Busy September

September is alway a busy month here in littlekeebler land. There are 4 birthdays - mine (not until the end of the month), Richard's, a close friend's and my mother-in-laws - so lots of cards to send and gifts to shop for.

This year, my step-son, who is 17 (ack!) has moved in with us, so we had to deal with getting him set up at a new high school for his last year. That has proved to be a little more tough than we thought...having someone move into your house full time is a little strange. He normally just stayed with us on the weekends, but his mom packed up and left town with her new boyfrriend. We as a family are very different from the mom's side of the family, so it has been an adjustment for us all.

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September also has some sad memories for me and even as the years roll on, I can't help but take time to remember my Dad, who died when I was 14. It will be 20 years this week - I won't go on about it - I don't mean to dig for symapthy - it happened a long time ago. My Dad was a big supporter of all the hobbies my brother and I tried. He was an avid horse holder at shows and an excellent stall-mucker. He helped me alot and I was pretty angry when he died, leaving me with 3 horses to take care of on my own. But, I managed and become a stronger person because of it... It would also be my parent's anniversary this month, so I have to be extra sensitve about all of this when I talk to my Mom.

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OK - enough blah stuff. Time for something silly. I had asked my personal asisstant, Mr Kitty* to draw up a spreadsheet on all of the pros and cons from the five barns that I mentioned a few days ago. When you are faced with making a difficult decision, a spreadsheet is the way to go, right? Well, my assisstant had other thoughts. I just got this blank stare when I asked him. Rotten beast. I should really have checked his contract more closely.

He claims that his lack of opposable thumbs makes it too hard to type and he really prefers sitting in boxes and sleeping in sunbeams all day anyway. *sigh* It's hard to find good help thse days!!!

* His real name is Pepuszek (pem-poo-shek - it's a Polish word that loosely translated to mean "cute as a button"...)

TGIF

Well, I find myself sitting at my desk on a beautiful Friday afternoon. I have about 30 minutes to go before I can leave for the day. I don't feel like getting into the numerous works projects I have to complete, so I thought I'd take a break and write up a quick post here.

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Rusty update: He seems to be doing better and I think he is gaining weight. His ribs are still a bit visible and his withers are pretty bony, but overall he is looking better. I have a vet appt. scheduled for next week, so hopefully I can get the go-ahead to start back into riding. His top line has pretty much disappeared so I'm sure that is a big factor in the way he looks. That boy needs some muscle! lol

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Work has slowly been getting more hectic the past week. Everyone (but me!) is back from their summer vacations and are creating all kinds of work for me to do. I work as a webmaster/communications/jane-of-all-trades person. I also just found out this afternoon that I will have someone reporting to me - sort of as in I will be their boss. Add that to the part-time photographer that I manage and that makes 2 other people to worry about. No pay raise in sight either, dammit! lol I am not a manager in the true sense, I just keep track of what they are working on and help them with projects. I also have to teach both of them how to update our web site. Should be an interesting few months coming up.

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Last month I wrote up a big list of things I needed to do around the house/barn. I had about 25 things on that list - none of them particularly urgent. I'm slowly getting stuff done and for someone who is a major procrastinator, that is somewhat of an accomplishment!

Today I renewed my OEF (Ontario Equestrian Federation) membership. A couple of the barns I'm looking at require that membership for insurance purposes. They have a fun program called RideOntario where you can log hours riding and get prizes. Stuff like that is fun for the recreational rider who doesn't show. I'm going to use it as motivation to get out and ride more - when I can ride my horse, that is!!

Speaking of procrastination, I am procrastinating on making a decision about barns. I have a hunch about what I would like to do, but still want to speak to my current barn owner before I make a decsion. In addition to being a procrastinator, I am terrible about making decisions. I worry, I second-guess, I doubt, I worry about hurting the other people's feelings, etc. It isn't fun for me when I have to make a big decision.

Must.not.worry.Must.not.worry.... ;-)

Barn Research - part 1

So, I spent the long weekend researching and visiting a few barns. All were nice in their own way, but no one place really jumped out at me at first glance.

There tons of barns around here, so that isn't a problem. I was hoping to find one closer to home, under that elusive 20 minute drive mark. There are 2 or 3 that meet that criteria, but their prices are way too high for me. I also excluded a few that were heavy into one discipline or another - ie - eventing, jumping, etc., just to narrow my search. So I went to visit 3 barns that are about 20-25 minutes driving time. And I called 2 others.

I have emailed my current barn owner to see if she would be willing to move Rusty to a new padddock, but she is away until the end of next week. We'll see what she thinks... I'm realizing that I would love to be able to ride over the winter, since I've missed out on riding regularly over the summer...

Barn 1 - a backyard farm - but very nice and well kept. She had lots of paddocks with lusious grass, but the outdoor board paddocks were a long hike from the barn. She works during the day and she kept complaining about how far the paddocks were from the house (far from the barn, but not very far from the house, IMHO). I got the impression that Rusty might not get checked on as often as I would like, considering his health hasn't been 100%. This place might work if it was May and I could turn him out on nice grass for 6 months during nice weather. Since we are heading into fall/winter here (yikes!!!), I didn't like the thought of him being alone well away from other horses and people. The paddock did have a nice shelter and the fencing was in good shape.

