home again home again

I bet Cree will be happy to see you and Envoy (?) on that trail ride. Always more fun going down the trail with a friend.

I don't know if he'll be happy to see Envoy. It should be fine as long as Kina isn't involved. They used to go after each other when she was around. Let's hope they behave themselves.

Silly boys.....fighting over a girl. If it's just the two of them I would think they should be fine.

Kina is still off. Envoy seems to be gaining strength, but his right hind is as it always is. He's marching along at the walk for the most part, so maybe he'll be ready to do some walking trails soon.

The vet comes Monday. I hope the expected rain holds off for Kina's lameness check.

I hope so too.

Kina has a bum knee. We didn't x-ray today. I am going to put DMSO on it for a week and see if it takes down the swelling. The vet thinks the problem is that the swelling is keeping her from bending her knee the right way, which is probably hurting a bit. She is very stoic, so it's hard to tell how much it hurts. But, I started a new vaccine, so the vet will x-ray next week when she comes for booster shots and after the DMSO. Poor old girl.

Let's know how it goes. Unfortunetly you rest and elevate with horses.

Poor Kina....missing out on fun because of a bum knee. Please keep us in the loop on how it goes.

She spent last night inside because of scary storms. Tonight will be the same. I think she appreciates the rest. She's always on the move when they're out in the pasture. I think she gets a little tired, and so I'll let them stay inside every few days just. DMSO, so far, seems to be doing ok. No noticeable change, but I don't expect much.

Is it arthritis? Bone spur maybe? We get those when we get older, I imagine the ponies are the same as us in that respect.
Glad to hear she's doing a little better.

It's unusual for them to get swellings like that. The vet and I both think she knocked it on something. It's probably synovial fluid that leaked after the injury and formed a lump that is blocking her knee from bending.

The horses spent the rainy day wading in the pasture. They seem happy enough now that the ground under the water isn't completely muddy. Our current water is just stuff that couldn't drain into the creek because it came out of the sky so quick. Needless to say, there was no riding today.

The rain has finally stopped. We got almost 5 inches in 3 days, and a lot of that came as torrential downpours. The big pasture where the horses are now is flooded in the back, but is just wet in the front. The back pasture is a pond. The front pasture is fine, but a bit squishy. I think the grass will appreciate it once the puddles start to go away. We NEED to mow in the back, but it isn't possible now.

Wow, that's a lot of rain! You can go kayaking in the back yard again.
Poor ponies will need water wings if the rain keeps up...

The news is not unexpected. Kina has really bad arthritis in her knee. Some of the calcification looks like bone spurs near the joint. The joint spaces actually look fairly good, so the vet thinks the damage is from an old, old injury. Our approach is pretty easy. I will keep her on Legend (IV shot) once a month to keep the joint lubricated, and Previcox (1/4 pill) once per day to minimize pain. I probably won't see much improvement for about a month, but light riding is recommended as long as she's not limping.

Previcox is a miracle drug. After only 2 days, Kina seems to be feeling a bit better. She has a little of her perkiness back. I need to get some needles/syringes so I can give her Legend injection. I will try to do that tomorrow on my way back from getting hair cut. Friday, I'm gonna ride if it kills me.

Got the needles/syringes and did the deed. She should be much better in a couple weeks. She's already perkier. Of course, with the muggy heat, riding will be relegated to morning/night until we cool down.

Today, they spent a lot of time inside. The heat and flies were pretty bad. Since I work at home, I can bring them in and let them out according to the weather. They did enjoy their fans this afternoon.

It was hot again today. I turned them out, but they spent almost all day under the trees instead of eating grass. They would sleep under the trees and then come out for about an hour to eat. Then, back to the trees. Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter. I think I might leave them out all night and bring them in late in the morning for the heat of the day.

Sounds like a good plan Becky. Cooler for eating, and no hot sun burning your skin either.

They seem to be liking night turnout, so that's the schedule we're going to use for now. I hope we get another break in the temperatures so they can be out all day and all night with a break for inside napping.

I tried to ride this evening, but the evil striped flies were biting Envoy even though I put spray on him. He was an angel and didn't buck when one bit him "there," but I knew it was time to get off. We got in 15 or 20 minutes.

The horses hid out all day because of heat and flies. They seem to be enjoying me being home so they can get brought in when it starts getting hot. We'll see what running a bunch of fans does to the power bill.

Hopefully not to painful.

I can imagine the look on Becky's face when the electric bill arrives......

It came on Friday. Not as bad as feared, but higher than I'd like. I'll live through it. The real heat of summer is on its way. I guess we'll be running fans and the AC quite a bit. We aren't having the nice, cool summer like we did last year.

The horses were "on their own" last night. We went to a concert, and the neighbors babysat. They did well enough. They were hot when we got home today, so, once again, they are in under the fans.