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

Salted Pony Anyone?

Was it hot outside today? According to Lady, yes it was!  I know Lady sweats kind of easy, but dang! This might be a record for her! Darn weather!

Spring in Pictures

Been having a hard time coming up with much to post lately, so we'll try this. 

Our spring in pictures.

Last we left off, Lady had gotten new jammies.  Well, Cody got new jammies too, a turnout sheet to match Lady's!

They look so cute together!  And yes, they are back together!  Cody was on individual turnout for most of the winter from her knee surgery, and still is on "individual turnout" but turned out with just Lady.  It's SO nice having them together again, and I think Cody is happy to have a friend back, and Lady having less grass to pig out on and less horses to push her around is a plus for her arthritis.

When there's not enough horses for everyone to ride, Lady's a champ to give a friend's daughter a lift for a trail ride.

Fun new polo wraps!

I see those summer coats peaking through!



Pretty foggy morning, but seriously Michigan?  Turnout sheets on frozen ponies toward the end of May?

Cody's up to 30 minutes of hand walking....but who wants to hand walk a horse for 30 minutes.  Ok, yes, the exercise is good for me, but it gets old quick.  So, we pony several days a week, sometimes in the arena, sometimes on the trails!  I get to ride, Lady get a light workout to keep her joints moving, and Cody gets her hand walking in!

And yes, more crazy new polo wraps!  They're addictive!  Cody's pretty in plaid, and Lady's ready for the races in her checkered flag......ok, so her arthritis says absolutely not, but they're still cute!

And then there's little Pistol.  Pistolero is a 4 year old Paso Fino gelding that belongs to a fellow boarder, who's been kind enough to let me work with him a few days a week, with ground work and riding, so I have a horse without "soundness limitations" to enjoy and practice my Downunder Horsemanship with, and little Pistol gets some extra work in to help with his training since he's still a bit green.  And he is a little guy!  Slightly taller than my Wayne was, but definitely not over 14 hands, and much finer in build.  But he's been fun to work with so far.

So, there's our spring this year. 

First Saturday In May!

The first Saturday in May is almost here!  Who's your Derby pick?

While I do have some issues with the horse racing industry, I also can't help but love to watch these amazing animals run.  And every year, I'm in front of the TV on Derby day, and again for the Preakness and Belmont.  Every year I hope to see a Triple Crown winner, but so far, it hasn't happened yet.  The last one was the year I was born, so don't remember it.  But I've definitely seen some great Classic races!  And maybe someday I'll get to see that Triple Crown winner. 

But for now, some of my favorite finishes in the Triple Crown races over the years!

Probably my favorite by far, the 1989 Preakness Stakes, with Easy Goer and Sunday Silence stride for stride to the wire:

Though I adored Sunday Silence, Easy Goer was my boy (and Pat Day my jockey), and got him in the Belmont:

Rags To Riches, coming from the far outside post and a stumble at the start to edge out Curlin in the 2007 Belmont Stakes, first filly to win it in over 100 years:

Long shot Lil E Tee finally giving the great Pat Day his first Kentucky Derby win in 11 tries in 1992.  One of the biggest upsets in Derby history, and I couldn't have been happier:

Afleet Alex falling down to his knees at the top of the stretch and somehow picking himself back up and charging on to win the 2005 Preakness Stakes ("He's just that athletic and I was just that scared!"):

Probably one of the first American Classics I really remember watching, the filly Winning Colors going wire to wire winning the 1988 Kentucky Derby:

I always love the fillies, and Eight Belles ran her heart out in 2008.  Rest in peace sweet girl:

Charismatic and Chris Antley in 1999:

The amazing A.P. Indy in the 1992 Belmont Stakes:

Unbridled and his 92 year old owner winning the 1990 Kentucky Derby:

Mine That Bird, the long shot that came flying out of no where to win the 2009 Kentucky Derby:

War Emblem in the 2002:

Fancy New Jammies!

Lady got herself some fancy new jammies!  A Weatherbeeta Orican turnout sheet!  I loved the Fleur-de-lis on it, so had to have it!  (Might have to see if I can find another one in Cody's size!)  And Lady seemed quite proud of her new jammies, she struck a few great poses for the camera in between attacking the grass!  She's such a cutie! 

And so a little picture spam!

Bummer it's far too cold for a turnout sheet right now, but soon.  Though the mud is so god awful right now (as you can tell by her feet) that I might wait till the mud dries up a little bit before she wears her new sheet, since she still has the old one too.

The English translation of "fleur-de-lis" (sometimes spelled "fleur-de-lys") is "flower of the lily." This symbol, depicting a stylized lily or lotus flower, has many meanings. Traditionally, it has been used to represent French royalty, and in that sense it is said to signify perfection, light, and life.

In the twelfth century, either King Louis VI or King Louis VII (sources disagree) became the first French monarch to use the fleur-de-lis on his shield. English kings later used the symbol on their coats of arms to emphasize their claims to the throne of France. In the 14th century, the fleur-de-lis was often incorporated into the family insignia that was sewn on the knight's surcoat, which was worn over their coat of mail, thus the term, "coat of arms."

Well, she's a Rocky Mountain/Quarter Horse.....so she's rather American, but we can pretend she's French Royalty!  lol!

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.....