The day started out busy, as usual, despite being a Sunday, too much work to do! After our usual Sunday blueberry pancake breakfast, I washed the small horse trailer, which SO needed it, while Hubby rode around mowing the yard. That took us both a couple of hours. After that we had a small lunch, then I saddled up Flash. Since we’re not doing dialysis today, I wanted to take Flash out for several hours, ideally on some trails, and my neighbor had cut about a mile or so through their property and had graciously agreed to let me take Flash out there to see what he would do on a trail. We headed out the driveway and down the road, and this time, he had very little problem with the yellow and black signs, but shortly after that, he started to get real antsy about something. He didn’t want to walk on the road, and kept backing up into the grass along the edge. It’s almost like yesterday he was so overwhelmed he became a robot under my guidance, and today, he was just relaxed enough to start seeing all the LITTLE things that were out to get him! It took a lot to get him to listen today, but eventually we carried on after some patient schooling. We arrived at my neighbors (just under two miles away) and headed out onto their trails. They had essentially bush-hogged a trail around their perimeter, plus added a few spokes in the circle to get back to the house. Flash got overwhelmed again pretty quickly. Seriously, this horse doesn’t know how to pass a tree without nearly panicking! Such a trail novice! Anyway, we carried on, and he was walking very fast, and gaiting whenever he could get away with it, and we went up and down grades and through the woods with his head up, his ears pricked and his eyes wide open, just waiting to be gobbled up by some horse-eating thing he was sure was around every corner! We arrived at a nice stop by a lake, but I couldn’t get him to stand still no matter what I did. We finally moved on, down a hill to a small area that was a little boggy, and he acted like he’d never been in mud at all before (maybe he hasn’t!), but we managed to get through that okay. Every time we got close to the house I would turn him around and look for another trail, just to keep up the pressure a bit. After more than an hour, he had worked up such a sweat I figured it was time to give him a rest. We stopped to talk with the neighbor for a few minutes, and when he started prancing again, I just made him go in a small circle 4 or 5 times, then when I let him off, he FINALLY agreed to stand still for a few minutes! Progress! The ride home was much more sedate, he actually put his head down and I was able to give him a loose rein for more than half the trip home, a great improvement over yesterday, thank goodness. It was a great ride, but it took a lot of energy on both our parts. I was pretty tired by the time we got home! I rinsed Flash off, and of course, the first thing he did afterward was roll in the dirt. Silly horses! Anyway, fed them, fed Lola, fed Hubby, and watched a little TV before going to bed. Another early morning tomorrow!
Archives for May 2018
Saturday, May 12, 2018 – Road Ride with Flash
Got up early and managed to get the LQ horse trailer and my truck washed before I finally got Hubby out of bed. He suffered a bit from low blood pressure today, with a few dizzy spells, though he woke up feeling a lot better, Obviously, his arm still hurts from the surgery, and he’s taken a couple of oxycodone, but he doesn’t like the way it reacts with him, so he switched over to acetaminophen last night and this morning. Spent some time trying out various aluminum polishes to see what would work on the trailer, and nothing really completely made the streaks of oxidation go away, so I have to keep looking. He didn’t feel well enough to do much, so we started his dialysis just after 1:00, so we were done at a reasonable hour. I hadn’t work with Flash this morning, but I had made some bread that I wanted to take down to my neighbor who gave me eggs, and decided to ride Flash there. It was a bit of a risk to take him on the road after only one short ride in the round pen, but I decided it was worth the risk. After all, I have to make him bombproof for Hubby as soon as possible! I got him saddled up and headed up the driveway. He was a bit antsy, with his head and ears way up, but behaving himself for the most part. After going through the gate and heading down the road, I got about 100 yards when he decided there was something out there that was going to eat him, probably the orange and black sign that indicated a culvert, and refused to go any further. I spent about 20-25 minutes zigzagging him up and down the road in an effort to get him over it, and FINALLY he did. He was actually trembling in fear! It’s obvious to me that this horse has never been ridden outside of an arena or a pasture, he is so unaccustomed to ANYTHING outside of that, poor thing! We rode the rest of our way to my neighbors, about 1 ½ miles away, without incident, other than the occasional excitement when he saw a downed log by the side of the road, which he practically went off the opposite sides of the road to get away from. I tied him up when we got there, and he pranced around pretty much all the time while I chatted with my neighbors, who graciously admired him. Once we got caught up on all the neighborhood gossip, I remounted and headed back home. About halfway back, Flash’s head FINALLY relaxed, and I was able to give him a nice loose rein for most of the rest of the way home. Mission accomplished! Flash learned several lessons today, and I can’t wait to move on to the next lesson or two! Got back at dusk, got everyone settled in for the night, fixed dinner and had a relaxing evening, satisfied with a very good and productive day!
