Miss you little man!

One year ago today we said good bye.  Can't believe it's really been a year already.  Just doesn't seem possible.  I still miss you like it was yesterday.  I miss you every day.  Rest in peace sweet boy.

Wayne - Haflinger Stallion - 1986-2010

Wayne - 11-19-10






Let's call today "Hug your ponies" day.  They're never with us long enough.

Holy Sunburn

It's been a crazy summer to say the least.......

Silly Lady and her freckles.

I do love "chrome" on my horses, especially a blaze. Wayne had the text book perfect shaped blaze down his face. Lady's freckles in her blaze are just cute. And while Cody's blaze is more narrow and subtle, it's still perfectly pretty. But Cody definitely has one distinct advantage in the blaze department.....her blaze ends before it reaches that soft delicate peach fuzz nose, and the only white she has there is a tiny little diamond snip.

My poor sweet Lady and her nice big blaze. She usually gets a mild sunburn on her pink little muzzle every year (as did Wayne, though he at least had the advantage of massive forelock to help protect his face), but normally some sunscreen gets Lady through it till she "gets her tan on" and then she's fine till the fall when the "photo sensitivity sunburn" due to whatever it is she decides to eat every fall sometimes happens. But anywho, mild summer sunburn......not so this year. She fried. And I mean fried! Even with using 90 SPF sunscreen twice a day the minute she started looking a little pink on the nose. And of course I couldn't find a long nose fly mask to try to shade more of her face anywhere around town, so had to order one, which meant waiting a few days for it to arrive, and no matter how much I poured the sunscreen to her, she continued to fry.

Collar and almost healed up face!

Within a matter of days 3/4 of Lady's pretty blaze was burnt, peeling, angry red, weeping, and even the dark skin on either side of her blaze was showing signs of an angry red burn! She spent a couple days in the barn in Cody's stall just to get her out of the sun. I didn't even bother trying to put a halter on her head, just looped it around her neck, and finally gave up on the halter all together when I finally found a horse collar, which she's been wearing ever since, thankfully she's an angel about leading and tying.

Since stalling her every day wasn't an option since she's pasture board, I waited on pins and needles for that new long nose fly mask to arrive, praying that would help shade her face, but it took forever to get here, holiday weekend and all that good stuff. So in the meantime, I went in search of zinc oxide, since the highest SPF sunscreen I could find wasn't doing a bit of good. I finally found two big bottles of zinc oxide sunscreen, and Lady ended up with lifeguard nose or the bald face paint look twice a day.....which she promptly tried to wipe off on her knees the minute I got out of distance to stop her. Thankfully if I could get her to leave it alone long enough to dry a little bit, most of it would stay stuck through her attempts to wipe it off, but we had a lot of white knees and legs in addition to white face. I guess she was going for the full bald face paint look with high white socks? Occasionally Cody had white stripes on her butt, as did the Richie waterer. But the zinc oxide definitely help turn the tide in the war against the sunburn, protecting her enough to at least keep her from burning more, and let her skin slowly begin to heal.

Bunny ears!!!

Finally that new long nose fly mask arrived, complete with pink ears and her name embroidered on the front. It was perfect, shaded her entire face, right down to that normally soft pink skin right between her nostrils that was currently angry red and peeling. Finally shade for her face, and no more lifeguard nose.....she was such a good sport, but you could tell she was really getting tired of having stuff rubbed on her face. Day one with the new fly mask went great, you could already see the difference in her burn!

Day two, not so good, she rubbed it off, went all day without it, and got fried. Ok, two can play this game little girl, say hello to your friend zinc oxide! War paint slathered on, then fly mask! Double protection, so when she took the fly mask off, at least she still had something protecting her from the sun. And an extra bottle of zinc oxide sitting out in the barn, so other boarders could have fun with face painting if she managed to rub off both the fly mask and the war paint while I was at work. Of course, Mother Nature didn't help much either, sneak attack thunderstorms that soaked her new mask to the point that it had to spend a day or two in the barn to dry out, then more rain to wash the war paint off her face while her fly mask was drying, and then hot hot sun.

Oh Lady girl, you're so naughty!

Thankfully the fly mask stayed on more often than not, though she likes the one ear out look, and seems to think the forelock hole is supposed to be an ear hole, but we finally won the war against the sunburn. Her skin is finally healed up, except for the occasional scratch now and then from trying to rub that mask off on something, and her hair is slowly growing back. Still no halter though, that skin is a little too delicate yet with only peach fuzz protecting it. But that was definitely the most bizarre sunburn I have ever had to deal with. And I felt just awful, because you could tell Lady was miserable. I'm not even sure what caused it, I know some weeds can make them photosensitive, but honestly, there's not much in their pasture and they were on the same hay and grain diet they've been on forever now, so who knows. But at least this time I know how to fight it should sunburn rear it's ugly head again. Long nose fly mask and zinc oxide seem to be my two best weapons....I'm ok with owning a part time bald face paint or war pony, and the "lifeguard nose" is just funny.

Salted pony anyone?

Course, then we went straight from sunburn to sweet itch when good ole Ma Nature decided to crank up the heat for an extended period of time, going from low 80s to high 90s. Poor Lady sweats easy to begin with, so she was just wringing wet during the day, some evenings she was so covered in salt it looked like it had snowed all over her. And while her mane isn't nearly as long and thick as Wayne's was, apparently it was long enough and thick enough to cause her to sweat enough under there to create the perfect storm for sweet itch on the underside of her mane.

