Pony Update

I'm failing at pony media again so here, have a snuggly puppy

I don't have much exciting to report. Since a couple of weeks ago when I rescued Katai's buddy the baby horse and was ecstatic to see that Katai's abscess had burst I haven't been able to make it to the barn much because of poorly timed snow and illness.

I'd be real grouchy about it except this is the first time in a long time where I've missed this much and I've been making progress packing up our apartment. While Katai was injured I'd also brought home all my tack and got it cleaned so we haven't been completely devoid of progress over here, just mostly devoid of progress :)

Katai was an absolute brat when I have been out but I'm blaming the fact that she's been getting more grain to ensure she was eating her bute and ulcer meds as well as the fact that she'd been on an alfalfa bale when she was on paddock rest and hadn't been moving around much and wearing off energy. Plus, inconsistent magnesium. Now that she's sound again I'm planning to do quite a bit of lunging before I get back on.

The rest of this winter, my focus is on fitness for both of us and weight loss for me. I've joined some rider fitness Facebook groups and I'm working on tracking my diet again. I'm also giving up alcohol for the next month or two to cut down on those superfluous calories. It is a tough time of year to try to lose weight and gain fitness but for the next few weeks at least we have the apartment gym and we only have one more Christmas gathering.

I did get some great Christmas gifts this year though and thought I'd share those in this post. First, what I got for myself.

In continuing the theme of getting myself horsie Christmas stuff I got a few things with the gift card I received back when I got the clipper. I had decided to wait and use it on Black Friday to make my money go a little further and there were some good deals that I was able to take advantage of.

Not a great picture but I'm running out of places in our apartment
to take pictures that don't have chaotic packing in the background.

I picked up a nice tack cleaning sponge, some raspberry breeches that were on clearance, and (my favorite) the grey set of Eskadron bandage liners. I ADORE these bandage liners and already have a black set and a white set but when I saw Dover had the grey set I decided to pick those up as well. In addition, I got them monogrammed because I'm that person. I think they're cute (plus the monogram won't be seen when they're on her so it's not too over the top) and can't wait to use them!

The Dreamers and Schemers socks from my bf's mom

Then, yesterday, we were at my boyfriend's mom's for Christmas. She Christmas shops off lists so this year I sent her a Riding Warehouse list. It's awesome because that list reflects size, color etc so all she needed to do was add the stuff she wanted to get me to the cart. Even better, I'd put a bunch of stuff on the list in all different prices so she could mix and match what she wanted to get that was in her budget and it was a surprise still what I got.

Already well used and well loved

She picked out a purple braiding comb/clip that I'm excited to try out as well as the Haas lambswool brush (which was backordered so isn't here yet), Dreamers and Schemers socks in a winter/holiday pattern, and the Back on Track scarf. I'm excited about all of it but especially the scarf because I have very tight and painful shoulders and neck (which turns out is likely because of anxiety) and someone at the barn recommended this since I can wrap it around whichever body part needs some help. I wore it the rest of the evening and it made my neck feel so weird but also better.

I think it's 100g fill

I've also been doing some bargain/thrift shopping! First, I've been stalking a used Horswear Ireland group on Facebook and was able to score another neck for $25.

The brands are Chillout (a British brand) for the pink and HKM for the grey. 

Then, I noticed someone selling a ton of breeches on Facebook for $30 each, all nice name brands. I picked out two that I thought were cute. They're larger sizes than I normally wear, which currently fit me, but I figured that once I lose the rest of this weight I could always find them a new home. They arrived this morning and they are AWESOME. They clearly haven't been worn and one still had a price tag for $140 on it. Pretty awesome score!

Finally, only partially horse related, I ordered some work clothes on ThredUp. The reason I'm mentioning it here is that they're part of my quest to both figure out how to be appropriately dressed for work while not needing to bring an entire outfit to change into at the barn (since I go directly there from work) and to look more like an adult in my day to day life. I tend to rely a lot on sweatpants, hoodies, and other ill fitting clothes but it's more out of laziness than anything else. Doing this through a thrift store allows me to get brands that I otherwise wouldn't be able to afford and to not feel too bad if some of this stuff gets wrecked eventually at the barn. I'll try and report back!

Dancing in the Shit Show

*To preface this post, Katai's abscess burst!!!! Now onto your regularly(?) scheduled programing*

Back in August I wrote a post that I called Dancing in the Rain about how I was continuing to try despite lots of chaos in my life. Now in December I feel like the chaos and stress has increased but I’ve managed to keep dancing. You can find the August post here if you’re wondering what I’m talking about.

The end of this year has not been kind to Katai and myself. After the move Katai clearly wasn’t herself and I think that the significance of the change just affected her more than I ever thought it would. It showed up in sensitive feet, then ulcers, then thrush, and then an abscess (the first she’s ever had). Some of these are probably directly related to the move and the change in her living situation but some of them probably were random occurrences that just happened at the wrong time. I’ve complained on here quite a bit about it but outside of the blog I’ve been really proud of the way that I’ve just dug in and worked hard to find fixes despite these things happening.

Some days I feel like she just loves messing with me

When I figured out Katai had ulcers for example I dropped everything else in my personal life and started going to the barn every day, rain or shine, despite if I was exhausted, stressed, anxious, or had other things going on. I made it out 35 days in a row with no break before missing 2 days due to a snow storm and Thanksgiving. I’m still going out every day but at this point I’ve missed a couple more days because of dangerous roads (even with snow tires my Smartcar isn’t great on the freeway if the roads are slippery).