Barn 2 - the "we're-a-fun-relaxed-place-but-everyone-has-fancy-warmbloods-barn" - this place is the higher end of the local places. Board is $650/month. I went to look at this place due to the amount of high-quality hacking. They own 50 acres, but have agreements with neighbours and the local hunt to ride on over 500 acres. Alot of this land has natural xc jumps built in. This sounds like a dream! But - the downside (beside the cost) is that it is a busy, busy place. I think they had 30 stalls and the horses are constantly being moved around and turned in and out, etc. They even bath your horse if it comes in dirty from the field! Seems a bit much for me...

Barn 3 - a place where I took a few lessons last winter. Really nice indoor arena, sand riding ring and lots of turnout paddocks. The owner is a vet and seemed to be really flexible with turnout groups. She also believes in feeding the horses alot of grass and hay. Lessons would be included in the board, which is kinda handy, since I could really use some lessons.

Barn 4 - I just called these people, haven't driven out there yet. Decent price for outdoor board, beautiful facilities (from their web site). Lots of hacking, 3 outdoor riding rings and an indoor arena. Owner seemed very friendly. They had a moderate amount of horses. They are primarily a dressage barn and host a few medium level shows every year.

Barn 5 - a lady I leased a horse from before I purchased my first horse. She has moved to a new place and it is worth going to check out her setup. I know from before that she kept the horses in really small paddocks and didn't give them alot of hay - that may have been due to lack of room. She is a qualified jumping instructor and she trained in Germany, so I could take lessons at an extra cost.

I'm going to cut this here for now, since I don't know 100% what to do and I haven't spoken to my barn owner, so I don't want to make any rash decisions...

To be continued...

Answering and Asking Questions...

Stephanie and Twinville both asked questions in the comments, so I thought I would tie the answers in with a new post...

Q1 - Why is it that you can't ride Rusty?

A - The vet didn't want him burning any extra calories until his weight started to turn around. When he was sick, food was going in and right back out, so he wasn't absorbing any calories (in a nutshell). Now that I think his weight has started to increase again, I think I'll be able to start easy work again soon.

Q2 - When can I ride Rusty again?

A - Officially, I'm not sure. The vet hasn't come back out to check him yet. I've been trying to contact her since yesterday... Unofficially, I'm thinking of taking him out this weekend for a light hack around the fields. I'm sure we'll just walk because he is out of shape.

Q3 - How long did the rain fall that filled the arena? (in the pictures from my last post)

A - Not very long. We have had a ton of rain this year, so the ground is pretty saturated. The pictures were taken Saturday morning and I believe it rained for an hour or two Friday night. The arena drains fairly well, I think the puddles were gone by Sunday.

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Ok - now I have a question for all of my very knowledgeable readers out there...

The vet and the nutritionist have both told me that Rusty's barn situation isn't the greatest.

- He needs to be in a smaller herd where he isn't bullied so much. The herd situation has improved, but it is still not good. Every 2 or 3 days when I go out, he has new kicks and bites. They aren't as bad as when I first put him there, but still more than average.

• He needs more forage - grass or hay - to help the ulcers stay away long term. The barn I'm at doesn't have alot of grass - it gets eaten down fast b/c there are too many horses (IMHO). He also doesn't get alot of hay because the other horses are too fat/too pushy, etc.


• He doesn't get alot of shelter because there are too many horses and too small of a shelter


• I can't guarantee that he is getting enough water, because it is under the shelter and the other horses hog it.


• The barn owner didn't have enough room/paddocks to switch Rusty last time I asked her; things may have changed since then.

So, my question is - Do I move him to another barn that has a better turnout/feeding situation, or do I leave him where he is and hope it improves???

I have a bit bigger budget now that I did earlier, so that helps.
It is tough to find a place that covers all of my needs and Rusty's needs...

Ideas? Suggestions? Words of wisdom?

The Saga of the Evil Lead Line Continues...

I'm continuing my dragging lead line work with Rusty. He continues to crack me up every time we do this.

These pictures are from last weekend - I'm just getting around to downloading them now. We had had alot of rain, so there were some nice big puddles in the arena. I actually don't mind when there is water in there, as it is a good exercise to work a horse through it. It isn't good for cantering, but that's ok. I still can't ride Rusty anyways, so it didn't make a big difference for us.

I started walking him along the rail with the lead line dragging - I have to move him on gently with a lunge whip, or otherwise he just stands there looking at me and looking at the evil lead line. As we walked toward the huge puddle, I was wondering what he would do... I was expecting him to cut into the middle of the ring to avoid the water. I was totally wrong - he saw safety in a little island in the corner of the ring....

I couldn't stop laughing at him - he walked up on to the sand and then looked back at me as if to say "now what do I do?"

I encouraged him to walk on, but he just stood there. He started to realize that there was a little bit of grass back there, so eating seemed to be a good idea.I let him graze for about 5 or so minutes then decided it was time to get back to work... I had to wade out into the puddle and smack him gently on the butt with the lunge whip to get him to leave his little oasis. I finally got him moving and we did a few laps around the ring - every time he stepped on the lead line, he would stop and try to figure out which foot to lift to get himself free. This is huge progress, as normally he backs up and panics.


