Springing Forward

As I have said - many times - I hate falling back and love springing forward. This year however, I wondered what the heck we'd sprung into - weather was bitter cold, then warm with severe thunderstorms - even a tornado touched down nearby - then back to bitter cold. Ewwwwww!

Spring must be close though because Indy and Ami are shedding like mad. Since Indy loves to be scratched anytime, shedding season is heaven for him. I could use the shedding blade on him all day and he would be in total bliss.I actually wear out metal curries and shedding blades on this hunk. Once the little points on the blade get dull, he doesn't like it any more. I'm thinking of getting a large paddle shaped piece of wood and driving case hardened steel nails into the back so that they stick out about a quarter inch on the front. Maybe that would hold him for a while!

Actually, the real problem is Ami. Unless she is extremely itchy, she has no interest in being groomed. Her attitude in fact is something like, "Touch my body and die!" Of course, it is her body, and I do my best not to aggravate her unnecessarily, but sometimes she needs to be groomed whether she thinks so or not. It doesn't matter what grooming tool I use on her - she hates them all.

Shedding or not, it hasn't been very springlike here except for a few days here and there - and naturally, it poured rain on those few relatively warm days. We've been under a flood watch for weeks since all the rivers in the area are over flood stage. We have a little creek behind our property - called the Wyland Ditch - that empties into the Tippecanoe River. It has at times back up into our back field but nothing like this:

As you can see, the water was almost up to the cross fence. Never seen it even half that far up the field. The rain, coupled with a few above freezing days, has softened up the ground at least, and Ami is moving much better as a result. I've even taken her off bute - finally! I've never had her on such a high dose for so long.

Spring has always been my favorite season and still is, even though the First Day of Spring 2009 wasn't very impressive around here: chilly and breezy, it didn't feel like spring at all. Still, it is spring and it's gotta get warm soon. Indy and I always love springing forward much better that falling back. I know Indy loves to spring forward because he does it often - sometimes when I'm on him. And that's way better than having him fall back...

March Madness

No, I do not follow basketball. I just want it to be spring and warm! This has been one of the coldest winters this area has ever seen, and it's really taken its toll on me. Of course, the bout with shingles didn't help one bit. I've been fighting it all winter. The cold bothers the rash and my right sinus very badly, and I just seem to be more sensitive to cold generally.

Saw the opthamologist last Wednesday, and while most things look very good, there are still some virus cells in my eye. So, I have to stay on acyclovir and two kinds of eye drops for at least another six weeks - until who knows when. What a nightmare!

This winter has been kinda tough on the horses too. In early December it rained - and rained. The ground got so torn up it looked like a Moonscape. Then it froze, and the bitter cold has been almost unrelenting - certainly no breaks long enough or warm enough to allow the ground to soften up even for a while. Poor Ami has had sore fore feet the entire time. Even Indy was off for a while back in January. Come to think of it, my feet are sore too.

It was 8 degrees overnight last evening and not supposed to get over about 22 all day. Tomorrow not predicted to be much better with high about 30. Are you believing this? Could be much worse of course - just look at that's happening to the southeast and northeast today. Feet of snow and strong wind. Yep, we are doing much better than that! But still.... I mean, it is March.

It's supposed to be in the 50s by the end of the week - and it's supposed to rain the entire time, naturally. I will take warm and wet over cold and dry. Like everyone else around here, I've had it with this winter.

About the only good thing I can say about the present is that Indy and Ami can be out in the field 24/7. At least they are enjoying themselves - and, they both are sheding. There is hope!

Morris Animal Foundation's Equine Health Initiative

Horse Health Research from MAF Equine Consortium — Improving Horse Health with Veterinary Research

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Watch Video The Equine Health Initiative is the largest equine health campaign in the organization's history. The first project is the Equine Consortium for Genetic Research. This worldwide research project brings together the best equine researchers in a collaborative effort to improve equine health.

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The research team will use the sequenced horse genome to identify genes and mutations that contribute to heritable diseases such as musculoskeletal disease, laminitis, recurrent airway obstruction, and bone disease. Because genetic diseases affect horses from every breed, this project has tremendous potential for preventing and treating diseases with heritable risk factors. The project will benefit the entire horse industry, offer new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to reduce animal suffering, and promote equine health and welfare.

To contribute to this critical project, e-mail Paul Raybould, Vice President of Gifts and Business Development, or call 800.243.2345.

