off, it's so cold. The wind is blowing the snow all around us. Brrr. Wood stove, here I come!

Poor, poor Elias...

My poor, poor boy. Not only is the swelling in his leg not shrinking, it's getting worse by some degree. Now it's moved up into his chest. The 10 minute walks twice a day. Antibiotics twice a day. At least he was anxious to go out this morning. Made sure the fence was up and ON so no one would bother him and cause him to have to move too quickly. Had to set up another water bucket as I only have two tanks with heaters in them. He can visit with everyone in his small paddock, but not get into too much trouble. I hope.

The Vet came to visit while I was at work. My daughter, MJ, did horse duty. The vet said 'not good.' So he gave him another shot of antibiotics. And gave MJ two more syringes for the next two mornings. And told her, 'have your Mom give him the shots right here' pointing to a gray spot on his neck, 'and walk him twice a day for 20 minutes.' And continue the oral antibiotics. And the bute.

My poor boy. He keeps thinking he's done something wrong. We walk in a rather large circle. Him gimping along. When he occasionally stops to rest, he puts his head on my shoulder and licks his lips and gives me these worried eyes. I try to convince him he's done nothing wrong and that he's such a good boy to keep walking. Even when he's gimping so bad, and I feel so guilty, I keep him walking. By the watch. 20 minutes. Add another two rounds for the stops we've made. The other horses don't help any. As Elias is gimping around, the others are running in their pasture, kicking up their heels. Wondering why it's taking so long with the routine tonight and why they aren't being let in. Let's get the show on the road. Hay needs eating.

Nice big note on the counter from MJ. Detailing what the Vet said. And to look for the blue and orange square. Huh? Blue and orange square? Silly girl. She was so worried I wouldn't know which gray spot on his neck to use for the shot that she brought out a blue and orange magic marker and drew a big square around it on his neck. Resourceful girl.

So, my Elias and his barn buddies are all in for the night. Clean stalls. Grain. Antibiotics. Hay. Clean water. Gimped him in when it started to snow. Poor guy. He's got to get better. I truly don't know what I would do without him.

Oh, and guess what came in the mail tonight. Waiting on the counter for me next to the two totally huge syringes and instructions from the Vet? The bill from Aspey choking and taking out the stitches. Farm Call. Emergency Call. Brief Exam. Suture Removal. Ouch. Guess I can wait for the rest of this week to come in the next bill. Good thing I'm working a few extra hours for the next few weeks. Wonder if the Vet needs an assistant? Will work for vet bill. Ohy, vey.

Holy Cow! How'd it get That BIG!

I was curiously wondering this morning what I was going to write about. Not much going on. Aspey is doing fine. Dogs are doing fine. Girls are doing fine. Hubby brought me out to dinner last night as it was just the two of us at home. (Everyone keeps telling me I'm going to do the 'empty nest' syndrome thing. Nope. Not gonna miss all those hormones in my house! I kinda like being able to do what I want, when I want. No more diapers. Naps. The only 'restrictions' I have left, really, is my youngest has her permit, not her junior operator license. So when her sisters or Dad aren't available to drive her, she asks Mom. Works for me. )

Don't get me wrong. My 'nest' will never be empty. I have 4 dogs, 4 cats, 2 parakeets and 3 horses of my own. And Lacey and Aspey. And 2 barn cats. Always someone who needs something looked after. They aren't ever going to fly away from home.

This morning, after sleeping in, yawn, until 9:45, I got up and shuffled around the house and got dressed in many layers. (Ok. I'm going to digress - Have you ever seen the Christmas movie about the kid who wants the Red Ryder BB Gun and everyone tells him he's going to shoot his eye out? Remember the little brother, Randy, who is dressed up in his red snowsuit and his arms flail around like a windmill? That's what I feel like when I go outside with all my gear on in this cold weather!)

It looks like Alaska tundra out there. The snow blowing so hard it's creating white outs while it's screaming across the top of the bumps in the crusty ice/snow underneath. It's damn cold.

Went out to let the horses out. Did my usual routine. Hay from the barn to the pasture. Spread the hay around the pasture. Go in the barn, unplug the fence. Bring Aspey her morning allotment of grain. Took the blanket off Aspey I put on last night as she was shaking and cold. Went in the barn to let the horses out. Smokey first. (Ok, another digression. Lacey has hysterics if she doesn't get to go out first. Then she has hysterics that she is let out first. Makes it much easier to let Smokey out first - he's dominant between the two - than to have her freak out half way out the door and try to figure out how to back up through the door and gate to her stall. Sigh.) Then Lacey. Then to let Buddy out. Buddy loves to check out every stall on his way out. To make sure no one left something worth munching on behind. Then to Elias. Who wasn't moving.

