Marieh gets unsewn and we take a walk

Wilma here.
It was a busy weekend. The vet lady came out on Saturday and took "stitches" out of Marieh's shoulder. Marieh still needs to stay in her stall for a few days because a couple of the "stitches" didn't do a real good job - probably because her shoulder was so swollen. She is disgusted about having to stay separate, but I told her it is for her own good, and she should be happy her partner is taking such good care of her. The humans put some goopy red stuff on the wound to help it heal, so she can get back out with us sooner. Here's a picture of Marieh with her partner.

Later on we went for walk. The humans have a friend who wants to move out here. I've met this friend; she has a very tall Friesian named Tia, and I took the friend and Tia on a ride along our trails. I think having more Friesians in the neighborhood is a good thing. There can never be too many Friesians. The friend is looking at some property called lot 96. We never did find it, it is very far away. We walked for quite a while before the humans found a map with lot 96 on it. When they saw where it was, they decided it was too far for us to go that day. I was glad, because even though nobody was riding me on that part of the walk, it was still a long way. We rested in a picnic area, and then my partner got on me for a few minutes. Her man partner took these photos. He thinks he's pretty funny. But see, MY partner has a beautiful Friesian-type bum, just like mine!

Back to as Normal as It Gets

Life is settling back to normal. Marieh's catheter is out; we're giving her a few more days of bute. Her vet will be here Saturday to look at the wound and take out the stitches, and hopefully give her the okay to move out of her confining space into something where she can stretch her legs. We have a stall with a run ready for her if she can't go back in with the girls yet.

It feels odd to only visit the barn twice a day instead of six times. Amazing how quickly one gets accustomed to a different routine. And also how quickly you drop back into the old habits.

This morning when we went to the barn Willow was resting in the common area, actually laying down with her feet tucked under her. I was a little concerned, but I guess she was just tired. When we put out the hay, she got to her feet and joined the rest of the girls in breakfast. She's such a sweet mare, and I think she may be working on an abscess in one of her front feet. The last time she was so lame I poulticed her feet and helped the abscess along. She walked much better after that. She seems to need the detox every now and then.

A neighbor friend loaned me a book about creative pasture management. It's quite interesting, and I'm looking at our pastures, wondering how we can give it a try without completely tearing down everything we've done so far. If it keeps the horses moving and helps them all get fit and Willow to stay healthy, it will be a very good thing indeed. Then maybe we can put Cabo back in with the ladies so he'll have some company.

Wind and Rain

Wilma here.
We had a wind storm the other day. It was quite....breezy. Cabo had to stay outside because he's not very nice to Willow. His pasture is close to the trees, though, so he had a little shelter. It was much windier up in the barn. My partner left one of the doors to the barn open, so the wind would be able to go through it instead of trying to lift the barn up and take it away. It was a pretty big storm, but the music in the barn never went off, and the lights still went on when my partner came outside.
The next day it rained. It was a very strange day. It rained, then it would stop and then it would rain, and then some little while things almost like snow but hard came down. Then there were flashes in the sky and big booms. Then it rained some more. It rained so hard Lake Harmony came back. This is place next to the driveway which looks like a long skinny lake. we haven't seen it since last winter.
The leaves aren't even off the trees yet, though. Has winter already started?

Which Needle? Which Syringe? What am I DOING???

Gotta love those Friesians. A lesser horse would be climbing the walls by now, but our beloved Marieh is just taking it in....the neck.

She has a catheter in her vein to make giving her antibiotics a lot less of a pain in the butt. This being my first experience with catheterdom, she may have preferred the sore bum to putting up with my fumbling. By the time this week is over, we'll both be experts - me at doing the syringe switch and her at holding herself reallllly still so I can do the switching.

