Easter

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you are all having a good holiday.

I came home for the night to spend Easter with my family, but I'm going back to check on the pony today. He seems to be in good cheer, and the vet will be out on Wednesday to take another blood test and re-evaluate him. When I was at the barn yesterday, the outdoor arena was almost melted, and if this good bout of weather will keep up, we should be able to ride out there in a week or so. I'm so excited that when my baby is feeling better, we can actually go outside. He'll be wild!

In other news, we got three new ponies at the barn, one of which is an adorable little mini! She is so cute. I'm totally going to put her in the back of my car and take her home some day!

Other than that, I have a quick question for everyone. I got a Greenhawk gift certificate, and I'm thinking about buying a new pair of breeches for the summer. I'm not the biggest fan of their Elation breeches, although I have 3 pairs, but they have a few new brands that I'm interested in trying. Has anyone ever tried these Baker Elite breeches or these Ariat Prix breeches? Or for that matter, anything on this page? All I want is something comfy to wear in the summer while riding. I'm not too worried about showing.

In fact, on that note, I don't know what our plans for showing are going to be. I originally thought I'd do the first show at our barn in June so that we could try some crossrails, but ever since Walker got sick, I'm worried about rushing him to that goal too soon when he needs to put on some weight and build back up his immune system. Even if he's physically fit enough to compete then, I will probably not have much of a chance to practice my own position, which obviously needs A LOT of work. Oh well. Health comes first. I'm not the biggest fan of showing anyway.

Idle Hands (and Legs and Feet and Body)

Since Walker is on an extended break from being worked, I've decided that I need to do something to keep myself fit for him.  Frankly, it's been a month since I rode extensively.  I was away over March break, and Walker got sick after that.  I rode him lightly for the first two weeks, but now of course, he is on stall/arena rest.

The other night when I rode Coal, I thought I would not be tired since he is much more forward than Walker, but I quickly found myself panting and sweating after only a few minutes.  Oh the joys of getting older!  You can't even take a break for a few weeks before you start to get lazy again!

When I'm finally cleared to ride the pony again, I think I'm going to develop some sort of fitness plan for him.  He has lost a lot of weight in this bout of sickness, and I want to make sure that I work him slowly and let him gain back some weight.  In the meantime, there's no reason I can't stay fit!  There's absolutely nothing wrong with my immune system, other than a case of the couch potatoes.

I hate to jinx our good weather and everything, but I think that Spring may have finally arrived.  On that note, I may try running.  Really, I don't know why I'm even admitting to it because I say the same thing every year around this time.  And every year, I pretty much give up after the first day it rains.  However, perhaps the idea of keeping fit to be worthy of Walker will keep me motivated.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  We'll see.  If I never mention it again, you'll know why.

By the way, Walker is no longer allowed to be turned out in the indoor arena without a halter.  Apparently, it took my trainer and her husband quite awhile to catch him this morning.  He didn't escape.  He just decided to have a fun time running from them when they tried to bring him back to his stall for breakfast.  The arena isn't very big, but he is a master of evasion when he wants to be.

We also got some new ponies this weekend, including one adorable mini. I can't wait to play with them!

A Bad Pony is a Pony on the Mend

Reflexes like a tiger.  I swear

I'm not going to jump the gun and say that the pony is completely on the mend, but the meds are definitely starting to work.  He has stopped swelling up since we started giving him the anti-swelling meds on a regular basis, and I think the iron is starting to give him some energy back.

Case in point: he escaped this morning.

Apparently when my trainer went behind this metal gate contraption to look after the horses back there, Walker decided to join her - and also totally freak the horses out back there, who are in a tight confined space.  This is essentially their stall after all.  He wasn't wearing a halter of course, and when my trainer went to grab him, he made a break for it - out the metal gates, through the indoor arena door, and trotted off like a madman down the barn aisle, insisting that my 35 week pregnant trainer would not be able to catch him.  Luckily for us all, the doors to the barn happened to be closed, and he was returned to his [very large] cage.

