Obviously I have been very busy. My father took a nasty fall
causing a huge hematoma above his left eye (the size of a baseball). Luckily
that was all the damage he sustained, there was no internal bleeding. Of course
besides the ER we had lots of doctor’s appointments that we had to go to the
upshot of which was they took him off all his blood thinners (except aspirin),
and reduced his BP meds considerably. I had been trying to get them to do that
for some time as his BP kept bottoming out. My greatest fear was that he would
fall, and end up with a severe injury we were very lucky he only got a bump on
the head. His cardiologist finally decided that the risk of his killing himself
in a fall was greater than the risk of a stroke. Duh! He’s feeling much better
now, but we may have to increase his BP med as his BP is now going too high. He
just can’t win for loosing.
Amidst all this high drama we had two cold fronts come visit
us. The first came before Dad’s incident, and temperatures went into the single
digits. Everything froze, and not only was I cutting wood every day to keep the
house warm, but I was hauling water for us, and the horses. Now I had asked
Chuck (pump man) if the insulating I had done at the pump house was sufficient,
but of course it wasn’t. When we finally got water again I noticed that the new
jet pump was leaking. I turned everything off, and called him. That was on
Friday. Naturally he was out of town (a job in Santa Fe that turned out to be
more expensive than whatever they made on the job). He was supposed to be back
the next day, but when I still hadn’t heard from him on Monday I called again.
They were just leaving Santa Fe. When they finally got here he told me the bad
news, the jet pump froze, and cracked. Just what I needed another bill I
couldn’t pay. He replaced the pump, and told me what else I needed to do to
keep the pump from cracking again. We had water for a day when the next cold
front came through. This time it only got down to the low teens, but we still
froze. The good news was that the pump didn’t freeze. Once it warmed up we got
water at the house, then later at the barn. That’s when I discovered we had a
leak at the water main to the barn. The pipe didn’t crack only separated, but I
still had to dig it up, cut pipe for new fittings, and pray. I put foam
insulation underground where the pipe is only buried about 6”, and up to the
turn off valve. Lastly we got water to the pasture. The next cold wave we only
lost water inside the barn (not to the automatic waterers), and pasture.
Yesterday we finally got water in the pasture. I had the tank full so I didn’t
have to haul water. Thank you Lord for that.
To keep myself occupied while I was filling water tanks I
decided to work with Sierra on picking up his feet. His front feet are
terrible, as he doesn’t wear his toes down like everyone else. My sweet little
baby turned into a stubborn not so little boy. He didn’t remember that he used
to let me pick up his feet, and kept walking away from me so he got tied. At
first that was no big deal till he couldn’t get away from me when I went to
pick up his feet. He only sat back twice, and then he gave in, and stood still
sort of in-between trying to bite me for which he was rewarded with an elbow.
This is not anything I have ever done before, and certainly not with a young
stallion. Getting hurt is not an option, nor is letting him get the upper hand.
Again I’m going on instinct, and half the time I was scared I wouldn’t move
fast enough when I needed to. He’s not that big yet, but he could still do a
lot of damage. Then the weather got bad, and
I had to stop. He was still fighting me, but we were making progress.
Now that the fierce winds have stopped I’ll start working on him again. I can’t
work him in the round pen until I can get his feet filed down, and I need to
start him in the round pen. After all there are lessons to be learned.
Everyone is finally up to weight (thank you Lord), so
hopefully my feed bill will go down some. Now they need exercise something
terrible. Sierra, and Ser-Haat need lessons, Star needs me to get on her back,
and Stormy needs to get working with the saddle so I can start him in the
spring. How many hours are there in a day again?
Katy finally took her horses closer to where she lives
giving me two open stalls. I didn’t realize it, but her horses put a lot of
stress on my horses. Immediately Espree, and Lizzie calmed down, and finally
Espree started filling out. Jazzy who has been in the pasture jabbed herself
again (in the same spot), and then a few days later (during the cold snap) she
was trembling, and favoring her back leg. I couldn’t see any swelling or any
sign of any injury, but just to be safe I took her into the barn. It would give
me the opportunity to put a few more pounds on her, and work her in the round
pen once the weather turned warm. In actuality I think she faked it just so she
could get out of the pasture into a nice warm (ok not so warm) stall, and not
only get more attentions, but goodies too. Next morning she was perfectly fine.
She has that (whatever it is) stuff on her back legs again. I just can’t figure
out how to get rid of it, and now her dam has it too only not as bad. It
occurred to me that the only thing that has changed in their diet is I stopped
doing the vinegar, and oil in their goodies. It just got too expensive. Well I
started both of them on it again, and we’ll see what happens. It can’t hurt,
and it may help.
What else has been going on lets see. Pena (boxer) has that
(again whatever it is) sore on her inner leg. It’s in the same spot as last
year. At least I know what to do about that. I tried adding bitter orange to
the Tinactin, and she made a face, but she still licked it off. I try to put it
on twice a day when I can watch her for a little bit to let it absorb into her
skin before she licks it all off. Last night she wouldn’t sit still until I let
her crawl into my lap. Ok so I’m a whoose. It was worth it to keep her from
licking it off. Then it seems it got too cold for Cheerio (Patagonian parrot).
I try to keep the house warm, but I can only do so much with a wood stove. One
morning he was all fluffed out, and just didn’t look right. He wasn’t eating,
and had gotten very week. I was afraid he wasn’t going to make it he looked so
bad. I got out the heat lamp, and bought some vitamins for him. Even if I could
afford it, there isn’t an Avarian vet anywhere near here, and there is little
they can do anyway except give you antibiotics for them. I’ve been through a
couple of illnesses with my birds. He wasn’t wheezing so I hoped that the heat
would be enough. Well he’s much better. He’s eating properly, and getting
around in his cage, but he’s still sleeping most of the time with his head
under his wing. I have a sheet around his cage to keep any cool air out, and
hopefully keep the warm air in. This is the first year this has happened so I
don’t know if I’m just not keeping the house as warm as last year or what. God
willing he will get back to normal soon.
I think that’s about everything that has gone on here
at the ranch. The weather is beautiful today which is good since I have to go
out and get hay today. I’ll just be happy when I can get back into a somewhat
normal routine, whatever that is!
