This week I have been out to the barn a pretty much every day taking alfalfa to my boys and putting meds on Biscuit's back. I am trying to get rid of the fungus for good - not just control it. Using a prescription medication and hope that this is the end of the fungus amongus.
I took him up front Wednesday and worked him in the large arena on a lounge line. He did pretty good...he does better free lounging in the small arena. We worked for about 15 or 20 minutes. This is Biscuit paying attention!
Yesterday we took the kids to eat at Cracker Barrel and then out to see the horses. Ava is totally not afraid of the horses at all. She was entralled with them. She wanted to hug them, pet them and feed them alfalfa. The horses were total angels the entire time we were there. They were both so quiet and calm. Barry and I were right there with them to make sure no one turned around, stepped back, moved forward....she and Kayden had a great time.
Major cuteness overload. She is going to be my riding buddy one day!
I went out to the barn earlier today. It was rainig so I crossed the fence near their shed. They looked at me a little funny. I took my salve out and put a little on Biscuit and then he moved away and around the other side of Sarge. I went around Sarge and Biscuit backed out and took off and so did Sarge.
They then followed me into the corral but stood there a minute and then took off. I was persona non grata today :-)
I got a prescription medication for Biscuit to try to clear up this fungus for good. I went back out to the barn. I took out some alfalfa for them and went down to the pasture. Barry was with me. They slow poked across the pasture and Barry got a handful of alfalfa and went out into the middle of the pasture and fed it to them. They followed him back and I was in the corral petting them.
Then I broke out the alfalfa. I tore it in half for them and put it on the ground. I put the ointment on Biscuit's back. Hope it works for him.
I cancelled out trip to Ebenezer. I didn't want my boys standing in muddy water and us just sitting in the trailer. I so had wanted to go somewhere this weekend. Oh well.
We are planning on riding Sunday at Tyrrell Park. Hoping it doesn't rain!
I am going to help one of Kellie's nurses move her horse from Winnie to Kountz on Monday. Going to be a busy day.
Red and his owner, Alex, were awarded the Bronze medal with ACTHA! So very proud of them. She has worked very hard with Red. Red is an amazing horse...winner on the racetrack, great trail horse, won ribbons in dressage and jumping, now super ACTHA horse. So thrilled for them.
Biscuit is coming along nicely. He is doing what I ask when I ask. I haven't been out there other than to pet him this week. That I go for every day pretty much.
I have had to keep my grandkids quit a bit due to my Daughter-in-Law having surgery. I go out there and the horses come in except for one day. I had already been there once and this time they were near the other gate. I walked out there and petted Biscuit with no problem. That is a huge improvement.
Yesterday I went to see them just around 4:30 or so. They were in the corral area and I checked them over. Biscuit's fungus area is having scabby skin turn loose under his hair around the hairless area. I put meds on them again. I think the fungus is under control and this is just now turning loose but making sure by adding more just in case. I went up to the barn and got their food from Jamie and went back to feed them. So nice to reach out and pet their faces.
I had a consulation with a bride and headed home to cook dinner for Barry. Got that done and around 5:45 PM my back started hurting. HURTING. H.U.R.T.I.N.G. H---U---R---T---I---N---G.
Ugh. I had to cancel my consulation. Started feeling nauseated. Throwing up. Oh joy. I talked back and forth with Kellie and then went to the ER. OMG I had a nasty kidney stone. I haven't hurt that bad since surgery. They gave me morphine, stuff to keep me from being sick. Threw up more. I was released shortly after 1:00 AM. Threw up on the driveway in the bucket they sent home with me.
I slept until 12:50 PM. I had to call and cancel my doctor's appointment in Houston with Dr. Murphy. I called Dr. Henderson's office and will go see him Monday.
Due to weather I am not sure we are going to Ebenezer. I would love to go camping but not drag the horses to stand in mud. We will make that decision tomorrow.
Mike texted me yesterday about trimming the horses today at 5:00 PM. I went out to the barn this afternoon around 4:45 PM. Woo hooo! I had no problem putting the halter on Biscuit. I drove/they walked up to the barn. I tied them on the washrack and got out the lounge whip and took Biscuit in the arena.