That's mommy's boy!

Vet Rant

I don't know if I explained this before, but my barn owner is very close to Walker's vet.  I mean, they are actually friends in real life, and she texts him on a regular basis.  In many ways, this is a great thing for me because it means that anytime I have even the slightest question, she can get a hold of him and ask without me paying an arm and a leg to get him to come out to the barn.

However, my barn owner is also one of those "my barn, my rules" types, and in fairness to her, she deals with a lot of children, parents without horse knowledge, and people that don't pay their bills.  I am none of these.  In fact, I am the only adult at the barn who owns a horse.

Anyway, as it turns out, my vet and the on-call vet do not particularly get along all the time.  I'm told it is an ego thing, and the problem is simply that the on-call vet is a large animal vet whereas my vet is an equine specialist.  Naturally, I need to defer to my vet, but the on-call vet continued to contact me all week, including today.  Since I have never had any problems with Walker before, I didn't realize the procedure.  Apparently the on-call vet is supposed to hand over the case to the vet in charge as soon as the work week begins, but instead, the on-call vet continued to check lab results and contact me.  I mean, it is not a bad thing to have him so enthusiastic about Walker's case, but obviously problems have arisen between him and my own vet.

For instance, today the on-call vet called me to prescribe a drug to treat against ulcers, since ulcers can be a cause of anemia.  After some extended conversations about me being a nervous wreck about Walker's swelling, I convinced him to also prescribe me the medication we used the night before to bring Walker's swelling down.  Several hours after I shell out over $100 for all of this new medication, I get a text from my barn owner saying that she talked to my real vet who prescribed the anti-swelling medication and some other antibiotic, different from the one for ulcers.  I immediately messaged her back and explained what the on-call vet gave me.  Apparently, my vet was livid, and also happens to be the on-call vet's boss.  He told me not to give Walker the ulcer meds (goodbye money) and he would "deal with it".

All this hullabaloo has left me extraordinarily slightly perturbed.  First of all, what if I had went to the barn and administered those meds to Walker, and my barn owner had went out and gave him the other stuff.  I mean, can all three even be administered?  What if we had overdosed on the anti-swelling meds?  I don't care if the vets have drama.  Work it out among yourselves!

Secondly, I feel like my barn owner is overstepping her bounds.  I will preface the following rant by saying that she knows how crazy worried I am about Walker, she knows I want the best for him, and she knows that I am also depending on her to help me with all this (I happen to have a severe phobia of needles, which is making giving him shots kind of wildly impossible).  However, I am the owner of the horse, and I feel like I am the person who is the most out of the loop.  I don't care if my vet tells her things.  I want her to know.  But why the hell isn't he calling me and telling me!?  I mean, he prescribes Walker the meds, my barn owner picks them up, she tells me about it, and then she administers them to him without me being there (and of course, I now owe her money for them).  She did tell me about them before she administered them, but I did not expressly give her permission to administer them (or buy them!).  And then I find out that he was very difficult to give one of the meds to, and it took four of them to essentially hold him down.  Ummm.  And why wasn't I there?  Why was all this going down without me?

The problem here is that my barn owner is a controlling person (as am I, to be fair), and she is used to dealing with everything at my barn.  One of the horses this week got into an argument with another one and needed stitches.  She called the owners, and they didn't show up for two days!  So it's regular course of business for her to have the vet tell her what she needs to do and then for her to look after other people's horses.  But I'm not like that in the least.  The problem is that she also takes offense easily, and if I confronted her on all this, I would not be surprised if she simply refused to help me anymore.  I can't afford for this to happen - phobia of needles, remember (hereafter, called "the bad thing" since it bothers me to even type the word).  So I clearly have to tread lightly on the matter.

I think tomorrow I am going to have a heart to heart with the vet and try to gently explain to him that he can tell my barn owner whatever he wants, but he has to let me know too.  I don't want to hear it from her.  I want to hear it from him.  And more importantly, I'm afraid that someday I am going to do something (like decide to administer the drugs myself) and she will do it too.  I shouldn't have to check with her if it's ok for me to administer drugs to my horse.  It should be the other way around.

