Happy Birthday Rio!!!!

 I don't normally post on Mondays, but this is a very special occasion! It's Rio's 22nd birthday! Each year when his birthday rolls around, it's a pretty big deal after all he went through four years ago with his epm diagnosis and extended stay at Cornell. While I'm having some concerns about his overall health, (weight/muscle loss and that pesky front leg injury we're nursing) he's really happy and has been quite sassy the last few weeks. So I think he's feeling good and that's my main goal with him. We have doc coming out next Monday to see how best to manage where he's currently at. But in the meantime, everyone wish Rio the happiest of birthdays! Expect lots of birthday photos after we celebrate tonight!

What's Up Wednesday!

We left off last week with Jampy having a twisty nose that required monitoring. Well. It was unchanged by Friday, so I texted my vet who I knew was in the area that day. I'm glad he was nearby because I also noticed this:

No that's not a pirate! That's Jamp with a squinty eye. Because of course he has a squinty eye. Doc also agreed with my potential epm concerns. He left us eye ointment and epm meds at a local farm, and I went and got them later that evening. Unfortunately, he also said I shouldn't ride him until we see if he responds to the meds. I'm really running out of horses you guys! Doc said to lunge him though. So obviously you can guess what happened...

Sprung a shoe. It's cool, I really needed to test my shoe pulling skills anyway. (I'm a boss at pulling shoes by the way.) Fortunately, he didn't rip off any foot nor step on any nails, so it was an easy fix when my farrier came Monday.

As of today (Wednesday-ish...) the eye is just about back to normal, but the nose is still twisty. Cross some crossables that we're catching whatever this is in time to stop it.

Romey is hanging in. We're back to some light walk/trot and I think the SI injection did bring him some relief. He's been slightly less angry and though he definitely still has a hitch in his get-a-long, he's more forward and not dragging his feet so much.What does this mean? I have no idea. I really think I need to find him a home where he can be out more and work less. We have a follow up with doc in a couple weeks though, so I will refrain from any decision making until then.

Poor Rio is a little perturbed that everyone else is on the DL because I've been riding him almost every day. He's not sure he signed up for that.... But he feels pretty good! And as a compromise, we ride bitless and spend the majority of our time grazing.

Thankfully, I did some non horsey things this weekend to prevent me from wallowing in my first world horse problems. (No I did not buy pink boots yet!) Saturday night I finally got to meet up with my best friend! I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving so we were long over due. We stuffed our faces with Mexican food and enormous margaritas prior to an intense round of putt putt. So fun!

Probably the highlight of the weekend though, was the opening of the Snack Shack for the season! Got my first lobster roll of the year:

It was even better than I remembered. Now if only the weather would realize what season it is, life would be grand! Speaking of weather, it's been dark and gray and sometimes raining (currently thunder storming) for as long as I can remember. If anyone sees the sun, can you send me a photo? I'm not sure I'd recognize it at this point. The pugs have been rained out of walkies for way too long!

I took the rest of the week off because I'm heading up to Saratoga for my 15th college reunion. Can you believe that? I'm so old. Anyway, before I drive up there, I'm going to ride Badger in the morning. They were originally planning to go to HITS this week, but decided to wait one more week since they had just gotten up north and the weather was so crummy. I'm excited to have a real ride! I'm also really excited to celebrate at Skidmore for the weekend. I see much eating in my future! Hope you're all prepared for photos of my alma mater, food, and old people reliving their college days.

How was your week/weekend? Do anything fun with the extra day off? Anything exciting coming up? Want Romey? Let's chat in the comments!

Truthful Tuesday: The one with a few too many feels

I generally like to share something silly or light hearted for Truthful Tuesday, but today I have to share some feels. I'll start with a confession to keep with Truthful Tuesday traditions. Today's confession is that I cried in public yesterday. Not really my m.o. I have a tiny, little, cold, black heart. NO EMOTIONS IN PUBLIC. Except maybe disdain or disgust. Those are allowed. So what could possibly cause my eyes to start leaking in public you ask?
Well... This guy:

It's always this guy. This one just has my heart. Most of it belongs to him. There's a small part that keeps me alive, but all the rest is his. Before you really panic, I will give a spoiler alert. He is OK. For now at least. But I wasn't so sure. Let's back up so this rambling can make some sense.
About a week ago, Rio started being really picky with his hay and just wasn't finishing it. I wasn't terribly worried because I was at the tail end of my last hay delivery (which came in the rain) and I was finding moldy bales. Obviously I didn't feed those, but if they're all hanging out together, even the good bales were probably a bit musty. And SOMEONE can be picky. Also he was due for his dental. So I was hopeful those two things were the cause of his being offended by the meal offerings.

