Saturday, January 4, 2020
Friday, January 3, 2020
Dante's got a Brand New Game
Dante's got a Brand New Game
Well, it isn't totally new. Ellen started teaching it to him last year. I just forgot all about it. Well, when she reviewed it, this year, he remembered it, (his memory is better than mine,) and took it to a whole new level.
Dante learned to chase the ball. Actually, he doesn't really chase it. Ellen throws it, he watches it fly through the air and land--and then he goes running and bucking to it, stops, touches it and looks at Ellen--to ask for his treat.
Cole learned this game, too, but it isn't such a big deal for him.
This is why it is so important for Dante. When the weather is inclement, we don't have a good place to turn the horses out to play. We do have the option of letting them loose in the indoor arena. Cole will run on his own, and he loves when we chase him around, too. He will get all of his excess bucks out--and he has a lot of them.
Dante will run all about if he is outside, and he enjoys us chasing him, too. Inside is a different matter. He might roll, run a bit and maybe toss in a buck, but that is it. If you try to chase him around, he just looks at you--he just doesn't want to play inside. Consequently, it is hard to get his bucks out if he can't go outside.
To make it worse, he is not the kind of horse who works hard in the arena. Cole can work enough to break a sweat in the winter. With Dante, only the rider breaks a sweat. He is naturally a slow horse.
Now, we have an option. We can just play ball.
Well, it isn't totally new. Ellen started teaching it to him last year. I just forgot all about it. Well, when she reviewed it, this year, he remembered it, (his memory is better than mine,) and took it to a whole new level.
Dante learned to chase the ball. Actually, he doesn't really chase it. Ellen throws it, he watches it fly through the air and land--and then he goes running and bucking to it, stops, touches it and looks at Ellen--to ask for his treat.
Cole learned this game, too, but it isn't such a big deal for him.
This is why it is so important for Dante. When the weather is inclement, we don't have a good place to turn the horses out to play. We do have the option of letting them loose in the indoor arena. Cole will run on his own, and he loves when we chase him around, too. He will get all of his excess bucks out--and he has a lot of them.
Dante will run all about if he is outside, and he enjoys us chasing him, too. Inside is a different matter. He might roll, run a bit and maybe toss in a buck, but that is it. If you try to chase him around, he just looks at you--he just doesn't want to play inside. Consequently, it is hard to get his bucks out if he can't go outside.
To make it worse, he is not the kind of horse who works hard in the arena. Cole can work enough to break a sweat in the winter. With Dante, only the rider breaks a sweat. He is naturally a slow horse.
Now, we have an option. We can just play ball.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Riding the Trails in January
January is a tough month for us. If the river isn't too high, it is frozen. The weather may be too cold and snowy, too. The driveway might be too icy to even leave the barn. To have a great trail ride in January is as rare as ...well, it is just rare.
I have had two of them. New Year's Day wasn't a bad day to ride, at all. Ellen has given up trail riding until spring. She rode in the arena in the morning, and then I headed for the trail on my own. Kevin had decided to wait until it was warmer and Shari was sick.
Ellen drove down to the park and met me on the other side of the river. Cole wasn't happy to be going on the trail by himself. Half way down the hill, I told him, "Find Ellen." I tell him that every time when Ellen is waiting for us. He immediately lifted his head up and neighed. Coincidence? Maybe, but don't forget that Cruiser actually learned it. He would lift his head up, look to the left, look to the right, look straight ahead--and start walking faster. If I did it multiple times, he would end up gaiting. He was not supposed to be a gaited horse, but whenever he was in a hurry and I didn't want him to trot, he would gait. It was fast and smooth, and I loved it. (I really miss Cruiser. He was such a wonderful horse.)
Back to Cole. He found Ellen on the other side of the river, and he was so happy. Since it had been so cold the night before, much of the trail was frozen, and there were a lot of sections that had ice. It was great to have Ellen with us to talk to as we went around the ice and tried to find the softest part of the trail. Cole loves it when she is there. All the horses do.
I was hopeful that the last section of the trail before the second river crossing might not be frozen, and I was right. The thicker trees insulate it, so that it takes longer to freeze and longer to thaw out, too. I left Ellen, and we trotted off. I stayed towards the edge of the trail where the fallen leaves were the thickest, and we just flew along at a trot. It was one of the best trotting we had done this year. (Okay, this was New Year's Day, and it was the only trotting I had done in the year--but it was great.)