Stepping through the puddles actually cleaned his legs and hooves of the nasty crusted on mud from his paddock. My leadline didn't fare as well, but I knew that going in - it is an old one. I just rinsed it after I was done and most of the sand came right out.
After one more trip through the big puddle, I let him stop and have a break. Richard likes picking him clover and grass. It took Rusty about 3 minutes to step over that close to the fence to get his treat with the evil lead line following him. I think he is actually stepping on it with his front hoof, but with no freak outs! I think we are making some progress with this little problem!

Status Quo

Rusty update: He seems to be improving - he is eating well and his goofy attitude is back. We are still watching him closely. The barn owner and I both thought he might be starting to gain a bit of weight back. We are starting to feel more optimistic about his recovery. I just wrote the cheque for the vet this morning - ouch!

Rusty and I are still working on the dragging lead rope problem. We spent about 30 mins on it on Saturday morning. We ended the session with him stepping on the rope and stopping, instead of stepping on the rope and losing his mind. I'll consider that a bit of progress. I laugh at him the whole time we are working on this - he will back up or walk sideways with his eyes glued to that crazy lead rope. He was even grazing backwards to avoid it. lol

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Nothing big happening around here - just trying to enjoy the few sunny days that we have had lately. I spent most of the day volunteering at a local club horse show - it is always fun. The youth classes - 8-13 yrs old - were interesting to watch. The kids and the horses were all wound up. There were several near wrecks and 1 kid ended up getting bucked off. The judge was awesome, she excused the horse and rider for the rest of the day. She wasn't willing to put up with unsafe practices in her ring.

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I'm riding some of the barn owners horses for the next month, until Rusty gets the ok from the vet. I was going crazy not riding a little bit over the summer. Fall is short around here, so I didn't want to wait. The barn owner has a decent lease program, with 3 horses that I could ride. They are all older and well-trained. She takes that very seriously. I think it is good to get out an ride other horses as well, so I'm hoping to get in 3 rides/week that way until my old man is ready to start work again.

8 things to do before I die...

Wow - two posts in one day - how exciting. *yawn*

I thought I'd do another meme - it's what all of the cool kids are doing. I picked this one up from the lovely ginger-haired Shauna over at the Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl.

This one is simple - just post a list of 8 things you'd like to do before you bite the bullet. A little gloomy perhaps, but hey, it's Monday morning and about to RAIN AGAIN. At least I'm stuck inside at work.

1. Learn to jump well enough to go the local hunts and/or try the hunter paces. I would love to take a paint or another kind of non-traditional horse to an event that is steeped in tradition - there's a teeny bit of rebel in me. Not that paints aren't everywhere these days...
2. Take a horse riding vacation somewhere exotic - like Peru
3. Spend a season in Europe - spring in Paris or summer in London or maybe a small village - just to experience life there for longer than a week. Too bad we sold the family chalet in Gstaad. (har har, I kid.)
4. Cycle around Italy - not sure why exactly, but it seems like a good thing to put on a list like this.
5. Have a baby - whoa - that's a big one eh? Thought I'd slip that in to make sure everyone is paying attention. I'm turning 34 soon, so I'd better get on this one in the near future. Preferably not while I'm learning to jump. ;-p
6. Okay - this one is cheesy - make sure to enjoy time with the hubby every day and not take our great relationship for granted. Who knows what the future may hold, so I want to make sure to enjoy it as much as I can
7. Learn to manage my finances and save $$ so I could actually have a chance at affording to do some of the things on my list!
8. Another tough one - lose weight and get back in shape so that I don't have to worry about getting the things on this list done right away. I owe it to myself to take better care of my health - that is a long-term (hopefully) plan.

Ok - I don't really like tagging people, so I'll tag a couple and the rest of you, consider yourselves tagged if you want to participate...

Cdncowgirl and Twinville always seem up for a good meme! :-)

Odds and ends...

I was a little slow in picking up the award that Cdncowgirl left for me a few days ago... Sorry Cdn! Thanks for giving it to me. I think most of my reads have been awarded this one, so I might hold off on passing it around for now...THE ARTE Y PICO AWARD

The designer of this award has asked that the following be passed along with it: The origin of the Arte y Pico Award

This prize has arisen from the daily visits that I dedicate to many blogs which nourish me and enrich me with creativity. In them, I see dedication, creativity, care, comradeship, but mainly, ART, much art. I want to share this prize with all those bloggers that entertain me day to day and to share this prize with those who enrich me every day. Doubtlessly, there are many and it will be hard to pick just a few. The people I will name today deserve this prize, as do the very long serious list of bloggers I also enjoy to read. But I will name the first 10 and leave the rest of the work to all the bloggers that visit other's blogs and are nourished by them."Here are the rules, if you decide to pass the award further to remarkable blogs in blogosphere worth to mention.

The rules:
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.
3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.
4. Please include a link to the

“Arte Y Pico” blog so that everyone will know where the award came from.

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Rusty update - he is eating like a horse (har har) and seems to be acting more like his old self. He is still on 2 types of meds, probably for at least another month. His weight is still low though, so hopefully we get the ok from the vet to start pumping more grain into him.

I was telling my friend about Rusty and she suggested I call a friend of hers. This lady is a registered dietician (for people), a competitive rider and also has a degree in animal nutrition. So, I emailed her last night and she thinks she can give me some suggestions for Rusty. I'm pretty happy that she might be able to help. I'm finding that vets don't always know alot about nutrition and there isn't much info online that I trust. Sooo, I'm hoping that this new contact can at least help me sort out what is true and what isn't in the wild world of equine nutrition. I'll do a post on it here when I have everything sorted out.