Here's what our schedule looks like:

First thing - flush the catheter
Go away for a while - grind up some bute in a delicious paste and put it into a syringe
Come back with breakfast - While horsie eats, stick thermometer in horsie bum, flush catheter, give antibiotic, flush catheter, pause the hay intake long enough to give horsie a paste in the mouth, remove thermometer, look at wound sites, record temp and other vitals.
Go away and let the poor girl finish her breakfast
Later - another flush
Later still - yet another flush - gotta keep that catheter open...
Supper time! Includes a flush, antibiotic, flush, another kind of antibiotic, flush, and some topical stuff for around the wound so potent that gloves are recommended. I recommend two pair.
Last thing before bed - Tuck her in and flush that catheter!

She still loves me. The mare is beyond price.

Marieh is home!

Marieh came home today. She was at a special vet about 100 miles away. She will be all right, but it will take some time. Meanwhile, she has a catheter in her neck and will need some special nursing care for the next seven days. It will be a good bonding for the two of us. Unfortunately, the man of the house had to go out of town for a week. Maybe it's just as well; he doesn't do so great with needles and blood.

The other horses were very glad to see Marieh, and of course she was happy to see them, too. It didn't take her long to settle down though. I hope she's okay with being in her oversized stall for the next 10-14 days - just until the stitches come out of her shoulder. Silly girl, maybe we should call her "Blondie.'

We're happy she's home!

Eastern Washington

Wilma here.
I went for a ride in the horse car on the weekend. It was a long ride, through some mountains, and when we came out we were in a place that's a lot drier. The human boss mare called it "Eastern Washington". We went to a place where there were LOTS of black horses just like me! I got put into a space just like the other horses, and got some hay and some nice clean water. The sun was warm on my back. It was nice to see all the other horses. Some of them were very big and some were about my size. There were lots of people, too, and some of the horses played some games with their humans. It all looked very interesting.

It turned out, though, that we were "late", because the day before the horse car took Marieh away, to a place where they can help her with her sore leg. She didn't come back, but the humans said she will be fine, and she needed to stay at the other place for a while so they can make her well. That was good news. Anyway, because we were "late", I didn't get to play any games with the other horses. But when all the game playing was over, I got to go into the big space and play with what was there. There were some jumps, which human boss mare and I jumped over together. That was fun! I kind of like to jump little things like that. Then there was a little bridge, and some poles, and a big tire with dirt in it. I climbed up on the tire with all four feet, and felt VERY tall. My partner stayed on the ground and told me how amazing I was for getting on the tire with hardly a fuss. (It was easy, but I didn't tell her that).

Then we went over to the "tarp", which had water on it. I don't like getting my feet wet. My partner let me think about it for a while, and then encouraged me to step on the "tarp" and into the water. She went with me. With her next to me, that was easy, too, and the water was okay! My partner put her arms around my neck and told me I was the best mare in the unverse and she was very glad I was HER partner. This felt very good to me, so I hugged her back. She is a nice partner and boss mare, even if sometimes she's a little too bossy. But maybe she gets that from me.

The next day we went into the big space again, only this time I had the saddle on. My partner played with me for a few minutes and I got back on the tire. Then she got on my back and we went for a ride. We rode over the bridge, and went in and out of the jumps, and then we did some trotting, and I carried her up on the tire. It was a lot of fun! After that I got to rest in my space again, and then got back in the horse car and we went home.

It's nice to go to new places and see other black horses, and it's nicer to come home. I was happy to see my herd, and they missed me, too. Now when Marieh comes home, we'll all be together again and it will be very good indeed.

Marieh

Wilma here.

Marieh hurt herself about 9 sunrises ago. She was playing in the gravel paddock and got too rambunctious and hit her shoulder on a gate hook. How she did that, I don't know, because it's a safe pasture and the gate hook is rounded and not someplace you can easily hit it. But she put a hole in her shoulder and split her hide.
The horse doctor came out and gave her something so she wouldn't feel any pain, and then put purple string in her shoulder to hold the hide together. Then our human partners built a place for her to stay in the long barn, but by herself. We can still get in and out, though, and we can see her and talk with her. She also had to take lots of pills for many sunrises, but that's done now.