He mostly did a great job today...I had to get after him a few times but he is doing well. He comes to me when I go to the pasture. He does what is asked in the arena. We worked on "stay" and he does that quiet well. Biscuit is very smart!
We only worked about 12 minutes or so. Short lesson today.
Mike arrived a little after 5:00 and he did Biscuit first. I am not tipping his foot up enough to get a good angle so he showed me how to do that. Biscuit's feet are improving a little at a time. Still got a ways to go.
It is costly to have Mike do their feet but I feel it is worth the money. I want Biscuit's feet to improve.
Biscuit was pretty sweaty looking today. I know it must be hot as a ll get out in their pasture. I took them back down to the pasture with their feed and fed them myself.
I got a call on my trailer for sale. Hoping it sells soon. I wish I had a truck - I would never sell it!
I had some medical tests today - ugh. No fun. After I got home I hauled my Brenderup to Discount Tires. I had called about the cost and then hauled. The young fellow there said I still had tread but I said they are 5 years old and I haul my babies around on these tires.
So I now have Carlisle 205/75/15 tires on the Brenderup. Barry went and picked it up for me because I had Ava and Kayden.
So, now I am $550 poorer but my trailer is ready to haul for another 5 years. I may try to keep a log of miles on these tires just to see how they hold up.
I went out to the barn around 8:00 PM. Biscuit came in to me and stood there sweet as pie when I haltered him. I took him up to the arena and when I got out of the RAV I noticed he had a cut on his back right leg in the stifle area. It was bad but dang...I put Neosporin on it and later added some SWAT to keep the flies off of it. I did spray him down with fly spray. I had left the vinegar spray in the trailer but I had spray in the RAV.
I took him in the arena and worked with him on transistions. He does a pretty good job at going into a trot from a walk and then slowing down to a walk. Could use some work on going from a trot to a walk. Worked on the whoa. For the most part he did a great job. Wanted to stop once or twice and I immediately got after him. We did a little bit of the desensitizing with the whip. That doesn't bother him in the least.
We went back down to the pasture and I let him stand there and eat the long grass near the ditch. I took him back into the pasture near Sarge so I could fly spray Sarge. I tried to walk up to him and he let me pet him but walked off from me twice. I think he had done his job and good enough.
I decided not to push the point - that will come - and walked up to the corral....and look who is coming in...both of them followed me into the corral. I petted him and could have haltered him but I didn't. He is doing just great and I am so proud of him and of me, too!!
I ordered the book "How to Think Like a Horse" and am going to read it this week. Knowledge is a powerful thing and I need all the power I can get!
I also ordered this for Ebenezer to help with the fly/mosquito problems. I will get some Yard Gard and spray the pens down before putting the horses in and let this take over after that. I don't ever want to see those sores on my horses fetlock area again.
Kellie and I planned on a ride for Sunday morning. We planned on 8:00 AM because it is getting pretty dang hot now. I got to the barn at 7:10 AM. I got their feed and headed down to the pasture.
Biscuit and Sarge were 1/2 way out in the pasture. Biscuit started coming in. Woo HOOOOO!!! My hard work and his hard work is paying off! Once they got into the corral I petted them and then I went and got their feed. I dumped their feed and then got Biscuit's halter. No problem putting his halter on. Good Biscuit!!!
I tied him to the trailer while I hooked up the trailer then loaded up The Biscuit and off we went. We pulled in under the trees and I brushed Biscuit off and tacked him up. I didn't tighten the girth tight at all. I think the combo of too tight of a girth, his mane getting stuck under the pad and his fungus have created the bald spot. It is growning hair back and the fungus seems to be arrested.
Kellie held Biscuit while I got on just in case the saddle slipped. It did not so off we went towards the road. Kellie commented that it was getting hot and she didn't want to ride out back...so we ducked into the woods to see if they were impossibly wet.