Short Summer Vacation

I don't have any news on Rusty - I went to check on him last night and guess what? It was RAINING. *sigh* It wasn't just sprinkling, it was pouring so hard I could barely see the road. The horses were out on grass, waaaay down at the back. I spotted Rusty, counted 4 legs, a head and a tail, so I'm guessing he is ok. I'll be out tomorrow (with rain gear) to pull him in and give him a thorough checking over.

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Here are a few pictures from my family trip this year. We spend a few days at cabins on a river in Quebec. It's about a 4 hour drive from our place. The area is beautiful - part of the Canadian shield. It is rocky and hilly, with lots of beautiful trees (that are sadly being heavily logged)

We stayed in cabins that belong to a hunting and fishing club. The cabins and main house all have hot/cold running water, fridges/stoves and showers. You can't drink the water, but it is safe for other uses.

(Note: I wasn't too thrilled with my pics this year, so I used a couple from last year...)

You are very happy to see this sign signalling your arrival - after almost 2 hours of driving up bumpy, dirty logging roads and rickety bridges.

They fly the Canadian flag, the Quebec flag and the US flag. There are a lot of members that come up from PA, MA and NY to hunt and fish

The main lodge - you can rent bedrooms here. This is the original farmhouse that was built in the mid 1800's. Every time I see it I wonder how those poor people survived all the way up here by themselves. There are no neighbours.

The view from our cabin, looking over a wide part of the river. This is where we swim, boat, etc.Not much wildlife visible (which is good, since there are bears around) - but there are hummingbirds...

...and cute little chipmunks scrounging for left-over bird seed

This year there were 2 special guests - Jack and Jill, my father-in-law's mallard ducks that he hatched in an incubator and imprinted...

They would go for walks with him and follow him down to the river. Max, my big tough bird dog retreiving boy, was afraid of them. Yes folks, my dog is afraid of tame ducks.

My father-in-law, in addition to being a duck whisperer, is also a pilot. He has his own float plane that he brings up every year. My husband Richard is also a pilot - he only gets to fly a few times a year, so flying up here with his Dad is quite an opportunity. I may not have a cowboy, but I have a part-time pilot, that must count for something!! lol Here Richard is prepping and untying the plane to take off...

Watching the plane take off (pictures below) is exciting, watching a landing has my heart jumping in my throat.

The taxi for take off from a different angle...

We spent most of our time down at the dock, my nephews loved swimming and playing with the dog.There were these scary creatures in the water. :-)

The ducks would swim around you sometimes - when they weren't busy eating bugs.
Max, being a good sport and wearing this cowboy hat. He is so cute...
There were lots of wild raspberries around. Picking them was a bit hazardous because of the bugs. We stuck it out because my mother-in-law made a pie. It was worth it in the end!

My brother-in-law's dog was obsessed with the chipmunks. She spent 99% of her time staring up this tree at them, while they chattered away at her, just out of reach. Too funny.
This picture doesn't do justice to the beautiful sunsets up there - but you get the idea. Props to anyone that read down this far! lol

Back to the grind

I'm back from my short vacation. As much as my in-laws can be a bit trying, I would rather be down at the dock with them instead of at my desk!

This is just a quick post - I'll update more with pictures tomorrow.

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Rusty update - don't have much. I'm going out to see him tonight. There were no messages stating otherwise, so I'm assuming he is ok.

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I spent about 30 minutes on the phone with a local boarding stable owner who (apparently) is a horse nutrition expert. She explained a lot about feed and made a lot of suggestions for Rusty. She was familiar with Rusty's story as my vet contacted her to track down a contact of an equine nutritiontist vet. I'm going out tonight to buy some stuff for him, so let's hope he is feeling well enough to eat.

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The weather here has been the pits. It is nice all day - sunny, not too hot, nice breeze. Then it starts to rain about 4:30-7:00 pm - just when us suckers with desk jobs try to go out and do stuff. It's getting a bit old, Mother Nature.

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I'm very grumpy about being back at work. *sigh* I need to just suck it up and get back in the groove. I like the lifestlye to which I am accustomed, so I need to quit being a whiner about it. Although, there have been several part-time and full-time job postings at local stables. I have been tempted to take a sabbatical and work at a barn for a year.

More details on everything tomorrow. Going to spend tonight getting caught up on everyone's blogs!

I'm outta here!

Heya gang - I'm outta here for a few days. I'm hoping it will be relaxing, but I'm going to be trapped in the remote woods with all of my INLAWS!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol. They are fine most of the time, but after several days trapped in the woods, we all might be a little squirrely!

Here is a teaser picture from last summer. Y'all have a good week!

Another award!

The award came from Twinville this time! Thanks a bunch! I've found a great online community this time around with my blog. Everyone is so friendly and encouraging.

I think that there are alot of awesome sites out there - so I don't know who to pass it to. I think everyone on my blog lists deserves this award. We all work hard with our horses and our lives, so we should all get a nice award. If you read this post, consider yourself awarded!

Vets are costing me a fortune!!!