Anyway, that is the end of my long vet rant.

The main thing is that Walker looks better tonight.  He was still swollen a bit and moving kind of slow, but not nearly as bad as last night.

I rode a horse named Coal in the lesson tonight. He is about 14.3 hands, jet black, with a huge barrel on him.  He's a quarter horse, but more the ranch style horse who is quick on his feet and turns on a dime.  He was great fun to ride.  And when I say quick on a dime, let's just say that I may have run us into a lot of obstacles throughout the evening - including my leg into the wall.  And when he canters, he's got a quickstart kind of canter.  He really rockets off his haunches.  I actually thought he was bucking at first!  I think he will be fun to ride in the hiatus while Walker gets better.  Although, of course, I miss my big boy's floaty canter and gentle jog.  :(

Brave

You know, I'm trying to be brave but I'm finding it very difficult. I thought Walker was improving because he was starting to eat his grain, although slowly, and the swelling had decreased since Sunday.

And then I went out to the barn tonight. When I got there he was slightly swollen but the vet told me to expect that. There was a lesson going on so I went into the lounge to chitchat with the parents, and an hour later when I came to turn Walker out in the arena, he was even more swollen than when I got to the barn.

At this point, I was trying not to panic, since it was well past 9 at night again. I decide to take him to the arena at which point it's obvious that he can barely walk again and seems like he's going to fall over from the sheer exhaustion of moving. I took this video of him in the arena mainly for records (and possibly to show the vet), but I had to shut it off because I was too afraid he was going to collapse in front of me.

Apparently one of his tests is back and the vet is going to call me tomorrow. I will voice my concerns tomorrow, mainly that I realize the swelling will continue to return until all the medication starts working, but this type of swelling is simply too severe for comfort. I need to know if I should be administering the drugs we had to give him tonight on a regular basis. I am extremely lucky that my barn owner is friends with the vet, is well versed in giving medication in all forms, and simply that my vet gives her the medication which is technically for veterinary use only.

Secondly, I'm worried about his weight. In my opinion he has lost a lot of weight, which makes sense when you consider that he has barely eaten in two weeks, but frankly, he does not look good. I need answers.

Also, I just wanted to apologize if I have been snippy with anyone lately. I did not mean it! Although, I will be honest that I may have tore a strip off someone at my law school today who frankly had it coming and picked the wrong week to poke the bear.

Finally, all the talk about riding ninjas had me looking up other cute riding-themed apparel. I found this sweatshirt that I really liked, and it reminds me of Walker because obviously Western Pleasure is his thing. I will admit that I wanted to learn to jump, but if he'd just get better, he can do whatever he wants for the rest of his life!

It's Raining Hay

I talked to the vet, and it turns out that it does in fact have to be that supplement that I use, which is perfectly fine by me.  Apparently it helps to stimulate his red blood cells or something along those lines, but the vet doesn't think that I will have to have Walker on it forever.  I think once he is feeling better, we will reevaluate and I'll get the vet to pick a supplement I can keep Walker on regularly.  Like I said, I never had any problems with Walker's mineral/vitamin levels before, but buying a supplement is an easy fix.  I also think the vet and I are going to have a lengthy conversation about feed and which one would maximize Walker's health and performance.  While this whole anemia thing and all the consequences and other weirdosities seem to be because of some bug or flu or temporary fluctuation, I have been debating individualizing feed for a long time now.  This gives me the perfect opportunity.  For one thing, I definitely want to add some flax into his feed because I'm finding his coat a little lackluster, which, for the record, is also a symptom of anemia and a by-product of Winter, but I want to make sure it goes back to that beautiful shine we had going on in the summer.

