Lesson learned: Trying to save 50 dollars isn't worth risking barbwire!

This whole ordeal with Navi has taught me a few things and I am sure there will be many more lessons to learn. But the biggest one is don't put your horses safety at risk over a small amount of money. Did I intentionally put her in harms way, no of course not. And she had lived out there before. Are there many many horses that can live safely in barbwire forever and never get hurt? You bet there are! But it is a lesson I had to learn the hard way and I hope people can learn from my mistake. It just isn't worth the risk.

Here is a break down of the costs so far: (monetary and not)

• Navi's freedom and ability to be comfortable. She is now bored to death in the stall.
• She suffered a lot of pain, 3 weeks out it is finally getting better pain wise.
• She isn't able to have her feet trimmed on time
• The vet bill was $850 for the first 4 days. 
• so far only a $60 dollar vet follow up was needed,but we are only 3 weeks in.
• We are going to be seeing the vet every two weeks most likely for a while.
• Higher board to keep her in a stall... $450 a month. (200+ higher than my normal board)
• Bandage supplies: are give or take $270.67

So yes you take in to account Navi's mental state, and frankly mine too. (I have been super stressed with this injury, working, and the end of the semester.)The time commitment, while I enjoy seeing my horses everyday, I don't want it to be for this reason. 

Let's add up the running total for the money also:  1405.67 is what we have hit so far and we are just one day past 3 weeks.

If anything I hope people can learn from me that if you are going to try and save money be sure you are not risking your horses well being. 

I can't thank the team of people that have been there for me through this whole thing. The barn staff at the ranch, the barn owner where Navi is now, the vets, and of course all my friends who have been super supportive! 

Ok off to work...have to pay on the vet bill this week and that requires me to work 😉

Why you never want the barn manager to call you...

Last Saturday, Nov 18th, I made the decision to put Navi back out with the big herd (something like 100 acres) for the winter. Her knee had been giving her some trouble so we were going to take the winter off of riding. I figured movement would be good as she was still 100% pasture sound and she loves to run and play with the other horses. Oh and it was a win win cause she would get to have free food and roaming room and I got to save like 50 bucks a month. Now I know the risks of putting a horse with 20 other horses, but she did great last spring with them. I also know the risks of putting a horse in any pasture with barbwire fence. Not even 24 hrs after I turned her out I got the dreaded call from the ranch manager....Now keep in mind we had stayed and watched her for over an hour interact with the horses and then had gone back at 4 pm before we left on Saturday to make sure she was still getting along with everyone.

Sunday morning around 10:15ish the manager called me, and said the words no horse owner wants to hear. "I have bad news, Navi got into the barbwire fence". My heart dropped. I was trying not to panic. Everything was running through my head on how bad it was. She was still walking though and S was bringing her in from the pasture. I was relieved that she was walking and able to make it the mile or so track in from the pasture. But still I remembered what her back leg look like after getting into smooth wire I could only imagine what barbwire did. The ranch manager then called back while I was driving after he met up with S and saw Navi. He gave me the report I didn't want...bone was exposed on her leg. I hung up and called the vet to have them meet me at the ranch. I did all this while driving the 40 miles there. Talk about a long drive. I was in tears and called my best friend to tell her I was heading out there, but didn't know what to expect. I had already called my partner and said "meet me at the barn Navi got into the barbwire" (I was at my mother's house visiting).

The vet beat me to the barn and had just looked at her when I arrived. She said "Well it is a big cut, but she should be fine." Oh thank goodness I was happy to hear that! And so we started the process of sedating and cleaning. Navi overall was a champ. She usually hates needles,but did well and only danced a little. She then did great for the cleaning and wrapping. Next up was to get the trailer and get her to the vet. She was to spend a few days there since there was bone exposed. This is why I always make sure my horses will load in a trailer! So many people don't make it a priority for their horse to load. I don't care if you never plan to take your horse anywhere, practice trailer loading! My other half had to help lift her front leg up into the trailer, but then Navi hopped right in and we had her to the vet by noon, not even 2 hours after she was found. I couldn't imagine having to fight her to get her to load.