Not much of an update on Rusty today - he seems to be doing ok. He still isn't gaining any weight back, but the vet hopes that should turn around in the next week. The big milestone for him Monday was solid poop. What a lovely topic. lol. I don't think I've ever been so excited to see solid, normal horse poop as I was on Monday night. Up until then, his poop looked more like cow patties than anything. People with pets and kids care more about poop than the average person, I think. ;-p Rusty is now on a second medication that gets injected every 4 days. I haven't got the bill yet for all of this, so I'm hoping it's not so bad.

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My dog Max is at the city vet today having his teeth cleaned. That costs a small fortune! He has terrible dog breath and lots of tartar, so we asked the vet to check his teeth at his annual check-up. Turns out they are in bad shape even though he is only 8 years old! I guess some animals have better teeth than others. Guess we should stop feeding him chocolate? I kid, I kid.

He doesn't need any teeth pulled right now - just got off the phone with the vet! *phew*. As I was typing this post, I hadn't heard back from her yet. Between Max and Rusty, I'm pet poor! Not that I'm complaining that much - I would pay alot to keep them healthy. I feel that if you have pets you should do your best to keep them happy and pain-free.

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I've been quite the "Laura-homemaker" the past few days - I've been buying fruit and freezing it. I just bought a bunch of fresh corn and after I eat a few cobs, I'm going to bag some up and freeze it for soups and things in the winter. I have a ton of basil out in the yard to pick - I'm going to try making pesto out of it. I'm not sure what it is about summer that has me wanting to get local fruits and vegetables and preserve them for the winter - I guess my childhood training kind of takes over. Thanks Grandma! :-)

I'm going to start bringing home a few containers of horse manure for a spot in my garden that I'm going to try and grow vegetables in next year. I think it will take a few loads of manure plus some nice soil to get the ground good enough to grow a few vegetables. I like mucking around in the garden, so it will be a fun little experiment. I'm going out to the barn anyway, so might as well bring a bit of the barn home with me. ;-p

Browneyed Cowgirls - thanks so much for the senior feed tips - I've made notes of your recommendations and will be asking my vet once ol' Rusty is cleared to eat a few more foods. Right now it's hay, grass and beet pulp only. I'm sure the oats and ground soy meal would help with weight gain.

I'm loved! :-)

My fellow Canadian - Cdncowgirl gave me my first little blog award thingy-ma-jig! Right back at ya' Cdn! You, Steph and Denise were the first 3 blogs I read! Keep up the writing.

How cool is that?

I'd like to pass it on to:

Twinville - love all of the cool photos she posts
Sidetracked - our brave hunter rider!
20 Meter - for tempting me with expensive saddle pads. ;-p

Rusty - another update

Rusty seems to be doing a bit better today. He is a bit brighter-eyed and not as lethargic. He gobbled up a big dish of beet pulp, got his medicine and then was turned out with some hay. He was actually eating the hay and not just pushing it around. I stuck around to watch him for about an hour to make sure he was eating a bit... I quite enjoy the sound of a horse munching on hay. I should've brought a book out with me. lol.

He still seems to be dropping weight though, so I've got a call into the vet to see if there is something else we can supplement his feed with that won't irritate his stomach.

I've been to two tack shops today to try and find a reasonably priced pair of black reins. I didn't think it would be that hard! I finally found a pair I liked at the tack shop that Iwas trialling saddles from. I also returned the saddle I don't want, as Iwas starting to get worried about having a new expensive saddle just lying around. I haven't paid for the new-t0-me saddle that I have, since the owner wasn't there to calculate the trade on my old saddle. This whole process seems to be taking a while, but the shop is quite local, so it's not that big of a deal.

More updates to come as I learn more. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Rusty - update

Rusty is doing ok - no real changes - better or worse. I went out to check on him last night and he seemed a bit less lethargic, but still not himself.

I brought him in to the barn and groomed and fussed over him a bit. It has been raining lately, so he kindly covered himself in mud. His feet are looking good - they were a bit of a wreck when I first got him. At least I don't have to worry about that right now.

The vet thinks he has an ulcer - but the only way to determine that 100% is to do an endoscopy - a tube with a camera down into the stomach. No vets do that here, so he would have to be shipped to a veterinary hospital about 5 hours away. I'm not going to put him through that, since he is older. If I had a young performance horse, I would probably get all of the tests done to make sure there was nothing bad going on.

We are starting treatment for the ulcer today - I rushed to the vet's after work to pick up the medicine. It is in a tube like dewormer, so it should be easy to give. The barn owner will give him his dose today and I'll do it on both weekend days. The vet said that if it is an ulcer, we should see improvement in about 48 hours and then we continue the treatment for 2 weeks.

She thinks there might be a couple of other minor things at play, but we won't worry about those until we try the ulcer treatment. His blood tests were a little off - particularly in the proteins, but the wonky levels could be caused by the ulcer. Poor Rusty - I feel so bad for him - he is such a nice quiet boy. I wish they could talk when they were sick so we could know more.. :-)

The vet also suggested trying to find him a better turnout situation. She said that it would be best for him in the long run to be out in a small herd of nice gentle horses. She is worried that if he stays in his bigger herd, the problems might keep recurring. I've asked my barn owner if there is a way to switch some horses around, but haven't heard back from her yet. I'm hoping there is something she can do, as I don't want to have to move Rusty again. I really like this barn. There is a slight chance we will be moving to the other end of the city next summer, so I may have to move him anyways, but I would prefer to do it once, instead of a bunch of times.