And itch she did! I pulled in the driveway one evening after work to find Lady girl out by the shelter going to town itching her mane for all she was worth on the corner of the shelter. And when I brought her in the barn, she was itching like a mad woman on anything within her reach; post, stall, door, stairs, cross tie, me, Cody (that one did not go over well). She'd rubbed out half the underside of her mane and her scalp was a scabby, scaly, weeping mess. I guess this is where Cody's pitiful Thoroughbred mane is a blessing.

So, braided Lady's mane to the opposite side for ventilation to get some air flow under there and slathered on the MTG. That didn't help much. She was still pretty itchy. And it made one heck of a mess down both sides of her neck. Time for a betadine shampoo. Did you know MTG will waterproof your horse? Seriously, even after three shampooings, the water just beaded up and ran right off her neck and mane like she'd been waxed or camp dried. Why can't fly spray stick like that? But at any rate, betadine shampooed and braided to the opposite side again, and still pretty itchy and not healing much.

Crooked, but still covered!

Then I remembered the mysterious yellow ointment in the plain white jar who's label only says "Scratches" that Dr. Irving gave me last year when I couldn't get rid of the scratches on Cody's legs. I have no idea what's in it, the jar literally only says "Scratches" on a taped on paper label. Looks like furazone, but he assured me there was none of that in there, and rambled off a few names of things that I don't even remember now, but it's a concoction of some kind that the MSU vet clinic apparently came up with, and whatever it is, boy does it work, it cleared up Cody's scratches in no time flat last year, and did the same thing for Lady's sweet itch, by the next day, her scalp was nearly itch free! And the skin on her neck where she'd rubbed some of her hair thin while scratching out her mane was turning pink with sunburn......yes, here we go with the sunburn again......

Apparently skin that has spent 17 years under the dark side of a mane doesn't like full time sun exposure. Oops, my bad, braids out, sorry girl. And of course, even though her mane was only braided to the opposite side for a few days, it decided to stay there. Skin's a little pinker and looking a little flaky peely. My poor horse! So back in braids to retrain her mane back to where it belonged. At least the braids gave her a little shade, and after a couple flaky peely days, her skin was back to normal, her scalp was healing up, her mane trained back to where it was supposed to be, and acclimation to the insane heat and humidity makes for a less sweaty pony under there, so hopefully no more sweet itch.....or sunburn!

Super models!

How come yours has a long nose and mine doesn't?

Beware of Soapy Tails!

The other day I was washing Lady and Cody's tails, and of course they're swatting flies and leaving soap suds and conditioner here and there on their legs and coats and me in the process.  And it brought back a funny story about Wayne......

I took Wayne to a CMHA show up at the fairgrounds, and had him in the wash rack getting him all squeaky clean for the show the next day.  And with that long thick flaxen mane and tail of his and those flaxen feathers on his feet, it took a few shampooings and some elbow grease to get him show ready.  So there I am standing behind him, scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing and his entire tail in a full soapy lather, and one of those ginormous pontiac horse flies lands right on top of his butt!  You know, those giant one inch bombers that the horses go bananas about?

Wayne's tail went flying back and forth just as fast as it could go trying to swat that thing, and his back feet were doing the "get it off, get it off, get it off" dance!  When it was all said and done, and the fly was finally dead, he was covered in soap, I was covered in soap (and spitting out soap), everybody around us got a little soap, and my glasses were stuck in his tail.

Beware of soapy tails during fly season!

I sure do miss my little man......

Wayne babysitting a friends yearling colt, Summer 2003

Fall off the earth?

Did I fall off the earth?  No, just haven't had much positive or fun to report lately.  I started this blog to share the fun I have with my horses, past and present, but it seems like things have spiraled toward the negative all too often lately, and a blog that's all negative is just depressing.  And the past still hurts sometimes.  I miss my Wayne something awful still.

But how are the girls doing?  So so.....  (if you want to skip to the fun stuff, head down to the pictures at the bottom, otherwise welcome to my horse life)

Cody's knee surgery has been anything but successful so far.  We hit the 3 month mark on March 2nd and she's still dead lame.  We've past the 3 1/2 month mark, and last Saturday she refused to put any weight on it.  She's a little better now, but still not as good as she was, and even then she was anything but sound. 

The vet came out Feb 1st and x-rayed her knee and sent them to the surgeon at MSU.  He said the x-rays looked good, but behind schedule as far as healing.  So we decided to give her till mid April or so and re-x-ray and re-evaluate, and see where we're at, see if it looks like things are healing or not.  Dr. Caron says he's never had one of these surgeries not work, but I'm worried sick Cody's going to be the first and I'm going to end up losing her too. 

But I'm trying to keep my spirits up.  She's had a lot of things going against her over these 3 1/2 months, that's for sure.  This ridiculous weather, insane mud, rough frozen ground, deep snow, ice, ice, and more mud and snow, lack of sufficient bedding to pad the front of her stall, among other things.  She's also the oldest horse he's ever done this surgery on, going on 17 this year.  And then there's Cody's momentary lapses of reason from time to time.  I had to quit hand walking her in the indoor arena, because every time we did she wanted to roll first thing, then would explode in a bucking fit as she got up and could hardly walk after that, so hand walking has to be done on the driveway....when it's not insane mud or sheer ice.  And I hear she was trying to canter in her pasture the other day.

So we're taking things day by day and we'll see what happens.  Working on getting her weaned out of standing wraps right now, and hopefully out of a knee wrap soon.  Trying to keep my chin up, but I worry.  My luck seems to be in the toilet lately.  Having just lost Wayne those few months ago, I'll be all the more heartbroken if I lose her too, and questioning my place in the horse world.  How can something I love so much just go so completely wrong over the past year.

