Adventures of Galadriel and the Lorien Stable Crew

lorienstable @ 2009-12-23T01:00:00

2009-12-23T06:00:58Z

Saedy's been congested for about a month and a half. Middle of last week, Saedy's chronic congestion became really nasty, such that she was struggling to breathe. Every time she gets congested again, a dose of benadryl clears it up and she's fine for a few days, then it comes back. Called up vet to see if they thought this was a "need to see" kind of thing, and it was.

Took her in on Saturday when J could drive us there, since I'm no longer driving. Re-did her chest X-rays, which were just about the same as the ones taken before her surgery last month (fantastic). It looks like this is a newly developed allergy, upper respiratory infection, or sinus infection. Fine, treating her for that. Good to know it's not anything worse.

~ ~ ~

Then today Galahad came down with a case of serious ugly bloody runny stool. He's vomiting afterwards too. Poor kid. J had to leave work early to come home and pick us up and take him to the vet.

This looks like Galahad's allergic reaction to beef (only more severe), but there hasn't been any in the house in the last week.

Vet checked him for a few things, nothing came up obvious. Got him on subQ fluids and meds, and if he's not better by tomorrow, he needs to go back in for more extensive tests.

lorienstable @ 2009-12-13T20:38:00

2009-12-14T01:38:21Z

Animals do freaky-odd things sometimes.

About a year ago, George pulled Galahad off the back of the couch and attacked him pretty badly. We got George on Prozac and so on... Galahad never went back to sitting on the back of the couch, which had previously been his favorite perch.

Yesterday while we were out and about, J was lamenting that loss of Galahad's favorite perch. George has been happily in a new home for about six months, but Galahad just doesn't seem comfortable on the back of the couch anymore. I've tried suggesting he get up there (patting it until he hops up), but he just hops back down again. It's been months since I even tried.

Yesterday evening, Galahad hopped up on the back of the couch. He did it while I was hurrying to do something, stood up too fast, and passed out; when I came to, there he was. And then he spent quite a lot of the rest of yesterday up there.

Coincidences are funny, and sometimes animals do things that are really, really startling. Weird.

Eew.

2009-12-11T15:36:03Z

Duchess has ringworm on her hind legs. Poor mare. Remember, with all her meds she's a bit immunosuppressed; I don't expect any of the other horses to pick this up, although I am of course watching them and obsessively washing my hands.

The thing that's been bothering me is that it's spreading and worsening, despite treatment. I even clipped her legs down to the skin to make sure the antifungal spray was reaching the ringworm, and all it does is get worse. Man, this is nasty.

I do think I just worked out what's going on, though. Duchess has the most gorgeous, lovely tail I've ever seen on a Thoroughbred. It's long, thick, and luscious. It's also swishing around those ringworm-covered cannon bones. Eew.

I'm going to wash it well and braid it up, and see if the ringworm stops spreading. Hopefully it will start responding to the treatment.

lorienstable @ 2009-11-26T00:34:00

2009-11-26T05:34:20Z

http://www.ufsheltermedicine.com/CatRescue.htm

The City of LaBelle Animal Control department has accepted custody of approximately 600 cats following the closure of the Tenth Life Sanctuary in Hendry County.

A team of veterinarians from Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida will examine all of the cats November 23-25. The UF VETS program in collaboration with partners from HSUS, ASPCA, and other regional humane agencies have already performed a preliminary assessment and will set up a field hospital to triage and treat the large number of cats.

At this time there are approximately 200 healthy friendly cats, 150 healthy feral cats, and 175 sick cats in need of placement!

lorienstable @ 2009-11-23T09:49:00

2009-11-23T14:49:30Z

Histology came back on Saedy's tumor. It's a spindle cell sarcoma. Histology shows that they got the whole thing off cleanly.

Vet says:
* This is a type that can recur even if properly removed, but we'll have to wait and see.
* This is a type that can metastasize, but does so slowly.
* So it's bad news. However, of the bad news we could get, this is the best of the bunch.

