Bitless bridle on the way!

I found a Dr. Cooks Bitless bridle on craigslist for a good price. I sent the money to the lady on Friday so I'm hopeing I will get it tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm excited to try it out. I want to try Doodles in english tack. So far I have only been working with her western. She's been doing well in western but I really want to give english a try. I really like the idea of bitless with Doodles so I'm excited to get this bridle. Doodles has been working in a bosal hackmore so I think the change won't be to drastic for her.

Gypsy Is still improving, today she was running around the pasture with Doodles. I haven't had her boots on in a few days. I can see she's a tad tender footed but she's not dead lame. I'm going to Give her the rest of the year off and maybe start again with her in the spring. Right now I guess I'll just focus on Doodles and keep up the ground work and manners with Gypsy.

I've been kinda stuck in my own head lately so I haven't been riding much. I don't like riding when I'm more focused inside then out. I'm coming out of it, but I'm still not there yet. Tomorrow I will be riding Doodles, if it's not 100 degrees out like it was today and I can keep focused for more then 5 minutes.

So far so good.

Gypsy still seems to be getting better. Lots of soaking and epsom salts later. I'm happy she's feeling better, but still I haven't seen an abscess break through. There are a few spots that seems suspect, but nothing yet. The easysoaker boot has made things a bit easier. It still doesn't fit quite right unless I fill it with hot water first to make it more flexible. Without it though, I would be fighting with buckets and Gypsy has never been one for keeping her feet in a bucket.

The easyboots have made her walk much better. I noticed the other day when I left them off for a while she seemed very sore. She even seems to like them. When I came out to put them back on after her hoof soaking she picked up her feet so easy for me. I like to give her an hour or so with them off to let her feet breathe. I need to find out how long I can leave the boots on.

Ok, that's it. I blame my boring yet somewhat informative post to the fact I am on a 9 day work spree with no days off. I am tired. If I don't post anything more for a while it's because I'm working. I'm always working.

I think the vet was right.

Let me say that even though I questioned my vet's hands off approach to my horse's care, he was kinda right on this one. Today I bought some epsom salts and an easyboot soaker and soaked 3 out of 4 feet. The easyboot soaker made it a bit easier then the hoof in the bucket method, even though the boot I bought was a tad too small. I should have bought the next size up. I was doubtful the soaking would do anything but sure enough, later after I soaked her feet she seemed to be walking a bit better, a lot better in fact. I didn't expect to see any results so fast! I also bought some easyboots for daily wear around the pasture. These have also made a big difference in how Gypsy walks. She seems much more comfortable now. She is taking less short choppy steps and now is starting to walk normal again. I'm loving easyboots! A lot!

The funny thing about the hoof boot that I bought is that they have sitting at the feed store for about a year now. They were brought in on consignment and though I have looked at them many times and wondered if they would fit, I never dared to buy them in case they didn't. The price was right on them and I was told that if they didn't fit i could bring them back, so I took the plunge and bought them. And they fit great!!! They are a bit older and they were used but hey, they are doing good things for my girl. I don't care that they aren't new, and I don't think she does either. Just think, the boots I have needed for Gypsy have been right in front for me for a year now and all I had to do was get brave and try them out! I'm so happy I bought them. Gypsy is happy I bought them. I'm happy that she's happy. And I bet the lady who had them on consignment for a year is happy to sell them! Everyone is happy!

My goth ninja rooster got killed the other day. He was a black silkie. I'm kinda bummed about it since he was such a neat little roo and took good care of his girls.

So to replace him in the flock I got this new, more flamboyant rooster. He got his ass kicked by one of the hens when I first introduced them, I had to break up the fight. I cleaned him up and put him back in his cage for a while to relax and then tried to introduce them again. The second time was a success.

And today the vet was called.

I called the vet today about Gypsy's hoof issues fully expecting the vet clinic to send someone right out with in the next day or two. That was not the case. I talked in depth (while at work and on the clock, mind you) about what is going on. The advice I got? Soak her feet in Epsom salts and wait it out. Oh, and stop giving her the bute I've been giving her to keep her comfortable. I'm starting to think I need another vet. But I'm also wondering if I'm just being over-reactive and one of "those" kind of horse owners. We all know "those" horse owners who think they know everything and what is best for their horse. The thing is though, is that I do know what's best for my horse, I've been through this before with Gypsy and I know she needs a vet right now, but my vet won't come out. This makes me wonder if I had a really bad emergency, like colic, would my vet come running to my horse's aid, or would they tell me to just wait it out?

The vet seems to think it's an abscess and that the Epsom's salts will help to draw out the nasty stuff. I am going to do what the vet suggested but I may be calling another vet just see what they say. A second opinion so to speak. I will be beyond pissed if this is something serious and my vet told me to just soak her feet in Epsom salts.

Going downhill.

