Update on Krissy

Krissy is currently an inpatient at the Equine Hospital about an hour from us. We took her Friday afternoon as the swelling had returned after having 5 days of Dex, eye flushings, and triple antibiotic ointment put in them.

When the Vet examined her on Friday he was checking her eye sockets and was finding little yellow granules way up deep in there. So then they did the stain test on both eyes and both eyes held quite a bit of stain, meaning she has abrasions on both cornea's, which then means she can't have anymore Dex as the steroid won't allow her eyes to heal as quickly as they needed to. So they could not decide still if this was an allergy induced thing or if it is indeed parasites in her eyes.

The decision was made to leave her there as she needed to stay in a fly-free, dust-free environment in order to protect her eyes and hopefully heal. So Saturday afternoon the Hubby talked with the vet and he said that both cornea's were looking better but now the bottom lid was swelling on her right eye...UGHH!!! Also during one of her checks on Saturday morning they found what appears to be little bite marks on the inside of her eyelids. So they are now thinking that it is a parasite in her eyes. SO she was to stay there and continue sterile eye flushes and watching and we should hear more Monday afternoon...

The Down-Side of Our Trip to see Fallon

Yesterday I posted about our trip down to Gainsville to Dynasty Equine for DD to get some riding time with Fallon Taylor to iron out her barrel problems! The time there was awesome! We had such a blast watching DD do these things that came so natural after Fallon explained them to her. Nothing like having a Pro Barrel Racer teach your kid!

So we dropped Krissy off at Dynasty Equine late Wednesday night and had DD's lesson on Thursday afternoon. When we got there Thursday Krissy was doing great, she did have a little bit of drainage in her eyes but I kind of felt like it was *normal* for her as she is a pretty sensitive horse. We took our own hay and feed for her but in the stalls they have trofts to hold the hay and in that troft under the hay we put in was remnants of Alfalfa hay, and not just a little....but a LOT! My thought process on this was she came from this ranch so I felt like she should do fine even with the different hay in the bottom of that troft.

So Friday we did not make it back to Dynasty as we spent the whole day at Six Flags with the family (that was the vacation part of our trip LOL)...We were originally scheduled to leave for home on Saturday but our family in TX wanted us to stay and barbecue/swim Saturday night. So the Hubby and I decided that would be great and made arrangements for Krissy to stay another night at Dynasty. DD was already scheduled to ride with Fallon or Haley on Saturday but the original plan was to have her ride one of their horses so we didn't get Krissy all worked and then drive for 6-7 hours. But since we were not leaving that day I decided she could just ride her so when we arrived at Dynasty on Saturday I went to get Krissy out of her stall as DD and the Hubby unloaded her saddle etc.

I walked into the stall and Krissy had her head hanging down so I leaned down to put her halter on and when she turned her head to me I nearly fainted at what I saw! Her eyes were SO swollen she could barely see! They were nearly swelled shut! So I halter her quickly and then *thank God* that she trusts me enough to lead her blind! I take her out and the girls and I are looking at her and basically decided she's had an allergic reaction to the Alfalfa. Fallon also mentioned that it was possible that fly's had gotten up under her eyelids and deposited eggs but either way they needed to be flushed.

Saturday after 2 flushings






So the Hubby and I flushed her eyes for about 45 minutes each 3 different times while DD was off filming video's with Fallon. I was disappointed since I couldn't watch cause she apparently had a full force run on Postman, Fallon's horse! They said it was AWESOME! So anyhoo, we then went and bought benadryl for Krissy as we didn't have any Dex or access too any. The benadryl did seem to calm her for a brief time while we flushed for the 3rd time but I didn't have much faith that it would help her issue.

Saturday



So Sunday morning we rose bright and early to get there and get Krissy away from whatever was bothering her. When we got there Sunday they were actually worse! I didn't think it was possible but yep it was...Literally they were swollen shut! She looked like she had a few golf balls stuffed under her top eyelids! So we flushed again and gave more benadryl and started our trek back home. Once we were on the road I called one of our Equine specialists and told him what was going on and he said he felt like I was describing a severe allergic reaction and she would definitely need a heavy dose of Dex but if I didn't want to travel that extra hour from home to take her there she would probably be fine to wait until my regular vet was back to work Monday morning (they weren't taking emergency calls as they were on vacation for the weekend). I told him that I would check her when we were a couple of hours from home and then decide. When we finally stopped to check on her the Hubby and I decided that we weren't taking any chances and wanted her seen as soon as we could get there. We were feeling SO very bad for her as she was obviously miserable and we were afraid she would injure her face or eyes trying to scratch as she had already scraped her face scratching a few times.