Lady, she's doing ok.  She started having some lameness issues in December (on top of some sudden major diarrhea issues that seems to have been encysted small strongyles and sand related, resulting in Panacur Power Pacs and Sand Clear for both the girls), so I gave her several weeks off, then slowly started working her on the lunge line, mostly at the walk with a little bit of trot to try to get her back into shape, but even doing that a few days a week and her lameness came back.  Not real noticeable, but something just wasn't right.  So I certainly didn't want to ride her.  I haven't been on the back of a horse in three months.  I think this is the longest I have ever gone without riding since I first bought Wayne back in 2002.  A little depressing.

But I did get very lucky, since the vet student that used to board with us (and who's wife used to use Lady for riding lessons one day a week), got Lady into MSU for me for the musculoskeletal rotation he was on.  That was pretty exciting!  Lady went up to MSU for the day, and Jesse and the rest of the students in his group went over her from head to toe.  Basically a full lameness exam.  Flexion tests, movement on straight lines and circles on hard and soft surfaces, nerve blocks to pin point painful spots, and about 50 x-rays of her knees, hocks, and front feet, and consultation with the two vets overseeing the students.  And since it was a learning experience for the students, I didn't have to pay a dime for any of it!!! 

What did we learn?  She has some pretty good arthritis in her left knee that was causing the lameness I was seeing.  So I'm now three for three on screwed up left knees.  At least Lady's most likely isn't from getting kicked in the knee like Wayne and Cody, it's probably just wear and tear, but still, what are the odds?  Apparently I have no luck when it comes to knees.  Makes me scared to even think about ever own another horse someday, at least not while I'm still having to board anyway.

So when our vet came out a couple weeks ago to do vaccines, we injected Lady's knee to see if that would make her a little more comfortable.  It seems to have helped, but then I haven't done much with her lately, either haven't had the time with doctoring Cody, or this rotten weather has left me unenthused about doing much of anything.  I did work her on the lunge line for a bit on Sunday, but that didn't go as well as I would have liked.  My intention was just to walk and a little trot, but Lady had her barrel horse brain on and was a complete dork ripping around at the canter and cross canter, head tossing and galloping a couple times for a good 10 minutes before she finally settled down to her normal self.  She looked and was moving great!!!  But was very sore the next day.  Maybe this weekend I'll get her back out and try again.

Thankfully her hock arthritis doesn't look any worse now than it did from the x-rays taken a year ago of her hocks.  For now, I skipped injecting her hocks, since last summer she did pretty good on them, and if old man winter would just GO AWAY, I think that would be a big help too.  But we'll see.  She'll be 17 this year too, and from the history we've been able to piece together of her life before I got her, she seems to have been used pretty hard at a young age, so I guess it's to be expected. 

But hopefully I can at least keep Lady trail sound.  And pray that I can get Cody healed up and sound again.  These last 5 months have been really tough.....

So to keep this from being a completely depressing blog entry, some pictures of what the girls have been up to lately......

Cody gets some love tonight from sweet Miles (be sure to check him out at Miles On Miles):

Thoroughbred Kisses

Lady finally got some shipping boots of her very own, instead of always having to wear Wayne's pony shipping boots, which really were way too small for her!  And she got to try them out on her trip to MSU!



Cody is determined there is grass under that snow somewhere if she just digs far enough!

The girls discover the new mirrors in the indoor arena!  Lady was a little puzzled....then curious.....then didn't really care, she took it in true Lady form.  She's so darn cute!

Hey, that looks like me?!?!

Who's that pretty Lady?

Cody was a bit more dramatic.  Typical of Cody.  She did the stop dead and whip the head around with a bug eyed stare, then had to go check herself out.

Whoa, who the heck is that?!?!?!

Mirror mirror on the wall.....

Room with a view?

A little post I had written on my lunch hour at work back in November.  I had intended to post it after I got home from the barn that night, but that was the night I discovered Wayne's knee was giving out, and I knew I had to put him down.  So I was far too upset to even think about posting.  I found it while cleaning out my email today, so thought that I would share.  I still miss that little bugger........

Room with a view?

Unfortunately, no, Wayne's stall doesn't have a window to the outside world. The only stalls with windows are the ones across the aisle from him, and the windows are a little too high up for him to see out anyway.


Airs above the ground?

Not that that would stop him from looking out it, if his behavior in the past is any indication! The window in his stall when we boarded at Scheid's was too high for him to look out, but that didn't matter. If the window's too high, just stand up to look out it! I can't count the number of times he'd hear something outside, and go check his window, which gave him a nice view of the pasture. It was a pretty comical sight to see Wayne standing on his hind legs, front legs tucked and resting against the wall for balance, while he peered out the window to keep tabs on things. Of course, I never had a camera handy when I needed it.

But I guess when you're short, you find ways to make up for it. A little too smart for his own good at times. When he was stuck inside because somebody was turned out in the pasture at Scheid's that he couldn't be out with, it wasn't uncommon for him to stand straight up and pop his head up over the top of the wall to try to see what was going on in the pasture from time to time. Or, since they had open front stalls, he'd stand up on his hind legs, rest his tucked front legs against the top of the stall front, and hang his head out into the aisle to try to get a better look outside. Use the window to check one side of the pasture, hang out into the aisle to check the other side of the pasture. That one used to freak people out, because they always thought he was trying to jump out of his stall! Freaked me out the first few times too, till I figured out he was just having a look outside, then going back about his business.


