I have to share!

When I was out looking for more horse blogs I came across: verylargecolt.blogspot.com. There is a video posted on the website that I wanted to share with everyone. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/v/tNMIz-RjJyw&hl=en

It is a video of a young girl who is working with several "problem" horses. It shows her riding these horses while they are misbehaving and then after working with them through their quirks. This girl is a wonderful rider. At one point in the video the horse that she is riding rears and looks like (s)he could almost fall over. The rider lost her seat when the horse reared and she was able to get the horse under control, hang on, and then regain her seat. It is a great video.

I'm hoping that the weather is nice tomorrow so that I can groom the horses and get some nice pictures of them. Maybe I will play and see if I can get a video too! I'm not counting on the video part though. I'm not too suave when it comes to getting that stuff on the net. : )

A little peeved

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this and that but some horse people just baffle me. A lot of horse people that I have met in my life are stuffy people. They are so set in their ways or they make the big bucks showing their horses that you are beneath them and they have no time to interact with the likes of you. I've also noticed that a lot of these people only look at their horses as a business to earn them money. They have no emotional attachment to their horses. To them the horses are just a piece of property, like a car. Once the horse gets them where they need to be over the years and the horse wears out, these people throw them away. They don't care where they go or what happens to them. I don't understand how you can look and interact with these majestic creatures and still have that sort of mentality...

What started this rant:

I was out on google searching for other horse/mustang blogs and came across one website that was griping about people selling their horses on craigslist. She was complaining about an ad that was selling a grey 6 year old BLM mustang stallion for $1295. She said: "...who is stupid enough to pay $1295 for dogmeat that's still walking? It's much cheaper already in the can." This is a blogger who has a horse (or more) of her own. She looks at them like dogmeat? Then why does she have them? Or maybe it is just the over populated pesky mustangs that she looks at like dogmeat? Or maybe it's just the "fugly" horses (as she stated in the same post about another craigslist ad). In either case I think it is a crude remark and it ticked me off.

All I can say now is thank goodness for the nice caring horse people out there. The ones that rescue and take in these "unwanted" throw away horses and give them a loving home. The ones that take first time horse owners under their wings and teach them every thing that they know about having a horse. These same people that share their horse stories and experiences and love to hear about yours. The ones that know that a good horse can not be judged by what it looks like or what the breed is. That each horse has their own personality and when taught right their horse can become a partner.

A little bit of everything

I don't really have anything specific to blog about at the moment so I thought that I would just babble about a little bit of everything and put in some pictures.





I had the babies irritated with me the other night trying to get them to stand next to each other so that I could get some pictures. I gotta say that it was worth it tho to get the adorable shot above with Tabasco giving Shoni a kiss. It's funny in each of the pictures that I got with them together Tabasco's ears are to the side or one is pointed at me. I call it his annoyed or bored look. I probably get it because I have to waive my arms or back them into position then run the other way and turn around to snap the picture. These two love to be right next to you not standing back to get their picture taken.






On a bit of a mustang side track... whoever says that mustangs are not smart have obviously been misinformed or have never been around one. Tabasco will stick his head thru the pannels to eat blown away hay or grass that has grown along side the pannels. Or he will stick his head thru and push until he moves the pannels (They're not staked down or tied to t-posts since they are at the neighbors temporarily). With three pens tied into each other he doesn't move them far.



Tabasco was sticking his cute nose thru the pannel and I had
to get a picture of the diamond/star on his nose : )

Shoshoni is also a smart mustang. Her head is too big to fit through the pannels and she never really had the desire to put her head through them (thank goodness!) so she has to improvise. Shoni's thing is that she will "bow" down and reach her nose under the pannels to eat grass or hay that has blown to the other side of the fence. None of the other horses (or any others that we have had) have done this. Every time that I see her do it I am blown away by how clever it is. It's also entertaining to watch! : )

