One Year Ago

I realized that today marks the one year anniversary of Mike having his heart surgery. I'm sure  most people wouldn't be as scared from the ordeal but I'm still traumatized by it all. I wanted to remember the date, not because of the stressed that we experienced before and after the surgery but to see if we could stay out of the hospital. At least Mike has now stayed out of the hospital for one year. We are still paying off the surgery but steady as she goes, we'll get it done.

The next milestone is to make it past the middle of June, when we spent a week in the Children's Hospital with Garrett and his bout with meningitis. I will be happy to be one year free of all hospital visits. Now to get past the hospital bills that we are still trying to pay off.

So if you happen to see Mike, wish him a happy anniversary with his fixed heart. Well, maybe not. I'm not sure that he wants to remember that time but I'm counting my blessings that we haven't visited the hospital on Mike's account. Come on June!

Trust, a Beautiful Thing

I know I shouldn’t be, but I am always surprised and shocked by the extent of trust these horses give me. I am no horse whisperer, I am not a teacher. I do not give off the vibe of a leader. I am me but the horses at the Sanctuary trust me. I ask them to perform a simple task, and they do it. Sometimes with a little bit of hesitation but they still do it.  Why? Because they trust me. And not just me, they trust people.

I am always left speechless when I’m messing around with a horse and they do something that I’ve asked them, which happens to be out of their normal routine. Take for example Rabbit. I hate to even admit that I’d not had her in a trailer since we brought her home in 2010. It’s a bit of an embarrassment to admit it but it is what it is. Rabbit didn’t even want to go in the trailer when we were bringing her home. We had to load Mayhem first to get Rabbit to go in. But yesterday, with just a bit of coaxing (and some grain), she loaded into the trailer. She also unloaded without much hesitation. Not only did she load and unload once, she loaded and unloaded a total of three times yesterday. Each time she loaded more quickly. Given that she hadn’t been on a trailer in over three years, the little bit of time she needed to think, was amazing. Once she had her front feet in the trailer, she stood there figuring out where her back legs were. We didn’t rush her and she didn’t get upset.

With trust comes patience. I guess I’m learning that the horses are trusting me so I need to give them patience in figuring out exactly what I’m asking of them and knowing that I’m not asking them to do anything that will put them in to harm’s way.

Then I think about Mayhem. I tried messing with her last year in getting her accustomed to a saddle. She freaked out so I figured I’d leave it to the trainer (when the time finally came), to get her accustomed to a saddle and all that. But when we had the polar vortex blow through, I KNEW she needed a blanket. Wouldn’t you know, she trusted me to put a blanket on. She’d never had one on before and she didn’t flinch when I put the blanket on or pulled the straps around to adjust them. She trusted me to protect her from harm.

It’s the trust that these horses have in me that blows me away. They trust me to protect them, to feed them, and keep them safe. They trust me to keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They trust me beyond anything else. I can walk up to them carrying a blanket without having to halter and hold them. They trust me to mess with them, to walk in between herd mates, they trust me to come when I call (which is pretty neat to have them come galloping up from the pasture).

The trust these horses has in me is beyond words. I can’t explain the feeling I get knowing that the Sanctuary horses trust in me. I might not technically be the boss mare, but they know that I am there to protected them.

So the next time you ask your horse to do something, be patient and consider the trust that they have in you. You are there to protect them. They are putting their life in your hands. They are trusting you.

Trust, it’s a beautiful thing.

Good Results from the Vet Appointment

The last few days have been a blur, which seems to be the norm these days. With the President’s Day holiday, I was able to schedule a vet appointment. Originally it was to do a follow up on our little minpin, Trouble. But I also decided to schedule a float for Brego. About this time every year, he starts to drop weight and doesn’t pick up the weight again until he’s out on pasture. It’s been like this for the past few years so I decided to have his teeth floated and do a quick overall exam on him.

Yesterday morning, I decided I would push my luck and see if Rabbit would load. The last time we tried to load her, she wouldn’t have anything to do with the trailer. But this past winter, I’ve been messing with Rabbit a bit more and within about 10 minutes, she was loaded and standing patiently in the trailer. I take that is a huge accomplishment because we hadn’t had her off the place since we brought her home three years before. I’ll take full blame and responsibility for my negligence in not taking her to the vet sooner.  Brego of course loaded like a dream. I threw the lead rope over him and told him to get in, which he promptly did. He’s such a sweet horse.