Two step anyone?



I should have made him a trick pony. He can do a pretty nice Levade, just not on cue. Not only is he good at standing up, but he used to be good at kneeling down too. I haven't seen him do it much in the past 3 or 4 years, I think because of his bad knee, but in the past it wasn't uncommon to see him kneeling all the way down on his knees and reaching his head as far under the fence as possible to eat, because the grass is always greener on the other side! When his previous owner still had him and kept him in a tie stall, Wayne discovered the hole in the front of his stall under his manger by the floor, and we often caught him kneeling down and reaching through that hole to help himself to the hay on the other side. There was never any chaff laying on the floor in front of his stall. It was always licked clean in a nice little semi circle around that hole!

So probably a good thing he doesn't have a window in his stall right now! Just the hay door in the bars so he can hang his head out in the aisle to see what's going on.

I didn't do anything.....

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

Goodbye 2010. I'm glad to see you go. Other than getting married, you were a most unkind year, especially to my furkids. I spent more time out of the saddle than in the saddle due to lameness and/or injuries to 3 out of 3 furkids, and you took my sweet Wayne away from me.

Hello 2011. I hope you are a better year. A year without major drama and roller coaster rides would be nice.  To spend more time in the saddle on both Cody and Lady would be a plus.

Cutiest Christmas Present

Cutiest Christmas present ever.  This little guy was on my totes in the tack room at the barn when I went down to see the girls Christmas day.  I grinned like an idiot and cried all at the same time.  Thank you Sarah!  A plushie Wayne couldn't be more fitting! 

He even has feathers on his feet!!

May 2010



What Legend Is Your Horse?

I found this website in one of my horse magazines, and had to check it out!

What Legend Is Your Horse?

Wayne:

Lady:

Cody:

Horses, Renaissance, Sewing, and.....Star Wars!?!?

I love being a seamstress. I never used to be one. I think it was 2004 before I made my first attempt. I started going to the renaissance festivals more and more with friends, and dressing the part in borrowed garb. I wanted to get some of my own outfits, but they were way too expensive to buy them already made, especially considering you can make them yourself for literally a fraction of the cost, but I had no idea how to sew. My first outfit, I bought the fabric and had someone make it for me. I wanted another outfit, but that still meant paying to have it made.

I finally said what the heck, how hard can it be, and took the plunge. I bought the cheapest sewing machine I could find, some cheap fabric, and a skirt pattern and headed home. I had no idea how to sew. Had never used a sewing machine before in my life. And really had no one that could teach me how to do any of it. But I read through the manual to figure out how to set the machine up and how to thread the darn thing and attempted to decipher the "greek" on the pattern pieces and instructions. I was flying by the seat of my pants and figuring it out as I went, and thankfully being an engineer and fairly mechanically inclined, sewing actually turned out to be pretty easy, at least for me and my oddly wired engineering/programming brain, it's all simple logic, like putting together a puzzle, and what I didn't understand, I could usually figure out after some thought and a little trial and error. And before I knew it, I had two new skirts!

Ok, I can do this! Next project, pirate garb! I tested the waters, so might as well jump right in the deep end! I picked up tips and ideas here and there from friends that made their own renaissance gear, and paid more attention to the construction of various garments, and soon, I had made my first full outfit! And my sewing skills exploded from there! I have quite an array of completed renaissance costumes in my closet, and several in progress. And have gone the full spectrum of renaissance garb, from simple wench garb, to the courtly dresses of the nobles with all heavy layers and corsets and pleats, etc. Throw in a little Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings for good measure, and a bridesmaid dress! It's been a fun journey to improve my skills and see what all I can create. And with so many ideas in my head...... And for the most part, I'm pretty much self taught.

   My Garb Closet              The Garb Gallery

This blog is about my horse life, right? Well, eventually my new sewing skills branched over into my horse life. Wayne started that, Cody helped it along, and now Lady gets in on the fun too. Wayne had a long full tail that I kept trimmed and inch or two above the ground, but his tailbone was actually docked like a draft horse (a fad the Haflinger breed went through for a while), so it was amazing that he grew any length of tail at all, let alone down to the ground! Considering the massively thick tails on his offspring, I can only image what a beautiful tail he would have had if his tail had not been docked, but hey, I was more than happy with what he had, and his mane definitely made up for anything this tail lacked. But when your tailbone is docked, yet those flaxen tresses on it hang clear to the ground, it's a little difficult to get that nice blonde tail out of the way of them road apples! So unless you wanted a tail that was flaxen at the top, and road apple green and gross at the bottom, a tail bag was required in the winter, and frequent washings, lots of show sheen, and the occasional tailbag in the summer!

Then along came Cody, who has that long thick lush tail that is the envy of any show horse. No fake tail required here! And while she had a superior summer fly swatter, in the mud season it collected mud like you would not believe and could leave every thing it touched plastered with the gooey stuff, and in the winter, the ice balls on the end of that thing was like getting whipped with a cat of nine tails if you were standing in the wrong place at the wrong time! Not to mention the destruction the mud and snow reeked on the end of that beautiful tail! Tailbag is a must in the mud and winter months on that show tail! And to protect it from the tail chewing goats at one place I boarded at, who seemed to prefer Cody's tail over all others! Go figure. Mmmmm....yesterday was show sheen, taste like cowboy magic today!