Thursday, May 10, 2018 – Surgery Day
For those of you who have been following our adventures in dialysis, Hubby was originally set up with an arm graft back in December (a sort of internal tube that I had to stick sharp needles in in order to dialyze him), but that clogged up, not once but twice. After the second time, the doctors said they needed to try something else, but in the interim, they had implanted him with a catheter that was essentially a port out of a vein in his lower neck. We’ve been using that since just before we left on our horse expo trip last month. Today we went in to get the surgery he needed for a new arm port. After careful analysis, the surgeon managed to install an actual fistula, which is the preferred way for most hemo-dialysis because it closes it off enough for Hubby to be able to take showers and use the hot tub, and once it’s seasoned and finished off in about 6-8 weeks, I’ll only need to stick one place with two dull needles to get access. If the fistula hadn’t worked, they would have had to put in another arm graft like the first one, and I’d be back to sticking with sharp needles. The only problem is that they had to do it in his left arm, which is the opposite side of the chair from where the machine is (both at home and in the trailer), but not so far that we can’t work with it. We’ll just have to figure out a way to manage it, like always! The day actually started out at the acupuncturist, where Hubby got another treatment (which made his back feel much improved!) before we headed up to Vanderbilt for the surgery. They didn’t call him into surgery until almost 1:30, even though they wanted us there at 11:30, so we were sitting around wasting a lot of time. We had Lola with us, though, and she’s always good for entertaining the other guests in the waiting room, which helped pass the time. Eventually, he got squared away in pre-op, and once they whisked him away to surgery, I headed out to do some shopping. I took a long drive down to Franklin to look for new tack for Flash, because when I tried to fit him in one of our old bridles, the whole thing, including the snaffle bit, just looked too darn large. I bought a smaller bit and another headstall just to be on the safe side, but I noticed there wasn’t really a variety of sizes like I thought there would be, that, in fact, they were hugely adjustable, so I decided I needed to take a closer look at Hubby’s OLD bridle, which I hadn’t really looked at in years. (That’s what happens when you only have the same two horses 🙂 Another stop at Walmart, where I got the call that Hubby’s surgery went fine, that a fistula was indeed the way they went, and he would be ready to go pretty soon, so I finished up and headed back to the hospital to pick him up. Of course, he was starving hungry since he hadn’t eaten since last night, so we ran through the drive thru at Wendys for a burger, fries and Frosty, headed home with just one stop to pick up a package and some fresh eggs from our chicken-growing neighbor, finally arriving at our doorstep at nearly 10:00. A LONG day! Wound up, though, so bedtime still isn’t imminent, but it won’t be long!
Wednesday, May 9, 2018 – Another Productive Day
Started out the day again with working with Flash after breakfast. He is coming along VERY well, I’m sure he has done a lot more in his past than decorate a pasture, and it’s all coming back to him now! Afterward, we worked on the horse trailer again. Hubby was determined to finish off painting the wheels and had run down to the local hardware store yesterday for some silver paint for that job, as well as giving the tires a nice thick coat of tire black. I was equally determined to get out half of the dining room set to make room for one of our small recliners so that Hubby will have someplace comfortable to sit when he gets his dialysis on the road. It took a bit, as some of the screws were pretty rusty, but I managed to accomplish the task, and even managed to get the recliner in as well! A very productive day!
Tuesday, May 8, 2018 – Same Routine, But Flash is Coming Along!
Back to the regular schedule, folks, same time, same channel. I worked with Flash this morning, he really is a smart horse, just very underutilized! I fitted him with the smallest bridle we had, but it’s still way too big, so I guess we’re going to have to buy him a new one. I put in a snaffle bit, which took a minute or mild persuasion, hoping that will be enough for him, and he chewed it constantly. I’d rather not use a curb unless we have to, but I imagine that’s what they used for him before, that seems typical for the Pasoes, but I really have no idea. I’m hoping to get him fully saddled and bridled by the weekend. His ground manner have improved greatly, but he is still easily distracted, not focusing well enough on me, but I think we’ll get there in due time. It was the same with Clio and Apollo when we first got them, they needed a lot of work, especially in desensitizing. Clio ran away from everything at first! Eventually, she was practically bomb-proof. I’ve tried shaking plastic bags at Flash, and he reacted for a moment, but settled down very quickly, so that’s a good sign. Can’t wait to see what he does with his first water crossing. Clio and Apollo were scared to cross a puddle when we first got them! Now Apollo will tackle just about anything I ask of him. Flash is definitely showing promise. He’s 14, and mature enough to have had a lot of experience, I just don’t know what it was; show ring, trails, country lanes, whatever. He was a stallion until just a few years ago, so he may have been a show horse like his daddy was. Oh, that reminds me, the Paso Fino Horse Association was kind enough to email a list of all the shows his sire was in and OMG! He showed from 1997 to 2013 (well, in the Get of sire class), and placed FIRST so many times it was astonishing! I’ve asked them if Flash/Relampago had showed at all, haven’t heard back yet. Will definitely be transferring the registration, though, something the sellers we got him from never did for some reason. Anyway, he made progress today, as he does every day, before I put him away and went back to work on the trailer. We still have a lot to do, but we’ll get it done eventually!