The next day we went out to visit with the vet and see the wound unwrapped again. The vet was pleased with how it looked just 24 hours later. We set up our treatment plan. She was to come home Wednesday and be on stall rest with every other day bandage changes. The decision was made to move her into town so she could be closer to us. With winter here, I just didn't know if we could make it the 40+ miles after work in the dark if a snow storm hit. And we were looking at a min of 2 months of stall rest with bandaging. So I got a hold of a barn 10 miles away from me and had it set up for her to go there after the vets. She will be in a heated barn for the winter and I know I will be able to attend to her. (Remember that 50 bucks a month I was going to save, lol, yeah not so much now).
So here we are...5 days out from the accident. She is at her new home in a stall and I begin the process of wound care on my own. Way easier when the vet cleans and wraps it, lol, and way prettier. Again though I was super proud of this little mare and her being super easy to trailer load and unload in a new place staying calm the whole time! Our current estimate is 4 months of stall rest, hopefully some turn out after 2 months. Maybe hand walking after 1 month. With any luck she will go back to riding sound by summer (if her other issue clears up also over the winter). Every step of the way people have been wonderful in offering help! The vet, the new stable and my current barn are all amazing people!

Peanut and Parvo

Back before Labor day weekend we made the decision (ok my other half really wanted the puppy) to adopt a little puppy. We had seen this puppy since before her eyes were open and my other half fell in love while trimming nails, giving puppy baths, etc.. for the rescue. She like the last 3 we have taken home is from the Indian Reservation that is probably an hour or so from us. We really like and try to support a local rescue group that rescues the dogs from the near by reservations. We can't do a lot since we already have our plate full, but we try when we can. Animal rescue is a very important part of who we are. My other half was an ACO for 10+ years and then worked in the shelter for another 5. I worked in the animal control field both in Anchorage, AK and here where I was an ACO for a short time. We are not the typical animal people, animal rescue and a life long commitment to our animals is who we are. For us making the difference in the lives of animals is our purpose for being on this earth. We try to speak for the little critters (well big critters too) that can't speak for themselves. Many people call us crazy and don't understand why or how we can own as many animals as we do. Yes, currently we have 6 dogs and 5 horses. Ok, 7 dogs now if you count the puppy. I prefer to think that the puppy is really only worth 1/2 dog status since she only ways 4 or 5 lbs. I don't think you reach dog status until at least 10lbs right, lol?? Anyways back to the story of Peanut the puppy. Peanut came home on the Friday before Labor day. We spent the whole 3 day weekend out playing and having fun. She was 6 weeks old (Mom had already weaned the puppies and had to go back to the res.) We knew she was going to go get fixed the next week. (Yes, they get fixed young, no it isn't a problem. Not debating it. ) Well come vet day her brother tested positive for Parvo virus. So the rescue gave us the option of taking her or leaving her until quarantine was over. We made the choice to take her. We knew our adult dogs would be safe from the virus and we had gotten quite attached to her. So she came home Wednesday evening after surgery. She was in perfect health, until Saturday night. Just as we thought we were out of the woods. As the days went by we were feeling hopeful. But then Saturday night at 8pm she had her first bout of diarrhea and then vomited 30 minutes later. She came down with a fever and we knew parvo had hit. My other half has seen more parvo cases being in animal control for 15 years, I have only seen a few and not really been involved in their care. Parvo used to be an automatic death sentence for puppies. And truly it still is without proper care. We watched her Saturday into Sunday. Saturday night we got some meds into her,but knowing that was just supportive care. Sunday she was doing okay, but we knew the worst was yet to come. So we made the decision to have her hospitalized. There are only 2 vets in town that do emergency care and that are open 24hrs a day. We don't really like the one closer to our house, so we drove across town to the other vet. We met with the vet, did the parvo test which was positive, and made the decision to have her stay. Now of course this vet doesn't know us as we are not regular clients so they politely pointed out numerous times that treating parvo is expensive. She talked about the care needed and gave us a general quote of 800-2000 dollars. Stating really they only reach the 2000 dollar mark when the puppies have to stay 5-7 days. Well regardless of price we knew she needed to stay. So we put down an 800 dollar deposit and left our new baby at the vet. She went on IV meds and fluids. The next day we had a great report from the vet. She was being super spunky and loud, lol. Monday night they transitioned her to oral medications and they had said she could probably go home Tuesday afternoon. (I was kinda of excited, our puppy was only going to be a 2-3 day puppy, lol, yes I was thinking money. ) I was excited to have her home for other reasons than money also! Tuesday morning came around and I called for an update. The news was grime. She took a turn for the worse in the night. Wasn't eating, was vomiting even water up. Ok time to go back on IV meds. By Tuesday afternoon we went to visit and we left thinking Peanut may not ever be coming home. She was so sick. But yesterday (Wed) she started to feel a little better. We went and visited her last night and she was sitting up and eating a little. We are still guarded in that we don't want to get our hopes up, but our fingers our crossed that little Peanut will come home. She will be a 5-7 day puppy at the vet at the min. Yes, you can venture a guess how much this little 7 1/2 week old puppy is currently worth. Truly it isn't about the money, we will find it somehow. ( The rescue she came from made a big donation to her vet bill, and I can't thank them enough!!! ) So now we wait...
UPDATE: Peanut came home last night (Thursday 9-14). She just kept doing better all day and she was more than ready to get out of that small kennel. She is doing well and only hit the 5 day mark at the vet ;)

PPID- Pixie

Yesterday we got test results back for Pixie. We tested for both IR (insulin resistance) and PPID (formally called Cushings). We truly thought if it was either of the two it would have been IR, but no she does not have IR. She does however have PPID ( pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction). 