Obviously he hasn't lost any weight despite his not finishing his salads. I was pretty close to running out of hay before my delivery would arrive, so I bought some stupid expensive bales from the feed store. They were actually really nice quality, second cut timothy/alfalfa mix. But he wouldn't eat that either.
For those of you who don't know the whole story about Rio's EPM, it started with a hay eating problem. He was spitting out hay for a bit before not eating it at all and then he quickly deteriorated landing him at Cornell for a two and a half week visit. I wasn't sure he'd come back from it. But he did.
He has chronic EPM though, and has to stay on Ponazuril for the rest of his life. And now maybe you're starting to understand the aforementioned public water works.... Since Rio is on Ponazuril already, there isn't a whole lot more we can do for him should he relapse. We can try him on Oroquin, but historically that hasn't worked for him.
My vet gets the Ponazuril compounded for him. I have always felt like Marquis is a bit more effective for him than the compound, but the small difference in him between the two didn't justify the price difference. (Marquis is about $900 per month, the compound is around $300.) I keep a tube of Marquis in the barn though in case we run out of the other so I decided to switch him and see if it helped. Next Spoiler: It didn't seem to be making a difference.
I threw him on the lunge line Saturday and he looked pretty impressive despite his refusal to eat hay.

Saturday he started eating hay again. Or so it seemed. But actually he was just chewing it up and spitting out. Not actually eating any of it. He was having no trouble eating his grain, or cookies, or carrots. But hay was a real problem. I keep a tub full of chopped hay in front of him all the time (just in case this sort of thing should arise) and he's been able to eat that. But I know he prefers actual hay. So he's getting nutrition and he's definitely not starving, but he's definitely frustrated about the hay. And I was fearing this was The Thing.

When you have an elderly horse with a chronic degenerative illness, you live in somewhat constant fear of The Thing. The Thing that leads to the end. You don't know what The Thing might be, but you know it's looming. And by Sunday I was sure this was it. I'd worked myself up so badly I really wasn't fit for public display. But even a worked up amateur needs to eat, so I ventured out for a sandwich, hoping not to run into anyone I knew. Of course that pretty much never happens when you need it to, and one of my book club friends happened to be at the deli too. I was happy to see her, of course, just, you know, I wasn't fit for socialization. Things started normally enough with us both complaining about the weather. Naturally this conversation led to my mentioning I was supposed to leave for Florida on Wednesday to visit Badger. I should have just stopped there, but then I went on to say that I might not go. And then why. And well, there I was blubbering like a baby. Thankfully I got that under control, we bitched about the weather some more, talked about our book, and we both made it out of there alive. (Touch and go there for a minute.)

I was waiting until Monday to check in with the vet, since despite my emotions running amok, it really wasn't an emergency. I try not to be THAT client when I can help it. To be honest, I was dreading the conversation. By Sunday night I was certain this was The Thing, and that this was the week it would all come to an end. I stayed up really late on Sunday night trying to delay the inevitable conversation.
Monday morning arrived despite my best efforts. I figured I should wait until I got to work to call, because you know, not wanting to be THAT CLIENT. And then I realized I couldn't have that conversation out loud. I had already cried in public once this week, that COULD NOT happen at work. Nope. Not happening. So I took the super mature approach and texted instead. A pit forming in my stomach and the lump already in my throat as I hit send.
But you know what I love most about my vet? He loves my horse almost as much as I do. He never gives up on Rio. Not ever. Not when I thought we had to when he first got sick and definitely not now. He texted back with some other things to try. And that his office would get the meds to me tomorrow. And you know what happened later in the day? Rio started eating hay again. And drinking more water again (he also wasn't drinking as much as normal. He wasn't dehydrated, but it was a noticeable difference in fluid intake). So I will check in again tomorrow to see if I should keep him on the marquis a bit longer and see how that goes, or if I should make the switch.

I'm starting to feel a little better about things, and that maybe this isn't actually The Thing. I'm so incredibly grateful for my vet and his unwavering support of and HOPE for Rio. It warms my little cold heart. Almost as much as this guy does. Whenever The Thing finally happens, it's not going to be pretty my friends.

Truthful Tuesday

Well friends, this week I'm going to admit to feeling uncertain. I showed you yesterday an odd photo of Rio's face. I also sent that photo to my vets, and they concur that he's likely having a relapse. Though not uncommon, it's disconcerting as he's still on the medication. Which means it's not working. He seems otherwise fairly healthy this time, as in, nothing on his face is paralyzed, and he's able to move around comfortably. But likely it will get worse. I'm waiting to hear from the Cornell vets about our next plan of attack. I know there are some other meds out there, so I'm assuming we'll switch to one of those and see what happens.
This new situation has actually made me feel very comfortable in my decision to keep Rio home with me, rather than send him off to live a life of retirement out in an open field somewhere. I think he needs to be close where he can be monitored carefully.
On the other hand, I am questioning my plans for Jamp for the remainder of the summer. My plan was to take him to VT for two shows in August. However, I feel like I need to stay close to Rio. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have with him, and I don't want to leave for 10 days in August not knowing what I'll return home to. On the third hand (or maybe a foot?), Jampy is 15 and not showing him much this summer is also somewhat wasteful for him. I guess maybe I'll look for some shows close to home, so I can try and do what's best for both of them. 
So that's my conflict for today. First world problems, I realize. For me, these horses are my family, and it's hard to know what's right sometimes.
I shall leave you with some adorable photos of the herd. (which kind of leads to an actual confession: I take obscene amounts of Rio photos every day.)

