Good Day

I have pictures but I moved the printer/scanner and now it says I don't have it plugged in to a usb port and I thought I did. I am just not very good at this sort of thing. Bob either.

I mucked out the two stalls today. I did not do it yesterday so it was twice as much. Amelia bless her old heart piles her poop and the rest of the stall is pretty clean. Now my Princess Sage on the other hand does nothing of the like. She is a mess. It takes me twice as long to do hers.

Then I took her for a little walk, fed her some apples and was having a nice little chat. Bob got home got the mail and was walking towards us tripped on something and fell down. That was more than her temperament could handle and she bolted right away from me, down by Amelia's pen and looked at him and snorted. He walked over to her and petted her and I got a curry and he started in on her side. She is shedding. I got my measuring tape (horse type) and measured her. She is 15 h 2 at the withers and weighs 1057 pounds. Her hips are about half a hand taller than at her withers. I took her an apple cut in quarters and she slurps it right down. She loves apples.

Yesterday talking to Nikki our daughter, she told me her baby who is in first grade is being tested next week to go into an accelerated program. He is multiplying up to his 5's in the first half of lst. grade. Can't wait to see how he does.

Bob is fine, he caught his toe on a rock. It scared me though. I knew Sage would not go any where. It did not help his leg however. He had not taken a pain pill all day until then.

Blessings.

Frustration

I spent all day trying to get on the Internet. Tech support in India I imagine first gave me someone I could not understand. I wanted to ask him if his name was Beverly. ( the commercial ) but I didn't and the woman I talked to was better but after an hour and a half she told me my computer was broke. Oh well, now its working.

I did not go outside today at all. Bob did all the chores and I messed with the computer and waiting for return calls. Tomorrow I will. I promised Sage I would. It was beautiful and sunny today but I missed it. Dang nab it any way.

Amelia will get her teeth floated next week. She can hardly eat her hay. Just the leaves. Bob will make the appointment tomorrow. Old ladies need good dental work.

Maybe tomorrow I will have something interesting to report. Kind of a boring day.

Blessings.

Got It

Goodbye Dial Up Internet Service. The HughesNet man came this afternoon and its all in place. I am still trying to get around. I need to uninstall Adobe Reader and reinstall it but it won't. I don't know why it won't. Will go back and work on it later. It says there is an error and it won't uninstall. Oh well. Not the first time I have been outsmarted.

Bob woke up with his leg hurting really bad. I don't know what he is going to do. He can't live on pain pills the rest of his life.

Sage was as good a girl today as could be. She got a little excited going back in because of a strange truck at the end of the house. Just normal behaviour I guess. The stalls got cleaned and rebedded again today. I need a radio out in the barn.

Bob's brother called a little bit ago and he may have to have surgery on a valve in his heart. That will mean Bob will have to go over and help Jackie, his wife. She is wheel chair bound and will need help. We should know more in the next day or sol

Blessings.

House Cleaning Day

And boy did it need it. With such a busy week and weekend the house got ahead of me. You would think with just the two of us it would stay clean. HAHAHAHAHA. Not happening.

I did muck stalls today. It is so much easier when I get at it every day. I am trying really hard to do that because Bob can't do it and it is easier on my back daily. Today when I went to get Sage to put her out she had 3 chickens in the stall with her. They did not seem to be bothering her at all. When I put her in this evening they were not there. She is so easy to lead around that I can't believe it.

I about croaked tonight when I hear Kris Crocker on Chanel 5 news weather forecast. She said next week winter is going to return with a vengeance. I do not like the sound of that. With a vengeance she said, below temperatures and much moisture which would relate to snow wouldn't you think. I was imagine spring around the corner. I remember the most severe winter weather was in February some years ago with a big dump of snow and very cold with wind taking it to -60. I am hoping that is not the case.

Take care, Blessings.

Two Thirds of the Way to 1000 Blessings

695 - Catching a first fish
696 - Quaker True Delights
697 - Waking up rested
698 - Bob Shaved off his beard
699 - Christiansunite.com
700 - Mustang and Burro Club
701 - Lily and Hope Web Cam
702 - High Speed Internet
703 - Talking to the owls
704 - Finding my Pryor Mountain pictures
705 - Darlene Griffith rip
706 - The Gideons]
707 - Lemonade that is just right
708 - "Green" shopping bags when I remember them
709 - Hospice workers
710 - Ronald McDonald House
711 - Vanessa Behan home
712 - St. Margaret's half way house for women
713 - Pediatricians
714 - Geriatric Specialists
715 - Bob's leg is better
716 - Teen Challenge
717 - Crosswalk - VOA ministry to street kids
718 - Dr. McKinley DVM
719 - Bob reminding me of things I forget to do
720 - A good hairdresser
721 - Avocados
722 - FFA
723 - 4 H Clubs
724 - Senior Centers
725 - Union Gospel Mission
726 - St. Ann's home for infants
727 - Hutton Settlement for abandoned and homeless children
728 - TRIM fingernail files
729 - My pink pen with a horse head on the end that lights up when I write with it.
730 - Modern veterinary practices

Continued from Yesterday

I did not expect the girls so early yesterday so it was cut short. Today I will add what I was going to say. AND it is snowing out. I am watching sort of the Super Bowl Game. I really like football much to the chagrin of Bob and my kids. My grandson Dustin is a sports addict too so he and I talk sports.