So, the plan is the same: keep an eye on the spot for regrowth, get X-rays of her lungs again in Jan/Feb, and go from there.

lorienstable @ 2009-11-18T00:17:00

2009-11-18T05:17:55Z

Saedy got home around 6, and is reeeeeally stoned. All she wants to do is lie around and blink. I fear to think what she'd have been like if she'd really been recovering from general anesthesia. J says she was pretty worked up when he picked her up, so she may also be tired.

Definitely got an appetite tho.

It's good to have her home.

Saedy's Done, and Okay!

2009-11-17T15:15:23Z

Talked to the vet surgeon just now; he says she was being so good this morning they decided not to put her under, but just to have someone hold her while they removed it.

He said she did get a LOT of good drugs ("she's probably having a better morning than you are").

He also said that, on review of the X-rays, HE's pretty sure that the spot in the lungs is just consolidation. But we'll wait until the histology of the tumor comes back; if it's not something nasty, we don't have to worry.

lorienstable @ 2009-11-16T17:19:00

2009-11-16T22:19:11Z

I found a lump in Saedy's mouth yesterday. I took her to the vet today. Vet said the risk factors (location, Saedy's age) suggest it needs to come off on general principle, but took a needle aspirate just to see what it looked like. The vet really didn't like what she saw in the needle aspirate, wanted to get the lump off ASAP.

They took blood today and did chest X-rays to check for metastization. The vet was not entirely happy with the X-rays, but not enough to halt the surgery. So Saedy stayed there overnight, they'll take the tumor off tomorrow, and J will pick her up after work.

Worried about my Saedy Bear. Vet said she probably shouldn't go under general anesthesia again, with her heart acting up. They went over the EKG report today and said it will probably be okay, but they'll monitor her while she's under just the same. I snuggled her lots before I left.

The vet started to show me the X-rays so I could see what she wasn't happy about (a dark spot that can be seen in 2 of the 3 images)...but she turned the lights off and then turned the back-lit X-ray, and I kinda fell down. So I didn't see it and I have no idea how big it really is or what.

Vet says it may just be a lung consolidation, or something she inhaled, or. Going to be on heavy-duty antibiotics after the surgery in case of either of the above, and going to re-check the X-rays in Jan or Feb.

Fingers crossed.

lorienstable @ 2009-11-12T23:41:00

2009-11-13T04:41:59Z

The cute moments make life delightful. Saedy bounds in the door now, for some reason. It's sooooo adorable.

I couldn't find Galahad's vests from last year. I think I know where they are but I can't do the bending over/standing up necessary to dig them out. So I found a cut-off sweatpant leg that was about the right shape and cut holes for his forelegs, and tried it on him a few times until I got it right.

Then I left it on him to make sure he could move freely. Once I was sure it was going to work okay, I called him over to take it off. I took hold of it...and he laid down and gave me puppy-dog eyes. I think he wanted to keep it.

Tonight Serenity was seriously sucking up to J, licking him up and down his arms, just being a precious loving filly. She even grabbed his belt loop. At one point he started to walk off to check on something; I held out my hand to her. She glanced at me, then streeetched her neck out trying to reach him. SPURN! Funny little daddy's girl.

Bright moments in the day.

lorienstable @ 2009-11-10T09:04:00

2009-11-10T14:04:22Z

We had someone lined up to take care of the horses and dogs while we're at Mayo in Dec, but she called this weekend and canceled. She's got family health issues of her own.

I asked Duchess's vet yesterday for a recommendation. The vet gave me the number for the person who comes by and makes sure HER farm runs smoothly while she's out of town. Bonus: this person may even be able to farm-sit, whereas the person who just canceled was only going to be able to stop by twice a day.

Still, that's a "maybe." If she can't stay overnight with the doggies, mom-in-law says I can bring Galahad over there and he can spend the week with her. That would be fantastic. He's such a sensitive little soul. The other dogs should be okay with long stretches left to themselves, but I worry that he'd get pretty sick.

