Life on an Arabian breeding farm in Capitan, NM.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Sorry for the interruption…


I never got back to finish my story. Mother took a great deal of my time, and in the end she finally became too weak, and went on to a better place. A week later my father was in the hospital, and Bree (at least we think it was Bree) bit (nipped really) one of the paramedics. I’m sure she remembered that the last time the ambulance came they took my mother away, and she never came back. She wasn’t keen on letting that happen again, and when I looked at her she looked very grumpy. The girl was very understanding, but since whoever broke the skin she had to report it. The sheriff was very understanding as well, and did what he had to do, but told me not to worry. She’s in home quarantine for ten days, and so long as she doesn’t get sick we’re fine. I still feel terrible even though it was a very small bite, and whoever it was backed off immediately. I think they knew they were in deep dodo.
 
Prior to mother passing my father (a long time heart patient) was on a heart monitor to determine if he needed a pacemaker. He collapsed a week after mother died. He never lost consciousness, but simply went “boom.” His pulse was down to 47 when I contacted his cardiologist who told me to take him to emergency, and from there they shipped him off to Roswell for surgery. His blood was too thin to do surgery right away so they waited a day. It only took them a half hour to do the procedure. He came through with flying colors, and I brought him home today. Now maybe life can settle down some. At the very least I can devote more time to the horses again.
 
During all this time, we have had extreme drought, and then finally we got some much needed rain. Of course now that I have grass, and weeds everywhere my lawnmower decides it needs servicing, and refuses to move. Even if I can come up with the money to get it fixed, I have no idea how I’m going to get it over to Randy’s. I’m still working on that part. I’ve gotten pretty strong, but I don’t think I can get it into the truck even with ramps, and a come-a-long.
 
Back to the horses, Jeri, the day after we got back from the evacuation, tore up his fetlock, and it’s still healing. He scraped it on some jagged cement while pawing at Ibn who went visiting when he discovered that the gate to Stormy’s stall hadn’t been closed. I have Stormy between the two stallions just so things like that won’t happen. When they were bringing the horses back from the fairgrounds after the evacuation, I told them to put everyone in the arena, and I would sort them out later. It was easier than trying to explain where each horse belonged when they didn’t really know one horse from another. Stormy was in the arena with the rest of the horses so when I put the stallions away I didn’t notice the gate. I had to fix the panel that had been undone in Ibn’s stall so he wouldn’t go visiting the mares that were next to Ser-Haat’s stall. It was late, and I didn’t even think to check the gate between Stormy, and Ibn’s stall. I was exhausted, it was almost dark, and I was just happy that everyone was home, and no one was hurt, especially me. Are you confused yet? The next morning is when I discovered the two stallions were next to each other, and Jeri was banged up. I have been nursing him ever since. There was nothing to stitch so I’ve simply been encouraging new skin to grow while keeping proud flesh from taking hold. It’s almost healed. There’s only a small oval of raw flesh left. I’ll just be glad when I don’t have to change a bandage every night after I feed. The vet wrap is killing me especially since there’s none to be found now that football practice has started again. I’ve had to buy people vet wrap, which is twice as expensive, and doesn’t work nearly as well. I hope he appreciates all this!
 
I’ve had three horses colic recently, and have played hell trying to put weight on everyone. They all lost weight when they were at the fair grounds especially the stallions. Well come to find out Jeri no longer has any upper molars which is why he wouldn’t eat the stems on the alfalfa I kept giving him to put some weight on him. I have played around with diets, and have settled on soaked beet pulp, soaked alfalfa cubes, senior, and grass hay. The cost of hay has finally come down some although it’s still pretty steep. Ibn, and Jeri are starting to look pretty good. Lizzie, and Sadie have put on weight, but look worse than they are because of too many babies, and age. I’m trying to work them to get rid of their hay bellies, and strengthen their back muscles. When they’re working you can see that they really have put on weight. Ser-Haat is going through a major growing spurt, and LBM is too only not quite as much as Ser-Haat. I don’t know what’s up with the rest of them. Jazzy looks the worst. We have water issues again (it’s summer after all, and my neighbor is filling his dirt tank) so I don’t really have a place to separate her, and Star from the other pasture mares. Now that I’m not spending all my time with mother, and father is on the mend, I want to put the two of them in the shuffling barn attached to the arena. I can give them supplements that way, but first I have to fix the tank I fixed last year that leaked. All the coating I put on the bottom, of the tank has come off, and it’s leaking again. We’re supposed to have several days of sunshine so it can dry appropriately if I can get it painted before it rains again. This time I want to coat the inside, and the outside. It will probably only last a year, but I have a whole gallon of the stuff so that’s not a problem.
 
