Monday morning....
out to the barn about 6 AM, it's so dark in the mornings now, good thing I have a lot of lights. Fed the horses, put out hay, turned them out and started chores. Cleaned the stalls and did water and hay, headed back to the house to feed the dogs and birds and me... The vet was due to come at 10:30 but her office called and said she was running about 45 minutes late. Vet (Heather) came about 11:15. I brought in Deja Vu and Heather gave her a legend shot (for arthritis), then we discussed feed and 
winter care for her. We've been trying to get her weight up before winter without having her gain so much it puts stress on her joints and ligaments. Heather said it was OK to up her grain more so that's what we did. Deja has been staying in her run behind the barn alone for the past couple of days because she was coming in with bite and kick marks and we couldn't figure out who was going after her. Heather checked the wounds - all superficial - and agreed with the care we were giving her. Put Deja back outside and brought in Tapper. Heather checked Tapper for sore spots (she had a few, that was a long ride yesterday!), then started putting in the acupuncture needles. Got them all in and then chatted while we waited for the needles to work their magic. After the needles came out I put Tapper back out. Cami was up by the watering trough and Tapper cornered her and they started kicking. They kicked and kicked all the way down the hill and finally stopped. Brought Tapper back in and we checked for wounds. Fortunately they were all superficial though she had some swelling and bruising on her left hind and was limping on it. Put her in her stall with hay and went for Cami. Did I mention Cami doesn't like the vet (any vet)? Brought her in, Heather went to look at her........ went and got Cami from Ziegy's run, put the chain over her nose, and Heather tried again to look......... caught Cami again out by the main gate and led her into her stall, closed the door, then Heather looked her over. Just a few scrapes, no big deal. Cami was lucky she was the horse on the uphill side. When Cami kicks, she squirts urine (weird), and she managed to squirt it all over herself! She stunk!!! She had it on her back, sides, legs, and neck. I knew Kathi was coming soon so put Cami back out and brought Scooby in. Heather set up all her x-ray equipment while I cross-tied Sco
oby. Then Kathi's farrier came (she uses a different one than the rest of us), then Kathi and her student Sarah came. I filled her in on the Cami/Tapper situation, she brought Cami in and her farrier started to trim her feet. Meanwhile Heather and I were dressed in our lead aprons and trying to get Scooby to stand still on a platform so we could x-ray his front feet. We finally got him to cooperate and took the shots. Heather went to her van to transfer the images to her computer. It's a digital x-ray machine. Once she had the images, we looked at them and she said she wanted to try again on a different setting because they were too dark. So back into the lead aprons and give Scooby a couple of apples to convince him to cooperate again. He did.... Cami's farrier finished up and Kathi started to groom and clean her up.... Heather called me over to the van to see the x-rays. This digital stuff is very cool! She can play with the image on her laptop, zoom in, change the color, and lots of other stuff too. The good news is that Scooby has just minor bone rotation in his bad foot, and none in his good foot. The bad news is that he has ring bone, more in his good foot - go figure! For now he is fine, moving around and happy. Hopefully the ring bone will progress very slowly and he won't be lame for years to come (it's like arthritis/bone spurs). The soles of his feet are very thin - which we knew - especially the bad foot which is why he gets ouchy if he steps on a rock. Scooby went back out with his buddies, Cami went back out with Dolly and Maggie, Kathi and Sarah left, I wrote a check for Heather and she left. I cleaned up Tapper's wounds, gave her some grain with 2 grams of bute in it (per Heather's directions), left her in her run and went up to the house for lunch. It was about 1:45.....