We had to drive slow because the roads were terrible. I’m not sure why I insist on vet appointments in the middle of winter. The weather was starting to warm so the roads were slushy. We’d gotten rain, and then freezing rain and snow during the night (I slept through it).  The sidewalk was super slick but maintenance had been out plowing the snow and throwing salt/sand on the roads so they weren’t as bad. We couldn’t go more than about 50mph otherwise the truck would get sucked into the slush. I’m perfectly happy going slow. I ended up taking the stock trailer instead of the 6-horse trailer. I’m glad I took the smaller trailer because of the road conditions but I felt bad that the horses had to ride in a more open trailer. I double blanketed Brego to make sure he was ok. Rabbit was tucked in to the front of the trailer, out of the wind. I was worried they would be soaked when we got to Madison, what with all the semis throwing slush up onto us. But they didn’t seem the worse for wear.

Amazingly, Trouble cured herself of diabetes. Or at least we joke that she did. She had other issues that were triggering the problems but she got a clean bill of health from the vet. Then it was on to Brego and Rabbit. We brought Brego in first. He wasn’t too sure about the vet but we’d never had him in for a float before. He wasn’t too keen on the idea of being at the vets but he behaved and followed me. When the vet checked him, he said Brego’s teeth weren’t all that bad. I had expected with his weight loss that his teeth, even for a nine year old, would be terrible. Nope. They were good enough that the vet just did a hand float with a little bit of sedation. Of course the sedation really kicked Brego’s butt but we weren’t in any hurry to leave. The vet also listened to Brego’s heart, which sounded perfectly fine, no heart murmur. So when I asked about the weight loss, he said Brego is a nervous horse (which I almost busted out laughing), and said that he’ll just be harder to keep the weight on. But the more I think about it, the more that makes sense. Brego isn’t high strung like I think of normally. He’s not like Zeke or Bo but he is anxious. And being at the bottom of the pecking order, he does have to watch himself a bit more than some of the more aggressive horses. So the nervousness isn’t external, it’s internal. And that makes more sense. So I guess we’ll be pumping him full of high fat foods, like we do with Bo. I don’t know what it is with those bays, but I have no luck with them! I’m going to have to avoid bays from now on!

Rabbit was next. I really figured she would have terrible teeth, what with not having taken her in before. I pulled her blanket off and put her in the stocks. The vet sedated her and went to work checking her out. She too wasn’t bad, which threw me for a loop. I figured with as messy of an eater as she is, throwing grain everywhere that she needed a float. The vet decided that all she needed was a hand float as well. I was flabbergasted. Rabbit wasn’t as willing a patient as Brego but she got her float done. What a difference some sedative does. Rabbit was a completely different horse during her dentistry work. Of course, she was born with a lot more white showing in her eyes, which throws a lot of people, but I’ve learned that is just part of her beauty. The vet looked Rabbit over and said she had really amazing teeth for being 21 years old. All of her teeth were there and in really good shape, so we’ll have Rabbit for a number of years still!!! I’m afraid that her teeth won’t be what gives out (I expect it’ll be her heaves that will be the death of her). I also had the vet take a look at her right eye. I know she has uveitis in it. That right eye will weep all summer.  I also figured she was going blind in that eye because it’s a bit more fogged over. The vet said, nope. There are a couple of scratches on the surface, but she’s not blind. She just has to look through those scratches so it’s tougher to see. It would be like looking through Plexiglas that’s about three inches from your face.  So on the bright side, she’s not blind and she’s already adjusted to looking through her “Plexiglas” eye (at least that’s what I’ll call it). So it’s good news that she’s not blind and has wonderful teeth.

When we pulled in to mom and dad’s after the vet’s Mike heard a hissing noise and looked at the back tire on the truck. Sure enough, I’d driven over a piece of wire that had punctured the tire. I unloaded the horses and threw them in the pen. I’d never had Brego and Rabbit together before in a pen but they behaved themselves and just wandered around for a bit. Mike couldn’t get the spare off the truck (we’ve never had to change a tire on the truck and the truck is now 10 years old….sigh). So Mike ran back in to Madison to get the tire fixed. Luckily it was a fix that the tire shop could fix instead of me having to buy a brand new tire. I’m thankful that we weren’t on the way home when the tire blew. We would never have gotten the spare down. The tire shop had to take a sledge hammer to the spare tire! That’ll teach me not to check my spare more often. So even though we had a puncture, it was more of a blessing. Apparently there were two spots in that particular tire that were bad, the wire that punctured the tire and then the slow leak that Mike knew about but couldn’t find (the air stem, or whatever it’s called, had corroded and was causing the problem.)