That 35 days in a row taught me a lot about what I’m actually capable of and it was so helpful for my motivation. Things were getting done on a regular basis including getting Katai her supplements, treating her feet for thrush, grooming her and cleaning up her back legs when she was in heat, and of course getting her meds. Then, during this, when she had her abscess I was out every day to give her bute, check on her, make sure she was safe and get a feeling for if she was improving or not. There have also been other things like asking other people to help give meds during snowy days and sticking with poulticing and wrapping her hind left foot despite the fact that she likes to try to kick me with that leg and didn’t like being doctored.

In other news, I rescued this young lady from being tangled in her blanket.
She was down and thrashing when I got to the barn and I was able to rescue her

While this isn’t how I’ve wanted to spend the last few months I have learned a lot about myself, a lot about Katai, and have continued to build strong relationships with the other people at the barn because I’m seeing them all the time. Hopefully this will all pay off and now, over the next few weeks, I’ll be able to get back to a regular riding schedule. This ability to make it out every day has helped me figure out how to prioritize with a partner and has taught me the importance of going out when I can, even if I don’t want to, so that when I can’t go out it isn’t as big of impact.

Thank You!

Thank you all so much for your messages and positive thoughts. I'm really really really really really really really really really really really really really happy to update everyone that what looked like an upper limb (stifle) injury to at least 5-7 people at the barn was diagnosed as an abscess by the vet yesterday.

*happy dance*

The vet was also relieved and I got a high five :) I'm following his treatment recommendation and hoping we can get this thing out asap so that she isn't in pain for too long but mostly I'm just really glad that she's going to be ok, make a full recovery, and not have any major lasting soundness concerns from this.

It was this very swollen leg (pre fantastical duct tape boot) that gave the vet a clue that it might actually be an abscess and, indeed, when he did the recheck on Wednesday this week he was able to find the sore spot with hoof testers.

The very ouchy leg.

Of course now it seems silly that I was so worried but seriously, everyone I trust including the vet and L thought it was upper leg and specifically stifle. When the vet checked her the first time he couldn't find a reactive spot on her foot and agreed that it looked like upper leg.

I'm just so happy right now and Katai is happy because she's back out with her mares and back on our regular schedule of grain, meds, and attention every day. It's probably been this all along and we just weren't able to diagnosis but I sort of feel like it was a little bit of birthday/Christmas magic thanks to all of your positive messages and thoughts <3

And The Award Goes To...

If it’s not one thing it’s another :( Poor Katai has had more health related issues over the past couple of months than during the entire time I’ve owned her.

The face I get for taking picture and not feeding treats

First was the sore back muscle on the left side which meant a week off. Then the tender feet (I’ve now found spots on her left hind foot where she blew an abscess) for the whole month of February. Next she had the painful ovaries and reactive flail when mounting thing that mean about 4 days off and now, last night she was dripping blood, Luckily it’s not quite as bad as it sounds.

I had noticed on Wednesday that Katai had a small, hard, lump right behind her right leg in her armpit. It’s not under the girth or touched directly by the girth but when she moves it gets pushed back and runs into the girth. On Tuesday she wasn’t uncomfortable at all and it didn’t seem to affect her being ridden. Then on Thursday for drill team I glanced at it, thought it seemed the same as before, and went on with tacking up and riding. This thing was smaller than a penny and just seemed like a small scabbed over scratch or something. Horses get these types of things all the time and I usually don’t worry much about them. I had concerns about the girth but after the successful ride on Tuesday I sort of wrote it off.

For drill team I hopped on and proceeded to warm up first at the walk. Katai seemed like she was a little short in front and I wondered right away about her hooves. We’ve still been having crazy weather and I still wouldn’t be surprised if she abscesses again so I was a little worried. However, she often comes out a little stiff especially since the weather got really cold overnight so I decided to stick with it a little and see how she was doing. I did some trot work with her and she was great! Forward but listening and balancing back on her hind legs rather than running through her front. L even mentioned how good she looked but then I went back to the walk and got the same small steps so I rode over to L and asked her to diagnose what she was seeing. As I rode directly toward her she was watching Katai closely but then I turned to the left and she gasped, you’re pony is bleeding! She said "there’s a lot of blood and it’s dripping.

I freaked out and jumped off and low and behold it’s coming out of the little bump which was now more swollen. I felt like that guy who gallops Black Beauty and ruins her knees in that moment, like I deserve the bad horse owner award. I was horrified and pulled her tack off the second I got her out of the ring. She’d bloodied up her girth fairly well in that area and was fairly bloody. The wound wasn’t actively bleeding though and I’m still not exactly sure what it is. A couple of people from the barn are thinking that she may have a little piece of shavings or hay or something in there and it’s trying to come out, I would agree with the way it looks. I did a hot compress for about 5 minutes last night and Katai was leaning into it so it must have felt good. I also cleaned it up and put antibiotic ointment on it.

Ouch

Tonight I’m going back to check on her and doctor it again. L suggested that I lunge but since it’s near the girth it’s going to need some time to heal before I ride with the saddle again. Depending on how she’s doing tonight I may do some bareback rides but that could be entertaining since it’s been a LONG time since I’ve really ridden bareback and I’m not quite sure what Katai will think since I’ve only ever ridden her bareback at the walk.