We turned at the river crossing, and I asked him to trot towards Ellen. She wasn't in sight, of course. Well, Cole knew she was out there and took off like a bullet, though he was still trotting. I struggled to get him to walk. We walked for about a minute, and I asked for a trot, again. The results were the same. We walked until I could see Ellen, and then I asked for a trot. This time, he was fine. I think that he trotted very fast when he wondered where she was, but once he knew, he relaxed and trotted like a regular horse.
We walked back home. What a treat for New Year's Day.
The following day, I had to take Thunder to the vet in the morning, so I missed my sister's ride. I came out in the afternoon, instead. I seldom ride in the afternoons--preferring mornings and evenings, but it was partly sunny and in the 40s. I couldn't miss it.
Kevin had a teenager riding Starry. They weren't going to cross the river. He was going to have her just ride up and down the hill where he could keep an eye on her. I rode down the hill with them and kept going. Once we got across the river and Cole realized that Starry wasn't with him, he got really balky. I asked him to trot, and he seemed stuck in one place--and kept stopping. I kept insisting, and finally, we got some rhythm.
After a couple minutes, he jumped up in the air and took off. I stopped him, walked a few steps and he did it again! After that, all of our trotting was very enthusiastic. Too enthusiastic, actually. I think he realized he was alone--and then remembered that it meant he didn't have to follow the slower horses. He loves speeding down the trail! We don't do it often, because I prefer riding with Shari, Ellen and Kevin. It is so unusual to be alone, that he tends to get hyper. I didn't have this problem when I used to ride him alone most of the time.
Once again, we trotted to the second river crossing; very quickly. We turned around and walked for a bit to get him to settle down. I knew that he would be in "search mode" once we turned around--either because he remembered Starry was back there, or thought Ellen was on the trail like the day before. I decided to see what he would do if I asked him to trot. I just started to gather up the reins, (I ride with a very loose rein at a walk and with light contact at a trot,) and before I was ready, he leaped up into the air, reached back into his Morgan ancestry and sprouted wings on his feet. He went into a turbo trot! I stopped him, barely, and we walked a while.
Me, being me, I had to try it again. The second time was super, dooper fast, but I felt I had some control. We went for another minute. It is amazing how far you can go in a minute when you are on a Morgan trotting champion. After that, we just walked, and I enjoyed the ride back to Starry on the other side of the river. These days in January are as rare as...just rare. And I wanted to savor it.
Thunder has a Tummy Ache
Thunder has a Tummy Ache
Thunder, my cat, is my little best friend. When he doesn't feel good, neither do I.
He has always had a very sensitive digestive system. It doesn't seem to take much to cause diarrhea, and he seems to vomit a lot, too. Once, I tried a new kind of treats. He loved them, but his digestive system didn't. He didn't have any trouble with Party Mix treats, but when I gave him too much, that upset his tummy, too. When a friend gave us samples of some fancy cat soup treats--well, that didn't agree with him, either. As he has gotten older, he has become more sensitive.
On the Monday before New Year's, he got very sick. His diarrhea was so bad, that after a visit to the litter box, he threw up. Then, he went off his feed, hid a lot and didn't want to talk to me very much. The following morning, New Year's Eve, he was worse. I called the vet, but as these things usually seem to be around the holidays, he couldn't get an appointment until January 2.
This time, there was no change in diet to cause it, it was far more severe than it has ever been in the past; and longer, too.
Over the next 2 days, he did get a little better. He started eating, again, but not as much as typical. He still had a lot of diarrhea and threw up once more. He felt terrible. I felt terrible.
I hate taking him to the vet, but I hate having him in discomfort. He needed help.
The initial exam went well. The vet checked his teeth--no problems. (A couple years ago, he had to have 6 teeth removed.) He didn't feel an irregularities in his abdomen. Not surprisingly, he was dehydrated.
The vet suggested blood work, which I agreed to, as he hadn't had any in a year. Blood work is so important in older cats. Often it can give you a heads up to problems before they get serious. Then, we get a head start in managing the problems. He also thought an x-ray might help rule out other things. I agreed. This wasn't my first rodeo. I know how useful an x-ray could be. If only we could do a full body xray on horses!