And Lady, well, she pretty much had no tail, it just hung to her hocks and was pitifully thin. But thanks to Wayne and Cody, I'm a little obsessive about beautiful long locks on my horses, so my furkids all get tailbags in the winter, and by summer, they all have beautiful fly swatters for the fly season. Even Lady has a pretty tail to the ground now.

But tailbags only last so long. Especially with the geldings in the next pasture reaching through the fence and ripping them off my girls, I swear the goats talked them into it so they could have a snack!! And you can only repair a tailbag so many times before there is just no repairing left to it. And while tailbags used to be like $5 a bag, it seemed like they took a sudden price increase and you were lucky to find one for under $10 a bag, and then there was shipping.

So how hard can it be to make one of these things? And it's gotta be cheaper than $10 a bag! Well, I bought a yard of lycra for $5 and got 7 tailbags out of it! You do the math! I will never buy a premade tail bag ever again!

My horses are usually pretty darn easy on their clothes, unless there's a blanket ripper in the pasture, but rips still happen. And soon my sewing skills paid off there too, and my poor sewing machine was fixing their winter blankets, sheets, slinkys, shipping boots, polo wraps, splint boots, fly masks, hay bags, the list goes on and on! If it belongs to my horses and is sewable, I've probably fixed it, sometimes more than once! And they all still have their original winter blankets, that are still going strong at 7 to 8 years old, even with the patchwork of repairs on them!

I miss that sweet furry little face.....

And this year I ventured into making show shirts for Western classes and selling them on ebay. Though at that point, I had to break down and replace my sewing machine. But I sure can't fault that $70 very basic cheapest one I would find machine! I put that thing through 6 years of hell, getting dragged down to the barn and repairing stuff for my horses (and sometimes other people's horses), and yards upon yards upon yards of fabric for costumes and misc clothing repairs, and getting dragged around to many a stitch n bitch with friends! But it was definitely getting a little on the wore out side, and if I was going to be making shirts to sell, I needed something a little more dependable. But on it's last leg or not, that old machine is still going, and been relegated to the horse repairs, because those filthy dirty horse clothes aren't coming anywhere near my new machine!

So this summer I bought a new machine, and upgraded a couple steps up from the old one. Oooo, this baby is nice! And I've been punching out show shirts over the past several months, which actually turned out to be easier to make than I thought they would be! It's been a lot of fun picking out fabric and adding all the bling, decorating each one a little different from the next! Almost makes me want to show western pleasure again.....almost! They don't sell on ebay quite as fast as I had hoped, but it's usually a nice little profit when they do, and an added bonus to put toward the horse hobby or sewing hobby, since I seem to have two rather expensive hobbies!! I suppose I could do a little bit more with marketing my shirts to get them to sell better, rather than just putting them on ebay, but honestly, I'm not looking to make a career out of them. I already have a career job, and a husband and horses, so my time is pretty limited already, I don't need another added pressure. So I have fun creating them as I feel like it/have time for, and when they sell, great, and if they don't, well, eventually they will.

Show Shirt Made So Far

But one of the added bonuses of making show shirts, is left over lycra fabric (and cheap lots of remnant lycra) make great tailbags! I have tailbags coming out my ears, so my furkids are definitely sporting some of the coolest/wildest/loudest tailbags in town! And I have more than I will ever use, so off they will eventually go on ebay too!!

And sometimes it's fun to combine the horse and renaissance hobby, even if only for pictures! I mean, what's a musketeer without her loyal mount!

Or taking a ride on the castle lawn (ok, so the castle is actually photoshopped in)!

More Horses and Garb pics!

And as soon as my gold and burgundy court gown was even remotely wearable, I had to have pictures riding Cody in it, because the fabrics in that gown couldn't match Cody's coat more perfectly! It's definitely still a work in progress, it needs sleeves, and a few mistakes fixed, and a new undershirt, since Cody completely destroyed the undershirt that day with green slobber stains that didn't come out, but I work on it as I feel like it, and hopefully next summer I will be up on Cody's back again, and there will be more pictures to come!

More Nobles on Horseback pics!

Though lately I've been a bit bored with the western pleasure shirts (have a few stocked up waiting to sell) and the renaissance projects, so I've switched gears a bit toward movie costuming for something new to try. And needless to say, my inner geek is having a ball......

A Jedi Quest blog

Hmmm....western pleasure and horses, that works. Renaissance and horses, that works. Star Wars and horses?!?!  Well, Obi-Wan had Boga, I guess I have Cody! Yes, I am a geek, the cowgirl look is merely a disguise!

*insert slight move of hand here*

This is not the geek you're looking for.....

You can go about your business......

Move along......

Merry Christmas

A little something.....

A little something on my tree for my little man. 

I miss you sweet boy!

Roller Coaster Ride

Where are the brakes?  I want off this ride!  That's how I feel anyway.  The last two weeks have been......crazy to say the least.

I'm still heartbroken over losing Wayne.  But I know it was the right thing to do.  He seemed to be doing so well after getting his feet trimmed and seeing the vet.  On his feet most of the time and content, and seemed to be getting more and more comfortable each day.  But then all of a sudden his bad knee just decided to give out on him.  Apparently it couldn't handle the extra weight it had been carrying because of the bowed tendons on his other leg.  One day his bad knee looked fine, the next it was bowed out to the side really bad, and he was obviously very uncomfortable and laying down again, so I knew it was time.  He was trying hard to be brave, and seemed fine when there were things going on to keep his mind busy.  But when the barn got quiet and it was just me and him, it was obvious he was uncomfortable and his eyes just lost their sparkle.