Gypsy is not doing so well. I can tell she is in pain by the way she stands and the look in the eyes. There isn't much I can do right now, I'm waiting to hear back from the farrier about some things. Today when I cleaned her feet I could tell it hurt her. She just about tried to lay down on me. I gave her 2mg of bute and I'm hoping that will help some. If the farrier can't help then it is time for another vet visit. I'm hoping she'll come out of this soon. My normal farrier isn't really sure what's going on so she needs to talk with the big guy (the man she trains under)and see what he says. I might need to get the big guy out to have him take a look. I just feel so helpless. My horse is in pain and there isn't anything I can do to fix her. She keeps looking at me as if almost saying "Mom, it hurts, fix this." but I just can't make it better right away. I'm going to buy some old mac boots to help support her front feet, but again, I'm waiting on the farrier's ok before I buy them because I don't want to spend $145.00 on something I don't need or won't be able to use.



These things look like sneakers for horses, and they really pretty much are. They cost more then all of my foot wear combined. I wear $20 boots, my horse gets $145.00 ones. Awesome.

And to top things off, the other day when I rode Doodles, she tossed me and now I have a mega rope burn on my fingers and my elbow is all messed up and I'm in a lot of pain. Lesson learned, wear gloves when riding. In all fairness though, it wasn't Doodles fault. It was my own, I was pushing for something she wasn't ready for and she blew up. Now we are going back to taking it slow. The only major damage done was to my ego (and of course my rope burned fingers and bruised elbow).

My favorite summer things...

In the summer I love the feeling of grass beneath my feet. I love laying in the grass and looking at the stars. I love camp fires. I love the smell of camp fires. I love looking for fire wood for my camp fires. I love camping. I love tiki torches. I love the sound of the insects at night. I love the heat. I love remembering summers past. I love thinking of summers future. I love sitting on my back deck drinking beers and listening to music. I love BBQ. I love swimming in the river. I love canoeing. I love kayaking. I love hot summer nights. I love waling barefoot as much as I can. I love walking out to see the horses in the pasture in my pajamas and bare feet in the middle of the night just to give them a kiss and a carrot. Summers in Maine don't last long enough.

These are just a few of my favorite summer things. There are more, I'm sure, but I can't think of them them all, or put them into words.

And as I was saying....

Ok, so what I was trying to say the other day before Blogger so rudely ate my post is that Gypsy's white line disease is back. I went out to go for a ride on Miss Doodles, who has been in training since Gypsy went lame, only to find that Gypsy had a huge crack/chunk missing from her hoof. Upon closer inspection with my hoof pick I found a lot of white powdery stuff coming from the area. I was able to dig up into the hoof quite far, or at least I thought it was far, but everything seems worse then it is when it's your horse that has the problem. If it was someone else's horse I would most likely say that it looks ok and is not that deep of a hole, but since it's MY horse I'm thinking nothing but the worst. I got all the dirt and junk out of the hoof and put some dry-cow stuff on it and then wrapped it with vet wrap and duct tape to try and keep it clean. I'm also hoping the vet wrap duct tape boot keeps that piece of hoof from cracking and breaking more. I think I am the master at vet wrap duct tape hoof boots. I can apply one in less then 15 minutes now where as it used to take me a half hour to forty five minutes when Gypsy first had her problems. This may or may not be something I am proud of. I'm glad I can do it, but I really wish I didn't have to.


Today Gypsy seemed in a good mood. She even ran away from me at a nice little canter when I tried to get her to change her vet wrap duct tape hoof boot, even throwing in a few bucks and farts for good measure. Stupid horse. So I was left trudging after her in 90 degree heat (something Maine has been seeing a lot of lately) and trying to chase her down. At least when she was lame I could catch her. Doodles on the other hand thought this was a fun game and wanted to play along but really didn't get the whole idea of the "you can't catch me" game as she kept coming over to me like she was almost saying "wait, is this how we play? What are you doing? Do you want me?" No Doodles, I want the stupid white mare that needs her feet taken care of, get out of my face, I'm not in the mood for you. I love my Doodle Bug though. She's a good little girl.

Speaking of the doodle Bug. I've been riding her almost every day. She's coming along very well in her training. I'm surprising myself with how much I know and how well I've gotten her started. I'm hoping to take her to a clinic this month. That's my goal for the month, take Doodles to a clinic. I can do that. And hopefully come back in one piece.

Gypsy's white line is back and Blogger, I hate you!

Today while going out to catch Doodles for a ride I noticed that Gypsy's hoof had a funky chunk coming off of it. Upon closer inspection with my hoof pick, I found that the chunk came apart because underneath was white and powdery and flaking apart. This can only mean one thing.....the white line disease is back.

Ok, so after this I had tons more that I wrote but of course Blogger ate it. And since I am lazy and don't feel like re-writting it all, i'm not going to right now. I hate you Blogger!! I will finish this later after I am not so annoyed and angry.