We were shocked that the woods were not wet. It poured bucked Thursday evening all over the place but must not have in Tyrrell Park. The only problem were the spiders. OMG all over the place. Biscuit and I were in the front and he was sidepassing ok...not great...and I was swatting spiders. I ended up with spiders on me several times and a few times I was scraping them off of Biscuit. He was a good boy about it.
We made two trips around - the first one was pretty S-L-O-W going with the spiders and the second time was much faster. All in all - we ended up with a 4 mile ride. Half of what we ride when we go out the back but it was just fine.
I gave biscuit a bath and used the medicated shampoo on his shoulders. Kellie brought me an English saddle pad she had and had never used. We tried it on Biscuit and it didn't fit with my saddle. We put my saddle on without pads to check the fit. It seems to still fit him just fine. I am going to make sure I do not tighten my girth more than necessary.
We let the horses graze and I spred some sunflower seeds for the little chickens. They are so cute.
I hauled Biscuit back to the stables and took his halter off but held on to him. No problem. I turned him loose and off he went. I shoveled out the poop and hauled the trailer up to the front. I hosed it out and hauled it home.
I will be putting new tires on it this week. The tires are a little more than 5 years old so it is time. I hope to take it tomorrow afternoon. I also want to put some brackets on the windows to make them stay open to funnel air to the horses. I am going to talk to Danny at Duvall's tomorrow about the bracket.
I went back to check on Biscuit this afternoon. He came in from out in the pasture which is fantastic!!! I will be working with him in the arena tomorrow - he had a free day today and yesterday. I think if I work with him 2 to 3 times a week in the arena we shouldn't have a problem. I like this Biscuit that comes to me and I am not worrying about if I cam going to be able to catch him or not!!!
Barry and I went up to Ebenezer yesterday to check on places to leave the trailer. We rode down to Letney Park (well, where it used to be!) and through Ebenezer and the little neighborhood behind Ebenezer. We ate at The Stump. Generally the food is terrific. It wasn't yesterday.
We headed home and stopped at the barn. Biscuit and Sarge both came in to me. Barry's friend, Terry, came out to the barn and then home with us to visit. Biscuit walked out of the corral when Terry walked up. I walked out in the pasture with him and he was fine with me walking up to him. Edgar came by with feed and I took the buckets and fed them. Biscuit came back in to eat.
Today is the Forth of July - Independence Day. God bless America!!! So glad that I am an American - the granddaughter of 3 immigrants. Two from the Cayman Islands British West Indies and one from Slovonia. Glad they wanted to come here - glad that I am an American and a Texan!
I went to the barn at 10:30 this morning. It had quit raining and was sunshining. When I got down to their pasture they were in the back left corner. Sarge started up and Biscuit followed. I was petting Sarge when he came in the corral and Biscuit followed. I got the halter and put on Biscuit WITH NO PROBLEMS.
I took him up to the washrack = had to go back down to the trailer to get the fungus shampoo and my rasp. I wet Biscuit's back and scrubbed in the fungal shampoo. It says to leave on there for awhile so I did.
LeAnn B had sharpened my circle knife with a Dremil tool so I sat down to do his back hooves. He was pretty good with his back feet. The sharpened knife did help. I decided to rasp his front ones again. Got those done and took him into the arena to work on our lounging.
He mostly did a great job. I had to get after him about stopping INSTANTLY. By the end of the lesson he was doing a great job. We only worked at it for 20 minutes. He is stopping when I ask, turning, trotting and slowing down to a walk when asked. He did have a huge black fly on his butt when we started out and I wanted to get it off with the whip but he was a little scared of that. I sent him walking and took the whip to the center. I then stopped him and I brushed it off. I stopped him various times and put the halter on and walked him by hand...then made him stand there several times til I told him he could move.
I then had him join up with me and follow me around the arena. I got the whip and did some desensitizing. He wasn't on his lead rope...and I was popping it around him - back and forth - snaking around his feet, running it over his back. Good Biscuit.
When we were through I washed the shampoo off and put the fungus ointment on him and took him to graze over by the bench beside the arena. We stayed there for about 15 minutes and then I took him down to his pen and took his halter off but held him by the ends of the halter for a moment. I then turned him loose.
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