My Summer

My LEGO club issues a challenge for each meeting, a word or phrase for which we each build a small vignette. The challenge for September was What I Did Over My Summer Vacation.

Betcha never thought I could get this much mileage out of LEGO bricks & horses.

(Procedural note: While I’m not a stellar photographer, I am better than this. I promise, the pictures look sharper before I load them. I suspect WordPress has a compression algorithm to save space. A) That’s my story & I’m sticking to it. B) Can’t complain when I’m getting the hosting for free.)

More Mathilda

Hubby came up with a BRILLIANT theory. perhaps Mathilda’s two acute problems are linked. If she is slightly (I hope) sore on the front that might get magnified by her wonky hind-end. If you are walking crooked to start with, trying to tip-toe at the same time is not going to be pretty. Fix one, fix the other.

Last time I looked into removable shoes, Easy Boots were the only option. Now horses have a whole closetful of options, of various materials and technical abilities. Mathilda needed cushioning but the shoe didn’t have to stay on for nor stand up to exercise. Our local tack store, Carousel Tack Shoppe, recommended the Hoof Shoe. Blinking at the price, we bought two.

Her new booties have a thick pad at the base and come up to her fetlock. Hi-tops for horses. The above ground section is a combination of webbing for ventilation, stretchy material for fit, and hook-loop closure for security. We could see her relax as soon as she put her foot down and felt the cushion underfoot. She immediately moved better. Still appalling, but at least baseline appalling. She also looks a bit more foursquare and even a little plumper, as if she is standing more firmly and is more relaxed. Her minions finally came up with the right answer. Silly minions.

If she is more willing to move about, she may be less stiff in the morning as well. We shall see. So far so good. All my worries of yesterday are still valid. Just not today.

Your removable shoe experiences?

(BTW, Google “hoof shoe”, I dare you.)
(BTW, BTW, I keep typing ‘show’ instead of ‘shoe’ – just did it there as well. Partly Freudian, partly from typing inches upon inches of show coverage.)
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Gratuitous Kitten Pic

“Oh mighty warrior of great fighting stock … “

Borrowing Trouble

Blogging at the 11th hour after a crappy day. Everyone is fine, I’m just fretting about the future.

Mathilda took a handful of very off steps on her bad hind leg at breakfast. When it was time for her morning walk, the day had warmed up & she had loosened up. She is also a bit footsore in the front from being barefoot all summer. She usually gets shod in late May for stomping season. Causing me to wonder:

a) If a cool, pleasant evening causes her to stiffen up to this extent, how will we keep her warm in seriously cold weather, or at least as seriously cold as we get? She was already wearing her bodyweight in blankets last winter. The stall would block the wind and therefore be warmer, but we have the issue of her getting stuck again [Debriefing].

b) I had assumed that the end would be either a catastrophic mechanical failure, i.e. she goes down and lacks the strength to get up, or systemic, i.e. hanging head, poor attitude, and a general feeling of No mas, boss. At that point our duty is clear, if terrible. What do we do if the feet/back end give out but the front end is still perky and absorbing carrots?

Yes, I should not look for trouble. There will be plenty without my inventing more. OTOH, perhaps it is good to think about such things dispassionately ahead of time. Then we are not randomly making critical decisions mid-crisis. Now, if I could only work on the dispassionately part.

From this we can derive two conclusions:

1) Old sucks.

2) I should rename this blog Mathilda’s Meanderings.

Diagnosis

Looks as if I owe Cupcake an apology. The blacksmith found an abscess that had already opened and drained. He might have had it for a while, possibly low-grade or partially open that started hurting when it closed/reclosed. Blacksmith thinks it had more to do with the wet weather than recent “work”. Either way, Rodney how has front shoes. He is celebrating by cavorting about the field.

When he had his first injury – also a foot abscess [Blues*] – I didn’t know how to interpret his behavior. Was he an iron horse or a cupcake? The answer: he’s an iron cupcake. When he’s injured, he does carry on as if the end of the world is nigh. No stoic, wild horse, hid-your-injury-from-predators here. OTOH, he usually does have a legitimate grievance.

(* For those who came later to the party, Rodney was renamed shortly after this. [Square])

Your horse: iron or cake?
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Gratuitous Kitten Pic

Handling the paperwork.

Hoof Meet Bucket

Imagine me sitting here, listening to the earworm:

There’s a hoof in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza.
There’s a hoof in the bucket, dear Liza, a hoof.

& wishing I was creative enough to come up with words to the rest of the verses.
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Gratuitous Kitten Picture
(Good taste prevented me dragging out the camera.)

Before she came to live with us, our German Shepherd had several litters. She has regained her figure but retains a few attributes of her maternal past. Recently, one of the kittens has been experiencing species confusion. I’ll let your imagination do the rest. Snaps to the dog for bearing it with fortitude.

TMI?

Mixed Messages

Bad steps are contagious. After Mathilda’s adventure Sunday evening, Rodney was off Monday morning. We suspect he is mildly footsore but having horse histrionics over it. The lunging he has been doing has been proof of concept more than work: halter, no tack, short, mostly walk, microscopic amount of trotting. OTOH, who are we to judge, it’s his foot.

The bad news is, first, he hurts – which is never nice. Second, he’s barefoot now, so he will need front shoes before he does any more work. Or what might pass for work if you squint. Third and long-term, he’s going to be a princess about his feet.

The good news is his attitude. Previously when he was off or ill, he would act jumpy and scared of us. Now, he’s mooching around outside of Mathilda’s pen projecting as much pitiful as possible, “Mop my brow. Sing Soft Kitty.” In general he is calm, trusting us to fix his owie, and sucking up as much bedside attention as we can dish out. It could be an reflection of his preference for warm weather [Frightful] or, just possibly, actual progress in getting through to him.

Two horses, two lamenesses, is anyone surprised?
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Gratuitous Kitten Picture

After the first bath.