After the riding lesson on Tuesday, I scheduled an extra lesson to fit the dressage saddles I’d located. I want to make sure whichever saddle I choose fits not only me, but also Isis. A new (or used) saddle is a big investment (“cheap” means under $500).
Arabians are notoriously hard to fit in saddles because they tend to have broad shoulders and round backs. Isis’ hunt saddle (made by Zaldi) is a wide saddle with a 32 cm tree. I found three saddles to try: an Albion Comfort (owned by one of the ladies at the barn), a Collegiate Jessica Dressage (brand new, at an excellent price), and a Courbette Magic Dressage. Of these, the Albion is probably the highest quality saddle. It’s beautifully made and comfortable to sit in on the saddle rack. The saddle has a wide twist, which I’m not crazy about (feels like you’re sitting on a log).
I used to work at a company called iPIX. Like many other companies, it was struck down during the dot-com-bomb of 2000-2001. My job there was my dream job — and it stayed that way for the first 18 months. After that, things went downhill but not for what I was doing, but just things in the company in general. Any IT or internet-based business at that time was a chancy place to work. (Job security? What’s that?)
Before the first round of layoffs, the employees were given a copy of the book “Who moved my cheese?” We had peptalks about upcoming change. You know, the kind that try to make you feel better without providing any details of what “change” really means (a sure sign of impending doom).
A fellow iPIX survivor emailed me this Dilbert cartoon today. I just about lost it. We both got the joke.
I was in the office when Chuck opened the door. He was surprised, and oddly pleased to have his stuff shuffled all over the building. He was most impressed.
I’ve blogged before about some of the antics we get into at work. We get our work done but we also have a lot of fun. Lately there has been a streak of pratical jokes.. Nothing bad. Just oh covering an entire desk with aluminum foil or filling an office with balloons (more on that later).
One of the guys who has been involved with the practical jokes went on vacation a week and a half ago. He was almost disappointed when he came back and nothing was done.
Today he’s coming back from a business trip.
I’m sitting in his office waiting to video the look on his face.
We didn’t do anything bad. Just creative =) And it won’t interfere with his regular work. Much.
Stella was really good at the vet’s. She seems to have calmed down and knows we’re trying to help her. She’s been quiet in the car and good about getting into her padded carrier. She let Dr. Kipp draw blood without too much fuss for the blood test.
While we were waiting for the test results, a friend of mine arrived. She has an older kitty who gets subcutaneous fluids twice per week. She’s been a great help with suggestions and dealing with kitties with kidney issues.
The results were better than expected. The test looked for differences in the BUN (blood urea nitrogen) and creatinine levels. Stella was originally tested in December of last year and showed some abnormal creatinine levels and slightly elevated BUN. This time the BUN level was only marginally chagned but the creatinine levels had changed considerably.
My vet suggested that we start Stella on subcutaneous fluids. I was able to watch while my friend’s kitty had his fluids. Such a good kitty. He was so polite about everything. (He reminded me of Basette at the vets from almost 4.5 years ago.)
I learned about how to place a new needle on the contraption. (It uses 18 gage needle — yikes! Vastly different from the little insulin dosing syringes.) Stella was really good when we did everything. Granted, there were three of us in the room.
I don’t know how easy it will be when I am at home by myself. We’re going to start her off with once per week and then move it up to twice per week. Hopefully by that time I’ll be able to do the fluids at home.
During my riding lesson on Tuesday, I did an experiment: I dropped my stirrup and rode as if I was in a dressage saddle. Big different on how Isis responded.
When you ride dressage, your seat is different then when you ride hunt seat. In dressage, you ride in a “balanced” seat: you sit back farther so that your upper body is up and down instead of leaning forward. Your stirrup length is also typically 2-3 holes longer.
Stella does not have a UTI: lab culture came back negative for anything. Dr Kipp thinks that Stella’s urninating is due to a progression of her kidney failure possibly also some senility. Stella has a follow-up visit tomorrow afternoon at 4:45 to check her blood work (luckily that test is only $25 instead of the $99 for the urine test). The blood work will also help us know if Stella needs to be started on regular subcutaneous fluids.
Pretty soon the question may be not what we can do, but how much do we do, and when do we put her down. Sigh.
Isis and I had a riding lesson this afternoon/evening. I hadn’t been able to ride on Monday. I had to make up time from Friday when I left early to take Stella to the vet’s.
My instructor asked me what I would like to work on. This was the perfect opportunity to work on problems pointed out by the show:
How do you correct a horse who isn’t listening and is more interested watching everyone else instead of paying attention?
How do you encourage a horse to accept the bit and bend when they start fighting you?
Back from the show and man was I tired! I had been worried the show would be cancelled because of the rain we’ve had (plus the forecast). The show was on, luckily. I felt really good about our preparation for the dressage portion of the test. I was very nervous about the cross country part. We had only ridden on a cross country course once during the practise clinic a few weeks back. That was the first and only time we had been on a course.
The next morning I was up and at the barn early. (Early for me means before 11:00 AM on a Saturday.) Luckily the rain had stopped and Isis had not rolled when she had been outside. Susan and I groomed the horses and pretty soon we were on the way to the Fossils over Fences show.