Monday, May 7, 2018 – More Work on Trailer
Hubby started to seriously get painting, and the undercarriage of the gooseneck is starting to look really good! I helped by masking some of the detail work, plus worked on more reorganizing inside, so the inside is looking good, too!. I also spent some time with Flash for the second day on a lead in our old round pen area (sand is still there, but fence boards are gone), teaching him some respect and getting him to move his feet. I think he’s going to have a lovely gait for Hubby, and we’ve already discussed possibly me riding him in some future endurance race once he’s fit enough. I also checked out Hubby’s Aussie saddle on him, and it looks like it will be a good fit. I feel safer with him in the Aussie saddle, those little knee panels will likely save him from falling more than once! Flash is getting used to me now and has learned to respect my space. He’s having trouble with the concept of backing up, though, he just thinks he’s supposed to have his face right by my face all the time, very friendly-like, but that’s not going to cut it! So the daily routine now is to feed the horses, then feed us, then I work with Flash while Hubby works on the trailer, then I join him when I’m done to do more work on the trailer. Then we have lunch and dialyze in the afternoon. Our priority now is to get the trailer done, so that we can leave at a moment’s notice! Can’t wait for that to happen!
Sunday, May 6, 2018 – Working on Trailer
After living a month in our new/used living quarters trailer, we knew we could survive in it, but that it needed some serious maintenance. Hubby finished sanding rust spots and putting navel jelly on everything that needed it and was just about ready to paint. We also had to readjust the level of gooseneck last week so that it was even with the truck. We definitely had a high front end on this last trip, but now it seems more level. Won’t know for sure until we move it to a more level spot after we get all the work done. I spent the day starting to reorganize the entire inside, switching cupboards around, rearranging where everything went, adding drawers to a storage space, and most importantly, trying to find the leak in his side of the air mattress! Every night he was starting out with a full mattress, and halfway through the night, he’d be on the floor. We’ve both searched for it on many occasions and have never been able to find it, but today I finally managed (I think) to locate it on a corner. Problem is, my AirStop glue has partially hardened, so I’m not sure it’s going to work very well, but we’ll see. Got a lot done today! Now that Hubby’s feeling better, we’ve decided to work in the mornings and dialyze in the afternoons, as he has more energy earlier in the day. That’s fine for me, too, I can get all my computer work done at the same time. Settling down to a routine again, though I’d rather be on the road!
Saturday, May 5, 2018 – Rain Day Off
Because it rained most of the day, and because we haven’t stopped for weeks, it seems, we took most of the day off today, other than dialysis. Well, I also dragged out our old Aussie saddles, which ended up being to narrow for our fat stock horses, but they should be perfect for Flash. Hubby spent some time cleaning and oiling both saddles (see, he is feeling MUCH better!), and look forward to seeing how well it fits. I was going to work with Flash today but thought he might need a day of rest and adjustment as well, so we spent the day catching up on a bunch of the shows I recorded on our DVR while we were gone. What an exercise that’s going to be! But Hubby got hooked on Netflix on the trip, and is talking about turning off the satellite service altogether. Now that I’ll have to see to believe!!
Friday, May 4, 2018 – Another Doctor’s Appointment
Today we had to drive to Vanderbilt in Nashville to discuss with the surgeon what Hubby’s options are for a new dialysis access site. The graft on his right arm that we had been using clogged up just before we left on our trip, and they had to put in an emergency catheter in his lower neck which we’ve been using to dialyze all last month. Now it looks like another graft in his right arm, or if we’re lucky, a fistula, which will make access a lot easier for me. Anyway, when we got back, the rain was heading our way in a hurry, so I put Flash in the paddock with Apollo and watched them interact. Not surprisingly, Apollo tried to bit Flash’s rump a few times, just to show him who’s boss, but they settled down a bit after I stood between them at dinner time. I’m sure things will thaw in a bit, Apollo’s just a little territorial, especially since we had so much quality time together in the last month. Just have to keep an eye on them!