Everyone's Smiling

Last week Friday, I had the vet out to do a dental on the filly.  I was a bit concerned as she had a few issues with just seeming "off" and a bit uncomfortable.

Turns out she had a loose cap that was just stuck enough to not leave her mouth, but was obviously bothering and irritating her for quite some time based on the wear pattern that was occurring in her mouth.

So cap was removed, a quick peek through to lightly balance the rest of the mouth and the filly was on her way.

Still a little hazy...whoa man, what happened?

Saturday, I had my final exam.  It went fine.  Wasn't spectacular, but wasn't terrible either, so there you go.  I think my overall marks in the class are still about 91% more or less, so I'll take it. 

I was called into work on Saturday.  Thursday & Friday had some issues (ie the days were longer than 14 hours!), so I went in Saturday for about five hours to do some damage control.  I suppose more money to pay for the horses and school, right?

Today was my first day off from my real job to go play in the hospital, drawing blood.  I am not an easy draw, so I get pretty anxious drawing other people.  I suppose I associate my pain with drawing onto other people. 

But, I survived my first day working on people besides my hapless classmates.  The patients were good natured (always a plus) and slowly developing confidence.

But in so many ways, it's like schooling a horse.  Break down the steps, set up for success, practice until it gets easier, don't dwell on the mistakes.

So wish me luck.  My internship is only for this week and & I need 100 draws.  

I think horses are sometimes a bit easier to draw.  Giant jugular vein.

But after a (short) eight hour day in the hospital, I had the luxury of visiting my girls tonight.  It was pouring rain, miserable and dark, but I didn't mind.  I rode the filly and she seemed happy to be back at work. 

What a good little girl.

I am looking forward to getting more hours in the saddle this week!  If I am taking time from the real job, I might as well be smiling and doing something else I love during this time.

Remembering Cigar

Cigar

April 1990-October 7th, 2014

As I am sure many horse people know, hall of fame racehorse Cigar died yesterday after surgery.

I was lucky enough to meet the handsome stallion at the Kentucky Horse Park several times over the years.  The first time I believe I was 14 or so.  I would have to look back at my old photos, but I even had the chance to have my picture taken with him.

The last few times was in 2009 and then last year (2013).

Godspeed Cigar.  

Such a magnificent athlete and awesome ambassador at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Memory Monday: The Show

I ordered a couple of photos from the show I took the filly to in June from the photographer.

She is kind of derpy in the photo, but I thought it shows how sweet and how much I think she enjoys being with me....or maybe she's just in it for the treats.

Cell by Cell

I thought I'd share once again what I've been up to...

I can now differentiate a blood smear in under ten minutes.  I think I'm planning on counting white blood cells in my sleep.  

Did you know there are red blood cells that are "bizarre", as in not weird, but that's actually a descriptor.  I didn't originally, but as of the last quiz, I do now.  ;)

The above image is supposed to be red blood cells.  I would aptly call of the above cells "bizarre."  ;)  FYI, often associated in people with severe iron anemia.  Keep that fun factoid tucked away for the next excuse at trivia.

Besides that, the Mare seems to be back in action.  

I am always surprised when more people haven't asked about the hat yet.  There are quite a few new boarders, so I am sure they are still trying to feel me out to see if I really am nutty enough to put a hat on my horse for no reason.

If anyone is interested, it's a Back on Track poll cap.  I really think it's nice and helps horses with cervical type arthritis and that are stiffer.  I think the Mare warms up better in it and is a lot more happy to accept being on the bit.  So there's my half penny review on it.  :)

Work filly work

The filly is still having time off until the vet comes out again, but I decided to go again and lunge her and she seemed to be moving out well.  I put some some baby trot poles and she trotted over them happily a few times and then decided to see if she could just walk over them instead...or try and canter and that didn't especially work. 

I think the filly just likes to have a variety of things to do.  I am looking forward to dragging out some different objects this winter.  We have a bicycle at the barn, tinsel, and some other random objects.  As much as I don't really want winter to be here, it is a nice time to reinforce (or in my case) introduce some different objects to build up her confidence in strange situations.

Final exam on class #4 this Saturday.  Crazy to believe that since August, I've completed four classes already.  The program is accelerated, but sometimes it's hard to keep up with even what I'm doing.

Sleepless

One of those weekends.

Friday, I had a busy day scheduled.  I have an upcoming clinical internship for the program I'm currently in, so I am taking vacation time from my real job to go on the unpaid internship.  However, there are a lot of hoops to jump through to verify vaccination status, have a varicella (chicken pox) titer drawn, and so forth.  I also needed to be certified in a specific type of CPR as well.

So Friday, I had CPR training.  No worries, I am now prepared to hang out and help direct people in times of a crisis.  ;)

After CPR class, I had to stop by the hospital clinic to get another tuberculosis skin test done.  

Post skin test, it was time to go to a work related event.  OK, it was a baseball game, but the thing is that I really don't understand it.  I know it's a popular sport, but it ended up being a mandatory type evening of taking with clients that didn't really want to be talking to me either, I think.  But at least with the talking, there wasn't so much baseball watching expected.

Saturday was class for most of the day.  It was the start of another class, so that was fine.  We practiced drawing blood off of our classmates again and I was thankful I can still find a vein.

My poor classmate managed to miss mine though, but at least the hematomas aren't too bad.  ;) 

After class, I went home to weigh and bag up horse grain for the coming week when I got a call that the Semi Feral Mare wasn't looking well.