She has interest in what's going on around her, but she's having some trouble walking. This is too bad because Marieh is what the human partners call "a lovely mover", and also Marieh likes being "a lovely mover". With her wavy mane and tail, she is a sight to behold. She is also my granddaughter, so I am especially proud of and fond of her.

The rest of the herd and I spend a lot of time in the barn, keeping her company. We're even letting the brown and white pony into the barn to do this, although she has to stay on the other end of our space. I stand the closest to Marieh, and Emerald, who is also a Friesian but not directly related to us, gets to stand next closest, and then Willow, the old lady quarter horse who is very gentle and kind, and almost black. She has a black mane and tail, anyway, so that counts. I think of her as part Friesian.

Think about Marieh now and then, and think of her as being well, and back to being "a lovely mover". It will help her get better.

Wilma out for today.

My Partner is Silly

Wilma here. Of course I'm not actually typing this; my partner is. I trust her enough to put my words down accurately, though, even when they're about HER.

The other day my partner came out to barn all excited because she fit into something called "genes". She wanted me to pose with her and these "genes". I was much more interested in what was in the wheelbarrow, since there are always pieces of hay and other tasty things to eat, but she put her sweatshirt around my neck and MADE ME STAND THERE. That was okay for a minute, but hey! Let's get back to the important stuff! Food.

Here I am being patient (mostly) and my partner grinning like a fool about this whole "genes" thing.

I still don't know what the big deal was.

Wilma - Aikidoka

Who knew that Friesians practiced their own form of Aikido? Wilma showed me the other day just how hard she's been practicing. All of this, apparently, has beentaking place under cover of darkness, or during the day while I've got my back turned.

I took Aikido for a couple of years. The first thing you're taught is how to roll. You roll forward, you roll backwards, you roll fast and slow. By the time you're ready to your test for black belt, you can roll just about in slow motion, moving from shoulder to hip, legs beautifully arched over your head, and then complete the roll by springing lightly to your feet. Ta dah! Every hair still in place, and not a wrinkle or speck of dust on your uniform.

Now, I've never discussed my brief but fun career on the Aikido mat with Wilma. I've never shown her any moves, or otherwise indicated that I knew anything about any martial art at all. How was I to know she had been secretly studying??

Her pay off came one weekend after some heavy rain. She and Willow were n the arena, with its hogsfuel base. The younger horses were next door, in the long pasture.

It's not clear how it got started, but suddenly there was a game of "Who can buck and run higher?" going on. Wilma is 16; apparently she was feeling much younger, however, for there she was holding her own against her 3-year-old granddaughter, Marieh, who can buck to the moon when she feels like it. She has a very good portfolio of spins and sliding stops, too.

After one particularly spectacular display by Marieh, Wilma, deciding she would not be outdone, leapt into the air, performed a snazzy little buck in mid-air, and prepared for landing. Uh oh. Her landing gear didn't come down quite right and her hooves started skidding along a slippery spot right by the fence. Next, her front legs buckled, and there she was, skating along on her knees like someone from Holiday on Ice, massive Friesian hindquarters high in the air. Disaster seemed imminent. As I watched in horror, time slowed down, and I had visions of scraping my darling horse up from the dirt and untangling her from what was certain to be a collision with the fencing. Wilma fooled me, though. Her Aikido reflexes went into high gear. She gracefully lowered her head, laid one shoulder down, and executed a perfect forward roll. At one point, all four legs were arching beautifully through the air as she rolled from shoulder to hip, flipped to the other side (not part of the human forward roll, but important in the horse version), and then sprang lightly to her feet. She shook herselfonce, tossed her mane, and gave me a look that said very clearly, "What did you think of THAT?" Then she calmly walked away, content in the knowledge that all those late-night workouts had just paid off. All I could say was "Give the girl her black belt!"