Nothing much else going on in these parts - I'm disappointed that I can't ride, but his health is more important. I think I have my saddle situation sorted out now - I found a used one from a local shop. I have to go out to the tack shop at lunch and buy some new reins to replace the ones I broke last weekend. I only have a set of brown ones at home and my bridle is black. Matching a little bit is very important! Although - I have a dark brown saddle... Does anyone else get all caught up in trying to match their tack? I shouldn't care because it doesn't really matter, but sometimes it gets to me...

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Cdn - I changed my blog colours - I was getting tired of reading white text on a dark background! I think the white/black is a bit easier to read... ;-p

Rusty is sick :-(

My barn owner left me a message on Sunday afternoon to let me know that Rusty seemed a bit sick.

I immediately panicked - thinking colic or heart failure or something bad. I couldn't get a hold of her until Monday mornning and she told me that he stopped eating most of his grain and seemed a little lethargic.

I was home sick on Monday and without a car, so I had to wait until 5pm to go out and see him. The vet had been at the barn for another horse, so she checked poor Rusty while she was there. His heart, lungs, gut sounds were all good and he didn't have a fever (she checked twice). Her first reaction is that he might have a stomach ulcer! Yikes. Apparently they are fairly easy to treat with medication for 2 weeks. She took blood work and a fecal sample (fun job). They were supposed to call me yesterday with the results, but I haven't heard from them yet!!

I'm trying to wait patiently, but I'm not doing a good job. I thought I'd write a post about it to sort out my thoughts. If Rusty does have an ulcer (poor boy!) I'd like to get the medication going asap to hopefully have him feeling better. I've been out to check him every night - he is ok, but fairly lethargic. I've been handgrazing him, as the vet recommeded as much grass as possible.

Apparently sweet feed is the worst thing for an ulcer, so he is off that for now. He is eating a small amount of beet pulp twice a day, as well as being out on pasture all night. He has dropped at least 200 lbs in the past 2 weeks - it wasn't that noticeable at first, but this week the barn owner and I really noticed it.

I feel so bad that I can't do much for him until we hear from the vet. He is such a sweet boy, that I feel extremely negligent that I didn't notice that something wasn't quite right. I'm not there for his feed times usually, so I rely on the barn owner for stuff like that. This is definitely one of the downsides of boarding. My barn owner is great - she held Rusty for the vet since I couldn't be there and didn't charge me for it. She is also willing to try any options that might help a horse, whether it be feeding, training, etc.

I'm still recovering from my sickness - I had tonsilitis or something. I lost my voice and sound like a squeaky little mouse - or maybe an elf??? Most people find it funny, but I've had a couple of people look at me like I'm a total weirdo. Nice. This latest round of illnesses has made me realize how lucky I am to be in very good health normally. I have been taking it for granted that I can speak, hear and move around without any limitations.

Some people aren't so lucky - have you guys read about Mikael's daughter's head injury? That was the scariest thing I have read in a long time. It sounds like her daughter is recovering, so that is good news. I'm really going to make an effort to live a healthier life - watch more closely what I eat, get more exercise, etc.

I'm also staring down a list of about 19 things I need to do - none of them are urgent or life-threatening, but it is stuff that I have been putting off and need to take care of. Hopefully I can make a dent in it by this weekend. I've added one thing to the list - research horse feed needs for senior horses - maybe there is something that ol' Rusty can eat that is easy on his stomach, but will help keep his weight up.

Meme, back from road trip

I'm back from my short road trip to visit my family in southern Ontario. It was a short visit, but great to see my family. I don't get home often enough. I didn't take a single picture while I was there since I've been sick with a nasty cough and cold since last week. My Mom is a nurse, so I had her fetching pills and juice for me. :-)

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I guess the meme is next - my post today is a little disjointed, thanks to the many versions of tylenol I've been taking lately! lol

Cdncowgirl tagged me this time and I'm happy to participate, since it is a fun one.

Six Things You Don't Know About Me

1. The origins of the nickname "littlekeebler" - since Cdn requested that - here is the kind of boring answer. I'm quite short - about 5' even. Waayyyy back in university we were out with a group of friends and the weather turned cold. I didn't have a coat or a sweater, so we stopped by a friend's place and he lent me a hoodie. This friend was about 6'2"... Another friend laughed about how big the sweater was and they flipped up the hood - and someone shouted - "hey, a keebler elf!". And the name stuck. I always seem to have some sort of nickname - half-pint, littlekeebler, keeb, shorty (real original...).
2. I am a total shop-a-holic. I love shopping and spending money on expensive things - horse related or not. I was practically raised in a mall - so I'm blaming my family! hhahaha - just kidding (sort of). I try very hard to resist my shopping urges, as I would like to save up money for my retirement!
3. I looooove to travel. I daydream about all of the trips I could take if only I had more time off work and more money. I don't do budget travel well, I like to be in clean and safe hotels. So far, I've been to England 2x, Scotland, France, Switzerland, Mexico, Aruba, Alaska and many other parts of the US, as well as lots of places in Canada. Places I'd love to go: Sweden (a friend of mine breeds Lippizzaners!), Russia, Italy, Germany, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica, Vietnam, anywhere in Africa...
4. I studied five different languages in university. French, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Polish. I don't remember much anymore, except for French. I use French about 40% of the time in my day-to-day work. I love being (almost) bilingual. I think it is good for the brain.
5. I collect information - books, papers, magazine clippings, how-to's, recipes, etc. on all of my favourite hobbies. I also don't like clutter, so I have binders for all of my different collections. A horse info binder, a workout binder, several binders of recipes, etc. Instead of keeping piles of magazines around, I rip out all of the stuff I want to save and put it in my binder. I also have tonnes of electronic files - pdfs, digital photos, web links. I tend to gather lots of information and then not do anything constructive with it, except organize it!
6. I'm a "what you see is what you get" sort of person - I'm an introvert, so I'm not a big social butterfly. If you are a friend or acquaintance and I tell you that you look nice, I mean it. If I offer to help you move or something - I mean it. I can often be quite blunt, but honest. I try to be diplomatic if I can - I guess it is the libra in me. The one contradiction to this is that my sense of humour is very sarcastic and this often confuses people. Once they get to know me, I've been told that I can be quite funny.