So all in all, odd news but it all turned out pretty well. I honestly wasn’t sure if Rabbit would load again at the vets but with just a little bit of hesitation (and patience), she loaded.  I love the trust that these horses give me.  After unloaded the horses at mom and dad’s, I again wasn’t sure if Rabbit would load. But with just a little bit of time and patience (less than the other two times), she was loaded up and ready to roll.

I was excited to get home to make sure that Rabbit understood that we were just going for a quick appointment, and that the trailer doesn’t mean you’re leaving forever. Half of the horses already know that the trailer just means a fun trip somewhere (ok, maybe not fun). But they know the trailer leaves with a herd mate, but it always comes back with the same herd mates. So I was happy to get Rabbit unloaded and back into her pen. She let out a low nicker to Mayhem and the ponies. I think she was happy too. I’m sure she was exhausted after her trip.  I really do think that Rabbit too could be a heart horse.  When I was unchaining the gate, Mayhem came up to me and bumped me in the back with her head. I have yet to figure out why it is that the mares always bump me (of course I think Ivan bumped me in the butt the other day too.)

This morning I pulled blankets, much to the herd’s dismay. No one wanted me near them long enough to pull blankets. I don’t tend to halter anyone to pull blankets but I was almost to that point. I had to chase everyone around, except for Rain. Stubborn horses. When I got to Rabbit, she could care less.  I pulled her blanket off and gave her a great big hug. I really do want to get her to be a heart horse too. I think she was handed a hard lot in life and wasn’t ever given the opportunity to be pampered.  So from here on out, I’m going to pamper her even if she is standoffish.  I’ll fix that. I’ve also figured out what makes a heart horse. But I’ll blog about that later.

Congrats GSH

I just wanted to send my heartfelt congratulations to Gentle Spirits Horse (GSH) Rescue and Sanctuary. They took the next step in rescue by submitting the non-profit (501c3) paperwork. To acquire that status takes a lot of time, paperwork, money, and dedication. For those that think it's easy to do, please rethink that idea. There is a lot more to obtaining 501c3 status than meets the eye.  There are many hoops to jump through and unfortunately, Borderlands hasn't had the time to figure out those hoops. But we do want to share in their excitment and wish them well in obtaining this new status. The 501c3 status will give them more opportunities to help the local horses.  Maybe Borderlands can follow in a not so timely manner but for now, please check out GSH, their adoptable horses, and all that they have done for the horse!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day and get to spend time with your loved ones. I'll post more this weekend but going to enjoy some family time on this Valentine's Day!

I'll leave you with some of our engagement pictures with the Sanctuary horses. Oh for green pastures.



Good post

I know this blog post is about dogs, but you can always take it a step further with horses.

http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/old-dogs-can-teach-us-new-tricks


Even in their golden years, horses are the same. They live each day to the fullest and their wisdom shows in their expressions. I guess that's why I like the older animals. All that wisdom wrapped up in a furry body.

So Long Slap on the Wrist

Our local news reported the following....a good sign! Hopefully people will think twice about the abuse they inflict on animals.

SD Panel Approves Making Animal Cruelty A Felony

PIERRE, SD - 

A South Dakota legislative panel has endorsed a measure that would make animal cruelty a felony in South Dakota, the only state without felony penalties for serious animal abuse.

Similar bills have failed in past years. But this year's bill was written with input from livestock producers and animal welfare groups.

South Dakota law currently makes inhumane treatment of animals a misdemeanor.

The bill would make it a felony to commit malicious, intentional acts of abuse that cause prolonged pain, serious physical injury or death of an animal. It also clarifies that standard accepted livestock-raising practices are not mistreatment.

The Senate Agriculture Committee rejected a similar measure last year amid worries it could interfere with the livestock industry. The panel voted unanimously Tuesday to pass the compromise bill.