The first thing Dr. McKinley talked about yesterday was the plight of unwanted horses. He passed out a pamphlet from the Unwanted Horse Coalition. The web site is unwantedhorsecoalition.org. Their mission statement is "The mission of the Unwanted Horse Coalition is to reduce the number of unwanted horses and to improve their welfare through education and the efforts of organizations committed to the health, safety and responsible care and disposition of these horses." It says the problem of the unwanted horse is the responsibility of every individual and organization involved in the industry is responsible for these horses. That includes racing, Performance and recreational riders.

He talked about when emotions and facts collide. He did not come off as pro or anti slaughter, he just produced facts. The only main line registry that is not down 30% or better is the Jockey Club which is Thoroughbred Horses. He explained the reasons for that and it had to do with the prices of stakes races and how they have stayed up.

This information was given by Charity (and I can't remember her last name) who is a Certified Vet Tech. It is probably information you all have but she recommended it be posted in your barn and your horse trailer so that if a problem arises and you get panicked it will be there to look at.
Normal temp - 98 to 101
Heart Rate 32 to 44
Respiratory 10 to 15
Mucus membrane (gums) pale pink and moist
Capillary refill - 2 seconds
Gut sounds in all four quadrants

Take the pulse under the jaw or behind the eye

Take the respiration at the horses flank. Do not put your hand in front of their nose, that can wig a horse out.

This is what she recommended for a first aid kid.

A decent stethoscope
Bandage scissors
Bute/Banamine
4 x 4 gauze pads
Non stick bandage
Sheet cotton
vet wrap
white tape
Ophtheminic antibiotic ointment (for eyes)
Bentadine (l parts in 20 parts water)
Triple antibiotic Ointment
Duct tape
Sharpie pen

She said this is basic, you probably have other things you carry.


There are 5 kinds of Colic. The first two are gas and impaction. Gas almost always resolves itself. The other three require surgery for recovery - displacement, torsion, small intestine. She said don't walk a colicing horse for more than 15 or 20 minutes out of every hour. If they want to lay down and are quiet, let them. When you call the vet they will want Temperature, pulse and respiration. You probably all know this information but this is just a reminder.

Then Dr. Peters talked about ulcers in horses and they symptoms. Off feed, grouchy, hair coat not good. Then he brought in a mini horse and put a scope down his nose and showed us on a big screen his nasal passage, his guttural pouch, and his stomach. That did not impress me too much but most people thought it was really cool.

It was an excellent day and well worth our time. It will be the first Saturday in February next year and it is open to all and free and they feed you besides.

We had a great dinner at the Q Restaurant in the Casino. Kind of loud but the food was good and we had fun with Chrissy and Wendy. It was fun to spend time with them with out 3 teens vying for attention too. We laughed our heads off. I can't say the service was too good but the food was.

I told you the other day that I had put white plastic bags all around Sages outdoor pen. She has totally shredded them and pulled them all down. Talk about a character. I guess she didn't want them waving at her.

Last night after we got home Bob and Wendy were watching a movie and Chrissy and I were chatting and Pistol would not quit squeaking her toy. Bob put it on the dining room table. Pistol went over and in one leap made it to the top of the table, grabbed her toy and jumped down. She was just spayed last Wednesday and they said to keep her quiet. That is like telling a whirling dervish not to whirl.

Hope your weekend was awesome. Blessings

Sunshine and good information

This morning Bob and I attended a Customer Appreciation Day open to everyone from Drs. McKinley and Peters. Dr. McKinley has been our vet since he came down from Canada and started his practice. He is the one who saved Pepper's life a few weeks ago. He talked over an hour about the problem of unwanted horses and what we are going to do about it. Maybe tomorrow I can go over the list. Then his Vet Assistant talked about emergency kits and what to carry. She added some things but her biggest thing was duct tape.

Probably the most interesting part of the day was a demonstration on a mini stallion named Shrek of a scope that they can examine the stomach with. Down thru the nose. We saw his esophagus, and all parts in between. He told us with this machine they can diagnose strangles and virtually eradicate it.

Now we are off to have dinner with our kids. I did not know they were coming so early or I would not have started this. The sun is shining, stalls are cleaned and now off to eat.

Blessings.