Until Walker feels better, I am not to ride him, which makes sense since he has to build himself back up.  I am going to turn him out in the indoor arena all night to avoid any further swelling or stocking up, and then try him in overnight for the weekend to see if it comes back.  In the meantime, I intend to visit him daily because I love him, but also because I will probably take him for extended walks around the property - check out the scenery, get a little exercise, see if spring has sprung.

Because I'm out there in the evening to put him in the arena, I've been helping the trainer's husband do a bit of the late night chores.  He likes to throw hay down from the loft at night so it's all ready for him to feed in the morning.  I had already put Walker in the arena, and the hay gets thrown in there.  I figured that he would freak out when a giant bale of hay came tumbling out of nowhere and hit the ground with a thud but not Walker.  He becomes immediately gleeful and saunters over to where the hay is.  Now he is standing directly in the path of the flying hay, and I'm going out of my way not to hit him.  Even though they are pretty much in a semi-circle around him, he is not spooked in the least, and happily munches away at each bale, testing them out.  He must think it's some blessing from on high - food delivered from the sky!

And because apparently we can't catch a break, I missed a sale on breeches at Greenhawk. :( They got a bunch of different kinds in and I wanted to try some out. I have my eye on some online at Dover, but frankly it's so much easier to buy in Canada. Anyway, I meant to buy them online Sunday night, but that was the night Walker got sick and we called the vet. I checked and now they are no longer on sale. :( Sigh. I'm ready for some good news now

Last but not least, I entered a contest for  a ninja shirt on SprinklerBandit's blog.  Because who doesn't feel like a ninja while riding? :)

Answers... Kinda

I checked on Walker this morning, and he was doing much better.  Most of the swelling was down, although there was still a bit in the chest area.  He was also happy as a clam that he had been turned out overnight in the indoor arena which has a giant mountain of hay.  He was smack in the middle of it by the time I got there.

I talked to the vets a couple times today.  I must say that I am very impressed with their bedside manner.  The on-call vet called me several times to update me, and my actual vet called even though he had been out of the city all day and hadn't really spoken with the on-call vet.  He just wanted to check in.

Anyway, apparently Walker was severely anemic, and he was particularly low in some of his vitamins/minerals.  Both vets have absolutely no idea what would cause this in an otherwise healthy young horse, especially since they've ruled out any bacterial or viral infections.  I brought them a fecal sample so that they could rule out parasites, but he was just dewormed in January with Quest (one of the stronger dewormers we have around here).  The vet is really just checking parasites as a formality since he doesn't think that's what it is.

I got a lot of questions that make me wish I had more information from his previous owners.  They asked if he had ever had gastro-intestinal ulcers (don't know - assume not) or any other similar history.  I can readily admit that this horse has never been sick for a second the whole time I have had him until a few weeks ago.

For now, the doctor prescribed Vita-speed, which is essentially liquid iron to help bring his blood back up, and a supplement called Maximize.  Actually, he prescribed another supplement, but they didn't have it at the clinic so his assistant gave me this instead.  It is particularly pricey at $50 a container, especially since after I bagged it, I only got 17 days out of it.  :S  I talked to the vet about that, and he said that I may not need to have Walker on it forever.  Don't get me wrong.  I buy my cat $50 cat food because the vet thought he was looking a little chubby so I would definitely buy Walker supplements if it means he wouldn't swell up to the size of a balloon.  It's just that most supplements last longer so I would prefer something like that, especially if it's going to be long term.

Other than that, we're just waiting on a cause, but we're dealing with the problems.  In all my conversations, I actually forgot to ask if it was ok that I ride, but I am going to assume light exercise is a good thing.  The on-call vet said that the swelling would probably still come back for a few days until things equalize out, and exercise has seemed to help with that.  Also, I would kind of assume they would've mentioned that, but I will ask my barn owner (who texts my vet like crazy) and she is bound to get a response.

Here's hoping he ate his grain tonight because I put his liquid iron on it, and if he hasn't eaten it by the time I come back, I may have to shove it down his throat.  Oh Walker.  Now is not the time to be modest about your eating habits.