Apache

Equine Psychology WIN

Hey everybody! I’m smarter than a horse! Maybe…

As we know, Apache is not fond of his medicine for PPID (some metabolic malady). He also has been refusing to eat his delicious soaked alfalfa pellets with his expensive supplements. It’s hard to help an animal who doesn’t care for the assistance.

To try to help, I ordered a different version of the medicine, compounded into a powder (which has pros and cons, of which I am aware). He ate it in treat food once, but wouldn’t touch it yesterday. I was too sick to argue with him.

Today he got it in applesauce via syringe, which worked ok, so that’s taken care of. He can’t spit out the medicine if it’s all mixed in. And he takes it politely.

Today I prepared him a gourmet tasting platter with all the components separated out, in case maybe he’d eat one pile or two. Nope. He acted hungry, but sniffed disdainfully at the food and just stood there. Fine.

I’ll deign to eat your hay (obviously not a current photo, since his mane looks so nice)

I stood there, too, and removed some burs from his encrusted mane while I thought. After the other horses had eaten a couple of minutes, I opened Apache’s gate and let him out, sitting his food bucket in the same area where Mabel and Fiona were eating.

Mabel and Dusty, just minding their business.

Sure enough, Apache marched over to Mabel’s food, sent her away and started munching away. Mabel went over and ate Apache’s food. I watched as he ate and ate the food, which was the same as his, only with the oil supplements I thought he hated. Nope, he ate it like a champ.

The award for best consumer of supplements and medicine goes to…Apache!

As long as he THOUGHT it wasn’t the food I gave him with meds, he’d eat it. Fine. From now on I’m making two of the same exact mixes and letting him ignore one in his pen, then chase Mabel off, so he can eat “her” food. Horse psychology! I win! I think!

Wait until tomorrow. Who knows what I’ll do!

Everyone eats. That’s what counts.

(PS: I’m feeling better mentally and physically today, finally, and the owl said HOOT at both me and Lee.)

Woo hoo! Bird Excitement!

To me it was exciting, anyway. I finally heard, saw, and sorta photographed a Red-headed Woodpecker in Texas. I knew they were here, but they’d been eluding me all this time.

Yeah, only I could know that’s what’s in the photo. But Merlin identified it, and we all saw it flying between a live and dead tree. Tarrin sees them often. Now I have!

The dead tree, with a moody Black Vulture.

And as if that wasn’t enough, we saw Sandhill Cranes flying over on our way home. They must have been looking for a pond to land on. They are always a seasonal highlight.

Another bird highlight for me was getting to watch our local Belted Kingfisher do a big dive. It then politely sat on a limb in the back pond so I could practice using my new binoculars. Dang, they are good, even though smaller and lighter than my other ones.

At least you can tell this one is a Kingfisher.

Besides all the birding, it was a busy, busy work day followed by a busy horse lesson, where Apache made some progress. I was pretty tired from chasing my horses around, because though I’d successfully moved them from the front pasture but neglected to check if the gate behind the pens was closed. That was not fun, especially when Mabel tried to get in the trailer with Aragorn. I didn’t see that coming.

No photos of that action, so enjoy this morning’s sunrise. Huh. I took photos of both sunrise and sunset today!

Pride That’s Justified

What are you most proud of in your life?

I’m proud of two things in my life right now. One is my son, D. He struggled for a while in his 20s but is now doing work that’s meaningful and is an outlet for his artistic and spatial awareness talents. He did the repairs on his cabin after the severe wind event almost all by himself and it’s so rustic and cute.

And even though he’s my next-door neighbor now, he’s continuing his music career and learning so much about recording, too.

Old photo. He’s now drumming mostly. Public Instagram photo.

Hard work and determination got my boy to a good position in life! He even has a work truck and leads a crew.

Speaking of hard work and determination, the other thing I’m proud of is my relationship with Apache. The two of us have struggled and had so many ups and downs thanks to my insecurity, his nerves, and his health issues. But by gosh, we’ve gotten to where we’re reaching our potential.

We cleaned up well yesterday. I even had a waist.

I was feeling pretty down about horse stuff, mainly because Drew seems uncomfortable again and I just can’t get Apache to take his medication. But, I packed up and de-burred Apache, and off we went with Sara, Aragorn, and their New Zealand visitors.

Shiny, if a bit dusty, and smooth haired.

We ended up handling the show very well. In each of the three events, we did our best. Most important to me was that I wasn’t all nervous and remembered most of what I was supposed to do, even though I didn’t bend him well and there was some hind end issue I’ll have to ask Tarrin about.

