Kathe OT-Horses

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathe,

Sorry to hear about Shekar. Colic is SO scary. Oliver has colicked

mildly a few times through the years. Each time it has just been a

mild gas colic, and a little Banamine has put him right. But having

been involved with several horses that ended up with surgical colics,

I have my heart in my throat every time it happens. Fortunately, my

vet is also one of my best friends, and she's almost as attached to

Oliver as I am. So I don't have to worry about calling here even if

I'm a LITTLE worried about him... she's out here in a heart beat.

It's REALLY cold here right now... 0 this morning. I don't even have

to feel like a wimp today... the trainer at the barn rescheduled all

her lessons for today, and I don't think many people are riding.

I've been riding when it's 25 or above, but when it gets down into

the teens, even with the indoor to keep the wind off, (and it does

keep some heat in... the footing rarely freezes) I'm just too

creaky. It does help a LOT that the grooming area is heated, so

you're warm going into the indoor, and if you can get moving right

away, you can stay warm enough unless it's really bitter.

Oliver is clipped, so I don't think he'll get turned out today, even

though he's wearing 3 blankets at the moment. I asked them to free-

lunge him in the indoor, though, so at least he can blow off some

steam. (he likes that... he goes around jumping the fences by

himself<g>)

I haven't ridden Dillon in more than a month now, but he's got so

much coat he looks like a teddy bear,(I'm not looking forward to

shedding HIM out either!<g>) and seems perfectly content to hang out

with his old friends. There is a woman who takes him for walk-trail

rides a couple of times a week too, so he's not COMPLETELY idle.

Even with the cold weather we're having this week, we STILL haven't

had any snow to speak of. We had about half an inch earlier this

week... not even enough to cover the grass, and it's all gone again.

It's kind of spooky. I can't decide whether it's just all going to

dump on us late in the season, or whether we're really going to have

the first snow-less winter ever! At least with it cold now, the ski

areas are able to make snow. All the resort areas were in real

crisis mode in December and early January. It wasn't even dipping

below freezing over night.

Sorry to hear that both your RA and Fibro are still giving you

trouble. I'm _definitely_ better than I was last year, or even 6

months ago. The Humira clearly works better than anything else so

far. Most days I can do what I need to do now, and there have only

been a very few days that I haven't been able to make myself ride. I

have to say, that most of the time I don't feel any worse whether I

ride or not, so I don't think it's doing me any harm.

Some of the days I don't ride are the days when my fingers get this

very unstable feeling. I don't know how to describe it better... do

you know what I mean? It feels like any sideways pressure on them

makes them bend. I really worry about damaging the tendons when they

are like that. The other days that I just can't are when my hips are

bad. Then I just couldn't even get on.<g>

I had a pretty bad flare that lasted over a week, about 2 weeks ago,

but I'm feeling better now. I just happened to have an appointment

with the rheumatologist while I was flaring, and he didn't want me to

decrease my prednisone any more at that point, but told me to drop it

down again after I was feeling better. Now that I feel better, I'm

afraid to drop it down and end up flaring like that again. I DO want

to get off the prednisone, but I find that when I'm in a flare like

that, nit's not just the pain, but the fatigue, and I end up feeling

so DEPRESSED. I keep telling myself that it will get better again

and I just have to wait it out, but it's miserable all the way

around. But I guess I need to get it over with. I know I'll feel

crummy for the first week or so after I lower the dose again, so I

might as well bite the bullet and do it while it's too cold to want

to ride anyway!<g>

Your puppy sounds adorable, even if he's a handful. What a lucky

little guy that you and your husband were willing to take him in.

It's always so rewarding to be able to turn an animal's life around,

but sometimes it can take a lot of patience to get past previous bad

experiences. I know he's in good hands!

Well, now it's time for ME to get going. I have a painter coming

today to fix up all the trim after we had windows replaced in the

fall. I have to make sure we have all the right paint out for her to

work with!