Rio's HOME!

Happy Monday Readers!
I know you've all been waiting excitedly for this post... The trek to bring Rio home.
The forecast for Thursday in CT was wind and driving rain. Much like the day I brought him to Cornell. Not surprising I guess. Fortunately, when I checked the weather for Ithaca, it said mostly sunny skies. So only part of the drive would be nasty. Of course, the entire CT portion of the journey was bumper to bumper traffic:

Once in NY though, it was smooth sailing! About halfway through I followed some signs to a gas station that sold diesel in a town called Parksville, NY. Have you ever been here? It's a strange little place! When pulling off the exit, you stop at a four way intersection. Looking left and right, the Main Street appears abandoned. It looks straight out of around 1950. I looked it up online here but there's no mention of it actually being deserted. Very odd... Anyway here are some photos I grabbed quickly at the stop sign since there wasn't another car nearby anywhere.

I finally arrived at Cornell around 1:30 PM.

I had the chance to speak with the vet about Rio's new needs, what meds he was taking and for how long, and the damage to my credit card. It all took about a half hour, and by 2 we were on our way HOME! The drive home was beautiful, mostly because I had my boy with me, but also the skies had started to clear up:

 Of course once in CT more traffic....

Finally at 7:45 we pulled into the driveway, and found this adorable surprise waiting:

My neighbor is so thoughtful! 5 lbs of carrots AND a balloon bouquet welcoming Rio home. He sure is a loved boy.

Life at the farm is SO MUCH BETTER now that Rio is back. Even Ducky and Jamp seem more relaxed. I shall leave you with some photos of Rio feeling happy to be home again.

Long weekend

In the metaphorical sense of course, not ACTUALLY a long weekend. I mentioned on Thursday about my sick horse, but didn't get too much into it. Remember when I admitted my irrational fears about Rio?

Well it's turned out they weren't so irrational. I thought he had a belly ache on Wednesday, but by Friday it was evident it was something much worse. He's very unstable on his feet and is having some difficulty with eating. We're still waiting for blood results, but he's been given an unofficial diagnosis of Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis more commonly known by its acronym EPM. It's a parasite that causes swelling in the spinal region resulting in loss of coordination and difficulty with other things like swallowing. The meds are on order, and should be arriving Monday. In the meantime, I've been waking up to check on him and spending as much time as possible in the barn. Just in case.

I've had Rio for 10 years and he's quite literally my best friend. It is torture to see him like this. He gives me these looks that just melt my heart. As if he's saying, "Mom, please make this better." I would definitely never be a good human mom as I have broken down in tears right in front of him about 100 times this weekend. Not a great way to reassure him...

Thankfully, I did get some good news about Pia. The vets had told me on Monday that she either had cancer or an infection but they needed to do some tests to determine which. Thankfully it's the lesser of the two evils. She has an antibiotic resistant staph infection in her bladder. Ew. It should hopefully be treatable easily with a specific antibiotic. Only downfall is that said antibiotic is potentially fatal to humans. Clearly someone who is severely sleep deprived should be handling that... Oye.

Between the two patients, I had to make a med chart so I don't miss anything:
7 AM anti-inflammatory for Rio
8 AM P's meds
1 PM P's meds
5 PM Ulcer meds for Rio
7 PM more anti-inflammatory for Rio
8 PM P's Meds
That's a lot of med dispensing!

Despite all the misery at the farm, it was actually a really beautiful weekend here. Temps in the 70's and sun was shining. I think that helped us all. Having majored in Psych, I know the importance of keeping one's sanity during times of duress, so I did my best to get some time in with my little therapists too (P and Artie of course!)

You have to keep your strength up too, so of course I ate my feelings:

That's a bavarian cream butter braid that supposedly feeds 11. I say it feeds 1. And I'm having a rough time, so clearly that makes me right.

Just because one pony is under the weather doesn't mean they all are. I swear the other two know something is wrong with Rio. They were on their best behavior all weekend. Even the Duck. Horses are so intuitive.

Sunday morning I felt confident that Rio's condition was holding steady and took an hour to have breakfast at the lake. It was really peaceful there and a nice little time away.

Hopefully this week brings big improvements to my boy. I shall leave you with some of the 8 million photos I took of him this weekend.