After we finished the Trail portion of the show, where you go through obstacles, Tarrin left the judging booth and ran to me, yelling, “Sue Ann! Sue Ann!” I immediately thought I must have gotten disqualified or missed something. But no, she came to tell me I looked better than I ever had. That made me cry.

I nearly cried as I watched this woman and her horse competing in their Century: where the horse and riders’ ages combine to be 100. The beautiful mare is 23.

All in all it was a really pleasant and fun event. I don’t have any photos of me and Apache, but I can tell you he stepped up and did his best, even if he’s not been exercising much lately. I at least seem to have my stamina back, though I was totally zonked last night and went to bed at 9.

I got lots of pictures of Sara and Aragorn. He seemed out of sorts in Functionality but she kept her cool and managed him beautifully.

By the last event, Aragorn was back! He had the fastest overall time! Look at him kicking up dust.

All the competitors and their beautiful horses did great work. Everyone is improving and so supportive of each other. I learn so much watching the better riders.

I just want to show you how great the competitors looked. I was especially thrilled to see two other Paint horses and my favorite cute Appaloosa, who showed in hand.

I’m proud of all of us for trying to show. I’m so happy we found a supportive discipline with no negativity or mistreatment of horses.

How Are the Bur-heads?

I haven’t done a horse update in a while. That’s because not much has changed and I’ve been focusing on sick dogs. But today Jackie came to do bodywork for the first time in a while, so there’s a little more news.

I’m here, too. I enjoy taking food containers out in the pasture where Suna can’t find them. Fun!

All the horses have decorative cocklebur crowns these days. It only takes a few days to replace them, so I’ve given up on daily removal. It’s too hard on my hands and my gloves.

Why remove them? It’s a fashion statement.

Drew, as I’ve noted, is having some movement issues. Jackie determined that his back end is doing way better, so yay for that, but he’s still stiff, sore, and unhappy in his neck and shoulders, including the ribs. He let her know just how it feels, like he was doing with me earlier this year. She worked on him a lot and gave me suggestions for getting him to swing his front legs out and round his ribcage.

I’ll do that stuff and continue to work on extended walks on the ground and in the saddle. At least he still likes doing that, until he stomps his perfect little feet. By the way, I got his tail and back 3/4 of mane cleared up, but he was in no mood for forelock work after his adjustments.

Apache with invisible bur crown, last week.

I got no photos of Apache, because I was busy removing a bucket o’ burs this morning. He is the only horse that got completely bur free. I was happy with his body report. For a horse who eats no supplements and tries to spit out his daily medication, he’s doing well! His feet still look good, too. He’s been fun to work with and ride, as well. I think he will do ok at this weekend’s horse show. We need to get out there and just have fun doing our best.

Mabel is still great. She’s shiny, fit, and pretty darned sound. There’s only one crack in her white hoof! She let me get all the burs out of her tail, but only a few out of her mane. I’m just happy she’s happy and holding her own in the herd.

This is Mabel booking it to get away from my picking at her mane. At least she has one.

Dusty is still Dusty. So gentle, kind, and compliant. Well, unless you’re messing with his tail. His mane has no burs, but I only got a few out of his poor tail, which looks like it’s been braided with burs.

Dusty has been getting extra grain most days, because he is looking thin. But he eats well and is cheerful most of the time. I know his back hurts, even with supplements. But he still loves to hug and craves attention.

Goldie is improving. She’s tapering off pain medication and is getting around better. She can pick up the pace when she wants to, and now easily climbs the steps on the patio. She even managed to tell me her water dish was empty this evening, got me to take her out to drink, then stared at the water dish spot until Lee remembered it was in the dishwasher. Clever.

Goldie and dead house plant. I travel too much.

No one read my post yesterday about moths. Oh well. What I find fascinating isn’t always what the audience finds fascinating!

Sometimes It’s the Little Things

What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this prompt was that I’d love to canter on one of my horses, to see what it feels like and finally go sorta fast. That’s just a little thing, but I’ve not moved forward in my skills enough to do it on Drew and Apache hasn’t moved forward in his skills enough. The one time I tried I ended up on the ground. I’m trying not to let myself get discouraged and enjoy the journey. But I’m human.

And I’m just a horse who won’t take my meds.

Little things can be good, though. For example, at the end of the work day I’d gotten to a good stopping point, and was looking out over my laptop as I sat at my porch “desk.” Something moved suddenly.

