June, and thank goodness. May was the pits, two hard freezes
in May or was it three? The cold weather is finally done with (at least here it
is), and Spring is officially here. May is usually a very nice month, not this
year though. It has been windy cold, and just plain miserable. Well actually
the last two weeks weren’t too bad, but still no rain. It is bone dry here. I
had to put chicken wire around, and over my little (emphasis on little) flowers
to keep the deer, and rabbits out. It’s the first year I have had a problem.
There is simply nothing to eat for them. I feel kind of guilty about it, but I
really want some flowers this year. I started working Marina, and Ibn on a
regular basis (as regular as the weather permitted) then all you know what
broke loose, and my program broke down. Marina is lame on her right front. We
evened out her feet (she paws), and I put her strictly on grass. It’s a problem
you have to deal with because of the Cushing’s. She’s 20 (or is it 21) and
she’s just now having problems with her feet. We had to put Sarashea down at
21, of course back then we didn’t really know anything about Cushing’s, and the
vet back then simply told us to give her pain meds. The Pergaloid has really
made a difference. Once the weather breaks (now it’s too hot) I’ll see how she
is. When I can I’ll get some Yucca to help with the pain. Hopefully I’ll be
able to ride her again. If not I guess we’ll retire her. I really wanted to get
one more baby out of her, but if she doesn’t get better…
A lot has been going on. I’m ready to take Star out to the
arena to start her formal training. I also want to start training Penny
(April’s horse). For who knows what reason April had developed a fear of riding
beyond a walk. I’m having to teach her to ride properly as well. Ibn has been a
real pain. Finally I decided to use the Pellum on him as well as my Aussie
saddle. That worked really well then I had to stop for a while. Monday I took
him out again, and he was a real pain. He finally did something right so I gave
him big praises, and quickly got off his back. When I went to take him back to
his stall, he started acting up again so I threw him in the arena. I haven’t
seen him run like that in the arena in ages. Usually all he does is go from one
mare pile to another, and won’t even trot around unless you chase after him.
It’s not fun, I don’t need that much exercise (well maybe I do). I hadn’t
ridden him for a couple of weeks, and now that he’s in shape I guess he had too
much pent up energy. I have to admit he looked great though. He looks better
than he did when I was trying to get him ready to do an endurance ride. Now I
can’t ride him because it’s too hot. Give me a break. I got up earlier to try,
and beat the heat, but at 9:30 it was already 90 degrees. It’s not too hot for
the horses, but I can’t take the heat any more. It’s that “O” thing. I’ll try
going to bed a little earlier every night to see if I can feed around 6:00. By
eight it should still be cool, and I can ride a few horses that way. Then I can
feed late in the afternoon, and if it cools down (Big IF) I can ride in the
evening if I have any energy left which normally I don’t. The heat is supposed
to break by Sunday, and hopefully (we really need rain Lord) we’ll get some
moisture. Even if it’s no more than a cool humid breeze I can ride, but I’m
praying for some rain.
I finally decided that Lizzie has Cushing’s so I put her on
Pergoloid. First thing of course she went into season, then slowly she began
shedding. She’s still not completely shed out, but most of her winter fur is
gone. Her appetite went up, and she’s finally putting on some muscle. She
almost even has a butt. I have to start working her on a regular basis number
one to get rid of her big hay belly, and two to give her good muscle tone now
that she has some muscles to tone up. I should have figured it out earlier
after all she’s the third mare we’ve had with Cushing’s. So I’m a little slow
at least I finally figured it out.
Pena (young white boxer) was almost skeletal. I don’t
believe in giving dogs people food, but I had to do something. She didn’t like
the dog food everyone else ate, so I bought her Beniful, she likes that. I also
got her some canned dog food, again a big no, no. She gets two eggs half cooked
in the microwave with chicken broth, frozen vegetables, whatever drippings I
have if I have them, and finally I had to add cheese. She put on weight, and is
finally looking like a boxer should. I cut back on the canned dog food, and the
frozen veggies, and then bought some bacon bits for added flavor. Next I’ll cut
out the chicken broth. I’ve never had a dog that didn’t inhale whatever was in
front of them, but I can’t have her looking emaciated either. Trying to get her
to eat is a real pain even with all the goodies. Wish I had her problem. I
remember those days, then the “O” thing hit.
That brings you up to speed with the goings on here. Whatever I forgot I'll pick up on my next post.
I’ll try to be more consistent (like I haven’t said that before), of course if
we had fewer catastrophes (hint, hint) I just might be able to have a real
routine. Don’t think that will ever happen, besides then I’d probably complain
about being bored. Ah well such is life. What is it they say, it’s the journey
that counts, and struggles make you stronger. I’m strong enough thank you
kindly even though someone upstairs seems to think otherwise. I’ll have to talk
to Him about that again…