I need to teach LBM that he is not going to fall over if I pick up his feet to trim them, then try to get his feet where they belong. That should be fun. I need to start working Ser-Haat who is going to be an awesome boy. I can halter him now, and we even went to the round pen once. That was a trip, literally a trip on my part. He was doing so well even though he was very excited walking through the barn. Then when he was faced with all the mares, LBM, and Ibn calling out to him it got the better of him. He reared just slightly hitting me with his knee. Naturally I lost my balance, and fell. He was so good, he just stood there till I got myself up again, and we proceeded to the round pen. It was all very exciting. I have to say one thing he’s a quick study. Of course I’ve been using his stall as a round pen so it wasn’t much different, but still I was very proud. Once I can get myself a schedule he should move forward quite quickly. I need to get those shoulders built up. He looks like a baby albeit a tall baby. I swear he at least 15 hands already, and he still has a few year to grow yet.
 
I have to work with Stormy, and I’m going to try to get on Star’s back. April is moving to town, and won’t be helping me so it’s all on me to break these kids. I know I can do it, it’s just my own fear I have to overcome. I’ve never been on a horse that hasn’t been at least green broke. So what if I’m 61, they say you’re never too old to try something new. I wonder if the person who said that ever tried to break a horse. Hummm, what you want to bet? Oh well I guess I’ll find out.
 
I mentioned that I had three horses colic on me. The first was Santa Fe. The alfalfa Katy brought over for her horses was too green for her. Regalia’s tummy didn’t mind, but Santa Fe couldn’t take it. She had also brought some wheat hay so I gave that to Santa Fe, and the alfalfa to Regalia. A couple of mornings later I was tired, and I accidentally gave Regalia her hay, and then Espree’s wheat hay. Well the wheat went all over the place so without thinking I took the alfalfa, and threw it into Espree’s stall. So guess who colicked next, Espree of course. When I fed that night she had a big bump on her back cannon. I called Sherry who said to make sure she wasn’t colicky. She was (which is how she got the bump on her leg) so I fixed up a Banamine cocktail since I can’t give her a shot. She totally freaks when she knows she’s getting a shot (prior owners). She wouldn’t even eat that, and it had extra molasses so I took her out, and started walking her. I came back with only to discover that Bear (the Chesapeake) had eaten Espree’s cocktail. I call Sherry all in a panic. I have my mother who is sick, a horse who is sick, and now my stupid dog who knows he’s not supposed to eat the horse goodies, eats a horse dosage of Banamine.
 
Sherry tells me to give him hydrogen peroxide to try to get him to vomit. Bear eats everything, and didn’t bat an eye at the hydrogen peroxide. 40 CC’s I gave him. I looked it up on the internet, and they said if they don’t vomit within 10 to 20 minutes repeat the dosage once. Guess what of course it didn’t work, although I must say that after about 60 CC’s he had had enough. Now what? Sherry said the only thing she could think of was to give him all the bread he could eat. That turned out to be almost a whole loaf of bread. The next morning he was bloated (you try eating a whole loaf of bread!), and not feeling too chipper but he still ran down to the barn etc. His first BM’s were normal, but when he went again, it was black with a tinge of dark red. That told Sherry that he was bleeding both in the upper, and lower GI. I gave him some antacid for his tummy, and made chicken and rice, and liver and rice for his next two meals. He ate them but not with his usual gusto. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to bury him, and Sherry is trying to tell me not to give up yet. Well she was right because the next morning he was a much happier camper, and by that night he was wolfing down his food with his normal vigor. She told me if he lasted 5 – 7 days he would probably be all right. After the third day you’d never know he even had a tummy ache, and he’s still trying to steal horse goodies.
 
LBM was the last one to colic, and I have no clue what his problem was. It’s the first time he’s ever done it, and hopefully the last. I worked him in the round pen a bit, and he was just fine after that. Like Sherry says horses don’t need a reason to colic, sometimes they just do.
 
I hope that sort of fills in the blanks as to what has been going on down at the farm. I promise to be more diligent now that I can actually sort of plan my days again. Of course something will always come up to throw a wrench in the works, but as I told my uncle that’s my life. I seem to go from one crisis to another on a regular basis. I undoubtedly have left out a number of good stories, and if they come to mind I shall surely put them down. I've also get to start taking photo's again. It just doesn't look right w/o new pics. Right now I am going to retire to my boudoir for some much deserved beauty sleep.