3, 2, 1...ride!

First, thanks for all your love and congratulations on our exciting news! Kenny went and bought me a brand new beautiful SUV last weekend so I guess we are well and truly on our way to being in family mode! ;)

Lucy had her first ride on Monday, with Maddy in the saddle. It was fairly chilly, and we had to walk through to the indoor in the pitch black. I am already missing the long summer days! Lucy plodded quietly along the path to the indoor and then lunged without any fuss. The vet wanted her to warm up on a lunge line for at least the first week or so before a rider got on. I don't think I will limit the lunging to just the first week; it is a good way to get her mind in the game, and after a few months of just lunging, she probably equates that to work more than anything else at this point.

After she had gone in both directions at the walk and trot, Maddy got on. Lucy just stood there, half asleep. Maddy started off letting her go in whatever direction she wanted to, as long as she was walking forward. Lucy went to her favourite corner of the ring, where she likes to roll, and I warned Maddy about that once I saw Lu sniffing the ground a bit. I don't think we needed to deal with a rolling incident, especially with her big bulky Western saddle on!

Lucy looked very calm to me, almost weirdly so. But I am happy that she wasn't a freak about going back to work. I didn't expect that out of her but I guess you never know, after the horse hasn't been ridden for six months. The goal for the ride was simply to meander around, long and low, and keep things very very simple. Maddy and Lucy just walked, and only for about ten minutes. Lucy looked a teenie bit short on her right hind leg but did not look distressed at all. I suspect this is a weakness issue, possibly a stifle issue from standing around so much. It didn't get any worse during the ride; in fact she seemed better on it at the end, so I am not worried about that. We called it a night, Maddy hopped off and loosened the cinch, and Lucy got lots of pats and kisses.

Once back at the barn, I put Sore no More on her back and gave her a Stud Muffin. She loves Stud Muffins ;)

Yesterday, Kenny got on her for me and we pretty much had a repeat of Monday's ride. I lunged her first and let her canter once warmed up, too. Her canter looked the best it has to date; absolutely no hesitation behind or swapping off in either direction. Kenny did decide to try a little trot with her but it got tense quickly. Lucy wasn't bad at all, no theatrics or nonsense, but it just was not what I really wanted to see at the trot. The vet stressed that it's very important she remain loose through her topline and keep her head low, and this was not that kind of trot. Kenny gets a bit worried sometimes and tends to pull on Lucy instead of half-halt and release, which quickly becomes a tug-of-war match between him and Lu...not good. I encouraged him to just keep it at the walk for now and we would work up to the trot eventually. He hasn't ridden since last fall, I believe, so I appreciated him being willing to get on her at all.

The good news is that the right hind leg looked almost perfect during Kenny's ride.

I also started casually looking for someone to start riding Lucy a few times a week and help get her going again. It's nervewracking to be opening myself up to a new rider, especially with Lucy coming back from a long break/injury, but I can't expect Maddy to do everything for me ;) she's only got so many hours in a day and she is very busy with work and her own horse, who's doing fabulously under saddle.

Today the weather is making me nervous. We went from high 50's, misty, overcast, etc, to high 80's with oppressive humidity and lots of sun. Lucy has the majority of her winter coat already so I am worried she is going to be hot today, and I'll probably soak her dinner extra well tonight. Horses are an endless source of worries.

I am off to the barn now for her farrier appointment and then she has an acupuncture appointment, too. Tough life!

back in the land of the living

After a SECOND trip to the ER last week, I think I am finally, maybe, possibly on the mend. I hope so, anyway, because this sickness business is GARBAGE! I don't have time for this nonsense. I laid in bed Monday through Wednesday afternoon and that is just not like me! Kenny has been a superstar, getting up at 5am to do Lucy's stall so that I don't have to go during the day. Maddy and our other boarder have been helping out with PM feedings on days I just cannot do it. I am really grateful that everyone has been so helpful and flexible.

Yesterday I felt ok enough to eat something and today I woke up feeling pretty damn good, so I will do my best not to abuse my body now that it's kind of coming back to life.

Lucy had an acupuncture appointment yesterday that I dragged myself to the barn for and then sat panting on a muck bucket while the vet did his thing. That's the thing about pneumonia...you think you feel pretty good, then you stand up, or even just sit up! and you can't breathe for the next ten minutes.

Anyway, I made it there, and Lu was a good girl for the appointment even though it's been a month since her last one. Between our crazy schedules and me trying to die, we've had to cancel the last three appointments. The vet got six needles in before she started to have an issue, a new record. I have accepted that she will never be a willing pin cushion but given that she had a complete meltdown at the sight of ONE needle when we started, it's great that she will stand there now for six. We've discovered that she loves these treats that Maddy has. They're like horsey crack. They are small round cookies, about the size of a dime. I stand there while the vet is placing the needle and just shove these things into her face...and it works! Cairo is the LEAST food motivated animal you will ever find, and that can make training tricky at times, so I think it's only fair that my horse is the MOST food motivated horse I've ever met.