Missy is back at home now safe and sound and on a bland diet. Poor thing wants some good food again. They are so spoiled rotten and get some human food but none of the dogs have been able to have any since Missy ate the rug. Mom called the vet today to find out when she can get back to eating her regular dog food and some people food too. The tech said that's a big no-no and that she shouldn't have any people food ever again (EVER?!). She says that she is guilty of giving her dog people food to but because of the surgery (or something) Missy should not have any ever again. I don't know... seems a little extreme to me. I could see for a little while to let the stomach heal but not forever. We don't even feed them bad stuff (tho I guess it could be bad in some peoples eyes...) Hmmm... I dunno. Poor Missy if she only knew how much trouble eating that rug would cost her! At least she is home and back to her old self. She is back to giving Bailey kisses and trying to ram with her toys. We have to take the toys away from her though, she still has a week or so of "rest" left... There's just no fun for her! I'm including a picture of her stitches and just to give you a size idea, the stitches are the length of a check book.

Missy giving Bailey kisses

Missy's stitches and straight shaved belly :P

Of course I have to include a couple of pictures of the other three horses. I thought I would have some great shots of them running around from a few evenings ago but it was getting dark so the pictures didn't turn out good. So you get some more resent photos instead. Maybe they will put on a good bucking, rearing, running show when it is semi light outside so that I can get some good shots. Or they don't have to. They can stay calm and not make me worry. I'm perfectly fine with that scenario!


Pebbles coming over to see if I have anything good to eat

Sundance and Sweetie begging for some fresh picked grass :)

An update on Missy

We just got home from the vet and Missy is doing great. We got to sit in a room with her and she was eating up all of the attention from us. She kept going from person to person looking for scratches or pats.

The Dr today came in and talked to us and said she's doing pretty good but is still not out of the woods until about 48hours after the surgery. Her temperature has been normal and she is drinking small amounts of water and her digestive system has not reacted to any of the food or drinks so that is promising. Poor thing is on a bland medicated food diet and keeps turning her nose up to it.

Everyone in the office loves her so she is getting lots of attention and love. It will be so nice to have her back home. We all miss her including Bailey and Whiskers. It sounds like we will be able to bring her home tomorrow either late morning or afternoon sometime.

A Missy Scare

On Monday when the vet came out and we were out with the horses our healthy nine year old (er young) dog Missy had a panic attack and ate the corner of a thin table runner rug.

She didn't eat a lot of the rug it was just a little off of the corner. We contacted our old vet office in Denver and they said that we could give her something to induce vomiting but they recommended bringing her in and letting them do it or to not do anything and just watch her. We decided since not that much of the rug was chewed and since it's so thin that maybe it would be best to watch her.

She vomited a little within the hour after she ate it. No rug came up. Then she seemed fine and even ate a little and drank a little. We all went to bed.

At 4:00AM Tuesday mom and dad were woken up to Missy getting sick. Around 8:00 when most offices open mom called a few vets to see if we could bring Missy in to have someone look at her. Our normal vet (who came out with the horses) doesn't have an x-ray machine so he suggested a different vet. We ended up making an appointment for Missy with a vet in Pelican about 20 to 30 minutes away.

We drove to the vet, they took her in the back and took an x-ray of her, then they brought her back to the waiting room and told us what a sweet wonderful dog she is and how much they loved her, then they brought us into the back to look at the x-ray. They pointed out the stomach and that they could only see half of it because of her rib cage but that it showed something in it. They said it could be the grass that she had eaten or a little bit of the rug that she ate. They sent her home with orders for us to watch her and wanted us to bring her back in the morning for another x-ray to see where everything was at.

We left the vet and decided to drop by a friends house for a minute to say hello. On the way to his house Missy got sick in the car. We changed our mind about seeing our friend and decided to just take her home. On the drive back to the house we called the vet. They said to just keep and eye on her. She got sick throughout the day and night every 2 to 3 hours. We called the vets office again. I described to the tech everything that had happened with Missy, how often she was getting sick, what was in it, and how weak she was getting. The tech called the vet (who was on her way home) and said she'd call me back. They called back and said to just keep an eye on her, not give her anything to eat or drink tonight, and to bring her in first thing in the morning when they opened.

At around 8:00PM Tuesday night she vomited up the rug. It was a lot more than we thought that she had eaten. We kept watching her and checking on her and she didn't get sick any more. Every time we went in with her she seemed more alert and like she was feeling better. We even got some tail wagging and a roll over for a tummy rub.