*Phew* That was harder than I thought! I tag anyone that reads this and wants to participate. Leave a note in the comments to your responses in your blog...

Headin' Down South

I'm going to be heading home for a few days to visit my family. They live about a 7.5 hour drive south west of where I live now. I grew up about 2 hours north of Detroit MI, for reference.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Saddle testing and broken reins

As part of the great tack clean-up of '08, I have traded in my old English saddle and I have 2 used saddles on trial.

I actually wrote out a bulleted list of all my tack, but it was just too long to post. On the weekend, I sorted and cleaned all of my tack. I sat outside the barn in the sun and laid everything out on the grass. (Guess I should've taken a picture of that!) I have a small pile of stuff that I'm going to try and sell locally.Then, it was off to the riding ring to test saddles. I brought everything outside and put both saddles on the fence, to save me going back into the barn later to switch saddles. Here is Rusty in his first saddle - this saddle is so comfortable and balanced - I'm totally in love with it.

After I rode around for 20 minutes or so, I decided it was time to switch saddles. It was really hot out, so I didn't want to be out for much more than an hour.

Rusty is very quiet and calm, so I didn't bother taking his bridle off or anything - he just stood there patiently...until he noticed the little bit of green grass peeking under the fence. I let him graze because it wasn't a big deal. As I took the first saddle off and stepped to the fence, I thought that I should watch my reins - wouldn't want them stepped on and broken...

As I turned back from putting the saddle on the fence - 2 seconds later!!! - the reins were looped behind his ears and dragging on the ground - just as I was about to reach and drab them, he stepped on the rein, scared himself and BAM - broken reins. D'oh! The reins were old and needed to be replaced anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. With all of the tack that I cleaned and sorted, did you think I would have extra reins there???? Nooo, of course not they were all at home. I could've used a set of yours, Cdn! lol.

So, my second saddle test was put off. I decided to turn Rusty loose in the riding ring to get him used to have a lead line drag behind him - he is scared of that for some reason. I led him down to a big patch of clover and walked away. Can you see him standing way down there? He stood perfectly still for about 10 minutes while I put away my tack.

After a few minutes he started grazing - you can see a bit of the evil lead line in the grass.


He lifted his head as I got closer - probably wondering what the black thing on my face was! (the camera...) He posed for a couple of good pictures, but I deleted about 20 that had his ears going in all directions and him moving around because of the flies.
I can see his little brain working here - "um, do you have treats?" or maybe "she's coming to rescue me from this evil lead line"

This shot cracked me up - he was slowly getting annoyed with the bugs and the fact that I just kept walking around him taking pictures. Too funny.

"Are you done YET?"

That was my weekend - nothing too exciting. I've been sick since Sunday evening, so I haven't been back to test my second saddle. Hoping to do that tonight...

ETA: Does anyone know the settings in Blogger that allows larger views of your pictures when you click on them?? I work with web sites and HTML all day and I can't get it to work!! argh.

Tack, tack and more tack!

I seem to have accumulated a lot of tack in my 14 months or so of (recent) horse ownership. I have a huge jumble of english and western tack- breastplates, halters, polo wraps, saddle pads, bridles, bits, etc. etc. It's amazing how much stuff I end up with - I'm a bit of a shopaholic!

I had horses growing up and while I sold most of my tack back then, I kept 2 english saddles, a bridle and a martingale. I recently donated all but 1 saddle to a riding school that does summer camps for underprivileged kids - along with a pair of paddock boots and some old show clothing - I'm sure it will be put to good use.

I can't seem to pick either english or western riding, so I'm just going to do both! :-)

I wasn't sure that my western saddle fit my horse, but I've ordered a cashel reverse wedge pad specifically designed for western saddles, so I'm hoping that will help. I'm just planning to use the western saddle for trail rides - I find I'm much more relaxed riding western - I don't worry about leg position and posture as much as when I'm riding english.

I just need to find a solid coloured wool blanket to go over the Cashel pad. I'm hoping one of my local tack shops has something - the biggest tack shop around here only has patterend navajo style blankets and I just don't want that right now.

I have 2 english saddles on trial from another local english tack shop - so I'm hoping one of them works. I know that both fit Rusty well, I just need to ride in them and make sure my short stubby legs end up in the right position!

