land of wonders ~ october

Fall is a season of colorful trees and skies. In October, there are mornings we are treated with as I call it Surround Sound Color.

northeast on october 1

southwest

southeast 6:46am

Surround Sound Color happens fairly often during Fall evenings as well. When it does, I stop whatever I am doing. Slowly soak it up in all directions. Absorbing. Before the colorful magic quickly fades. Poof! As if to prepare us for longer Wintery bleak days to come.

At 12.75 years old, my grand dog Jameson's health is going down hill. I cherish however many remaining days of watching three canine buddies that grew up together, explore our woods. 

Tank, Jameson and Remi

Fall colors also brighten time spent indoors. I completed another stained glass project with my daughter. My Fall leaf below is ever changing with the light :)

10.2.25

same leaf as above

We may not have a water source on our land that ripples and flows, but we do have ever changing sky views that offer reflection in a similar yet different way.

10.3.25

The petunia's I start indoors from seed each year continue to provide color and nourishment.

Red Admiral butterfly

Pictured above and below are the last two winged wonders spotted for the year.

Viceroy (?) hiding on my marigolds

10.12.25

tree tops start to glow in Fall



different cloud formations appear most nights



Tank & Jameson (watching horses)


Do you think I could get both dogs to look at me at the same time? Nope.



 10.16.25

close-up

Towering trees always make me feel small. 

one of our entrances to paths in the woods

Just a small sample of the frequent glorious Fall skies that grace our land.

 10.17.25

Brad's current land project is removing a tree line. He is making the connecting path even wider in our Summer pasture. The tree line path became a dead end. It was in between the two pasture sections that make up the Summer pasture. It will give them more area to graze and make it one pasture. You may recall one section is behind our arena and the other borders part of our outdoor arena (pictured below) with a wide connecting path inbetween.

 10.18.25

I attended a second October stained glass workshop. This time we used all four stations, with both of my daughters and Brads niece. Doesn't have anything to do with our land, but hey it fits the timeline :) I was so delighted when sun came through the middle body/head textured glass and sparkled!! A happy surprise.

 10.19.25

The Autumn Blaze Maples we planted along our driveway are glowing at a rapid pace:

10.20.25


crisp Fall air brings out the fresh (33 secs)

10.21.25

peaceful pasture view 10.22.25

(Harmony & Hope and Nemo & Cierra)

maples in our woods come in many colors

my blueberry bush turns a brilliant red in Fall

full rainbow taken from the front of our house

a pair of bluebirds spotted hanging around the pasture

10.22.25

crows perched high scold loudly as we enter their woods

10.26.25

Hope and Harmony asking to come indoors

everything smells better together

(top is Remi, Tank and Jameson)

10.29.25

Nature is busy spreading (milkweed) seeds

10.31.25

October came and went incredibly fast. It was such a busy month for us, filled with wonder.

all is well

Our farrier was out for another 4 week trim. That evening, Hope balked while I walked her up/into the barn. Very out of character. We didn't think too much of it. There is some grippy gravel on the incline. Perhaps she caught a stone. Inside the barn she walked in the weirdest way. Extending her back legs straight forward and pointed. We checked her out and found nothing out of the ordinary. 

The next morning, Hope walked out of her stall and down to the pasture pretty much the same odd way. She seemed fine grazing in the pasture. Her exaggerated gait had not improved much by evening chores. 

33 seconds

Incase you are wondering about the first video comment, it was for me/my current mobility issues not Hope. Our daughter and son were with us that night. They can be seen/heard in the video. 

We all thought her walk looked neurological. It was as if Hope couldn't figure out where to place her feet. Especially her back feet. Needless to say we called our vet clinic in the morning to see if they could fit us in. They did and we got a two-fer vet visit. One vet was a recent graduate who was getting acclimated and a newer vet who was in charge. Both very nice gals. As you may recall, our regular vet is semi-retired. When you make an "emergency" call, you get who you get.

The vets checked Hope out all over. They took her pulse, and temperature (a first) then watched her move. It became evident she struggled with leg placement the most with elevation change. The incline to/from pastures, the step out of the arena onto concrete etc were all done with unusual leg movement. 
 

I have (thankfully) never seen a neurological exam. The flex and balance test things they did were interesting. A walk in hand with a tail pull to check for balance was included. All signs pointed to a neurological issue. Her leg placement was not as dramatic once inside the arena. However, she was hesitant and awkward with all movement she normally does with ease. For example, backing. 