They took him away, I paced and paced in the exam room. I couldn't bear to have him out of my sight. We have such a relationship, that I believe Thunder thinks likewise. What was probably just ten minutes seemed like hours.
The vet called me back to see the x-rays. This got me worried. If everything was normal, I would expect he would just bring Thunder to me and send me on my way with some medicine.
He pointed out that his stomach and colon had a lot of gas, and that is probably one of the reasons he was in discomfort. He explained that his small intestine was a little enlarged, which was indicative to the problems he was having. There were no tumors or scary stuff like that.
Then, he pointed out something unusual. There were some white lines and white spots in his stomach. The spots were also in his small intestine. This was not normal--for an inside cat, that is. The vet said that they looked like mouse bones. Thunder ate a mouse. Mr. Sensitive Digestive System ate something he shouldn't have! That explains why he was so obsessed with the basement for a while...
I knew I had mice because sometimes I can hear them in the walls. The vet said that there are mice in every one's houses. The vet tech in the other room chimed in, "You don't have any mice anymore!"
The vet gave him some fluids to help with the dehydration and a couple shots. I took home some pills to give him for the next 5 days. Hopefully he will be feeling better, soon--and he stops eating mice.
Thunder, my cat, is my little best friend. When he doesn't feel good, neither do I.
He has always had a very sensitive digestive system. It doesn't seem to take much to cause diarrhea, and he seems to vomit a lot, too. Once, I tried a new kind of treats. He loved them, but his digestive system didn't. He didn't have any trouble with Party Mix treats, but when I gave him too much, that upset his tummy, too. When a friend gave us samples of some fancy cat soup treats--well, that didn't agree with him, either. As he has gotten older, he has become more sensitive.
On the Monday before New Year's, he got very sick. His diarrhea was so bad, that after a visit to the litter box, he threw up. Then, he went off his feed, hid a lot and didn't want to talk to me very much. The following morning, New Year's Eve, he was worse. I called the vet, but as these things usually seem to be around the holidays, he couldn't get an appointment until January 2.
This time, there was no change in diet to cause it, it was far more severe than it has ever been in the past; and longer, too.
Over the next 2 days, he did get a little better. He started eating, again, but not as much as typical. He still had a lot of diarrhea and threw up once more. He felt terrible. I felt terrible.
I hate taking him to the vet, but I hate having him in discomfort. He needed help.
The initial exam went well. The vet checked his teeth--no problems. (A couple years ago, he had to have 6 teeth removed.) He didn't feel an irregularities in his abdomen. Not surprisingly, he was dehydrated.
The vet suggested blood work, which I agreed to, as he hadn't had any in a year. Blood work is so important in older cats. Often it can give you a heads up to problems before they get serious. Then, we get a head start in managing the problems. He also thought an x-ray might help rule out other things. I agreed. This wasn't my first rodeo. I know how useful an x-ray could be. If only we could do a full body xray on horses!
They took him away, I paced and paced in the exam room. I couldn't bear to have him out of my sight. We have such a relationship, that I believe Thunder thinks likewise. What was probably just ten minutes seemed like hours.
The vet called me back to see the x-rays. This got me worried. If everything was normal, I would expect he would just bring Thunder to me and send me on my way with some medicine.
He pointed out that his stomach and colon had a lot of gas, and that is probably one of the reasons he was in discomfort. He explained that his small intestine was a little enlarged, which was indicative to the problems he was having. There were no tumors or scary stuff like that.
Then, he pointed out something unusual. There were some white lines and white spots in his stomach. The spots were also in his small intestine. This was not normal--for an inside cat, that is. The vet said that they looked like mouse bones. Thunder ate a mouse. Mr. Sensitive Digestive System ate something he shouldn't have! That explains why he was so obsessed with the basement for a while...
I knew I had mice because sometimes I can hear them in the walls. The vet said that there are mice in every one's houses. The vet tech in the other room chimed in, "You don't have any mice anymore!"
The vet gave him some fluids to help with the dehydration and a couple shots. I took home some pills to give him for the next 5 days. Hopefully he will be feeling better, soon--and he stops eating mice.
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
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