It's so hard to say goodbye, but I wasn't going to make him suffer either, and that knee would only get worse.  So it was the right thing to do.  I spent that morning with him, just fussing over him, taking him out to graze and roll, put my girls in the outdoor arena so they were out there with him, Wayne always hated to be alone, and did whatever Wayne wanted to do, anything to keep his mind off his pain and keep him happy till the vet arrived.  And considering that he went down so peacefully and so gracefully (the vet said she has never put a horse down that went so peacefully), that tells me he was ready to let go, and I was able to stay with him, holding his head until he was gone.

Wayne - Pictures 11-19-10

I miss him terribly.  And have cried a lot of tears, and will probably shed a lot more.  Tearing up again as I type.  The barn seems so strange without him.  Too quiet without Wayne talking his little head off to everyone passing by, singing a little song for the mares. No greeting when I jump out of my truck or walk into the barn, no trumpeting gallop to the gate to see me, no banging on his gate to make sure I didn't forget to feed him. I guess I didn't realize how used to hearing him I was. I miss his little song and dance.  It's hard, but slowly time will heal the heart. 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to bury him at the barn where I board, but I was able to have him cremated, and got his ashes back today.  At least this way he will always be with us, once my husband and I get a place of our own, Wayne can buried at home with us.  But for now I need to look for something nice to keep them in, along with the braids that I kept from his mane.  I also want to look into having a horse hair bracelet made with hair from his mane braided in with hair from Lady and Cody.  Studly-Do-Right loved his girls.

Thank you, everyone, for all the thoughts and prayers and support.  He was a pretty special little guy, and greatly missed.  In time, when I'm not breaking down in tears so easily, I look forward to blogging some of our adventures together.  Oh the crazy things he did and the fun we had together.

Things this week have just been crazy.  My husband ended up in the hospital yesterday, and had some emergency surgery.  Thankfully it turned out to be something minor, and he's home now, and feeling 100% better.

Today we took Cody in to MSU for her knee surgery.  She'll stay overnight tonight and have surgery tomorrow morning.  Dr. Caron seems pretty confident that she'll be rideable again after the 3 months healing time.  It should relieve 90 to 100% of the pain in that joint.  They x-rayed her knee again, and very little has changed since June in that lower joint, so that is good.  There is a tad bit of arthritis in the top joint of the knee that might be an issue, but there's no way to know for sure if that top joint will be any kind of a problem until she's healed up from surgery to fuse the bottom joint.  But the arthritis in the top joint is very minor, so if it does cause her any kind of a problem, it should be able to be managed pretty easily with joint supplements and/or a yearly joint injection.  But there's a good chance it may be no problem at all.  They also x-rayed her other knee to see if we had any issues going on over there, since she is 16 years old and this is a lot of money to drop on surgery, and thankfully that other knee is perfectly clean!  No arthritis anywhere!  So he's pretty sure I'll be riding her again come spring!  I sure hope so!!!  I haven't been on her since January and really miss riding her!

So she's tucked away in her stall at the clinic for the night.  Dr. Caron will give me a call tomorrow when she's up and on her feet again and let me know how things went.  I'll be on pins and needles till I get that call and know she's up on her feet and ok, especially with having just lost Wayne.  Hopefully all goes well.  She's been a great sport about it all so far.  She was a little bug eyed and looking wildly around when we first walked into the clinic, but can you blame her?  All the footing is green and soft, it smells like disinfectant, lots of people and other horses coming and going or standing around in stalls. 

But a few hesitant steps and wild looks around, and I think she realized she'd been there before, and walked calmly down to the holding stall to wait.  The other horses there were pacing and/or carrying on, and Cody just looked around for a bit, and soon was standing there with one back leg cocked, head down, eyes half shut.  Good girl.  She didn't even do her little holding her front foot up anxiety thing.  That's impressive!  Good girl Cody!

They came to get her for x-rays, and I had to chuckle.  The other horses they were taking back for x-rays were nervous, in a bit of a hurry, and a little spooky.  I handed Cody off to the tech and with a big sigh she followed along, as if to say, "ok, sure, where we going."  When they came back, Cody was just moseying along about as slow as she could go and the tech saying "she's definitely not in a hurry to get anywhere fast."  And it was back to sleep mode once she was back in her stall.  Cody, I think you are finally growing up!  Even when we took her back to her stall in the hospital ward, she mosied along without a care in the world, and dove into the hay in the hay rack as soon as she was in her stall.  She was more concerned with eating than this strange new stall and all the new things around her.  What a good girl, hopefully she stays that way for the entire stay!  I can't wait to stop and see her after work tomorrow!

You will be missed little man.....

Rest in peace my sweet little man. I couldn't have asked for a better first horse of my own. I'll miss you every day, but I know you're in a better place. Thanks for all the wonderful memories sweet boy, it was an amazing 9 year ride together, one I will never forget. You stole my heart from day one, and made a lot of people smile in your 24 years. You were certainly one of a kind, will never be forgotten, and will always have a very special place in my heart.  Thanks for everything big guy.  I miss you already.

Wayne County

April 23, 1986 - November 19, 2010

Shavings and Wool Coolers Don't Mix!

Haven't heard from the vet yet, so still no x-ray results.  Hopefully tomorrow or Monday.

Thankfully the water was turned back on this afternoon (and Richie waterers all install, yes, I don't have scrub water tanks for the pastures my horses are in anymore, but that's another story), and so Wayne got a mini bath.  Mainly just washed his legs down good, and did a quick scrub of belly, flanks, and shoulders.  Not warm enough to do a full bath, though that would have been nice.  He stinks.  I'll have to towel the rest of him down tomorrow.  I definitely prefer dirt floor stalls since they drain so much better than these cement floor stalls with rubber mats that don't drain at all.  Another note for the "someday when I get my own place" list of things that work better than others!