At 4:00AM Wednesday morning Missy got sick again. That was the last time. Mom sat with her for a while after that. When I got up I helped bring her outside and she was so weak she'd take a step and then lay down. I went in the house to get a couple of bath towels to put around her waist and behind her front legs to help support her so that she could go potty. She didn't do anything. I carried her back in the house and watched her. She acted like she was going to get sick again so I carried her back outside. She didn't do anything just layed down. Now we waited for time to pass so we could bring her to the vet.

At 7:30 I carried her to the car and shimmied inside with her. Mom and I sat in the back so that we could both watch her and help if she got sick. She settled down and slept almost the entire way to the vet.

We pulled up to the vet and I carried her inside. The staff was shocked that she was being carried in. I sat her on the floor when my arms got weak from holding her (50 something pounds) and she layed down. The vet had us bring her into a room and was shocked by how fast she had gone downhill. She took her temperature and the thermometer came out bloody. She informed us that we may have to do surgery. She took Missy into the back and had a tech bring us papers to sign to authorize surgery. They told us that they would give us a call around late morning to let us know how she was doing and let us know when they would be doing the surgery.

They called mid morning and said they were about to begin the emergency surgery and that she was going downhill fast and that she was going into shock. We were all devastated to hear the news. They started the two hour surgery around 11:30. By 2:00 we still hadn't heard anything. But no news is good news... so we talked about calling to find out then decided to wait.

One minute after we decided not to call, the vet called us. She told us that she made it out of surgery and that they removed a lot of rug and bile from her stomach. She apologized about taking so long to call but they had been watching Missy and she was taking a long time to wake up from the anaesthesia. She said that during the surgery her vitals and breathing stayed normal through out.

We went to visit Missy about 15 minutes till 5:00 before they closed. She was in a sitting position but she was still out of it. Her eyes were glazed and when she tried to focus the poor thing went cross eyed. They said that she is not out of the woods yet-- now we have to watch for infection. We sat with Missy and talked to her and the vet tech until they were ready to close. They told us how during surgery they keep a dog under the anaesthesia at a 2. They had to keep Missy at a half. She said that normally before a surgery they draw blood and do blood work to check and make sure all of the organs are okay. We told them to draw the blood and run the tests while she is there so that we know how everything is. It was time to go so we said our goodbyes and they said the morning vet would call between 8:00 and 9:00 to let us know how she is doing.

They called before 9:00 this morning and said that she is doing great! They said she is a lot more perky and that she went outside and went potty on her own this morning. They are very happy with where she is at. We are going to go and see her again in an hour or two and the vet is going to let us know how the blood test turned out.

As long as everything keeps going well Missy should be able to come home tomorrow.

As a word of advice to anyone who has a dog or cat who may eat carpet, a rug, a sock, a coat, a net, anything that can get blocked or wrapped around something be sure to take them in to a vet as soon as you realize what they ate. Don't assume that it was a small amount that will pass. Let a vet be the one to tell you that. The sooner you get them in the less they may have to do to save them and the less serious the condition may be. I guarantee that we have learned our lesson and we will not be taking any chances again.

Proud

Woke up to wind this morning and it has been blowing all day (still is).


The vet was scheduled to come out this afternoon to give the horses their spring vaccines. I was nervous about it since we have two horses who are bear-cats for the vet and we all know how horses can be when there is wind or bad weather involved.


Pebbles who is usually the worst with the vet went first. She did some circling, snorting, and more circling, got her two shots and wormer then was all done. Usually it is a battle with her to get her to hold still long enough to let the vet give her any medicine.


Sweetie, Sundance, and Shoshoni stood there like troopers and were done quickly.


Tabasco is the other bear-cat. Lives up to his name maybe? lol No he is a sweetheart, he's just a prankster sometimes too... He did some sniffing on the vet then circling a couple of times then was done.


Needless to say all five of our horses made me very PROUD!


Now for a little bit of backtracking... before the windy day I spent some time grooming all of the horses but mainly Sundance since he had knots in his mane and needed his bridal path trimmed again. It's also that time of year when they start shedding and all of the horses are itchy so they appreciate a good grooming! :)






I love Sundance's palomino spots! ;)







Sundance eating up some attention from
Grandma