Fast-forward to:

THE NEXT DAY:

My daughter is newly in a cast.  And my son has just started drumming lessons.

If nothing else, an older sibling drumming on the cast could be an excellent diversion.  Well, until it isn't.  But, there was also drumstick back massage, and nobody ended up furious.  So, that was cool.

Anyway, as if the broken foot were not enough, both my kids have ended up getting poison oak.  One is making a new trail down to the lake with machetes, the other is bored.  Guess which one probably has  a poison oak rash inside the cast?

On the face . . . in the cast . . . . oh, dear God.

And, did I mention The Dog?  Sadie has had a quarter-sized bare spot on her side that has recently started to worry her a lot.  So, we went to the vet this morning.

The vet has microscopically ruled out mange.  Yay.  And he also did not see any mast cells.  Double-yay.  But, he is stumped.

And so, this is where we end up.

Sadie in the "Comfy-Cone."

Too many pieces

Last Tuesday (one week ago), my daughter broke her foot in a bad landing from an emergency dismount. Nutmeg may have been stung, or she may have brushed the electric fence.  Regardless, the emergency dismount was the right thing to do in the situation.

(Taken in February)

Poor Tessa has been here before.  Or so I thought.  I was expecting a run-of-the-mill fracture, a few weeks in a cast, and back to normal.  But then the podiatrist looked at her x-ray.

(Navicular bone ain't right).

 And then he ordered a CT Scan. Which showed that her navicular bone had broken into several (5) small pieces. 

After a lengthy discussion, the podiatrist told us (honestly) that surgery was unlikely to help the joint in the long-term.  Too many small pieces to pin, and a very difficult location to access surgically.  I appreciate his candor and his restraint.

Sadly, the prognosis is that she will likely end up with early arthritis. With or without surgery.  So why suffer the "slice-and-dice?" (Tessa's exact words).

She is in now in a non-weight-bearing cast for 4 weeks. At that point, they will re-evaluate those crazy bones. They will either want to put her back into a cast or transition the foot into a boot for a couple more weeks. 

On the upside, I'm really into knowing the weather.  Surely, my arthritic daughter will be able to tell me when a storm is moving in.

And on the other hand, maybe in 30 years, there will be really excellent biotechnology for this kind of thing.

All The Jumps

Tessa has been teaching her horse to jump.

They are having a blast.

The thing is, once you start teaching creatures to jump, it can be hard to stop.

She discovered that Sadie likes it too.

And she's good at it.

Tessa can get animals to do almost anything for her, because she turns it all into a game.

Wheee!

 Sometimes there is cheating!

But mostly, there is jumping. For joy.

And, for the Jolly Ball.

Winner.

Signals

Yesterday, there was a Great Blue Heron hanging out in the tree behind our house.

All seemed well.

All is well.

Then, he began to receive signals.

"Yes, I read you . . . standing by . . . ."

Preparations were made.

Extending uplink module . . . .

And the bird readied himself for interstellar message transmission:

Ready for signal transmission!

Apparently, the message was:

"Turn your head the other way."

Got Wood?

Today Tessa said, "You know how our horses were listed at the SPCA as a Morgan cross and a Quarter Horse cross?"

"Yes...."

"Well, I figured out the other part of the mix."

"Yes?"

"Termite."

She's right.  Our horses are into really into wood.  Mouthing, nibbling, chewing, gnawing, splintering, savoring.....

The corral started out really nice and unblemished.  Considering that over 50% of the wood is salvaged/repurposed lumber, we were pleased with how it ended up looking.  Vintage.  Seasoned.  Au natural.

Tasty.

It begins like this:

And deteriorates to this:

 Then this:

 UNITL...

(crumbs),

and finally, freedom.

Not to worry, they came home for breakfast.  Sadly, there was only hay.

Paris

This is my girl, Paris.  She is a 5 year-old Morgan, and has stolen my heart utterly.  Looking at her today, you'd never guess that she spent 2 weeks in Equine ICU following her rescue from dire circumstances.

This is how she looked when she was found with 18 other horses who were without food or water.

Here are a couple stories about the rescue.

19 Abandoned Horses Rescued
http://www.kionrightnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12920685

Red Cross Hero:  Woman Rescues Horse Near Death
http://www.kionrightnow.com/story/14621156/red-cross-hero-woman-rescues-horse-near-death?

Paris was so weak when she was found, she could hardly walk onto the trailer.  At the shelter, she collapsed.  Larry Carr, Barn Supervisor at the SPCA told me that when a horse goes down like that, they don't necessarily get back up.  Her chance of survival was slim.

When I met Paris at the trainer's, about 17 months after her rescue, I worried that she'd be too much horse for me.  She is young and still fairly green; at the time she could hardly stand still to be tacked up.  But the moment I got on her, I fell in love.  I love the way she moves, I love the way she responds to the lightest cue.  She really wants to do the right thing, even if she isn't completely sure what it is you are asking of her. Everyone who meets her comments on how sociable and curious she is.

I hadn't planned on adopting two horses.  But one day my husband said, "If you want to bring two horses home, you should."  And everything fell into place.  Paris and Nutmeg had become solid BFFs while they were at the trainer's, so keeping them together allowed them to emotionally support each through their transition to their new home.  They give each other confidence when we go out on the trail.

Another surprise has been what a natural leader Paris is.  She always wants to go first on the trail (or at least, ahead of Nutmeg).  If we encounter something dodgy (which for a horse can be pretty much anything), she is more easily convinced to approach it, explore it,  and let go of her fear.  Nutmeg takes her cues from Paris;  it's all good.  Hooray for the brave young horse!

I would again like to thank Larry Carr, Stephanie Nicora, Stacy Sanders, and everyone at the SPCA who helped bring Paris back from the brink of death.  And I think I could never say enough about the horse trainer, Kristi Fredrickson, who starts these green horses from the SPCA with so much patience, intuition, intelligence, dedication, and plain old hard work, giving them the best possible foundation for their future relationships with humans.  

You are, each of you, profoundly inspiring, largely unsung heroes, and you have our eternal gratitude and admiration.

Nutmeg

This is Tessa's horse, Nutmeg.  She's a 10 year-old quarter horse, and she is the perfect horse for my girl, calm and collected, but still eager to go out and see the world.  

Here is the story of her rescue.  http://www.kionrightnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=13805271

Most of you know all this, because I've told you or posted about our new horses on FB; this is mainly for me, and for the record.

I cannot adequately express my admiration for the work the folks at the SPCA for Monterey County do, and also the trainer, Kristi Fredrickson who started both Nutmeg and Paris, and turned them into the friendly, dependable, sensible, and trustworthy horses they are today.