Good grief.

So my weekend stretched even longer.  The vet came out and she was colicing.  Banamine reduced her pain, but she had a lot of gas in her cecum.  Instead of poor gut sounds (like her last colic episode), she had hypermotility.  There is medication that can be administered to slow down hypermotility, however, with excessive gas, there are some risks. 

So I ended up waiting it out during the night with her to see how she responded as the banamine wore off and if she would drink and help move some of the gas along and to watch if she had additional issues if she displaced.

A little before one, I finally went home after she was looking more comfortable. 

My barn owner was kind enough to go and check on her a few hours later and so did the barn manager when she got in.  My husband even went and sent me a photo while I was up and at work early Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was painful with the lack of sleep.  Horses.  They drive us crazy with or without them.

SFM looked chipper tonight.  There was a sudden weather swing, which I think lead to the filly being a little off.  Good grief.  I think I am going to give her a bit of time off until the vet comes out for the fall dentals/vaccinations as she needs her teeth floated and there is no purpose besides my own ego in pushing a young horse and developing habits I can't undo.

But, I ended up lunging the filly for a few minutes after some banamine to see if she perked up.  Fortunately, after a period of time she did, completing her lunging routine with some gazelle leaps.  Leaping isn't really encouraged in my world, but I was glad to see her perking up again.

I ended up riding the mare instead.  There were a lot more horses riding in the indoor arena and it's hard to lunge with other people around, so I wanted to go out for a slow waddle.  Mare was full of P&V so we ended up having a short work out with a bunch of trot circles and even some nice walk-canter transitions.  I really didn't mean to ask her for much, but she held herself together and worked well for a few minutes, so I called it quits.

Demon eyed filly tonight

It can be hard in the fall with the changes in the weather (it dropped almost forty degrees in less than an hour), the grass sugar changes, and hay changes.  It kind of has lead to a bit of sleepless paranoia at times.  How on Earth do horses manage to not kill themselves everywhere else on planet? 

Life in the Fast Lane

Still hanging in there!  Getting some help and some meds here, so let's see how this goes.

Last weekend, I went up to camp.  I was hoping to trail ride and evaluate the herd.  I did take a look at the herd, but the heavy rain made the trails pretty slippery, so instead I spent a few hours chopping burdock and doing lead line pony rides.

I did, however, take a few videos of horses for some people I know that were possibly interested in leasing horses.  The camp has winter facilities for their horses, but does lease them out in the off season to good homes, which is usually a win for the horse and a win for the camp.  

As I stood, I went back up to camp today with a person to look at one of the horses for lease.   I think it will work out, so very exciting for horse and human!

Besides that, life keeps running.  It is hard to keep going sometimes, but not too much choice.  I had a final exam Thursday, so I was hoping my job would be semi-humane and be out by 9 or so (my end time is 6), so I could have a few minutes to look at my notes. Unfortunately, I ended up getting out after 10 pm and had to go in early Thursday morning, so not so much time to study before work.

So time to jump in the deep end and wing it!

It ended up being OK.  I don't have the lab grade back, but I ended up with an 88% or so on the written final, so not too bad, I think.  I'd rather perfection, but sometimes, have to go with what I got.  ;)

I had a few good rides on The Mare this week.  She had been a little stiff after the show, so I let her have some time off, but she seemed happy to be back in work. 

I rode the filly once too.  I think she does need a bit of an adjustment, as her posture and her ability to go on her left lead is a lot more sticky right now.  It's on the "to do" list.  Good question is whether to do massage or chiro first?  Any input?

Another class done in my program.  Keep on swimming.  Only nine more months or so to go.  

Untitled

I do try to be fairly positive and optimistic on this blog. 

However, I have been doing a lot of thinking and thought about putting forth something honest (not that my other posts aren't honest, but they don't disclose the full picture).

Ever notice how many people involved in horses are either involved for the ribbons (self satisfaction) or to fulfill a missing need?

I ended up being drawn towards horses I think because of my fragmented childhood.  To put it briefly, there was a good deal of abuse in various formats.  I also (as previously mentioned) have a hearing loss, so I endured (and still do occasionally) deal with that discrimination and lack of understanding from other people I am around.

Horses have always given me the equality I have craved.  On a horse, she doesn't particularly care if I am a broken child or have issues with social stigmas.

But sometimes the past keeps intercepting us.  I have had issues in the past with depression and anxiety, stemming from childhood issues.  Horses (and my past hobbies) have always been good therapy with progressing and keeping things at bay.  Occasionally, things rear up their ugly head.

The past short while, I have realized that some issues are resurfacing again, so I have a Dr appointment to see if I can get things back on track again. 

Given time to sit and reflect, I'd like to thank the people that are willing to be supportive in these times.  The people that are patient at the barn when I am a little more withdrawn or flighty.  My husband who really doesn't understand, but has told me to go out and ride.  My friends that come and push me to go ride anyway.

For you see, it's hard to get over that hurdle to get out there and do something.  Once I am in the barn, I can feel the anxiety reduce, but to get over that hurdle is something hard to describe to people.  So to those that push others along in similar circumstances, thank you.

And be kind to those barn friends, horse friends, or what not that may be in similar circumstances.  That erratic behavior isn't easy for them either and the kind patience needed is often more important than one can know. 

Sorry if this isn't the typical sunshine and roses post that I like to share, but since depression and mental disorders are a very real issue that are often closeted, I'd like to provide support and friendship to anyone else in a similar circumstance.