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'Eyelights And Lowlights - '09 So Far

First, the 'Eyelights -

Without doubt, the highlight of this year will be the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the US.

For me personally, an 'Eyelight is the outcome of my last visit to the ophthalmologist -  that my right eye is now clear of the virus. A viral infection in the eye is apparently Bad Business and can come roaring back if you're not careful. I'm still on a reduced schedule of meds and will see the ophthalmologist again in a couple of weeks
.
Meanwhile, the rash on my face is slowly getting better, but it's still driving me crazy. I guess I should put this under the Lowlights of the year so far...

Matt managed to make a heart bar shoe for poor Ami. It's been too cold so far to use his adhesive because it gets much too stiff to use in this @%$*&@%! weather we've been having.

A real 'Eyelight for me has been all the well wishes I've gotten from friends and strangers alike. Thanks All! I needed that, believe me!

Now, the Lowlights -

Of course, this attack of shingles has to be my lowest light for quite some time. Plus, the cold doesn't help at all. The rash is not as sensitive as it was, but my sinuses are, and we can't seem to get a break from this weather.

This was one of the coldest Januarys on record for this area, and February isn't getting off to a good start at all. Our high for today was 16, and the low overnight is supposed to be 0. It's supposed to be in the 40s by Saturday, but I'll believe it when I see it.

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• Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America
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Farewell, 2008 - and don't let the screen hit you as you go out the door

the last day of 2008 - finally. What kind of a year was it? The kind you never want to live through again. Just for starters...

National - 

Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Photo - Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer for JPMorgan Chase Barry Zubrow speaks during a hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill November 13, 2008 in Washington, DC.


What can I say? Total collapse of the economy seems to say it all. It's not  just the collapse, but the reason for the meltdown that really fries my eggs. All those so called financial experts investing millions, no billions, in instruments backed by, well, nothing. And never even checking to see what the basket into which they were pouring all of their eggs was made of. "Sub-prime mortages" - meaning a person who doesn't even have a job being allowed to take out a mortage - that's what they were made of. As I said, nothing.

Bedrock financial institutions going under, millions of jobs and homes lost... enough.

Then we endured the Election That Lasted a Hundred Years. Even though the election did turn out the way I wanted it to, I can't remember another election as nerve wracking, muck raking and downright infuriating as this one. John McCain, a man I used to admire, demonstrated that he would do absolutely anything to win, including nominate Sarah Palin - about whom the less said the better - as his VP. Can we sink lower next time? I don't even want to know.

Here On The Farm -

We're all still alive, so I guess I should be grateful for that, but otherwise, it hasn't been the best of years. Last January, Mike came down with shingles on his back, chest and down his left arm. He didn't end up with postherpatic neuralgia - for which we are profoundly grateful - but he felt absolutely awful for over a month, and still his a tingling sensation down his arm.

As I posted earlier, Ami developed a laminitis flare up on the clover hay we got this year, and we had to take her completely off it and buy some grass hay. She seemed fine, but she is having real problems on the frozen ground now, and we suspect that her feet were compromised in some way from the earlier episode with the hay.

Also, we still have a barnfull of the clover hay - that we can't even feed Indy because he gains weight overnight on that stuff - and are scrounging to find quality grass hay to get us over the winter.

Matt was here Monday to put a pair of "glue shoes" on her front feet, but both his tubes of adhesive - $25 each - burst their containers when he tried to pump some out. He had to make do with something else until he could get more. He was quite concerned with the additional damage to Ami's front feet that he could see, so we're doing the best we can until he can get more adhesive, and hopefully allow her feet to heal. Ami seems to be feeling better even with the lesser pad he put on her, so we're just hoping for the best. That girl and her feet worry me to death! It didn't help that this December had some bitter cold that we don't usually have until January.

Just to end the year with a real bang, a few days before Christmas I woke up with a killer headache on just the right side of my head. My right eye was very irritated and felt like something was in it. The headache got better during the day, but my eye did not. The next day, the headache was back full force, but the eye seemed better by afternoon. The third day, both the headache and the eye were awful, and we'd had an ice storm overnight.

I could hardly make it to the barn - my head was bursting and my eye was tearing severely. Trees were snapping and breaking all over the place - it sounded like we were in a war zone. Then the power went out. I ask you now, can things be more perfect? Oh yeah.

To make a very long story short, it was indeed shingles on my face, in my hair and in my right eye. This is no small matter, because one can lose an eye to this abominable disease and/or develop postherpatic neuropothy that can last for years or forever. I'm under the care of an ophthalmologist, whom I will see again Monday. Wish me luck.