The saddle fitter that came out to help me took my Stubben saddle (that I bought from him last year) and has offered to give me credit towards my new saddle of the same price I paid last year! That is pretty much unheard of in the saddle world - another shop offered to take the saddle on consignment and their cut was 40%!

In addition to testing my new saddles this weekend, I'm going to do a major tack inventory and clean/sort/organize everything that I have. Stuff I don't need will get cleaned and photographed and then posted for sale on a local message board. Hopefully some of the extras will go and I'll have a bit of cash to spend on new stuff! LOL. I already have new stuff in mind that I want - how terrible is that???

As much as I like buying stuff online, I feel quite lucky that there are 3-4 good local tack shops that have a fairly wide range of products. Although, the thinline pads that 20 meter mentioned the other day have me drooling. I think I will save up for one next year and try them out.

Good boy Rusty, gooood boy!

I haven't done much of anything exciting over the past few days. Well - that's not entirely true - I did spend all day Sunday volunteering at a local horse show. It was fun - a couple of acquaintances were there, so I spent a bit of time gabbing with other horse people. I'm not a hugely social person in my day-to-day life - I tend to like to spend time alone, but every know and again I get the need for some human contact. Horse shows seem to be a good place for that as most people are friendly.

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I've been riding Rusty a fair bit. We are staying in the ring for now, just so I can continue to get used to him. He is a pretty steady guy - even after not being ridden for a few days, he is exactly the same as the last time you had him out. I like that consistency right now - I need to rebuild my confidence and get my position and seat nice and solid. I'm sure in a few years I'll be ready for something with a bit more spunk, but right now I'm happy with my old man! :-)

I even put 2 total beginners on him recently and he didn't bat an eyelash - he did try and cut corners a bit, but that is to be expected. He does try and get away with little things, but he is very passive about it.

My hubby Richard got on first. He rode a little bit as a kid, so was more comfortable.

After a couple of laps around the arena, he was asking "how do I make this thing go faster?" lol. I told him he wasn't ready for speed yet, because his hands weren't quite right. Patience grasshopper.

My step-son got on next - he was a little apprehensive, but I convinced him to just sit on Rusty and see what it was like.

Oh great, another beginner to bounce around on my back. There'd better be carrots.So, rider #2 was up. I tried to explain how to shorten and lengthen the reins, but it fell on deaf teenage ears, methinks.

Am I done yet? This is getting old fast.

Max was tied to a fence because he rolled in something nasty. Good thing there was a hose and horse shampoo nearby.

Rider #2 decided to try walking around on his own. Same question as his father: "Can this thing go any faster?" Luckily Rusty is lazy, so he just walked. Neither rider was ready for any speed. If they are still interested, we can try speed on the longe line someday. Interestingly enough, both riders disappeared when it was time to untack and clean up! Bums. :-)
That's about it for me - time to hit the hay. 0600 rolls around pretty early in these parts and the tack and grain don't buy themselves, so it's off to work!

Important Papers - Do you know where yours are?

Recently Richard was required to fill out forms to get a security clearance at work. They ask all kinds of information - including dates of weddings/divorces and addresses of relatives, etc. Richard couldn't remember the date of his 1st wedding or divorce, so being the helpful wife that I am, I made a snide comment about it must be on a form or certificate somewhere. Richard laughed and said that he had no idea where such a paper might be hidden, if he even still had it.

This led us to a major search of our house - we found it eventually. Stashed away in a box in the back recesses of the basement. I think I need to re-organize our storage area! I also found cans of tonic water - time for a g&t! :-)

This led me to a mini-panic about all of our other important papers - marriage license, mortgage documents, work related documents (pension, insurance, etc.), life/house insurance forms and contact info. My plan for the weekend is to organize all of this information into one location so that we can find it in an emergency.

I do have a horse related twist to this post - don't worry! This also led me to realize that my horsey papers were strewn all over the house. Bills of sale, vet records, association memberships, etc. were in piles and some in unopened envelopes!

So, I'm going to put together a binder for Mr. Rusty - so that everything is organized - just in case.

Here are a few things that will be in my binder:

• Rusty's bill of sale
• Printed emails from previous buyer with notes on Rusty's past
• Vet pre-purchase certificate
• Vaccination records
• Vet records
• Ontario Equestrian Federation membership card/contact info - they provide insurance to members. This might come in handy if something were to happen to me
• RideOntario time log (some associations have logs that allow you to accumulate hours working with your horse that in turn equal prizes)
• Receipts from expensive tack purchases (stubben saddle)
• Membership information for local horse clubs that I belong to, along with contact info and passwords

I was at a show recently and some owners were really organized - binders seemed to be the most popular. Others had no clue where their forms/insurance/registration papers were.

Other things that could go in your horse file system are:

• breed registration certificates (you'd be amazed at the number of local horse for sale ads that go something like this - "this horse is registered "x", but we lost the papers!
• breed organization member cards/member pin numbers/passwords
• futurity nominations/forms/results, etc.
• breeding information, as well as photos of offspring
• show records/results - might come in handy if you were to sell your horse
• photos from shows/events/phases of life (ie weanling/yearling/2yr old etc.)
• trailer safety documents/bill of sale/insurance info
• horse insurance papers

I'm sure there are more things, but that's all I can think of for now. Does everyone have a binder/book/box for their horse(s)?