It was this absolutely adorable jumping spider, Phidippus arizonensis. I watched as it explored my laptop then jumped onto my mouse and checked out all my stuff. It waved its first legs around as it explored, and moved its mouthparts like it was tasting the air.

Okay, I think it’s a male. It has bulbous pedipalps. Those are the things that stick out in front.

I can see why people have jumping spiders as pets, because this fellow was very entertaining and not at all concerned by my presence. I prefer them in the wild, but I do enjoy the bold jumping spider who lives in the mailbox.

One of many around here. Too bad you can’t see the cool green eyes.

I’d never seen an arizonensis before, so I looked it up. It’s definitely confined to this part of the world.

I had the best time watching this spider. That’s living for the moment. Mindfulness for the win.

I did not enjoy observing this one. A black horsefly.

Another little thing that made my day was just watching the dogs play. With all the medical issues in our canine community it’s easy to forget the happy, healthy ones. Carlton and Penney love it when I’m outside so they can run and play with an audience!

Time to get some rest and talk to my high school friends in Florida who are going through the hurricane. I do keep up!

Carlton is ahead of me in the sleep department. He’s already dreaming.

A Good Day!

See, I knew things would turn around if I was patient. Today was a normal day with plusses and minuses, but the positive things have helped me feel on a more even keel. When I’m more centered, challenges are easier to handle. You betcha.

First off, I needed to go check on Apache’s eye. Of course the horses were as far across the pasture as they could get, but that got me more exercise. Win! (Also hooray that I finally have energy after the Covid slump.)

Of course we’re far away. It’s where the burs are.

I was happy to see the eye looking so much better. Drew was happy that I set the fly mask down so he could mess with it while I wiped Apache’s eye. That boy is so full of mischief and fun.

It was a good start to the day to hug all the horse buddies, Then I listened to birds, as usual. And worked. (Why am I telling you my whole day? To show it was so much better.)

Dusty is a good listener. He’d read about my whole day if he could.

Then came a miracle! Someone finally came to fix the Direct TV antenna/dish thing! He was nice, competent, and fun. Lee even liked him. This came just in time, since I was totally out of bandwidth on my satellite internet, which kills streaming.

I have to be able to watch my precious football. It’s my not-so-secret vice.

The “fun” continued and I made vet phone calls. We’re working with Dr Brinlee on adjusting Apache’s medication. It is on the right track. And I called Goldie’s vet to straighten out the bill, which I did with no yelling. Hooray again.

Look at my long leg! It’s getting strong.

Lunch was a nice break after phone calls. I’m the head phone caller in the house and I sure am weary of it these days. Anyway, friends and taco salad were a great respite.

Back at home I enjoyed a welcome sight. I went out to the front porch and all the dogs came out with me. Yes, even Goldie. She’s getting the hang of smooth upward and downward transitions. She needs a lot of petting, but she is healing well physically.

She even went out and watched as Seneca the motorhome got worked on. It’s heartwarming to see her hanging out with her best buddy.

More on Seneca tomorrow. We get to go camping again this weekend! All animal medications are under control, we think. Things should be fine.

Ooh! Final good thing. I looked on the Viasat page where I’d had to buy more high-speed data, and lo and behold, there was now an unlimited plan I could use. It’s only $20/month more. I snapped that up immediately and now I can get my work done. It was painfully slow this morning. I’m sure glad I checked to see if I had options. I feel a little less clueless about all these modern necessities at the moment, with the phones, the television, and the internet connectivity all fixed. I did it all myself!

Ooh. My best AI picture yet. It’s internet connectivity!

Next: jury duty, vaccinations, and getting the car serviced. It’s always something.

Pay Attention, Suna!

In my frazzled state of late, I’m not only being clumsy and forgetful, I’m not noticing things. That’s not at all helpful. And my powers of investigation aren’t their strongest.

For example, this morning I got up and couldn’t find Goldie. Oh no! Something happened to her! Oh, maybe she’s outside. No. Not in my office. Hmm. It took me ten minutes to figure out that she was in the other bedroom. Duh.

Take a flower break. These Mexican petunias look like they should be a painting, not a plant living in the middle of the driveway!

I got through a hectic and confusing work day fairly well, though our team meeting was moved to the afternoon and ran long, making me unable to groom the horses. I rushed out and easily got Droodles.

I’m a good boy, but I don’t pay attention either. I sorta missed the goal of standing beside the mounting block and just plowed over it. I’m so cute.

Apache was another story. It’s as if he knew we were running late. He ran and ran, galloping hither and yon, but eventually went into a pen. That was very strange. I hurriedly put on his halter and marched him into the trailer. Drew followed nicely. He was an a good mood from eating good grass.