Getting a good flushing Sunday morning







I called the Dr and he met us there. His response when he saw her was "Holy COW I have never seen a horse with their top eyelids SO swollen"!! He said he was very glad we decided to bring her in because he too was afraid she was going to scratch her cornea or injure herself with it like this. So he aced her first then flushed her eyes out with saline, flushed her tear ducts, checked her cornea's for any scratches with those green dye strips, put triple antibiotic ointment in her eye, and gave her a good dose of Dex!





We talked about her sensitivity to these things and he sold me a bottle of Dex to have on hand for this type of thing in the future. He said had we been able to Dex her Thursday when the drainage started it wouldn't have gotten this bad. My instructions were to flush with saline and put the ointment in her eyes 2 x daily for a few days and give her 5 cc's of Dex Monday for sure and Tuesday if needed.









Monday was a bit eventful since the Hubby was out of town and I had to do all of that by myself...Not so easy to squirt saline into a horses eye while trying to keep her head down, not to mention trying to put the ointment in....Then for her Dex she wasn't really thrilled about the needle going in, which was a bit strange for her because she doesn't typically throw fits, but she kind of did that day! However I probably would have to if I felt as badly as she did!

So Tuesday she was looking much better and the Hubby was home again so doing the routine was a breeze with his help! We got her all fixed up and expect her to look great in the morning!

Horsey Butts?!?!

Here in our neck of the woods we are working on staying afloat! Mild temperatures and lots of rain have taken over our last few weeks. I always love Spring for the showers it brings!! However I think my horsey's might just be getting tired of it...

Shortly before one of our storms last week I was on the hunt to find my 3 young mischief's...Had myself a little heart failure when I realized they weren't out in the pasture anywhere!



Lo and behold they had crammed themselves into the small side of the barn they have! I promise this really only houses 1 full sized horse comfortably!!



I hollered at them and Bubba pops out like *who me*?!






Here was the start of some rotating clouds over our place!

Bye, Bye to My Black Beauty

The final sale in the purge of our herd will mark number 8...Ebony is a mare that I bought in 2007 and was in foal to my 2 yr old filly Ellie that we sadly sold a couple of weeks ago... Ebony was originally purchased with intention of her being DD's horse but being in foal D obviously didn't ride her for very long then she was off after she had Ellie so by the time she was ready to be ridden D had such a strong bond with Pete that her and Ebony just didn't click!




Ebony is a very particular horse, she is picky about everything in her life! What I have found with her is you either hate her or you love her and vice versa, she either hates you or she loves you! When we sent her to a friends for her tune up last summer they fell in love with her and she was a perfect angel while she was there! After we took her home she did great for a little while but she is a horse that requires being ridden every day!! But with my back and 14 horses we hardly had the time to devote to her. When we purchased Krissy a few weeks ago it was part of our plan to sell Ebony along with the others, but her sale was going to be a bit more difficult as we were asking more for her and she also requires a more experienced rider who has time everyday to devote to her.





So last week the Q's came out and had every intention of focusing on Ebony as they had been checking her out on my website. We had taken her back to our friends as he was riding her everyday and we were pondering the idea of a possible trade out with him for Ebony because he and his daughter LOVE her!! So we showed up with Pete and the minute I got out of the truck I could see her in the stall about to come unglued! She was pacing in circles whinnying like crazy! But we took Pete and Krissy into the arena and left her till the Q's got there and when we went to bring her in she was SOAKED!! I thought it had been down-pouring outside by the looks of her! But no, no rain...It was sweat! She had herself all worked up! So we got her saddled and rode and she was doing good, so buyer Q decided he wanted to try and ride her and instantly she froze...Wouldn't move, being absolutely stubborn! I could not believe her!! Our friend was talking to Q and coaching him through what to do to get her to go and everytime it worked but he had to work at it for a minute...I was SO annoyed with her behavior, this is why we don't get along! I don't want to deal with a horse that is this finicky!! So Mike (the trainer) gets on her and gives her a good attitude check and of course she rides out perfectly smooth! Buyer Q gets back on her and dead-lock! So obviously they then rode Pete and realized he was the polar opposite of Ebony and then decided Pete was the horse for them!





After the Q's left we were chatting with Mike and he said he could not believe how Ebony was acting he had never seen that out of her and I told him well that's how she is at home! Very stubborn and an out right chore to ride! He said he felt it from the moment we pulled Pete out of the trailer that she was being buddy sour, it was funny for him to say this because I have never thought Ebony to be "barn sour" but yep buddy sour she was!! So Mike finally got to witness the side of her that we've been explaining LOL!