21 seconds

We discussed the possibility of Stringhalt, Wobbles and EPM. They sent the video's to our vet. He has the most experience and is the clinic lameness expert. Other attending vets at the clinic also reviewed the videos. Our clinic works together as a team on more challenging cases.

Everyone thought what Hope was presenting was EPM :( most likely cause by ingesting opossum poop. Did you know possum are native to Australia and different than the opposum we have? Me either. Everyone I know calls our opossum, possum. 

Her blood sample was sent out for testing. While we waited for the results, Hope had three days of infused DMSO. An anti-inflammatory that stinks to high heaven. Our entire barn wreaked of rotten eggs/garlic. Pee-ew!! We have used DMSO in the past on other horses as a topical. She also had x-rays taken of her spine. 

hope getting back x-rays

Per our vet's recommendation, Hope was started on EPM medication. They said early EPM treatment is key, and it wouldn't hurt her. It was a hard decision to agree to treat for the unknown. 

Marquis is given with Corn Oil for better absorption 



corn oil, yum yum?

Our girl Hope took all of the above procedures with ease. Let me tell you it was a lot for any horse, let alone a two year old. The vet was impressed that they did not have to sedate her for the giant infusion needle insertion and standing still for the extended drip-drip-drip to happen.

My heart hurt as I watched Brads dream of raising/training/showing Cierra's off-spring fade away. He took all this better than I did and did not care about his dream. He just wants Hope to be okay. So do I. A reminder that things can change in an instance.

There was daily visible improvement with Hope's gait. Our vet rewatched the nero. exam video's the attending vets took. He changed his mind and is leaning more towards a weird short trim response vs EPM. I read trims can bring pre-existing conditions to the surface. Needless to say, we would be thrilled if this was all a result of a short trim. If so, the attending vet said this would be the most dramatic and unusual trim response any of them have ever seen.

Eight long days later, we got the call. Finally!! Waiting is hard. Hope tested negative for EPM and her spine xrays looked normal. Thank god. 

Of course, we don’t really know what made Hope react like she did. It may not sound extreme, but believe me it was. We are to let the vets know if changes resurface. 

Our farrier will be stunned when he hears about all this. Before you think he did something wrong, know he is a highly respected farrier and did nothing wrong with Hope's feet. There have been many eyes on her hooves. Our farrier has been trimming Hope since she was a baby. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say about her response. We will most likely start trimming her every other 4 week visit.

All is well that ends well.

padame fall update

As you may know, we have been trying to figure out Padame's off/on lameness. In April 2024 she had an MRI. It came back inconclusive. I posted a lameness update in March 2025. As of this date, we are still trying to figure out how to best help Padame with her soreness. Lameness never seems to stop (r)evolving. 

Thankfully, she was able to be shown by her trainer last season. However, Padame required hock injections. If this horrifies you, know leg shots are very common for show horses to be able to repetitively do what they do. Not a big fan of injections in horses, or humans for that matter. It is what it is and comes with the territory. I am not going further into the variety or pro's/con's. I think of them as similar to human's who receive knee/back etc shots. They are intended to help movement be more pain free. No different with active horses. Horse hocks eventually fuze, and these shots are no longer needed. 

The problem is Padame's leg injections were not lasting. She presented sore in a short period of time. For whatever reason, she was not getting the normal length of expected relief from them. Which reveals her soreness is caused by something else.

Fast forward to the visit I mentioned at our trainers. Brad asked me to attend a meeting to discuss Padame's on/off lameness. Our meeting included a horse show friend from years ago. She is a retired small animal surgeon/vet who has been studying equine lameness under a mentor. Her home herd has multiple retired show horses. Some due to chronic lameness. 

Her equine vet mentor is well-known for treating lameness on high end sport horses. I am sure many equine readers have heard of DeClue Equine. The difference with this vets treatment vs traditional equine vets is that she treats with a whole body approach. Traditional equine vets tend to treat lameness legs down. Patching the problem, not rehabilitating the cause. 

Our friend enthusiastically shared what she is studying about equine lameness. The general message was that it often stems from weakness in areas other than the legs. Requiring a whole body treatment approach. She talked about the Iliopsoas (aka hip flexor) being a common weakness in chronic lame horses. Iliopsoas is a non-weight bearing muscle/tendon. Here is a brief article that explains the muscle/tendon. 

