EDIT: I know several of you have e-mailed me over the past month, but in the craziness of it all I haven't been able to respond to any of them, or quite frankly find where any of them went!! So if you've e-mailed me with questions/advice/whatnot recently and I never replied, please resend your e-mails. Thanks and sorry!!
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Tubba tubba tubba! Gogo at this point is a super tubber, as you can see in the following videos. She gets in and out of the muck tub like a perfect angel, and stands there immobile for an entire half hour while icing before stepping lightly out on command - a little poke in the butt and the verbal, "okay, get out!" does the trick.
Dunno why she felt the need to cross her legs like that for half an hour... but she did. Such a lady.
Gogo's schedule continues on as usual. Same old... same old. She's thankfully resigned herself to quietly walking and keeping all four on the floor now that the weather has improved, so our walks have been completely uninteresting. The rest of the barn is in chaos (colics, vaccine reactions, horses flipping through doors... you know, the usual!) and here is Gogo, being the steady one for once. As of this past Thursday, we are up to 20 minutes of handwalking a day, which is split up between two 10 minute walks. The grass is growing ridiculously long, and she's been completely loving our grazes... on the days when I have time!! It's been ridiculously busy around the farm, and with the grass paddocks opening next week, it's only going to get more hectic as we transition and acclimate horses, all of which are going to go out there and NOT ever going to want to come back in. I guess if there had to be a year to be injured, this is it: between a new love interest, a crazy busy job, and a hectic social/personal schedule, it all adds up to me not having enough hours in the day to do half the things I intend to do on a daily basis. Every day though, without fail, Gogo comes out of her stall in the morning and walks for 10 minutes, then goes right into the tubba for 30 minutes of icy cold therapy. Shortly thereafter, she also wears ice boots in her stall for another half hour. Rinse lather repeat in the afternoon, although depending on how the legs look and feel I sometimes skip an icing or tubbing, and add 15 or so minutes of grazing. We still have over a month until our next ultrasound, so the plan is essentially to continue this week with 20 minutes of walking, and then next week bump up to 25 minutes - which then means she can go on the treadmill again, as it runs on a 24 minute cycle. Although I guess I can adjust the time, but as we have about 15 horses a day that need to go on it, it's already a bit hectic. I'll find room to squeeze her on coming next week. She still gets her daily grooming, still gets loads of fresh hay spread over the course of 15 hours a day, still gets to snooze in her 12x12 on mounds of fluffy white shavings overtop the Comfortstall mattress system.... if she's gotta be stuck on rest, she's in the right place. Sometimes the legs are a little filled under her wraps, sometimes they're warm. Sometimes one is warm and filled, sometimes one is tight and icy cold. Sometimes they're both tight and icy cold. For instance today, the right was tight and cold, and the left was a little filled and warm. Remember that the right has the new injury... strange. I give up, I can't tell what it means anymore!
And as for me, I haven't really wanted to ride, but.... I still have the option whenever I want. Maybe I'll try to ride a little bit more. Like Sawyer (pictured here), they're all sweet, easy, uncomplicated and fun to sit on. Maybe I'll make a point to try. I'd really just rather be on Gogo though.
Rolex is next week, and for the first time in a long time, I'm not going. King Oak is in less than a month.... just thinking about all I was doing last year to prepare for it hurts like hell.
Bummer for a layup, but the video of her oh-so-carefully stepping out of the tub is great. I think she totally has the deal figured out! I am fascinated by a barn with a treadmill, I never imagined such a thing. And this thing you call a "social life," what is that like?
ReplyDeleteThis so-called "social life" is something you do when you don't have an event horse to condition. It fills in the lonely gaps :(
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry she's so injured. It would be so hard for me to resign myself to just doing the every day handwalking but man, good for you for being so consistent. You are doing EVERYTHING you can, which is great. I really am amazed at your willingness to take it soooo slow. I'd be tempted to push it more.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, and man you have one talented/calm/well adjusted horse :D
The pink halter fuzzies are killing me. They don't even match!
ReplyDeleteYou are lucky to have such a patient horse! She really did look like a perfect little angel just standing there :) She will be back in no time!
ReplyDeleteI've commented before, but I really admire you for all the patience and hard work you put into her, even on her time off. Thats dedication! Keep up the hard work :)
(I also can't get over how spotlessy clean gogo always looks-its amazing!)
The bucket... it's tiny! That was the best video ever! I really was picturing something quite a bit bigger. My mare has a thing about people messing with her (huge, honkin', draft-y) feet. We've managed to work out a truce that lets me clean them and the farrier trim them but if I ever tried to stick them in a bucket I think she would faint. Your videos made me smile, Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGogo is such an awesome girl! She learns anything that you take the time to teach her, even delicate bucket-stepping. What a doll, but with pizazz.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely ride, but I understand that it will not be the same as riding Gogo. By the way, the horse you are riding in the picture has a lovely neck and expression!
Eventer79 wanted to know about "social life"; what is an "uncomplicated" horse??? :)
To bad your not doing to Rolex. I'm going to my first one this year and I would of loved to see u there. Oh well. Hope the mare gets better soon!
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