Dental day

After a slightly embarrassing argument with Sage about getting the trailer on our practice run on Thursday night, she stepped right into the trailer on Friday morning. Brandy followed and off we went to school. Everything went as smoothly as it could go. The girls got to hang out in a paddock (and it didn't even rain on them) while we worked on other horses, and then I was able to do both of their teeth--which were not too bad--and we were back in the trailer by 5 pm. I left the trailer still hitched up to practice, and everyone (including Chinook) was eager to get in again the next morning for a treat. Here are some pictures from the day:

 :

Of moving and mustangs

I have been a bad, bad blogger. I realize this. In fact, I am quite ashamed of this fact as I sit here trying to sum up the last few months. So, here goes:

As spring has progressed, the mustangs have gotten to spend more time out on the grass, which they love:

Brandy injured her flexor manica (a soft tissue structure, let's just say) in her left hind leg, so she is absent from these pictures because she is on paddock rest. She has a small pipe corral where she can spend time outside without running around.

We had a snowstorm (in March of all times!), and Chinook and Sage very much enjoyed exploring and playing in the white, fluffy powder.

 Sage and I have been doing some riding in our spare time. She is an amazing horse; I ride her only every so often, and she is the same steady girl as always. Most of our riding has been confined to the arena because I ride by myself, but a few weeks ago we took our first mini trail ride up the road, and she was no less than stellar!

And then, unexpectedly, spring decided to show up. I got a sharp new curry comb and have been taking sheets of hair off these guys! Patrick took a picture of Chinook enjoying a grooming.

What a dork he is. Isn't he getting big?! Here's a picture of him trying to get himself tangled in his lead rope. Don't worry, we have a Blocker tie ring that allows the rope to slip through a bit, so he didn't get himself hung up.

He's even slicked out a bit since I took that picture last week. He's turning into a sleek little yearling. He's certainly not as refined as Sage, but I think he'll be pretty good looking for a block-headed mustang. :) He's even got the sunglasses look down pat!

So what about Canada you ask? Well, the lower mainland of British Columbia is a very expensive place to keep horses and has very little pasture. The plan currently is to take Sage and maybe Brandy, too, while the others will stay here and be cared for a by a friend boarding her gelding at the house. Sage is getting her export paperwork done tomorrow, and the plan is to move at the end of next month. Then I graduate and start work in June!

But, for the moment, there are other exciting things happening. I am currently in the equine dentistry elective, so tomorrow Sage and Brandy will be headed to school for me to float their teeth. This will be the first time Sage has ever had her teeth done, and I am hoping she will represent mustangs well in our very busy day tomorrow. More updates to follow, so stick with me! :)

We're alive and well, I swear!

Yes, we're alive. I know it doesn't seem like it, because I haven't hardly posted here at all, but it's true. I am on overnights right now, which actually means I get to see the ponies in the daylight occasionally--and that makes me happy, except that I am too tired to ride. I did, however, ride the other weekend just in the arena (because of course the neighbor's dog was going nuts and doing the run and hide, then jump out of the bushes at the fence thing--and here's me thinking I should probably not ride a very green, hasn't been ridden in ages mustang out next to that). Sage was as usual a trooper about everything, and her "I don't want to trot" issues seem to have been forgotten.

Chinook is pretty much huge, and getting bigger on a daily basis. Overall he is a stellar boy, but I don't do much with him other than groom him and pick out/trim his feet. He stands tied for about half an hour almost every night, and it's nice because you can tie him up just to get him out of your hair while doing chores and he just stands there no matter what. I like that in a horse. I can see where having a gelding will be different from the girls. I also put a saddle on him the other day just for kicks and giggles--he's already worn a saddle pad with a "cinch" around his belly--and acted like he didn't even notice. I think that despite the little baby things he does that can be annoying (nipping, pushing, etc), he will be a good boy.