We got to Tarrin’s and quickly tied the horses to the trailer. I saddled Apache on his left side (this matters) then we walked to the lesson area. I began lunging him over the little hill. When I turned him to go the other way, Tarrin stopped me. Look at his eye!

Well shoot. Neither of us had looked closely at this right side. His eye was full of goop and all swollen. I could have paid a bit more attention when I was rushing to get to lessons. Tarrin hadn’t noticed when taking him out of the trailer for me either. We felt bad. But we are both barely coping. Give us a break!

So, Tarrin ran and got a wet cloth and a shot of Banamine to reduce the swelling. None of that went over very well with Apache, but it did give me time to remove his burs. Tarrin said I should ride him some to get the meds in his system. I said that was fine and put my helmet on.

Sigh. I put it on backwards. That at least gave us a laugh and a funny photo. And Apache did very well. He even side passed vaguely correctly. Good boy. And me.

Believe it or not, this is a huge improvement.

Drew’s lesson was pretty good once he lined up right so I could mount him. I did a good job dealing with some reluctance on his part to hold himself straight, too. I was proud of us both.

Back at the trailer we decided Apache should wear a fly mask to go home, to protect his eye. This began an adventure as none of Tarrin’s spare ones fit Apache’s rather bulky head (hard to believe he’s part Arabian).

I liked this one best because it made him look like Batman’s horse.

We all laughed through this, especially at how curious Drew was about the mysterious headgear.

He kept breathing down Tarrin’s neck as she was trying to fit the masks. Once she left, Apache told him to get back.

We did make it home safely. But I wasn’t finished being inattentive. You see it was dusk by the time I was heading to the house. I went over to shut the henhouse door. Then I looked in on the chickens. I saw this.

Oh look, Cindy and Cathy are roosting! They found the branch I put in there.

But, someone was missing. Where was Bianca?

Turn the light off! I’m trying to sleep!

Well look at that! She was in the coop! She does remember how to get in! See, I’d never checked them this late before. I feel a bit better about how they are settling in. I just needed to pay attention.

I paid attention to my birthday flowers and they’ve made it to October! It’s a first for me. This ranch is hard on decorative plants.

Tomorrow is another day. Hope Apache is better. Otherwise, off to the dang vet.

Yep. Time Passed.

Or we passed time. You can view time as going by while you stay still, or you can view yourself moving along through it. it’s all fine, because no one understands time.

Quiz time. Can you find four butterflies? The big one is a variegated fritillary.

Today was hard on Goldie. She mostly didn’t move, which is good for healing. But she’s in a hard part of her recovery. Mostly she stayed in her crate other than a little time in the sun. She is eating, though! That’s good.

Harvey seems to be having trouble with his front legs and maybe his vision. He still seems in good spirits and eats well.

Apache will not touch his food, even solid sweet feed (bad for him). However, when I opened his own, he marched over and finished Fiona’s food, which is probiotics and some rice-based stuff. Tomorrow I’ll try putting a random food dish out nowhere near where he gets medicine and see if he eats that. I’m also trying to medicate him in the morning if I catch him.

Leopard frog. Not sure why it wasn’t closer to the pond.

Tomorrow I have to go to the dentist so I will work at the office when I am done. Maybe I can have Dell cafeteria food! It will be a long day.

Could I be more dull? Every day it’s a sick animal report. Tomorrow is a new day!

Overwhelmed

That’s today’s word: overwhelmed. That’s what happens when too many intense events happen at once. I think I was holding myself together to get through Goldie’s surgery, then it all got to me today. I felt all oogey in my brain.

Naturally, or coincidentally perhaps, more little things kept piling up. I couldn’t sit outside to work, because my laptop screen has stopped working. And changes, questions, and challenges started piling up so I was stuck at my desk, where my chair has decided it won’t stay up. Just little things. But, ugh.

Maybe I need new ones. Photo from Pexels.

I did get a few minutes to sit with Lee as we supervised Goldie laying in the sun. We managed to keep her from running anywhere. And later, when I finished all my tasks, including training in my new department, I got to just sit with Goldie and keep her calm and happy.

Meanwhile, Harvey is having more trouble. His eye now looks like it’s messed up. I hope he hasn’t abraded his eye like Scrunchy the pug used to. And his balance is work. Two sickly dogs can be overwhelming, but I just loved on them a lot.