For those of you interested in horse movement, below are video's of Padame twirling.

September 2025 (1.33 seconds)

1.17 seconds

Iliopsoas Injuries is a podcast link that was shared with us. With all due respect, I couldn't get past the excessive steak reference. I might fast forward and retry listening. Then again, I cannot keep up with the endless podcast rabbit hole!! 

We, mostly Brad, had a lot to think about. Potential treatments mentioned included a muscle relaxer, Chiro and Body work and progressive light walk-n-trot in hand. Back imaging and a series of back injections were also discussed.
 

Decisions were made in Padame's best interest. Three of us were in agreement on not going the back injection route. Inserting needles between vertebrae sounds frightening. We don't know if Padame actually has Iliopsoas weakness. Chiro and Bodywork helped her improve and she eventually went back to being ridden lightly. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the soreness returned. We are once again back to square one (aka the unknown). 

The next step for Brad's blondee will be hauling her to a specialty equine clinic that provides Thermal imaging. Hopefully it will help figure out what is making her sore. 

Padame needs a new treatment plan. You can't keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results. 

land of wonders ~ september 2/2

September feels like such a long time ago. Twenty three days to be exact. The second half of our ninth month continued hot and turned drier. I wore my head net walking in our woods for most of it. Eventually, flying pests and more unusual nature wonders slowed down. Except for magnificent clouds! They were plentiful. Floating above without a care. Luring me outside, to spend a few minutes pondering their wonder. Blink and clouds change shape. Especially as the sun dips below our Western tree line. Casting vibrant light on different parts of the airy fluff. 

9.16.25

Some cloud shapes instantly resemble one thing or another. I thought the above looked like Goofy riding a magic carpet. Shapes rarely last for long.

There are evening where cloud fascination can be enjoyed in all directions. I get instantly wide eyed. Stop whatever I am doing and hustle in/out our doors, in all directions. It happens so often, I no longer hear "what are you doing?".

facing West

flocks of Geese heard then seen, high in the Eastern sky

formations of various sizes kept a-honking, as they flew northwest

I noticed more fuzzy crawlers appearing in September. Always on their way to who knows where. I have no idea what most of them are. My Google search results have been wrong a lot lately. Proving, you cannot believe everything you read on the internet!

Yellow Woolly Bear Caterpillar 
9.17.25

Autumn Crocus

Large Maple Spanworm Moth

The little blue wildflowers found in our pines continued to captivate my attention. We have one plant/patch growing. I watched for blooms every day. I can tell you when they do flower, the bloom lasts longer than one day. Depending on weather.

Dayflower
9.18.25

I can't get over the color, as well as the tiny bright yellow perfectly formed orchid looking stamens. There is also conflicting online info when one tries to ID these. Grows by wetland, grows in dry locations...whatever.

All know for sure, is what I see with my own eyes.

more tree window frogs visited
9.19.25

Check out the wild sky outside my West windows. Squeal!!

Closer views:

Turkey feathers of all sizes could be seen just about everywhere. I used to collect the feathers I found. There are so many. Now I leave them where they lay.

9.21.25

sunset

close-up

Woolly Bear Caterpillars started appearing. Fork lore claims the width of their black and orange bands can predict the coming winter's severity. A wide orange or brown band is said to forecast a mild winter, while a wide black band predicts a harsh, cold, and snowy one. 

My prediction: 50/50

9.23.25

Tank is always happy

My Epi Cactus bloomed off/on all Summer outside on the front porch. Another round of blooms started in September. I recently moved the plant back inside. It requires long sleeves and gloves (and still getting poked). Many memories are attached to this special plant. It is currently blooming like crazy indoors. Again! 

9.24.25

pop of early color

not your mothers pearls

waterlily autumn crocus

I was so surprised to find more than one of these had popped up in my bird feeder bed: 

9.28.25

hocus pocus, excuse the focus

many more creepy crawlies were spotted

With September coming to a close, the anticipation of cooler Fall weather increased. Especially when Summer's heat decided to hang around f.o.r.e.v.e.r. At some point, I was able to stop wearing my head net and just swat. swat. What a relief! 

Our last day ended with a visit to see Brad's blondeee. Post to come. Eventually :)
 

Padame (at trainers) 9.30.25