Soo, I'm looking forward to meeting her, showing her the routine, and making sure she's comfortable with things like dosing Duchess and using the nebulizer.

lorienstable @ 2009-11-09T11:43:00

2009-11-09T16:43:10Z

Duchess has been having a rough time of it. We did know this already, of course. Rut this weekend got pretty bad. Every time we went out to see her, she was wheezing.

The vet just left. She gave Duchess a couple of injections (I believe IV dex and IM long-acting steroid) and suggested that I start giving her a higher daily dose of dex. She also suggested adding an antihistimine back into the mix, and will be trying to locate some for us today. We are, of course, still nebulizing her regularly.

I need to watch out, as too much steroid might cause founder, but the vet says right now the highest priority is getting her to breathe comfortably. I hate to see her so miserable. I hope the injections kick in quick. I'll go out and nebulize her in a little while, too.

lorienstable @ 2009-11-03T13:09:00

2009-11-03T18:09:39Z

I haven't been well; we know this.

Duchess is currently dribbling a lot of food, and it's food I don't want to let he other horses clean up behind her (senior food with a lot of molasses). So when she's done at night, we sweep the area really well and move the leftovers to the muck pile.

In the morning when I'm feeding alone, however, I just sweep it into the aisleway behind the stall doors, and leave it.

Apparently this is a bad idea. Last night we saw a SKUNK in the aisleway, and I think it must have been eating the leftovers. Aw rats. We spent the rest of the time there moving very carefully and being as quiet as possible.

Augh, need a new way to dispose of Duch's leftovers. I don't think I can sweep it up really well and get rid of it. By the time she's done eating most mornings, I am *wiped*. Doing anything that involves kneeling or bending over and standing back up, or vigorous arm motion, is totally out of the question.

lorienstable @ 2009-10-31T01:08:00

2009-10-31T05:08:05Z

It's that time...

We had to replace our "Arco" clippers (the batteries died, and the blades were never very long-lasting, making it not worth it to buy new batteries). Just got our new clippers. (To be able to clip horses and a cocker effectively, and to save bad wrists, and to be a solid durable set of clippers, Jeffers recommended the "PowerGroom" by Andis.)

I've been mowing Serenity today. This takes a tremendous amount of effort, as she grows the longest, thickest coat I've ever seen. I have to make three passes just to get past the outer coat.

I have to do this in stages; my back doesn't appreciate the bending and twisting, and my central nervous system ALSO doesn't appreciate the bending over/standing up. Dratted things. And there's no point trying to bathe her and keep her clean until she dries, to save the clipper blades. It takes her a whole day to dry. So I either try to clip her wet (ugh) or with her coat full of sand--not that bathing can clear THAT coat of sand.

I thought about trying a hair dryer on her, but we don't have one. I wonder if the heat gun on "fan only" might do the trick. Hm.

lorienstable @ 2009-10-26T14:11:00

2009-10-26T18:11:50Z

I had a long snuzzle with Firefly today. I was out checking on Duchess, and Firefly walked up to me and just wanted to be scratched and cuddled. She leaned her head into my chest, almost tucking her nose under my arm, and stayed like that with much happiness while I scritched her poll and ears and forehead.

Ah, happiness.

lorienstable @ 2009-10-26T14:09:00

2009-10-26T18:09:40Z

A couple of weeks ago I thought Tessa had an eye infection.

Well, her eye is still looking kind of sunken and the third eyelid often sticks out a little; the redness is not so obvious anymore, but there's clearly something wrong. The ointment didn't clear things up.

I talked to the vet, who says that in about 50% of these cases, they can't find a reason...but sometimes there is one, and it could be really important to find it. She says we can start with bloodwork and checking her ears to see if there's anything obvious, but we might need to get X-rays of her skull and ribcage to make sure there's nothing pressing on that nerve.

It doesn't seem to be painful or bothering her, at least. The appearance is kind of disturbing to us, though.

lorienstable @ 2009-10-23T10:22:00

2009-10-23T14:23:16Z

This was a few weeks ago but I never had a chance to post it then.