Today I am a teenie bit nervous, because it is hopefully the *final* follow up exam for Lucy and if it all goes well, she will be cleared to start working under saddle again. It will be just short of six months from the diagnosis at Tuft's to going back to work...a far cry from Tuft's initial guess of two months! But hey, we'll take it, and I'm just glad Lulu was an excellent invalid and did not get stupid when she was out of work.

Unfortunately I did have to request that Lucy and Brantley no longer be turned out together. I felt bad. The romance had started out well, the two of them nuzzling each other and sharing hay, but as time went on, Brantley became pretty protective of the hay and would not allow Lucy to stand by the gate. She was coming in with new battle wounds almost every day (and don't get me wrong, Brantley got his share too!) but she was surprisingly timid around him and I caught him really chasing her around a couple days in a row. The final straw for me was finding two new bite marks on her hind end and finding cuts on her hind legs from running in that tiny muddy paddock. So, I pulled the mommy card and broke them up. They actually seem a lot happier now, each with their own space and their own hay. I think maybe in the future we could try them together again but for now, it just wasn't worth the risk of her getting hurt when we are SO CLOSE to being able to ride! Luckily Maddy was very understanding and we have an extra paddock due to the fourth boarder leaving at the beginning of the month, so it all worked out very well!

I am a terrible blogger.

Sorry for the hiatus, guys. Life just got crazy!

Lucy continues to trot on a circle a few times a week, and I've started letting her canter one time around if she looks really good. She holds her leads behind, which is a huge improvement. She seems to be taking it all in stride, though I am bored to tears with lunging. Yesterday we switched it up a bit and went on a hike in the woods. She walked with her nose on the ground almost the entire time, sniffing everything like a bloodhound. I thought that was quite convenient because she's supposed to be going long and low to stretch out her back and build up her muscles, which is exactly what she did all by herself yesterday! No fauxssoa necessary.

Lucy had a tough week. On Monday she kicked me in the leg when I was trying to clean her hind feet out. She tried to take her RH back from me as I was holding it and we got into a bit of a struggle; her pulling her foot back and me trying to wrangle it mid-air, and I have a nice big bruise to prove it. It was the hardest I've ever been kicked. Again, she wasn't necessarily aiming for me, but I wasn't bright enough to realise it was a lose-lose situation and give her back her foot, regroup, and try again. Instead, I tried to battle it out. Pretty stupid!

On Tuesday, she got her feet done and was a total ass for the farrier. Again, all hind end issues. Maddy had her dog at the barn and he was barking at another person as a horse was walking up from the outdoor and the farrier was trying to pick up her RH and she had a total meltdown overload, broke the crossties, knocked over the farrier's kit with all the nails in it, etc. It was a mess. After that she behaved better but I felt really upset and discouraged about it.

On Wednesday, she had an appointment with the acupuncture vet and did really well. He got five needles in again, without any sort of dramatics. I was really happy with her.

I had scheduled a massage/chiro appt for Thursday to see if there was anything going on in her hind end to make her act like such a jerk but unfortunately it was canceled last second. That's why we went on a walk, instead.

Lauren and Charlie moved down to Pennsylvania at the end of last month and we have a new boarder, a sweet old Quarter Horse gelding named Rowdy. He's actually the opposite of "rowdy" - he is very quiet and well-behaved. He has been a nice addition to the barn.

on pins and needles

Lucy had her weekly acupuncture appointment on Wednesday and kind of had a breakthrough: she actually stood there and let the vet put the needles in without any meltdowns. We did the session in her stall, instead of out in the barn driveway/yard area where we usually do it. She tends to take advantage of the space out there and run in circles, acting like a total fool. I had her in her stall with her butt backed up into a corner and her whole demeanour was different; she realised she really couldn't get out of it this time! HA.

Anyway, the needles all went in great and without much fanfare as I said. Three needles in all; we didn't want to push our luck too much. Two went in her neck on either side where the shoulder slope meets the side of the neck, and the third went in her SI area. She stood there and looked chill, tried to groom me a bit, ate some hay, and the vet and I chatted about how much of a PITA refinancing your house is. Then I looked at Lucy and realised one of the needles had fallen out of her neck. I had no idea at what point this happened, but we had been chatting as she ate her hay, right below her neck area, for at least 20 minutes. This teeny tiny acupuncture needle had fallen into a haystack that my horse had been eating from. INSTANT panic rose in my chest though I kept it calm on the outside. I pulled all of her uneaten hay out of her stall and shook it out, piece by piece, hoping that the needle would materialize. The needles had little plastic handles on them, but they were a golden orange/yellow colour and of course that would blend in perfectly with the hay. I didn't find it in the hay so I pulled her out of her stall and sifted through the bedding really well. No needle. I threw out a bunch of hay that had been below where the needle presumably fell.