Plus I was concerned about Apache, who has stopped eating his dinner. He just stares at the wall. And I was worried about his feet, because he hasn’t been running like the others when they come up for food. (Mabel, on the other hand, now runs like the racehorse she may have once been.)

So. It wasn’t Tarrin’s best day either. She also has a dog who had cancerous growths removed, then surgery on her intestines that had gotten messed up by medication. Eek. We are monitoring Goldie for that.

Ekho is recovering well and enjoying her favorite rolling in the grass activity. She’s hiding her bandaged foot.

Then this morning, Tarrin found her beautiful stallion had died overnight with no signs of struggle. That was overwhelming. Just awful. Sudden losses are so unexpected; you sorta go into shock.

So, since we both felt like crap, I skipped my lessons. Horses can tell when you aren’t at your best. However, Lee was nice enough to bring Apache over to Tarrin’s so we could talk about his food, medication, and feet. Secretly I also went so I could support her like she’s been supporting me with all the dog stuff.

It was very helpful to have a friend to talk to about how I was feeling, and it also felt good to be an empathetic listener. No doubt we will both be fine later, but today we were both sad.

Apache was probably wondering why he wasn’t being saddled and ridden, but he didn’t complain about just getting a trim. His soles are shedding, so Tarrin trimmed them and put his boots on.

Wearing his boots and making his sleepy face.

She helped me come up with a feeding plan and decided we need to switch his medication. He has too many side effects still, after a year. He should not be ignoring food and standing like a zombie. The powder medicine should be more palatable and have fewer side effects. Plus it costs less!

His plan is to convince me to take him out for grass that needs trimming every day.

Now I just have to try to return the 6-month supply of Prascend that just arrived. I sure hope I can. It’s expensive. But I’m glad to have a plan for Apache! He’s doing so well in training that I want him as happy as possible.

Long story, sorry about that. But I feel better thanks to good friends (online and in person) who care. I even got surprise presents from Kathleen, who did a stealth visit, meal, and present drop-off all while we were off with Apache.

Better times are coming! Or, I’ll be back to coping well with challenging times!

Animals: Always a Challenge

Lots of animal news today. They keep me on my toes!

Goldie

Lee and I were up early to get Goldie to the specialty veterinarian by 9. She was so damned good. It’s just a shame she had to have her life shortened by bone cancer.

However, the staff at the vet were great and quite encouraging. They see a lot more of this stuff than we do. The oncologist explained the options to us and stressed that since Goldie is basically healthy other than the tumor, is young, and is at a good weight, she is an excellent candidate for amputation. Another good factor is that she is already mostly walking on three legs.

Here Goldie is enthralled by the oncologist discussing her treatment plan.

Our hopes are that this procedure ($$$) will buy her many months of pain-free life. She can’t get worked on until Wednesday, so in the meantime we have good pain medicine that will also keep her calmer and less likely to try to run.

She is worth it to us. We might decide differently with a different dog in different circumstances.

She already leans more on her right side.

So, later today, I braved the heat to go work with the horses. I fed them and all seemed well until I realized Apache hadn’t come over to eat. I went up to him and saw he was covered in sweat and breathing really hard. If he were a dog, he’d have been panting. I got worried that he had colic or was overheated.

So I brought him over to the tack room and hosed him off. As soon as I started hosing, he started chowing down on the long grass the lawn mower misses. When I called Tarrin to make sure I was doing the right thing, she said he wouldn’t be eating like crazy if he were colicking. I dread having a horse colic (intestinal issues).

At least I dodged another pet sickness. I hosed him down a second time after he ate for a while, and he happily walked off to graze.

The Chickens

Finally, good news. Since I got Cindy and Cathy Cochin they’ve been sort of huddling together looking scared. They had not figured out that they could go into the coop. I soon noticed they weren’t alone, though. Bianca was spending a lot of time hanging out on the other side of the pen from them.

That was perfect! This let them get to know each other without any chicken fights. Now I just had to get Bianca in the chicken run with the Cochins. And I did!

Today I fed the hens late, since I was out with Goldie all morning. I noticed that Bianca was in the jungle half of the run, where it’s shady. She realized I’d filled the water trough for the other hens and ran out to stand next to the door. She wanted some. I seized the moment while the black hens were keeping as far from me as possible and opened the door. It only took a little chicken wrangling to get Bianca to go in there and start pecking away at the food. Soon they were all eating together. Yay.

My hope is that Bianca will show Cathy and Cindy how to get into the roosting area. They will be happier sleeping there and laying eggs in the boxes.

So, I’m at least doing okay with some animals!