Here is what I knew about cushings in horses prior to getting this diagnosis yesterday:
1. It somehow affected the glucose levels
2. I was pretty sure it had to do with hormones somehow
3. They don't shed their hair and usually are shaved down in warmer months.

Here is what I am beginning to understand about this disease:

1. Yes, it does give them hyperglycemia, but it is so much more than that. Pixie's test came back at  125 fasting and that is high for fasting.
2. It is all hormone based. The pituitary gland essentially is overactive due to hypertrophy or an adenoma (neoplasm).
3. By they time they have stop shedding properly they are in the advance stages of the disease.
4. It affects their whole system. Basically they are immunocompromised meaning they are at a higher risk of infection.
5. It is either treated with medicine or not, but there is no in between. Since this is caused by a dysfunction of the pituitary gland you can't not treat with diet alone. Currently there is only one medicine on the market for horses. Which as we all know that means the medicine is expensive. With treatment though horses can live a normal life span, without treatment this disease will usually shorten their life quite a bit.

So basically it boils down to this. This diagnoses is a life changing dx for Pixie and I. Of course we are starting the medicine. Expensive or not I don't really see an option here. I can't treat this disease any other way. My only hope is that maybe one day there will be more than one drug available to help lower the price. This is a progressive disease. We are starting out at a 1/2 tablet a day, but as the years go the vet told me we will probably make our way up in dosage. But it could be years before we need to up the dosage so that is good. With the meds  she can eat like a normal horse with the exception of grass. She will never be able to free graze on lush green grass. But we shouldn't have to soak hay at least! Her feet should stop being sore. It may be up to a year before she is completely sound, but she should be feeling better in the next 3 months or so. She may or may not have to be in some sort of shoes forever. Time will tell on how sensitive her feet are.

This is what I know so far. There is far more to this then I ever realized. Between Pixie and Devan at least I can go around saying cool abbreviations for their diseases. PPID and EPI, that is enough now, I am not sure I can remember any more cool disease names though 😉

Then You Go Splat

This last week I worked really hard to maim myself. Last Sunday just a mile or so into the trail ride I dismounted without looking down first ( a big no no) and proceed to land on a rock and roll my ankle, resulting in spraining both sides. It didn't hurt as bad as one would expect (yes, it did hurt though) so I went on and finished my 6 mile ride. Now to see me get back on Navi the few times during the ride I am sure was quite the sight as I struggled to pull myself up. I am not graceful anyways, but without being able to push off of my right foot made it worse. Navi was a champ and stood there and let me climb my way up in a not so nice way.

After the ride it was time to float the creek. Fun times! I must do that again!!

By Thursday I was able to squeeze my foot back into my boot. So I was off to the barn. Promising my other half I would be super careful because I wasn't wearing my brace the dr said I had to wear for 2 weeks! 2 weeks of wearing a brace that won't fit into my boot meant no riding for two weeks...uhm no. And 4 months of wearing the brace on uneven ground!  (I did ask if there were limitations on what activities I could do while my ankle was sprained and the dr said "no, not really", they just wanted me to be careful. Oh and to probably avoid stairs. They didn't say I couldn't ride)
I decided I probably wouldn't really ride on Thursday and just took Navi down and did some liberty ground work. She was doing amazing! We had some really nice liberty work so I decided to try some bareback riding in the round pen to work on getting her softer. I didn't want to tack up so figured it would be a good time to start working towards bridle-less riding with her. We did some more warm up in the round pen and I jump on and off at liberty before putting her halter back on her. ( Ok, here is where I stop using my common sense.) She was kinda a pill for putting her halter back on, but I ignored that sign. Then we lined up and I hopped on. She quickly gave me the head shake, did I listen no, no why would I do that. I told her to stop it and walk on. (Keep in mind this mare hates being brushed, hates being touched. And I wonder why she doesn't like bareback riding?!) Ok she quits and we walk on. Work on flexing and relaxing at the walk. We get back around and I felt it coming. She braced humped up. Oh crap...up she went into a small rear I leaned forward and then she threw her head down bucked and when she came back up my head collided with her neck and I knew I was going to hit the ground. I fell off, landed on my side rolled over to the other side out and stayed put for a second. I tend to curl up in the fetal position just in case they decide to run me over. She didn't, she stood perfectly still like a good girl, lol. As I flew off I thought " my other half is gonna kill me" and great I sure hope I didn't mess up my ankle more. Well I jumped up and of course looked at Navi and said "Really Navi, Really". I was mad, but really I knew it was my fault. I had pushed passed all the signs she had given me. Bareback hurts her or just plain irritates her and she will always let me know if she doesn't like something. I sent her away then I relaxed and knew I had to go tack up to finish the ride. I wasn't leaving it on that note. We walked back up the hill and tacked up. I climbed up and she was great. We went for a little ride and then met up with some friends and hung out and talked while we rode around the arena. She did really well. A bit bracey and moody with the gelding riding with us, but compared to bucking me off it was really good, lol.  We called it a night and I left the barn with a fat lip, a few more bruises, and a bit of a headache. But hey my foot didn't hurt any worse!