Have you ever had a horse that hides behind you, or tries to get you to lead the way to scary things? Firefly would like to be brave, but only if I'm brave first. And she'll touch her nose to me, then look at the scary thing, then touch her nose to me again for reassurance.

Recently she's been snarfing on me for reassurance while looking at *J*. This is hilarious. She'll lean her head over to me, then look at him. Lean her head over to me and touch me with it if she can, then look at him. Now, she's been such a one-person horse since she was a baby; when she needed help with getting a bucket off her head, she ran from him but held still for me, and has done much the same ever since.

I *think* she's trying to decide that she likes him. But she needs reassurance for this! How cute and silly. My poor little near-autistic horse.

(Yes, this is the same horse who goes up to all the strangers who come anywhere near--but she's not relaxed, and she won't let them do anything with her. I think she's trying to get to where she can be relaxed with J.)

lorienstable @ 2009-10-05T12:24:00

2009-10-05T16:24:21Z

I noticed Tessa's eye was red last week. I thought she was getting an eye infection. I made her a vet apptmt, but I had to cancel since a headache blew in, and the eye didn't seem to be bothering her, just was red.

I got her in today. The vet thinks that she has Horner's syndrome, which she described as something affecting the nerve on that side of the face. She said it may also spontaneously go away.

She said she's been getting a rash of these, and she doesn't know why. She even had one client who said, "Money is no object; find the cause" and she still couldn't determine what caused it in that dog.

For now, I've got some eye ointment to hopefully reduce the irritation in the eye. My poor baby girl. It's just one thing after another.

lorienstable @ 2009-10-02T11:37:00

2009-10-02T15:37:05Z

So, all the "stand whoa" Serenity's been learning during bathtime paid off today with the farrier. She stood very, very well, though she did keep checking to make sure I still thought she was being good.

She didn't get upset and try to pull when he put a hoof on his knee to do the finishing bits. She's been confused about that for a while, and would get upset and pull back till she bumped into a wall, then cope all right. Today she needed a couple of reminders to "stand whoa," but she did stand and cope. She was goooood.

No ferret today, so Firefly didn't have a mental blowout. Nice, calm, normal visit. Good, she needed that. She's had a few bad encounters with people coming to work on her, and she needs a few solidly calm encounters.

Kat and Duchess, of course, are angels for trimming. Put them in a spot, throw the lead over their necks, walk away; they're not going anywhere.

lorienstable @ 2009-10-02T08:32:00

2009-10-02T12:32:41Z

Tonight as we were heading out for bed check I saw that Firefly was in the corner of the back pasture, near the dog yard and the road.

Then I heard a very distressed cat noise and Firefly was galloping for the barn.

Oopsy.

(Checked her all over and she doesn't seem to be scratched, no further cat noises so I presume the poor thing bolted but is unharmed)

lorienstable @ 2009-09-26T22:32:00

2009-09-27T02:32:07Z

I love my fillies. I got to show off yesterday that not only do I bathe them without halter or lead of any kind, I also hose their faces without restraints, too.

Today Firefly had some goop in the corner of her eye, so I pulled her eyelid down to see if she had a hair or something. She had some gunk in there, so I grabbed it and pulled it out. All without restraint, again. Such good li'l beebees. (And then she wanted me to pleeeease rub the itchy eye for a while, mommie!)

lorienstable @ 2009-09-17T11:06:00

2009-09-17T15:06:09Z

Yesterday I had a surprisingly non-dizzy day, so I hopped on Kat for a few minutes. That number of minutes turned out to be very, very few. My newfound pain intolerance apparently will not allow me to ride bareback on Kat.

Still, she and I were both happy that I had a chance to pull her out and do some stuff with her. And I was tremendously impressed when my skittish mare simply stood and stared, when a cottontail bolted from literally under her front feet. What a good girl.