winter care for her. We've been trying to get her weight up before winter without having her gain so much it puts stress on her joints and ligaments. Heather said it was OK to up her grain more so that's what we did. Deja has been staying in her run behind the barn alone for the past couple of days because she was coming in with bite and kick marks and we couldn't figure out who was going after her. Heather checked the wounds - all superficial - and agreed with the care we were giving her. Put Deja back outside and brought in Tapper. Heather checked Tapper for sore spots (she had a few, that was a long ride yesterday!), then started putting in the acupuncture needles. Got them all in and then chatted while we waited for the needles to work their magic. After the needles came out I put Tapper back out. Cami was up by the watering trough and Tapper cornered her and they started kicking. They kicked and kicked all the way down the hill and finally stopped. Brought Tapper back in and we checked for wounds. Fortunately they were all superficial though she had some swelling and bruising on her left hind and was limping on it. Put her in her stall with hay and went for Cami. Did I mention Cami doesn't like the vet (any vet)? Brought her in, Heather went to look at her........ went and got Cami from Ziegy's run, put the chain over her nose, and Heather tried again to look......... caught Cami again out by the main gate and led her into her stall, closed the door, then Heather looked her over. Just a few scrapes, no big deal. Cami was lucky she was the horse on the uphill side. When Cami kicks, she squirts urine (weird), and she managed to squirt it all over herself! She stunk!!! She had it on her back, sides, legs, and neck. I knew Kathi was coming soon so put Cami back out and brought Scooby in. Heather set up all her x-ray equipment while I cross-tied Sco
oby. Then Kathi's farrier came (she uses a different one than the rest of us), then Kathi and her student Sarah came. I filled her in on the Cami/Tapper situation, she brought Cami in and her farrier started to trim her feet. Meanwhile Heather and I were dressed in our lead aprons and trying to get Scooby to stand still on a platform so we could x-ray his front feet. We finally got him to cooperate and took the shots. Heather went to her van to transfer the images to her computer. It's a digital x-ray machine. Once she had the images, we looked at them and she said she wanted to try again on a different setting because they were too dark. So back into the lead aprons and give Scooby a couple of apples to convince him to cooperate again. He did.... Cami's farrier finished up and Kathi started to groom and clean her up.... Heather called me over to the van to see the x-rays. This digital stuff is very cool! She can play with the image on her laptop, zoom in, change the color, and lots of other stuff too. The good news is that Scooby has just minor bone rotation in his bad foot, and none in his good foot. The bad news is that he has ring bone, more in his good foot - go figure! For now he is fine, moving around and happy. Hopefully the ring bone will progress very slowly and he won't be lame for years to come (it's like arthritis/bone spurs). The soles of his feet are very thin - which we knew - especially the bad foot which is why he gets ouchy if he steps on a rock. Scooby went back out with his buddies, Cami went back out with Dolly and Maggie, Kathi and Sarah left, I wrote a check for Heather and she left. I cleaned up Tapper's wounds, gave her some grain with 2 grams of bute in it (per Heather's directions), left her in her run and went up to the house for lunch. It was about 1:45.....
Monday afternoon.....back to the barn about 3 PM. More chores, then Gail came and told me all about her ride on Sunday. Got the horses in and fed, Deja and Tapper are both on bute for pain and inflammation, put Aloe Heal on Deja's and Tapper's wounds, fed Petrucchio, Gail put out the hay for Jazz and Scotty and I turned them back out for the night. Back to the house to feed the dogs and give the birds a treat. Then I went to work trying to pull together a lot of photos of Scooby and his foot to put on a CD for Bruce. Bruce is speaking at a farrier's conference in Cincinnati in January and he is going to focus his talk on Scooby! He'll set up a power point presentation with the photos. Our Scooby will be famous!
Tuesday morning....
out to the barn about 6AM. Fed horses, put out hay. The horses are being moved around today because of yesterday's fight so Scooby, Ziegy and Autumn went into the main paddock, Jazz and Scotty into the side paddock, Deja stayed in her run out back, Tapper and Dolly went to the pasture beside the driveway and Cami and Maggie were going to go out back next to Deja (in Scooby's run). Unfortunately, when I led Maggie out side Cami attacked her before I could even get her halter off! Naughty Cami!!! So Maggie joined Scooby's group and that seems to be working for now. Cleaned stalls, then back to the house to feed the house beasts and do some work inside. Actually had a little time off this morning!
Tuesday afternoon.....
Julie and Gail and I rode (I rode Jazz). We had a nice ride, weather was beautiful, horses mostly behaved themselves. We were out for about 1 1/2 hours. Sponged off the horses when we got back and turned them back out. Gail helped with chores while I went to the house to let the dogs out and answer some emails. Carla came and helped me bring everyone in for dinner, then she put aloe heal on Deja's wounds while I put out the hay for the boys. Turned Jazz and Scotty out and we are finished for the night.
Rest of the week..........
aside from the regular, everyday chores, today I need to run errands - bank, groceries, feed store - and then Rosy has her acupuncture this afternoon up at Heather's in Reading, VT. Tomorrow Kathi is giving lessons to Julie in the morning and Gail in the afternoon, and Carla are I plan to ride in the afternoon. Friday Ken comes. He will trim Deja's feet, put 4 shoes each on Tapper and Autumn, and front shoes only on Scotty, Ziegy, and Maggie. Saturday and Sunday we are going to RIDE!!!
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