So that my friends is how you end up going splat on the ground. Word of advice...don't ride your green, very opinionated, mare bareback when you know she hates bareback. I don't think liberty riding is out for us, but I do think we will do it with a saddle, lol.

 Well I am off to hit the trails with Navi today as Pixie is still slightly lame. We are still working on it, but really she doesn't need to be ridden so she gets time off to heal and hopefully come back sound! Besides Pixie could handle just getting loved on and groomed, she is partial to not working really.

20+ miles

Yesterday my partner, my friend K, and I all hit the trails bright and early in the morning. I had wanted to get Navi across the street and ride some new trails. We had a little issue at the road and her not wanting to cross so I just got off and walked her across. No biggie. Once we were through the 1st gate it was time for me to mount back up, that took a minute as she was insisting on coming up on the hill with me. We got that figured out and we were off. We met up with some cows who found us non-scary and just hung out while we accomplished our 1st water crossing. Now Navi lives in her irrigation ditch in the pasture so I was really hoping crossing water would be an easy thing for her. K said she shouldn't have an issue,lol, as she is a water baby.  And she didn't, didn't even bat an eye. Good Navi! We decided to turn around as it was getting hotter and Navi was getting tired. As we turned around we made a rattle snake mad and it rattled at us, it was off the trail so we just quickly and quietly left the area. No spook in her at all with the snake. She was a little rushy going home trying to keep up with the two faster horses, but otherwise I can't complain one bit! For a horse that is just now approaching her 1st 30 rides she is doing awesome out on the trails. We of course have fine tuning to do, but she has been wonderful to ride.

My goal was to hit the 20 mile mark yesterday, we did that plus 2 miles :)  Off to hit the trails again bright and early today!

Navi and I continue/Self Doubt

Navi and I have been getting more rides in. Some good, some just ok. Saturday we lost all "gas" and her steering left a lot to be desired! But then Sunday we tackled 4.3 miles of hills, cows, turkeys, and "off roading" and she did amazing!
 See here is the thing, like I said before, Navi was a blank slate when she came home. She was to be my first start to finish horse. So when we have bad rides/days I have no one to blame but myself, however it works the other way too, when we have good rides/days I am responsible for that too. I suppose that is really no different than any other horse/rider partnership. Navi and I are finding our riding partnership now in this stage of our relationship and it overall is going great! So many days in this journey I was pretty sure we were never going to get there. The self doubt was huge. I knew I could do this, but there were moments when I really really really questioned myself. Had I gotten in over my head? Did I really know what I was doing? Could I really use clicker training to "break" a horse? All the things you have been told about horses growing up comes back real quick when you get scared and feelings of needing to "win"come out in due to the fear of getting hurt. Have I used pressure and release on Navi? Yes I have. We have done quite a bit of pressure and release work. Do I still mix it up with clicker training? Yes. Is it suppose to be that way in a perfect world? Nope. In a perfect world of clicker training there would be no pressure and release involved. While I am moving away from mixing the two training methods one step at a time it takes a while. It is a journey, one that is never ending. I follow people who use clicker training exclusively and some day I want to grow up to be them :)
 I have learned many new things on this journey of clicker training my horses:

1. It takes time, and lots of it. Training is never fast and it really does take a ton of time.
2. It is possible if you keep at it.
3. You can control a 1000 lb animal riding without a bit if you give them a reason to listen to you other than fear. 
4. Sometimes you will doubt yourself and at times others will doubt you, but don't give up.  

Well I am off to hit the trails with Navi. We shall see how today goes 😆

Our ride on July 2. Taking a break in the shade.