wednesday whirlwind

This post title fits my world lately. It is mostly inspired by our second day of ridiculously high winds! I guess if your days are crazy, you might as well have crazy weather too. Said no one ever. 2017 already ranks high on the "it's been a very unusual year" list, in more ways then one.

Our spring vet appointments came & went, over a week ago already. Koda lucked out, and only got immunized. Cierra had shots, teeth floated and since she was doing some odd breathing for our trainer the day prior, they checked her lungs too. Everything was normal. The garbage bag procedure was new for all of us at the barn. 

Cierra handled breathing
into the bag very well

Nemo always get's the most done, poor guy. Shots, teeth, ultrasound and flushing for his unique calcium build up problem. We also found out he has to repeat the whole allergy shot series again, forever. I swore the vet said it was a once a month maintenance shot after the initial series, but I was wrong. He explained the reasoning. Every year it's a brand new pollen season, so the calculated shots are the best way to keep symptoms down. Nemo was SO incredibly miserable last year, it is worth it. I will be glad when Nemo lives with us again, so we can give him the shots ourselves. The intricate ever changing schedule is asking a lot of someone else. We are fortunate he lives at a place where other people love him too.

Nemo & Brad by the scary door

My rides with Koda continue going well. We are back to riding in the indoor. He is being such a good boy under saddle. Koda is Koda and will always try shenanigans on the ground, all minor. The other day he was standing in the arena while I scooped poop before getting in the saddle (his brother is a never ending poop machine) and one rein flopped to the ground. Koda picked the rein up in his mouth and was trying to put it back on the rail, or direct himself with it - not sure. He is no dummy. Typical silliness, always making us laugh!

We are working on a little bit of everything, including some loping. His lope in frame is like riding on a cloud! My favorite gait, with a willing partner. We don't lope endless circles, don't need to. Just enough, is good enough for us.

Koda in no hurry to rejoin his herd

Some other fast changing news: our house build started this week! Brad & our son staked the house out (again) on Saturday. Brad prepped the site, and then we met with the excavator to answer any questions. While they talked building stuff, I snuck off for a quick walk through the pines. Something I haven't had a chance to do for a long time. 

heading out of the woods
and seeing our barn for the first time in the distance,
made me pause...

The very next day our house site was turned into a giant sand box. 

for perspective,
see Brad standing in the photo

They finished digging the house today, and tonight my guys along with a handful of awesome employees will do the next step - set the footings. I sure hope the wind dies down!

Our house site will continue changing rapidly over the next week, before it slows down again. I won't bore you with a gazillion step-by-step house building photos, but you can bet I'll be taking them!! I may or may not be biased, but I find the process fascinating and fun to shoot. I'll share a few updates, but if you don't hear from me for a while you will know why!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Before you know it, we will all be riding outside!!

horsey tidbits

I have not frozen into a snowbank, altho I have enjoyed more family time playing in the snowy North Woods since our last trip. My horse update is limited at best, sad but true. Here are a few horsey tidbits from the past week (ish):

• Koda & Nemo both needed teeth floated, shots & cogging done. Check. A big check. What I really meant is, it's done!

• Poor Nemo had to be flushed again...you can read about his rare Calcium condition (guess it doesn't have a name?) here. It is concerning, to say the least...

• I received sad news the great Hollywood Jill (aka Pistol) was laid to rest. She was Koda's dam & Nemo's grand-dam. A special Appaloosa, with a long list of accomplishments - none more important then being someone's heart horse. Thoughts go out to our friend Diane.

Pistol (L) Koda (R)
June 2010

• Not much riding happening here. We really need to focus on finding some land, so we can have our horses at home... 

The last time we did ride, hubby did not rake the arena. Interestingly enough, the service door wasn't scary anymore. It's something about the light/air peeking under the door on the flattened sand.

• Wisconsin is still a frigid tundra. Surprise, surprise.

Nemo (L) making friends in the frozen pasture
December 2013

• Midwest Horse Fair is getting closer, 38 days away! Check out the presenters here (Ken McNabb is coming back!). Hopefully we won't still be wearing winter boots in April!! 

take your horse to work day

Our daughter works at our vet clinic, and took Koda & Nemo to work with her. They had their teeth floated, coggins, spring shots etc. and Mr Nemo had his annual bladder ultra sound. They found he needed to be flushed, and once again extracted sediment, but did not have to break up any crystals (stones) this time. Good news. 

We haven't noticed Nemo dripping (it's tough to catch with rough board horses tho) but the ultrasound has just become part of his annual care anyways. You can read more on Nemo's unusual condition here.

I think the boys were ready to come home after a long day at the vets. It sounded like a regular barnyard when we switched vehicles and picked them up!

weeks later

In just one short week, there was a noticeable difference in Koda & Nemo. Some of what we experienced may have been attributed to the warm 80 degree weather, the kind you want to bottle - and then open up during a cold or rainy stretch. Unlike some other horses at the trainers, ours were handling our early jump from winter to summer pretty well - winter coat and all. Spring serves a transitional purpose, we just didn't get one this year. In reality, another week of training and strengthening was showing it's effect. Some weeks it shows, and other not as much. Nemo was no longer "racey". Koda's collection response was back, and he continued to move out. It always helps to be able to ride in the large outdoor arena.

Fast forward to this weekend. We recently got some much needed rain, that stuck us back in the indoor yesterday. It's just not as much fun to ride inside for horse or human. Koda's forward go, pretty much got up and went. Repeated cues were needed on more then one occasion. He seemed bored, more then anything. I tried to change it up as much as I could. There were some cones set out, which added a structure to move around. Our trainer spent most of our ride helping Brad & Nemo work on softness, and their lope. It seems to be the initial training focus, where both horses need work. Speaking of work, I need to spend more time on my side passes and attempted spins, they felt pretty sloppy...and I really like doing them.

