Ok, don't hate me because I haven't been posting lately. I have hardly been in the house at all and I have taken a few days off at work. Dandy has been sick. She has an upper respiratory infection and I've been working on clearing it out with antibiotic shots every 12 hours for 5 days. It was quite a task, the days are much shorter now and we barely get 11 hours of light, so the shots I gave Dandy were given mostly during dark hours. I completed the treatment yesterday and Dandy and I were glad too! She is such a sport, she was making her way to meet me in the pasture even if she knew I was going to stick her with a needle. She seems to have taken a turn for the better, her eyes have cleared up (they were quite cloudy), her runny nose is almost dry, her fever is gone, she did not cough, except for yesterday (were she was REALLY playing around with the foal), she coughed 3 times in a row and stopped.
I will keep her quiet for another week or two and will be reevaluating her in 7 to 10 days. Too bad because I was giving riding lessons to my mom every weekend with Dandy... it was coming along good and my mom was up to start trotting when Dandy became sick. My mom has suffered a severe breast cancer and is now on her 3rd year of remission, she is doing well but she will have to take medication for the rest of her life. The medication she was taking was giving her ackes in her legs and knees and she had to skip a few courses because of it. Her medication was changed last week and I think we will be able to start again as soon as Dandy is back to her old self. I am in no rush, these courses are just for fun. I got the idea because my mom used to ride Dandy every now and then, but this fall, we were going to go for a ride in the bush to see the leaves, I had brought Pearl for me to ride and we were all set to go. When mom sat on Dandy, she got nervous and cancelled our ride. She hadn't ridden in about 8 months, maybe more. I was very disapointed, Dandy is not one to get anxious if a nervous rider is sitting on her back, so I tryed to convince my mom that it would be ok, but she got scared and got off. The next weekend, I had made a plan for lessons and we were on our first lesson. She only had to learn to brush, saddle and bridle Dandy, then mount correctly and sit on Dandy until she got relaxed (not Dandy, my mom!). It worked great! Dandy stood patiently until everything was over.
We got to week 3 and then Dandy got sick... I'm thinking of doing our next course as a recap of everything that we've seen so far, just to get her back in the groove. She did take Dandy for a walk with her halter, I was very proud of her!
Anyways, I've had a busy weekend, between the sick horse, the other horses, a friend's birthday party, Xmas shopping and the auction sale, I didn't get much sleep, not to mention that I got big allergy reactions to something unknown 3 mornings out of 5, that prevented sleep for a few hours!
The Auction Sale was a herd dispersal auction (cattle). We bought one cow, we are planning to build a little herd of cattle. She is a Blonde D'Aquitaine cow (pure breed) and she is bred to a Charolais bull for a spring calf. She is very gentle and easy-going, she still has horns, but we are planning to remove them next weekend. Right now, she is in isolation in the barn. She is vaccinated and vet checked, but just to be sure. The horses will have time to get used to her smell. We would've gotten some more but they weren't going cheap... matter of fact, we paid more for the cow than any of our horses! I would've rather been at a horse auction and buy one of them instead of cattle, but that's the way it is!
I'm sorry I didn't post sooner, I was SO busy... I nearly don't have time to do my personal things, like pay bills and eat!! Work is just the same, I am beyond busy and it really hits home... I can't rest and will probably die of exhaustion (kidding!)!! Can't wait to get a little break, I've been getting up at 5:30 in the morning EVERY day (weekends especially included!) for the past month, maybe more (I know for the past month for sure)... I don't go to bed too late (about 10 or 11:00 pm) but I think fatigue is starting to accumulate.
I hope you all had a great weekend!
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That's sucky about Dandy being sick! Glad to hear she's on the mend though, giving shots is no fun for horse or human.
ReplyDeletePost some pictures of the cow! are you going to name her?
As for the post below, the bit question, I would highly recommend an "O" ring snaffle, they handle nicely and are nice and soft on the horses mouth. I'm getting one for Oliver this christmas, he's currently in a D-ring, but I rode him in an O ring this summer and I like it a lot better.
Thanks fot the tips! I have an "O" ring snaffle that I use on Peg, I will try it on Dandy when her break is over.
ReplyDeleteThe cow already has a name, she is a registered Blonde d'Aquitaine (75%) and her name is Silver Mapple Nabisco (Nabisco). She has horns, but we will remove them shortly. She is the sweetest thing ever! Unfortunately, she is alone, but we'll get more in the spring (probably)... I will post pictures of her and newer pictures of the horses soon! Stay tuned!
My work and life are super busy and I'm having a hard time finding time to post!!!