Other Happenings

There've been some other random things that don't each deserve their own post but I'm not quite sure how to fit them in otherwise so I'll just group them together. We'll go with least exciting/positive to most exciting/positive :)

First, when I got to the barn on Monday evening I found this.

I can count on one hand the number of times that I've found blood on my pony.

Three times, it was three times.

Aaaanyway I'm knocking on every piece of wood in the house as I'm writing this but it's important because my first reaction when I saw this was OMG HER LEG IS GOING TO FALL OFF which just speaks to how rare this sort of thing is over here. In fact the last time it happened was here in a post I put up in March of 2016.

At any rate there was a tiny amount, less than dime sized, of localized swelling and I'm sure she just knocked herself. If she were a fancy horse her whole leg would have swollen up in protest but since she's a pony it looked almost completely normal today. Once I got it scrubbed up I found a very small wound and put some ointment on it and that was that.

The coloring and shadows make it look weird but there was literally no swelling or heat today

Second, we now have 4" of SNOW scheduled for this weekend. I'm fairly sure the weatherman is exaggerating like normal but it's still not a fun thing to see in the forecast especially in October.

If only winter and snow was actually this fun

Third, my friends are moving in on SUNDAY this weekend!!! I can't believe that it's that close already and am really excited for them to move in. I plan to head out to ride in the morning to ride in order to beat any craziness that adding a bunch of new mares will cause. Then I'll stick around for awhile and hopefully see them arrive.

Not my puppy or type of puppy, that's a surprise, but who doesn't need to see a cute puppy

Fourth, awhile ago I mentioned that a few exciting things are happening (including my friends moving in) and now I'm ready to mention another one. I'm getting a PUPPY!!! I've wanted one since I was little but have always made the decision that it wasn't the right time. Instead I've owned two rescue dogs and adored/adore them with all my heart.

Finally though it's time for Veggie to have a friend and this is as good of time as any in my life to add a new family member of the puppy variety. I had pick of the litter with an amazing breeder in Louisiana about a month before the puppies were born. They were born on 9/29 but I didn't want to jinx it or say anything too soon especially since I grew up on a farm and know just how sensitive young life forms can be.

However, now that my puppy will be four weeks old on Friday I figured I would share :) The breeder isn't going to let her go until 9 weeks which falls on December 1st but she'll be shipped to me so the breeder is currently arranging travel and I'll know soon which day I'll be able to pick her up.

Cue lots of exciting baby puppy shopping and preparation including requesting a whole bunch of time off work. Also, at this point my family still doesn't know so it will be quite the Christmas surprise. I'm going to sort of keep it a surprise here as well as far as what breed and what she looks like but I'll share pictures soon or when she comes home!

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.