But anywho, bundled him up in his wool cooler after his bath, and towel dried his legs as best I could, then put him in his stall to let him dry some more, before I could rebandage his legs.  He dug into his haycubes for a while, while my husband and I fed the girls and hung a tie ring in the rafters of his stall to hang one of those lickit stall toys from.  Then he decided to lay down for a 15 minutes break.......still wearing his wool cooler.  Oh no! 

Holy shavings stuck to cooler when he got up!  Little bugger, but he's so darn cute, you just can't be mad at him for it.  Cody rolled in shavings one time with that wool cooler on, and it took me forever to get all the shavings off it.  Discovered that a rubber curry comb worked pretty well to remove shavings from wool, so didn't take too long to get all the shavings off of him.  At least he didn't roll like Cody did, so it was only shavings on one side instead of both.

Got to try out my new no bow wraps that came in the mail yesterday.  All the no bows I've ordered or bought around town have been hardly worth the price, they're all just paper thin and wrinkle easy while trying to wrap them, in the end I think my quilts have more padding and wrinkle less.  But I decided to try the no bows from Big Dee since I had to order some other stuff from there, and I have to say, their no bow wraps ROCK!  Thicker than the quilts and much thicker than the other no bows I have, but thinner than the pillow wraps, perfect thickness for plenty of padding under standing wraps and no wrinkles while wrapping!  I will definitely be ordering more at some point.  So if you need good no bows, check out Big Dee Tack!

Hmmmmm......beginning to think this blog should be called "Wayne's World".  Poor Lady and Cody!

No X-rays Yet

No x-rays of Wayne's feet yet.  My vet got the new part for her developer and we shot new x-rays of both front feet yesterday at lunch, but the developer still isn't working, even with the new part.  She called the company right away and now they are saying it's a software problem.  She feels terrible, she's had this developer for a few years now, and I guess this is the first time she's ever had any kind of problem with it.  Being a programmer, I understand how it goes when it comes to technology.  So she's going to work with the company to try to get it working again and call me as soon as she has the x-rays developed.  So hopefully today or tomorrow. 

But he seems to be doing pretty good still.  No worse anyway.  I really hope the water is turned back on today at the barn.  They're installing automatic waterers, so the water has been turned off.  I'm excited about the waterers, but I REALLY need to wash Wayne's legs down, and would like to wash a few other spots on him and wash his two turnout sheets down since I can't wash them at home or at the laundry mat, and today is probably the last day of 60 degree weather we'll have for the rest of the year.  Only supposed to be in the 40s tomorrow, and that's too cold for washing anything other than a quick wash down of his legs and will be a little cold to scrub sheets.  Please let the water be back on later today.  I have three empty water bottles, so I guess I can at least haul three gallons of water with me from home and at least wash his legs some.

Update on Wayne

So an update on Wayne.......

Last week he wasn't doing too well. While his leg with the bowed tendon was free of heat and swelling, I was being told he was laying down for long periods of time and that his breathing sounded labored. I also discovered a small bedsore starting on one of his hips Thursday night, which confirmed that while even though he was pretty much on his feet whenever I saw him, that he was infact laying down more than he should be when I wasn't there. I started making phone calls to start getting a plan in place because I was likely going to have to put him down.

My farrier came out the next day, and I was really hoping we would be able to get Wayne's feet trimmed and see if that helped him at all, and my farrier is well versed in things like bowed tendons, founder, etc, and works closely with a couple of well respected vets that specialize in lameness issues, so if there was anything that could be done with his feet to help him with this bowed tendon, my farrier would be able to do it. Wayne's feet had grown pretty fast in the six weeks between trims, and this past spring when we went seven weeks between trims instead of six, and Wayne's feet grew like weeds, he was laying down a lot the week before our appointment and kind of acting like he was now, but as soon as he got his feet trimmed, he was fine again, and was a happy camper all spring and summer, patrolling his pasture and keeping an eye on the farm, running to the gate to greet everyone, keeping up with his favorite geldings on the other side of the fence. So something kept nagging me not to make any drastic decisions until my farrier had seen to his feet.

Friday morning came, and when I got down to the barn, Wayne was walking better than I had seen him walk since he injured himself. I was hopeful. I cleaned his stall, and fluffed his bedding, and put him back in his stall with his breakfast to wait his turn, and half an hour later he stopped eating, was laid out flat, and seemed miserable. When it came to be his turn to be trimmed, he was still laying down and wasn't too thrilled with the idea of getting up. My farrier suggested we just try trimming him while he's down. But while Wayne didn't mind me being in his stall while he was laid out flat, it was a different story as soon as my farrier walked in. Wayne rolled up on his belly and tucked his feet under himself, which of course wouldn't work to trim him. We gently tried to get him laid back down flat, but Wayne finally decided no way, and stuck one of his legs out in front of himself to keep himself up on his belly and prevent our attempts, then popped up on his feet. So much for that idea, we had to try trimming him the normal way.