What I'd really like to do is get out and hit the trails...nice easy ones, preferably accompanying someone with a dead broke horse that can just lead us along. This isn't really possible at the moment, but I'm hoping it may be at least this summer. I am searching for board (yikes!) in British Columbia and preparing myself for the financial craziness that is Canada and the HST (double yikes!). I think Sage will be a star, we just have to get out there more. And when Chinook is old enough, he'll make a great little (err, big) riding horse as well!

Fun in the floods

It has been pouring down rain pretty much constantly. We had a nice snow day where the ponies had a good romp in the white stuff followed by epic flooding. Up here on the hill we weren't under water, but we sure did have a few puddles that the kids had fun playing in.




Again, not much to post because not much exciting has been going on. Well, not for the ponies at least. As for me, I have been quite busy but enjoying every minute of having a few extra weeks of the large animal surgery rotation under my belt. I want to be as prepared as possible before heading off to my internship in June, which means top priority is the hospital--as it usually is! So Sage has had a bit of a break. I try to take her out and lunge her every so often to get the kinks out, and she's been exceptionally good. Chinook has been good, too, although he's less good about having his feet handled if I don't pick them out every day (and believe me, I try, but there are some nights I am not able to get home and someone else feeds for me). The goal here pretty quick--when the weather gets better--is to start trailering the mustangs places again and getting them used to the sights and sounds of the world. I don't know if I'll have time, but I hope I can give them some more experiences before the big move in June!

The mustangs go Canadian!

I apologize for not having posted anything since...*gasp*...over a month ago! However, I was patiently awaiting something exciting to happen, since my daily life is pretty much just mucking out the barn, feeding, cuddling with the fluffies, and then driving to school to spend countless hours (which I love) taking care of horses in the hospital.

Except these last few days two very important things happened...

1. I passed the veterinary board exam! (Meaning, I am now officially license-able)
2. I accepted an internship position in equine medicine and surgery at a hospital in British Columbia.

Yep, these mustangs are going to be Canadians come June!

More updates to follow. :)

Surgery!

Chinook was a champion and loaded right into the trailer to head to school. Although nervous at first, once he arrived he was right at home and happily waited in a stall (without even any other horses around) until we were able to look at him. He loved my classmate Camille, who is on the surgery service and took his case, though he wasn't as thrilled about our surgical resident for some reason. He was a good boy, though, and they quickly had him sedated so they could a full exam.

Well, it didn't take them long to decide that he indeed had a bad infection and that it was in the spermatic cord (called a scirrhous cord). The thing is, the treatment is to surgically resect the infected cord, and so I had little option but to send him into the OR. Within a short time, they had placed an IV catheter and were preparing him for general anesthesia. He took it all in stride and behaved so well! I couldn't have been prouder of my little "mutt" horse.

The procedure took about an hour and they removed several inches of tissue. He woke up from anesthesia wonderfully (something that doesn't always happen with horses), and he spent one night in the hospital like a big boy. Then he loaded right back up into the trailer and now he's back at home and taking it easy in the smaller pen area with Gabby. He's still a bit swollen, but I think we are finally over the worst! I am glad that one of our residents convinced me to bring him in, because if this had gone on any longer he would have had an infection in his abdomen, which would have been much, much worse. Hopefully this is the end of our troubles and by $1000 castration!

Another visit to the OSU VTH

So, tomorrow morning Chinook will be headed back to the OSU Large Animal Veterinary Teaching Hospital (my current place of residence, shall we say) to be seen by the surgery service for the pus coming out of his incision. It is now much "better" than it was before, but still clearly infected and obviously out of my control. This will be his first big trailer trip all alone.


Let's hope this little devil child behaves himself!! In other news, the weather has been really awesome recently (clear, nice and cold, a little foggy, but dry). I have been able to feed the horses outside for over a week now, and I was able to snap this cool photo in the fog the other night around 8 pm.


I will update soon with highlights of our trip to school!