Ironically I had gotten the vet a gift of a big magnet on a stick designed to pick up screws and nails at construction sites, because he had commented that he really needed one to find needles that fell more easily. We got the magnet and started passing it over the hay in the stall and it didn't come up with anything. It turns out the needles are magnetic, but only very slightly, so they won't be pulled through bedding or hay that's covering them. Maybe a metal detector would have been a better idea...sigh.

I looked at her and she looked back at me with her lovely soft eyes and I decided this was not a horse who was in any distress caused by eating a needle. I went home for a while, tried to eat some dinner, then went back to the barn around 11 to check on her. She seemed fine; had cleaned up a good amount of hay and eaten all of her dinner. The next morning I checked on her bright and early and once again she seemed totally normal.

I decided not to call my emergency vet unless she started showing symptoms of distress, because what were they really going to do? Come out and charge me an arm and a leg to tell me that the horse is normal? No thanks. I could have had them x-ray the entire length of her body, but again that seemed pretty outrageous since I didn't even know if she had eaten the needle.

It's been two days since the needle went missing and though I never found it, she also never showed any sign of pain or distress.

I guess for next week's appointment, we will do it in the stall again but I am going to take all of the hay out and also sweep her bedding back against the back wall so that we can find the needle if one falls again.

90 degree meltdown

Regarding her vet-imposed time off, I've been so impressed by Lucy thus far. She's remained calm, happy, and acts as though she likes her vacation.

Yesterday, though, she was very unhappy. It was 90+ degrees all weekend, and very humid. The bugs were awful and she seemed pretty hot and miserable in her paddock, so after Maddy and I went and got hay, I took her out to hose her off and get some of the dried sweat off of her. Some other boarders had walked their horses past the barn to ride in the outdoor and that got her excited. She wanted to go with them and started pawing in the aisle as I was getting my bathing stuff together. Then I took her out to the wash stall and hooked her up to the cross ties and she continued acting like a brute, but I ignored her and started hosing her off. She did ok for the most part, and I was almost finished scraping the water off of her after her bath when she randomly had a complete meltdown, sat back on the cross ties and broke them, and whipped backward as I was walking past her front end. She caught my right inner leg with her left front foot and then stood, shaking, a few feet away. Maddy happened to be standing right there and caught her. I was honestly a bit in shock that I had just gotten kicked in the leg, and my leg was quite numb but I could tell it was going to start hurting in a few minutes. I was already annoyed about a variety of things and I quite seriously wanted to throttle the horse for acting like such a complete moron. If she hadn't had an activity restriction, I would have taken her down to the outdoor and kicked her little heinie down a notch, that's for sure.

Thank goodness for Maddy, who kind of took charge and probably saved my sanity and Lucy's horsey life. She did some basic "pay attention to me, you idiot" groundwork with her and got her brain back in her head while I stood there and pondered what just happened. It was a depressing afternoon :(

I guess, though, that this was the first truly bad day in her month and a half of rehab so far, so that's probably a fairly good record. Up until now the most she's done is walk down to the outdoor to stand around with me, but I think I need to start at least hand walking her, or something, because her brain capacity has gotten so reduced from going from stall to paddock to stall to paddock for 6 weeks that she apparently cannot handle anything!!

The acupuncture treatments are still going, and last week was better than the first session. The vet took his time with her and got one needle in, but did it without any reaction from Lucy. When he first arrived, she was immediately suspicious and didn't want anyone touching her sides or hind end, so we took it back a few notches and started very basic. He spent the first half hour just rubbing her forehead and getting her into almost a trance. She was grooming him, which I have never seen her do! That was pretty cool. He wanted to gain some of her trust first, and then after she was nice and relaxed and in this trance-like state, he put the one needle in her shoulder, then went back to rubbing her forehead and letting that needle do its thing. After another 20 minutes or so, he removed the needle and we called it a day. I really, really, really appreciate that he's willing to a) work with her at all, given that she can be such a fruitcake, and b) be so patient with her. We'll see what happens this Wednesday.

My unappreciative horse

I had a vet out today to do some acupuncture on Lucy. I felt very hopeful that she would like this, because she is so well-behaved for normal vaccinations.

Well, I was wrong. She hated it.

HATED.

She stood ok for the first few needles, but then got really, really pissed off. Bucking, kicking, etc. She was not having any of it.

The poor vet...he was so patient and kind with her, and I felt so embarrassed, but he assured me that he had dealt with horses that hated it even more than she did (I'd hate to think what kind of nonsense they pulled, because Lucy was pretty horrible!).

She bucked so hard that two of the needles actually fell out.

after causing the fourth and fifth needles to fall out

Lucy, you bad girl.

We are going to try again next week, this time with a bit of sedative on board to hopefully quell some of that reactivity.

I will say that before he started with the needles, he used a really cool laser that is apparently $5000 (!!!!) and as soon as he touched her with the laser, her head dropped into my arms, she yawned, and her whole body seemed to exhale. That was nice to see.