04-23-10



So my farrier set to work and trimmed the front foot with the bowed tendon without any issues. He was able to really bring his toe back and stand him up on his heel more on that foot to take more pressure off his tendons. But Wayne wanted no part of having his other front foot trimmed and having to put all his weight on the injured leg. Which was weird, since that morning he had stood on that injured leg while I cleaned out his other front foot without a fuss. The most we were able to do was bring that foot forward and rasp off as much toe as we could in the short time he'd let us have that foot. He did a quick job on his back feet, worried about making him put too much weight on his front feet since the leg with the bowed tendon was obviously bothering him. Observing him in his stall afterwards, he just seemed miserable, and soon was laying back down again. My farrier said if he made an amazing turn around, he'd get his feet trimmed up better when he came out in a week or so to put a shoe back on another injured horse at the barn, but we both came to the same conclusion, it was probably time to let Wayne go.

My farrier also suggested changing the depth of his bedding to see if that might help at all. I had been bedding him pretty deep to keep him comfortable, but apparently I was doing him a major injustice with the deep bedding, as my farrier said it was actually putting more stress on his tendons with the deep unstable footing, he'd be better standing on the heavy mats with minimal bedding with a bowed tendon. Give him a nice soft bed in the back corner if he wants to lay down, but otherwise mats and minimal bedding in the front so he was on a firmer stable surface when he was standing. So we fixed his bedding like my farrier suggested, and that night when I went down to take care of him, he was up on his feet and eating. So maybe the bedding was an issue, that could explain why he was always up on his feet and perky when I was seeing him, because he'd paced enough to knock the extra bedding around the outside and had the middle nice and flat and mainly just mats, but then he'd be down and miserable after I'd cleaned his stall and fluffed his bed. I feel like a complete idiot. I learn something new from my farrier every time he comes out, so lesson learned: deep bedding for founder, minimal bedding for bowed tendons.

But bedding and trim aside, my mind was made up, I'd call the vet on Monday to put him down. But Saturday I found a different horse. He was up and seemed quite chipper, a complete difference from the day before. And he was that way all weekend. And while he did lay down some, it seemed to be 10 to 15 minutes at a time, verses 30 minutes or an hour. And he wasn't always laid out flat, sometimes he'd just be curled up. Eating everything I put in front of him. Happy to walk outside to see what was going on and graze a bit. Even snuck him out to the arena for a couple rolls in the sand. Talking his head off to anyone that came near, and happily hanging his head out his hay window to see what was going on. Usually chewing a mouthful of haycubes while doing so, and leaving a pile of dribbled haycubes on the aisle floor. Monday morning and at lunch was the same thing. Needless to say I was once again torn on what to do.


07-25-10



So Tuesday I had the vet come out to evaluate him. She said I've done a great job with his leg with the icing and bandaging, there's no heat or swelling in there at all right now, so I don't need to ice him anymore. Just keep using the DMSO to help encourage circulation and healing in that area. At least two of the major tendons in his leg are bowed, possibly all three major tendons/ligaments considering his fetlock was so low to the ground when it first happened, but maybe it's not all three since his fetlock is staying up where it should be now. But either way, he definitely has a major bow. He definitely did a number on himself. If he didn't have the bad knee he would probably heal up fine, but the bad knee complicates things.

She said he's definitely uncomfortable at this point, he's not sure which front leg to put the most weight on, but not excessively uncomfortable. He's not suffering at this point, she said he's got a good sparkle in his eye, and a good attitude, and if he's keeping a good attitude and appetite and will be ok on stall rest, then he may pull through if I'm willing to do the nursing care. But we're also looking at 3 to 4 months of complete stall rest and standing wraps, possibly stall rest and wraps all winter. So it basically came down to, if I'm willing and he's willing, go ahead and give it a shot, but if he back slides again or starts laying down too much or giving you the signs that it's just more than he can take, then it's time to put him down. He's definitely not in the clear, but he may pull through and be a happy retired pasture pony again. We'll just have to see, and let him tell us how he's feeling. If he continues like he was over the weekend and this week, keep going, if he starts acting like he did last week, then it's too much, and it's time to put him down. I just have to prepare myself that things could go either way. And I guess if he has to be in, winter is a good time for it. And thankfully we have a fairly busy barn, so there should be lots of activity going on to help keep his mind busy while he's inside alone during the day, and he has other stall buddies to keep him company at night.

She is a little concerned about his front feet though. She said the growth rings are showing a little bit more heel growth than toe, which means there could be some rotation in his feet. Which would not make his prognosis very good. So we x-rayed his front feet, but then her digital developer suddenly decided to stop working for some reason (which apparently is a first), and they have to send her a new part for it, so she's coming back out Friday at lunch to x-ray his feet and see what's going on. And whether there is any rotation or not, the x-rays will give my farrier a better idea of just how far back he can trim his toes to give his tendons as much relief as possible. So we'll see what the x-rays say on Friday.



06-07-10

 I also told her about his grunting and "labored breathing" when he's laying down, and she wasn't too worried about it. She said he's breathing fine while standing. And some noise is to be expected when laying down. Some grunting and "snoring" like sounds are fairly normal for any horse laying down, injured or not. She basically said, they're a big animal that's not really designed very well for laying down, and when they do lay down, especially when they lay out flat, their body puts a lot of pressure on their lungs and their organs shift and put a lot of pressure on their lungs so it is a little harder for them to breath while laying down, and he is an older horse. So she wasn't too worried about that unless he's really carrying on. But what I was describing to her, she said sounded normal, and laying down is good for him to get off his feet for a while, as long as he's not staying down for extended periods of time. She also agreed with my farrier on the bedding depth and that I may have been hurting him more than helping him with the deep bedding. Yup, feeling like an idiot again.

So we're taking things day by day and just seeing how it goes. But so far so good, he's definitely having a better week this week than last week. And so far he doesn't seem to be telling me it's time.