I also did a little long-overdue saddle work. It's good to work. Even a little bit is nice, when "any" has been impossible for so long.

lorienstable @ 2009-09-15T09:28:00

2009-09-15T13:28:37Z

So yesterday I worked with both babies briefly. First I caught Serenity--which involved going through the gate, petting her, and saying "Come on." She followed me to the barn, where I haltered and cross-tied her.

I groomed her. The baths have apparently been really helping with getting her to understand how verbal commands and reward/correction works. She was stock-still after I told her to "whoa stand." I reinforced it throughout the session, especially when I walked away to get the hoofpick etc, but she was excellent. I hand-fed her a cookie afterwards, and she didn't freak out demanding more. More excellent. That's a first.

I took her out to the front yard where we work. We reviewed some of the things she knows well: "walk," "whoa," turning cues, grazing on command and going back to work on command.

Then we worked on standing at the mounting block. I've been having her practice moving over with as light a touch as she can (she's not particularly...sensitive, our drafty girl) so I walked her up next to the block, tapped her until she was standing right, and told her to "whoa stand." Excellent, excellent!

Only it turns out she can't handle it when the block is on her right. She managed it very well from the left, but not the right. Being who I am, I mount from alternating sides for the sake of the saddle, the horse's back, the horse's training, and my own dexterity. But beebee is worried about getting close to the mounting block when it's on the right. Hmmmm. I'll probably need to set it near a fence so she HAS to stand between, at least until she gets over this whatever. (I am pretty sure it's not her vision.)

And then we played a little more with walk, whoa, and grazing, and she went home. Hand-fed her a second cookie, and told her "all done, go eat grass." That unfortunately didn't work as well as it does at bathtime; she kept trying to get underfoot while I was grooming FF and to follow us out the gate.

~ ~ ~

Firefly also followed me up to the barn, where I haltered and crosstied her. She was also good.

We walked out, we reviewed walk/whoa/graze on command. Only for some reason she was edgy, and didn't want to graze. So I spent a while trying to convince her to graze and relax. She was starting to relax when we went by the trailer, and I leaned on it to let her stay there grazing a few minutes. Something went "clunk" in the trailer when I leaned on it. She jerked her head up and jumped back...and the lead rope broke. Ack!

She fortunately ran toward "home" and ended up in a little cul-de-sac next to the house. And here paid off something I've been working on for years: to get her to come to me when she's upset. I grabbed a spare lead I keep by the front gate, and she walked up to me, and we moved on with the session.

After a little more attempt at relaxing (oh, and going back over to the trailer to get her to sniff the scary clunk thing) we also worked on standing at the mounting block. She handled it great, from both directions, edging up to it and then standing in place for as long as I told her to. And then she was allll done.

lorienstable @ 2009-09-13T14:48:00

2009-09-13T18:48:17Z

Who knew horses could be histrionic?

Kat spent about an hour today making the most awful noises--distressed, even panicky whinnies. She was on the far side of the barn from the babies, who were perfectly fine and quite calm. She would go stand at one of the gates, where she could see them, then run around in a circle screaming her head off. (Duchess, of course, was in her AC stall and was also perfectly calm.)

I *think* the poor idiot wanted the babies to go graze in the front pasture with her, and they just weren't budging.

Very distressing to us, of course, because that sort of sound out of the horses usually means something awful. Somebody's hurt herself, someone's trapped, someone's separated from the rest and can't see them and is about to panic...and we kept going out to check, just to find all four horses fine.

Kat's been in heat for about two weeks. I think the hormones have overwhelmed her brain. I wonder if I need to talk to our vet.

lorienstable @ 2009-09-12T19:48:00

2009-09-12T23:48:38Z

Walked babies today. Worked on standing at mounting block. Good babies. Hands shaking and body giving out. More later if I can.

lorienstable @ 2009-09-08T08:32:00

2009-09-08T12:32:46Z

Kat's been *heavily* in heat. Loud, loud squeals and unusual behavior (when, normally, she's so subtle I don't even know when she goes into heat). She's even been harassing Duchess with her in-heat behavior, which is foolish for any horse.

Aaaand she finally went out of heat, and now her daughter is doing the exact same thing.