My name is Murphy, and I practice Law!

I have officially fallen back into the 'horrible blogger' category again but hey, my life is currently filled with disappointment and frustration in all fronts it seems, so my lack of interest in publicly posting about it seems excusable at this point.  Regardless, i'm choo-choo'in away on the woe-is-me train and finally taking some time to post about the utter shenanigans that I call 'my life'.

Nikki is still down south at the Stallion Owners farm.  She hasn't cycled yet, despite being there over a month now.  Upon succumbing to the stress and frustration of this 'breeding' game, I opted to take them up on their offer to take her to the Vet last Monday.  While there, they arranged a secondary appointment for today (Friday) in the event that she didn't cycle prior.  At the appointment, everything looked great and she had a roughly 20mm follicle developing.  They administered a shot of Lutalyse to help her along 'just in case', and alas - still no results.  They brought her back on Friday, and her follicle had regressed, but she showed other signs that both indicated a heat cycle and being anestrus so needless to say the Vet is even scratching her head....  At this point, her oven is still very much empty, and she has officially surpassed my 'planned' budget and ASSUMING she comes in, is bred, and catches first try, she will be dipping into my 'emergency breeding fund'....  Though, that's what it is there for i guess. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for my next fiasco....

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On Sunday evening after I wrapped up the Spring Horse Show that I run, I spent a few minutes brushing Kidd. I noted the spot on his forearm that he injured 2 years ago and snapped a photo for the sake of keeping it on hand.  I decided to fire it off via text to my friend, who is the Manager of our local Vet Clinic.  The spot seemed larger than last fall, but it didn't bother him at all.  My friend and I agreed to set up an appointment for July to investigate the area, but felt as though it wasn't pressing because it didn't bother him in the least.  

Sunday (Left), Thursday (Right)

On Tuesday I rode him for the first time in 8 months, and it was absolutely fabulous.  No prep work, just tacked up and hopped on.  We unintentionally half-ass passaged for half of the first lap around the arena as he was excited, but he quickly settled down and was just lovely. I was on cloud nine and was, quite frankly, sad I couldn't ride on Wednesday due to other engagements.  By the time Thursday rolled around I was watching the minutes tick by at work; anxious to get home and go for another ride.  I immediately caught Kidd and noticed that he was walking slower than usual but it was hot and I didn't think anything of it.  We got to my arena and I got to work brushing him down.  I reached the other side of his body and stopped dead in my tracks as I noticed that spot on his forearm was now the size of a tennis ball.  As I began to inspect it I noted how sore he was.  I called my friend who manages the Vet Clinic and we agreed to bring him in the next morning for further inspection.

Friday morning Hubby hauled Kidd into the Vet for me and I met him there from work.  I noticed that the area seemed less swollen than the day before, but I figured at that point I had spent $60 just to walk through the door basically, so I had might as well proceed.  As the Vet clipped the hair away, the first thing we noticed was some discolouration of the skin, but given his Appaloosa breeding we thought we should continue to be certain.  

3 Day difference - shown "dirty" in each photo

The Vet inserted a needle and attempted to draw out fluid, assuming there was an abscess festering.  To our surprise, there was nothing.  Still with concern of a hardened ball of puss, she said we could send him home and monitor or we can lance it and investigate further.  Given that I was going to do just that in July and I am going out of town later this week I decided to proceed. $300, Kidd presumably got kicked. Just my luck, right? Luckily he's still in good spirits and he's healing well... But...

If that's not enough, he's also on the mend from kicking through a barbed wire fence then developing scratches to boot... This guy, I swear... Luckily at this point the wound shown below courtesy of a bad life decision and a barbed wire fence, is pretty much completely healed.

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Crazy Post-Horse Show Hair, Don't Care!

Just when I think "jeez, what next?!" I have been fighting with sore feet on Kai since being trimmed on May 25th.  It's been 2.5 weeks and she's still incredibly sore; so much so that 5 minutes of walking for her first ride since March and first bareback ride ever has caused her to become slightly lame.  I have been applying hoof hardener to her soles and hoping to see progress.  Her feet are so incredibly thin and brittle but have made vast improvements since she arrived here last November.  We have surpassed the brittle stage, but they're still quite thin - so much so that I can push on her sole and actually see it flex under the pressure.

Regardless, she's really shaping up.  She has seen the chiropractor twice, and even been to a horse show (I know, what?! Seriously Alaina, blog more!).  We have discovered that her 'misaligned SI' is actually not that, and instead is what appears to be previous trauma and there is some damaged fascia over the bone.. We are working on breaking up the tissue but it will take time and hopefully as she gains muscle and weight it will be less obvious.

The final weekend in May I put on our first Horse Show of the season, and this year we offered Dressage In Hand.  I decided to take Kai without the intention of winning ribbons but rather, just see how she behaved in that situation.

Due to my life being crazy lately, I handled Kai twice in 3 weeks prior to the show, and I knew it was a bad idea. Hubby hauled her to the show grounds for me as I was busy running the show, and as he pulled him I saw my trailer rocking and instantly thought oh god.... here we go... I walked into the trailer to unload her and noticed she was dripping in sweat and shaking from head to toe.  I unloaded her and she was wild. I gave her a small dosage of natural calming aid to take the edge off, and it had very little affect... but luckily by the time the class rolled around she was fantastic.  She was a little nervous of the walking along side the cattle chute, but upon inspecting it she carried on and was wonderfully behaved for the remainder of the class. We even came out of it with a 4th place ribbon!

Slowly gaining weight. It's an uphill battle but we're making progress!

Once we get through the sore feet and so on, I dont' know how much I will be posting about her because I have offered her to my husband for the summer as his older horse is now officially retired and his younger horse is taking his place which means he will be spending the summer at the race track ponying horses, leaving hubby horse-less.  It works fantastic because Raym *loves* the 'mindless miles' that young horses need, while I prefer to advance their training and this is something she isn't quite ready for yet anyway.. other than Ray making my 16HH TB look like a miniature pony, they get along really well.