But first

This afternoon we leave for Florida. But this morning...

Back in the saddle week 3

This little cutie is Flynn.  He's the perfect babysitter horse and got me safely around a whole course this week!  Who knows what adventure I'm in for next week...

Crazy toe

This was an interesting case.  None of us had ever seen anything like it before.  Although the owner elected not send it in for histopathology (we had to amputate the toe) it did fit the description of a particular kind of benign nail bed tumor.  So I expect the dog to do well.

Reproductive pathology

I keep forgetting to post these but all in the course of one week I saw the following pets.

This old male dog had the trifecta of rectal tumors, perineal hernia, and testicular tumor.

 Unrelated he has also been shot.

 This little dog was covered in mammary tumors.

 She has a whole new belly now!

 And this is a pyometra (infected uterus) from about a 20 lb dog.

Back in the saddle

A mutual friend introduced me to someone who owns a hunter barn nearby. When I went out there to bring her all the food leftover from Slick she invited (practically insisted) I come out and ride. So, last week I did. It was really fun and I even jumped a few cross rails. I was super sore after but I’m still going back this week. 

I also had video but was too lazy to put on YouTube. Maybe when it’s more exciting than a crossrail!

Working dogs

Epic has continued to work on obedience, agility, and Nosework. We just do little bits at a time and he’s coming along. It’s nice to not be on any timeline. We just work some skills and intersperse tricks and play. It’s been fun. 

He’s also been doing a little running. He has to learn to ignore the cars but otherwise doing well. 

Lyric did a little agility too. 

Legend and Xena did a 5k. They did all right for 12 years old and not much training! 

But it’s not all work. 

Finished a project

I decided to redo this ancient furniture in our cat room. It’s older than Jerry and was all banged up. I had plenty of leftover paint from the bathroom so we went with that color. I think it turned out great!

We also had a few old cheap shelves that were white, but parts were yellowed and stained. So I refreshed them with some new paint as well. Now all the furniture in this room look like it goes together a little better as well as looks ok with the paint color on the wall. 

Dizzy

A few months ago I brought home a cat. We were supposed to be at our limit, both indoors and out. But, this little sweetie was on the euthanasia schedule. She has cerebellar hypoplasia which means she was infected with a virus before birth (because her momma wasn’t vaccinated!) and her brain didn’t develop right. So, she wobbled and tremors but isnitherwise healthy. And very, very happy. However she didn’t do a good job of using the litter box in her foster home so was not considered a good candidate for adoption. I agreed to try her in the barn and she has been doing great. She keeps us very entertained and is quite popular with the neighborhood kids. We named her Dizzy, since well, she kinda is. 

Run Free

The day she was born I thought she was the prettiest horse I'd ever seen.  I still thought that on the day she died.  Saturday morning we had to let Slick go.  She was just too sick, and too weak.  I think she probably had a lot of things wrong with her and she just couldn't be fixed. 

I was blessed every day for almost two years to see her pretty face greeting me in the barn and gracing our pasture.  Now she is resting there forever. 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her while she was here and a lovely one shared by another owner and friend from when she was younger.

Novice and Elite at UKC

Legend and Epic went to the UKC container trial today. They both did great.  Epic passed his PT for all three scents that he knows so far-Birch, Anise, and Clove.  Then he went on to pass both legs for his Novice Container title.  He got one first, one third and a high in trial.  (It was a small trial, but still.) Legend earned a first place and high in trial for her Elite containers leg.  She got two of the three hides on the second leg but got a false.  I don't know if it was a distractor or just the wrong box or what.  But you can't be perfect all the time!  And her first leg she got all 3 in 31 seconds!

What was interesting is how Epic responded to the birch today.  It should be his strongest odor.  But it took him over a minute in PTs to find it, compared to 4 and 6 seconds for the others.  And even in warm up he was less solid on the birch.  In the trial runs he was faster than PT but it still took him more than one pass.  I wonder if this batch of birch is just a little different than ours.  It was a good learning experience for him for sure.

Getting this photo was a nightmare.  The lighting was terrible everywhere I tried, they looked like they were being tortured half the time and then the cat tried to help. 

NW3 try number not even sure

Saturday we were able to trial at our "local" trial for another NW3.  Legend was awesome.  Two of her interior rooms she was solid as a rock.  Vehicles in the rain she crushed.  Exteriors she got a little hung up in something but we still made it through clear.  Containers she was solid.  I made her show me twice just because of our history in containers.   But, she was right.

The middle interior room was where I messed up.  It was tiny, she wasn't really finding anything.  I thought it was clear but she was a little interested in the washer so I kept hanging around.  When they called 30 seconds i had to decide between alert and finish and against my gut feeling I chose alert.  One day maybe I'll learn.  But overall I felt a lot better about this trial than the last one and have renewed hope that we may pass again!

Canine Good Citizen

Epic recently completed an obedience class that culminated with taking the AKC Canine Good Citizen test.  Of course, he passed with basically flying colors.  I've always felt like the passing requirements are a little loose but overall he did well.  I hold him to a higher standard personally but there is plenty of time to improve.  Not bad for a little guy whose only been free from crate life for less than 5 months!

Poor Slick

Slick has not been well.  Her appetite has been slowly decreasing and she's losing a lot of weight and muscle. We have been trying GI ulcer therapy, nutritional supplement, and a deworming protocol. So far no improvement.  Baseline bloodwork was pretty boring so we are running some more specific tests.  Hopefully we find something treatable.  Here she is enjoying some grass on a sunny day this week.

Fall 2017

Here are some fall photos of the pups I got today. 

And a few of Epic working on a little agility.  We haven't done much but he's getting pretty reliable at calling over a jump.