Fall Update

Hi Everyone,

I know.....  about time I posted again.  This is just going to be a short post to fill you in on the good news and bad news.  I'll try to post again soon with photos.  

So, on to the good news first... 

Ivan was sold at the beginning of the summer to a wonderful new home where he is loved to pieces!!!  His new owner is named Carla - no NOT our Carla - and she has been riding for 50 years.  She's been a dressage instructor/trainer, and has done just about every other kind of riding you can think of so she definitely knows what she's doing.  She figures Ivan will be the last horse she buys and she wanted the perfect horse so she looked at many before she found our boy and fell in love.  She loves how smart he is and she loves that he makes her laugh - hooray!!!

It's been a rainy summer so we haven't ridden as much as usual.  My cousin Mary has visited twice, once by herself and once with her grand-daughter Caylie.  They managed to visit while it wasn't raining and they both had several chances to ride.  Mary rode Becca, and Caylie rode Becca and Jazz and did really well with both of them (except that Jazz lost his shoe and pad during our trail ride - drat!)  They are taking riding lessons in Maine (where they live) and have just found a new instructor who hopefully will be perfect for them both!

Kate and the kids came a few times to ride but with the weather, and everyone's schedules, they weren't able to come every week like they have in the past.  At least both kids got a chance to ride, Sam graduated from Becca to Scotty (in the ring), and Eve moved from Dolly to Becca.  Both kids did really well.  Kate came a few times without the kids to ride with us.  We are hoping she'll get up here at least once more this fall to ride.

Now the bad news...

Ketu has come up lame so he's on a few months rest (not stall rest, just not riding).  Heather took several x-rays of his right hock and stifle and nothing showed up which means it's not a bone issue.  So he either pulled a tendon, ligament, muscle, or has some other sort of soft tissue injury that hopefully will heal with some rest time.  He also just blew out a huge abscess on his right front.  Blew out both heel bulbs.  Carla had his shoes pulled and he has the fall off.  That means Becca will get ridden a lot more this fall which is good for her - though she's not too sure about that.

Now the really bad news...

Tapper is not doing well at all.  She just hurts all the time.  We put front shoes and degree pads on and that has helped some with her front feet, but she has arthritis in her back, her hocks, and pretty much everywhere in between.  She's getting 2 grams of bute a day and it doesn't seem to be doing much.  I'll probably need to increase the bute even more, but then of course you get the side effects from that.  What it boils down to is that she'll be put down this fall.  I'm not sure exactly when, it mostly depends on her and how comfortable I can keep her.  I've been giving her a choice to stay in a stall run or go out with the girls during the day and 4 out of the last 5 days she has chosen to stay in.  She's been a huge part of the farm for 20 years and it's going to be really hard to let her go.

Dolly is also having issues.  She has arthritis, plus her respiratory problems, plus her ever sinking back, so Carla has decided to put her down at the same time as Tapper.  Dolly has been here for 7 years and has been much loved by many kids and adults.  She's provided us with some laughs and stories we'll tell for years to come.  She and Tapper both will leave big holes in our hearts.

That's it for now.  I'll let you know how things go.