The next day we had a gal and her husband come out to ride Ebony and this lady too loved the way she looked, she has a 3 yr old gelding that she's been riding and I guess he's not what she's wanting hence her horse shopping. So she got on Ebony and there was a slight moment of hesitation on Ebony's part then she rode out perfectly fine! This lady rode her for about 1/2 an hour and never had another issue with her at all! Of course Pete was not there...So she came back again the next day and rode her some more and decided YEP that's the horse she wanted! So Ebony will be going to her new home soon! She is still at our friend's while the new owner gets her other horse sold as she boards and it's outrageous to pay for more than 1 at a stable.

They LOVE Each Other....Krissy and DD!!

Krissy is just an amazing horse....After having her that first week and having the "hives" issues I was a bit worried! She took her 3 days of meds and seems to be recovering just fine. She still has some bumps on her skin but I wonder if it is from the hives or maybe some mosquito's have paid her a visit?! Have I mentioned yet how SOFT Krissy is?! I totally thought when we bought her that they had lubed her up with some secret potion to make her that way but I have figured out that nope she's just a softy! And I love it!! She's like petting a velvet blanket LOL!










DD has been working with her and they are doing GREAT!! I cannot express enough how happy I am with this horse! DD is loving the fact that Krissy is smaller framed because that helps her knees LOL, she has always had a problem with getting sores on the insides of her knees from riding but she hasn't had that problem with Krissy. She just beams from ear to ear when she talks about that! Funny the things that make a kid happy!







We are currently spending some time getting DD's riding techniques back in check. All of this dramatic stuff she went through over the Winter has taken it's toll on certain things she does while riding. Like the placement of her feet, she had gotten so used to losing her stirrups that she would tuck her feet back to hold herself on and she carries that into when her feet do stay in the stirrups! She has been doing really good with that and a few other "technical" issues. So obviously she has worked the barrel pattern with Krissy but only 3-4 times each time she rides. She will walk her the first couple of times and trot 1 or 2 times around the pattern. The only thing we haven't let her do is a full blown out run on her, I am thinking that will only happen after I feel like her technique is back...










All in all I think we could not have asked for a better horse for DD, she is so pleased with her and so are we. Krissy is definitely the type of horse that before she is saddled she doesn't really want to much "attention" but after she is saddled she acts like a little lady so that is fine with me. Of course after she is done riding she likes to be loved on! I am so thrilled for their future together and cannot wait to see what this mare can do!

Pete is Officially NOT Ours Anymore....

Tuesday was the day for taking Pete in to get vet checked by the "prospective new owners", we arrived at the clinic with Pete and first he got his physical exam which the vet said he passed with flying colors!! He tested his range of flexibility in his legs and it was very good for a horse of his age, his hooves are in great condition he was glad to see that Pete was bare and does really well natural. He said his only issue with his hooves were that the sole was slightly on the thin side but pretty much right on with his 16 years of age. Upon checking his teeth he said they too were in good shape but said that his very back teeth were starting to form a point (which we knew but our Vet didn't see it necessary to float his teeth at the time we had them checked) so the Vet told them that he could float them and just nip it in the bud from the start which they opted to do. They went ahead and had a Coggins pulled on him, and gave him all of his shots that he would have been due for in May.
















I was so proud of Pete today! Not that I was a bit surprised but he literally stood perfectly still and never balked at anything the Vet was doing! He even told the new owners that he seen NO need to sedate him to float his teeth, and he just grabbed him and filed away LOL!! Now Pete did raise his head up during this but he does tend to do that anytime you grab his mouth. The new owners talked to the Hubby about us keeping Pete for another week or two while they fix their fence. They live on 27 acres and have a creek running through and when it rains the creek swells which then causes issues with his fencing so he had taken a portion of it down to try and secure it better around the creek and is currently working on that. So they paid for Pete in full and we will keep him for a short time, which the Hubby was actually happy about because he wasn't quite ready to say bye to Pete yet.












As I stood at the Vet's office I just had this super sad feeling about Pete. It is so sad to me that here is this horse who I couldn't ask for better manners from but yet we are selling him! I know in my mind that we made the right choice as Pete is ready for a peaceful trail life and we can't give that to him... I do hope and pray that the Hubby will find another horse that he can love as much and can handle being given a job when necessary... One thing that I am absolutely sure of is Pete couldn't be going to a better place. As sweet LeAnna said God does care about the "little" things! She is SO right because I knew in my heart that Pete needed something better for him and I wondered if we would find that. So thank you God for sending the Q's to us!

The Hubby giving his boy some love....



I just love these soft eyes ;)



Thank you to all of you for your kind words through these trials with Pete and all of the wonderful advice and support!