On a different note, Nemo's bladder biopsy had to be rescheduled. The specialized equipment was out of state, being used for a training. Waiting another week turned out to be a good thing. When he went into the vet hospital for his exploratory procedure, the preliminary ultrasound showed the mass in his bladder had started to break down on it's own - it was a clump of calcium. They didn't need to do the biopsy, instead they were able to finish breaking the mass down and flush the calcium out. He was happy to get back to his home-away-from-home. Our vet will continue looking into things that may be contributing to the build-up, starting by testing our hay. We are pretty happy with the news, and look forward to many years together with our big entertaining sweet guy!

Leftovers are good!
Nemo figured out if he flips the tire at home, just right, the grain that was wedged between the tire and pan from his messy eating brother (Koda) pops right out and lands in the pan.

nemo & koda update

Nemo and Koda went back to the trainers for a tune-up at the end of February. While they've both done well getting back to work, apparently it's Koda that has shown a real change. He wants to go-go-go, and is eager for his workouts. I'm not surprised. It was clear to me over the winter that he would rather be an indoor/outdoor horse with a job. Koda is happiest when he has something to do that uses his mind, as with many horses. He is a lower pecking order horse, who loves food and thoroughly enjoys the uninterrupted meals delivered three times a day at Iron Horse. If only the stables were closer, and I could afford it, he would live there full time. We are going up to ride this weekend, it will be interesting to see how he feels & reacts.

Koda at home, right before heading back to work

Both boys had their teeth floated, coggins, and shots done by our shared vet, conveniently at Iron Horse. When we dropped Koda & Nemo off, for the first time since his procedure, we noticed Nemo dripping....it was time for a recheck. You may recall he had calcium build up in his bladder, and had it flushed once before.

When I called Brad to see how the vet visit went, I knew from the sound of my hubby's voice that something wasn't right when they did Nemo's ultrasound. He didn't want to discuss it until I got home from work. Great. That was a long ride, with my mind running rampant. I figured he needed to be re-flushed, but there had to be more...

Our vet was pleased to find Nemo's bladder to still be of normal size, with less buildup. However, he found a growth. He tried to get what calcium had built up out, but the growth prevented it. Vet Dave was stunned, as the growth wasn't there on the first ultrasound & extraction. He is looking into the situation further, and reviewing Nemo's scans with his network of experts. It is likely Nemo will have to go to the vet hospital to get the growth biopsied. Our trusted vet is extremely knowledgeable, and we will be well advised. He is aware of the fact that Nemo is Brad's buddy, his heart horse. I am keeping the faith that whatever this growth is, there is something we can do about it to help our beloved big guy - who gives sooo much to us.

Nemo at home, right before heading back to work

Nemo’s bladder procedure

We arrived earlier this week to find Nemo in la-la land, with trainer Patty holding him steady and giving him some love. It was odd, and kinda sad to see Mr. Personality all doped up. Brad relieved Patty, and took over care of his sweet sleepy boy. Vet Dave was able to make it earlier then expected, and we had just missed his procedure. We were however able to see the end result, and talk about the procedure with him.

They sedated Nemo in order to be able to insert a catheter to flush what I believe was a sterile saline solution through his bladder. They used a clear bag of sorts, at the end of a clear tube to pump it in. What came out was an entire bucket full of watered down urine, and at the bottom was an unbelievable amount of thick butter colored calcium slurry. The calcium was a consistency similar to very fine sand, that clung to the bottom of the pail. We were all in awe not only at the amount, but how it sunk and hung to the bottom of the bucket. No wonder Nemo had trouble pushing it out. Poor guy.

Dave had manually worked Nemo’s bladder to push the calcium out, and said his bladder felt much smaller without all that stuff in there. He did another ultrasound, things looked good. Dave finished up by giving him a preventive shot of penicillin, and told us to watch him for an infection from the catheter. I asked what to look for. He said constant short bursts of urine, and that if Nemo was to get an infection it would show up within the next couple days. He also suggested when we take him home and put him back in the pasture, to put small salt shavings in his grain during the summer to keep him drinking water. His hope is now that the calcium build-up has been removed, it will be easier for Nemo to push out a regular amount. In our vet’s 25 years of active practice, Nemo is only his third case. With all the bajillion horses in and out of Patty's training facility (also in the past 25 years) she had never heard of, or seen, calcium build-up. It is that rare.

Brad put Nemo back in his stall to finish waking up, while Patty & I tacked up and went out to an open field to ride. Altho I felt bad Brad couldn’t join us, we had an awesome ride – just the two of us (well four, including our mounts). She has such a pretty farm, and with all the rain we’ve had – it felt so good to be outside. After our field ride, we went on a short trail ride on her property, and then headed inside so she could work with her next appointment while I did some arena work. I asked Brad if he wanted to ride Koda, and he did for a little bit. Not sure if it was my saddle, or my pooped pony, or combination there of - but he wasn’t too thrilled.

Nemo had started to lie down in his stall, and we all got a little concerned. I suggested Brad walk him now that he was awake, while Patty called vet Dave. He wasn’t rolling, but kept lying down. She thought he was just uncomfortable, and needed some bute. She was right, that’s exactly what vet Dave said. So Patty gave him some, as well as a block of salt to push around. Nemo seemed better, and started to eat. I think she could tell we didn’t want to leave, and assured us she would check on him. It was SO hard to leave Nemo…if he was home, we would have slept by his side and never left. In Patty we trust, so we headed home. Brad drove up the next morning to see Nemo, and said he was his old self. They were getting ready to work him. It was business as usual.