Meanwhile, I can only go out during the warmest part of the day to see the horses because the rash and headache are very cold sensitive. Below 20 degrees or so is murder. Gotta love it.

Happy 2009, everyone...

Falling Back

If there is one day in the year that I can single out to be consistently depressing, it's the Sunday we go off daylight savings time. On Saturday it's sunny at 6:00 in the evening; on Sunday it's too dark to see at 6:00 in the evening. To me, it's awful.

This year, that Sunday was a nice day - the first in a while - and Indy and I did get in a ride. But, geez, it got so dark so quickly that we had to cut it pretty short. What a bummer. Indy seemed as disappointed as I was. We haven't had a chance to ride since then either, and it's very possible we won't get to ride again until spring. How dismal is that?

We haven't had any bitter cold - yet - but it's been cold and/or windy/rainy/snowy just about every day. The ground is squishy and torn up, so when it does freeze it will be hard as a rock with as many craters as the Moon. Just like last year. Oh, goody.

Of course there's never a dull moment with Indy around, under saddle or otherwise. For instance...

As Mike and I were going to the barn one afternoon a couple of weeks ago, I noticed Indy munching the grass along the fence line. He certainly was enjoying himself with those big mouthfuls of green grass. Wait a minute! There's no grass like that along the fence in the paddock! Right. Indy was eating the grass on the outside of the fence, stretching his neck over the top of the fence as pretty as you please. This fence has a hot wire across the top, but we had shut it off while we were replacing part of it and hadn't turned it back on yet. It had been off for weeks, but Mr. Smarty Pants had finally figured that out and was munching while the munching was good.

So, of course Mike and I had to drop everything and get the fences hooked up again before Mr. Troublemaker pushed to old part completely down. Indy looked SO disappointed when he realized the top wire was hot again. Sigh. Sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do.

Another problem we've had this season is all that clover that was in the field last summer - which is now in our hay of course. We had to take them off our hay because Ami was having serious problems with her laminitis flaring up, and both of them were gaining weight so rapidly that they seemed to get bigger by the day. Great.

It's hard to find good grass hay around here. We have a round bale that Joe took of our back field that's good grass, but it's not gonna get us through the winter even if the guys are on a diet. We are still using a bit of our "candy" hay - for desert? - but not much. Ami is doing fine now, and Matt was just here and said her feet look good again, so we have to be careful with the clover to make sure they stay thay way.

Then there was Indy's foot - left fore to be exact. I'd noticed a small crack in the front part of the quarters and what appeared to be a flare developing between that point and he heel. When Matt picked up the foot, he said, "There's your flare," as we looked on in amazement - it wasn't the hoof wall that was flaring - it was the entire quarters flaring sideways from a big crack in the sole of Indy's foot! None of us had ever seen anything like it. Matt said he must have hit something really hard - really hard. His sole was fractured and only his bars and buttress were holding the side of his foot on. Matt said, "If his bars and buttress weren't so awesome, he would've lost the whole side of his foot." All that and I don't think Indy even knew anything happened. He's not taken a lame step - whenever it happened or now.

Matt trimmed of the "flare" as much as possible, and the foot looks great. And we just let it grow off. I just wish I knew that in the world he could have hit to hard as to do that to his foot. At least it's not bothering him.....

Here it is almost December, and the guys are still confined to the paddock. We are still having cold nights, but warm(er) and sunny days - today for instance is sunny and expected to hit 48 after a low of 19 overnight. So, all that green grass out there is madly making fructose while the sun shines. Ami would come up sore after one hour on that stuff. Sooner or later they always get out there, but his year may be later than sooner.

One more piece of news - I was reading one of my many horse magazines, and in the grooming section they suggested using a doggie slicker brush on thick winter coats - carefully of course. It sounded like a reasonable idea, so I tried it. Indy loves it, naturally; Ami hates it, naturally. Too bad she doesn't like it because it's lots easier on me than a curry, and it really gets through that thick hair. At least I can use it on him, and he's the one that wants to be groomed endlessly anyway. LOL!

It turned out to be pretty decent today despite the morning low of 19 degrees. Tomorrow night however, we're supposed to start getting snow lasting through Monday. We are under a winter storm watch from Sunday afternoon until Monday evening. Indy - the world's foremost Snow Man - says, "It's about time!"

As long as he's happy.....