I opened his door. He is usually standing, quietly waiting, but ready to go out. Not this morning. Hello! His left front leg is twice the size of his right front leg and he's leaning with his butt against the wall, trying to keep his weight off his front end.

Holy COW! How'd it get that BIG! OMG. Ok, ok, breathe. He wasn't cast in his stall. There are no marks on his walls or on his body that lead me to believe he got hung up in something. The only thing attached to the wall is his grain bucket and it's still where it belongs. (That, just for my peace of mind, is outta there. I replaced the hung on the wall at a low height bucket for a black rubber bucket that sits on the floor.) Threw Elias a flake of hay and went inside to call my second favorite human. The Vet. He must have missed me in the two days since he's seen me.

So, when I was thinking I was done with the Vet for a few days, weeks or months, instead, I was inviting him back to my barn, again. Sigh. Haven't got the bill from the last visit yet. Sigh.

Call the Vet's answering service. Wait for the vet to call me back. Wait for the vet to show up. Find extra clothes to put on as I'm not going to be back inside for a while. SIGH.

Vet comes. I get my gear on and go outside. The good news is that it's nothing serious. The bad news is that it does need immediate attention. Seems when the last stitches came out, an infection decided to visit. So, shot of antibiotics. Shot of bute (horse tylenol). Instructions are to walk him for 10 minutes out in the cold. (Could be worse. If it weren't so cold, I would have to keep cold water running on his leg for 20 minutes. Guess the cold is good for something today.)

So, since the sweet, beautiful, twitchy mare took down the part of the fence that separates the paddock from the pasture, the first order of business is putting up fence. In 12 degree F. weather. With the wind whipping my hair in my eyes. And my fingers not working inside gloves. Dropping insulators. Trying to wrap tape. Trying not to freeze my fingers off.

Get the fence fixed. Turn it back on. Get a halter and lead rope on Elias (He's not making me 'exercise' to do it.) Gimp through the barn, gimp through the aisle between Smokey and Lacey's stalls. Gimp outside. Gimp in a circle. Stop by the flake of hay and take a bite. Gimp around in a circle. Stop by the flake of hay and take a bite. Repeat and repeat and repeat. After 15 minutes of this (did it a little extra to make up for the stopping to eat part) I left him standing near the remaining hay and went inside to clean his stall.

It's actually nicer in here - it's still cold but at least I'm out of the blowing wind. Spread a whole bag of shavings in the stall. Empty the 20 gallon ice/poop filled water bucket (good aim-NOT). Refill with lukewarm water. A few flakes of hay in the other corner. Grain with bute (horse tylenol) and antibiotics.

Convince Gimp, er, Elias, to come back into the barn. Gimp between the stalls. Gimp through the barn, gimp down to his stall. Gimp into his stall.

Go undo part of the fence so Smokey, Lacey and Buddy can get at the water. Close up the barn. Plug the fence back in. Shut all the doors. Turn around, go back into the barn because I can't remember if I locked the latch on the back door. Shut all the doors. Then go into the house to hug the wood stove and see just how hot you can get before you have to move back.

It's now 4 pm. The weather is now 10.3 F. Without the wind chill factor. I've been outside for about 5 hours. Have a cup of cocoa so I can warm up the insides, too. Turned on the oven to make a pizza as I haven't had anything to eat yet today.

Now that hubby is home and the girls aren't home - guess they abandoned US in the new year, it's almost time to go back outside to finish cleaning the rest of the stalls and take Gimp, er, Elias, for another walk. Then to let everyone else back in. Feed them their grain and hay for supper.

Next time I wonder what I'm going to write, if I think things are going too smoothly, I will remind myself to read this entry and not worry about what to write.

Sigh. I so love my horses. I still hate WINTER and SNOW. I truly do NOT want to know how many more days until spring. Sigh. Vet will be back tomorrow to check on Elias. I really do like my vet. Was he saying he hadn't bought his plane ticket yet or not? Guess he'll be able to afford it now. Eeek. Wonder who is taking his place when he's gone? I must be sure to ask him that tomorrow. :(

Cold, cold. Brrrr. I'm still cold from before. Here I go again. Trying to steel myself to go back out into the dark night. Cold. 2.8 degrees. F. 6:40 pm. Wind still whipping around. Even though I have on three layers, I can still feel the cold seeping in.

My hubby just informed me, with a laugh, that there are only 79 more days until spring. ARGH! Bleck. Sigh.

I love my horses. I love my horses. I love my horses. I HATE COLD. I HATE WINTER.