It’s been a long, slow summer. For the past few weeks, I’ve felt like I was holding my breath waiting for Kasane to reinjure herself. She hasn’t. But she might try, like the times she put her back feet through the stall wall and almost needed stitches. (She demolished that wall when she rolled in the stall and got cast.) I’ve had three mares to work with: Kasane’s rehab cycle (3-5 rides per...
Continue reading...Lack of posts and injury worries
Let’s say that you have a pool of energy to draw from to complete all of your daily tasks. Having a certain level of stress or worry is like having a small leak in that bucket so some things — like writing more blog posts — don’t happen as often. Kasane’s treatment for her proximal suspensory injury has been worrying me a lot. It is all a waiting game. Maybe she will heal...
Continue reading...Proximal Suspensory Injury for Kasane
For the past few months, I couldn’t bring myself to post here about Kasane. Her injury on her front right leg is serious and more complicated than we originally thought. It wasn’t just her front right fetlock that had arthritis, there were other things going on that had been highlighted in the bone scan done in early December. Because the joint injection did not completely resolve Kasane’s lameness, the vets did additional investigation....
Continue reading...Meet VCL Breeahva
The weekend of March 20th, Mom and I went up to see her stallion, Cedars Mojave, in Culpepper, Virginia, and then drove up to see one of his fillies, VCL Breeahva (aka Breezy). Breezy was a hoot. She’s a late baby, so even though by the Arabian Registry standards she is counted as a two year old, she won’t be two until June. The first time I saw her, she was in the...
Continue reading...Kasane 1, Stall Wall 0
Just as I walked into the barn today, Kasane managed to get cast against the stall wall. Seriously cast—as in, she couldn’t push herself away from the wall to get up. She was on her left side against the stall wall partition with her front legs tucked underneath her. She kicked out with her back legs—and took out most of the boards in the stall wall. She managed to cut up her back...
Continue reading...Cat Battles
It’s funny how much you miss cats purring in the morning until you don’t have both of them in the room with you. Brie Brie, my Maine Coon cross kitty, was downstairs staring out the sliding glass doors when the neighbor’s cat walked up and sat about a foot from the door. Brie Brie didn’t know what to do. She would hunker down and watch the cat and then walk over to me...
Continue reading...Help Grainne have life-saving treatment
My friend Saigh has had a miserable 18 months, including the death of her beloved dog. And now another one of her furr-babies is sick. Her husband has a broken leg and wont’ be able to return to work for months. If you have time, will you consider donating or sharing? Related Images:
Continue reading...Joint injection worked for Kasane
When Kasane was at the vet hospital earlier this month, the diagnostic tests indicated that she had issues in her front right fetlock, sacroiliac (SI) joint in her back, front left foot, and one of her hocks. The vet said to wait two weeks and then check her for soundness. That check was today and I am so happy to report that she looks much better. There is still a slight head bob...
Continue reading...Sick mare, of course
What happens whenever you go to the hospital? You come home with a cold. It appears that Kasane may have done just that. On Saturday, I found a great wad of yellow snot on the wall of Kasane’s stall. She hadn’t been in the stall that long, so I thought maybe someone else had used her stall. Nope. No such luck. Today, the barn called and said that Kasane had white snot in...
Continue reading...Test results for Kasane
The bone scan showed that Kasane has issues in her front right fetlock, ilial sacral joint, back left hock, and in her neck. The vet did some additional tests by repeating two of the nerve blocks. The low four-point nerve block (which blocks the fetlock joint) almost completely resolved her lameness issue. Some lameness was still present, but it was greatly reduced. The radiographs of her fetlock showed a boney spot on the...
Continue reading...Radioactive mare
The vet called me this morning from the vet school with an update on Kasane. She is doing well and has been getting the radioactive substance via IV. Everyone loves her because she is so well-behaved and sweet. Proud of my girl. I went to the vet school to see her during lunch. I missed her by the amount of time it took for me to return to the car to put the...
Continue reading...Bone scan for Kasane
It’s been almost six weeks and Kasane is still lame. My regular vet referred Kasane to the local vet school for additional diagnostics, including a possible bone scan. The vet exam today showed that Kasane is lame on her front right (moderate, 3/5) and her back right (mild, 1/5). The lameness was more pronounced on the lunge line. The vet school had a neat diagnostic tool for detecting lameness that uses motion detectors....
Continue reading...Playlist for writing
I have a playlist that I use when I’m writing horse-related stories. There are two I’m working on currently, one short story and a novel-length, tentatively entitled The Lady in the Tree. The playlist corresponds approximately to events and characters in the novel and shows their progression through the story. Related Images:
Continue reading...Lameness check, part 3
Kasane is still lame, even after the chiropractic adjustment. She is moving much better on her hindquarters, but she still is off on her front right (indicated by a head-bob when she trots). During the initial lameness exam, the vet found an issue with the front right as well as the hind end. There was a swelling on the inside of her back right hock. This swelling appears to have gone down on...
Continue reading...Post-chiropractor lameness check
The chiropractor said to check Kasane’s lameness on her front right leg a week after her adjustment on November 15th. I have very carefully had Kasane on rest: no riding, no rambunctious mornings. She’s been very good about it. We didn’t have a small paddock to turn her out in right now because of two other horses recovering from lameness issues. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a change in her front leg lameness....
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