Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Truthful Tuesday

If you follow me on social, then you probably already know that we're going through a thing over here at the farm...
Jampy is foundering. This is my first personal experience with laminitis, and I have to tell you, I don't recommend this to anyone. There's not a whole lot to do other than Banamine and ice. Over and over. And then you wait. You wait for blood work. You wait for new x-rays. You wait for the vet. Until we know what caused this, he can only eat soaked hay. So I can't even stuff his face with cookies. I am going to get some peanuts and see how he feels about those though. Hopefully he'll like them.
I feel so badly for him. His feet really hurt. But he actually doesn't care all that much about that. What he cares about is that he can only eat super bland hay, and he REALLY wants his grain. I hate that I can't just fix this for him. That I can't tell him "in two days, you can get back to normal handsome boy."
But the other thing I hate? Is that I also have these selfish thoughts (which is my confession today). I have no horses to ride. Both my old men are laid up, possibly forever. And that's super depressing. For them as much as for me. I was super excited to try out the Soloshot3 this weekend, but last night I just packed it back in its box. Set aside for maybe when Badger comes back to CT? Who knows. I miss riding. It's not so bad in the winter when it's 10 degrees outside. But it's finally nice out here.
I'm doing my best to shove those thoughts aside where they belong though. It's not about something so unimportant right now. It's about getting Jampy comfortable and healthy again.
On the bright side, we've had plenty of comic relief. You should see some of the "ice packs" we've tried out while waiting for more ice boots to arrive and/or to freeze. I'll share some of that tomorrow. But for now, we wait.

30 comments:

  1. Hugs! I saw what was going on on Instagram but I couldn't comment because I'm a cave troll without an account. Founder is AWFUL. Fingers crossed Jampy comes back 100%! It does happen - my pony grass foundered and other than having to carefully manage her turnout afterwards, she was fine.

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    1. Oh I'm glad your pony was ok! Fingers crossed Jampy will be too. I guess for this it's a good thing I only have sand turnout!

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  2. I'm so, so sorry ☹️ thinking of you, and your precious boys. Fingers crossed you get some encouraging news soon.

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    1. Thank you!
      How's your goat doing?

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    2. She is physically doing a lot better, although emotionally she seems a bit upset about the new kids -- she keeps going back to the shed looking for hers, which makes me 😭 but it'll pass I hope.

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    3. That's heart breaking. Poor girl. But I'm glad she's feeling better physically at least.

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  3. I was so sad to hear that he wasn't doing well. Sending good vibes for a quick recovery. <3
    Don't feel guilty for missing riding, that's why we have horses! I was super crabby when Apollo was lame buy my young horses weren't started yet (so paying for three, riding zero), so I feel you on that a bit.
    I hope Mr. J is 100% soon!!

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    1. Thank you! Yes you definitely could relate! So many horses, but nothing to sit on.

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  4. Ugh, one of my biggest fears is dealing with laminitis. I think I saw somewhere that you said it may be from his hock injections? That would in some ways be a good thing for treatment. There are so many sugar free/low sugar horse treats out there, you will have to go shopping!
    Fingers crossed that Jamp is on the road to recovery! I definitely had several occasions where both Stampede and Phoenix were out of commission which was so frustrating. I just always did a little pouting and tried to remind myself how lucky I am to have them in my life whether I can ride them or not.

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    1. Exactly! I'm glad to have them around riding or not.
      We're thinking that sometime in the last year he must have gotten a little metabolic, probably just due to age. So when we injected with the steroids his body couldn't handle them. My poor vet feels horrible, but there really wasn't any way to know. He looks great, other than being a little chubby.

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  5. I am so sorry, that is no fun to deal with, been there, done that :(. Sending healing thoughts to Jampy and hugs to you. If you were closer you could come ride some of mine! Maybe I should send you one or two...

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    1. Thank you! I would totally take you up on that if you were nearby! I'm sure once this settles down I can take some lessons or something at one of the barns I braid at.

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  6. Founder is no joke. I've seen it firsthand. It can be a real issue here with the lush grass coming in right now. It sounds like you're doing the very best you can for him. Don't get discouraged!

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  7. Poor Jampy, and poor you! I got a ton of great sugar-free treat recommendations when we thought Bobby had foundered if you want me to dig up that post for you. Withholding cookies is just as hard as the rest of the treatment!

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    1. Oh yes! That would be great! Once I get the blood work back we can start figuring out what his restrictions will be.

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    2. http://poorwomanshowing.blogspot.com/2017/09/new-vocabulary.html

      I was amazed at how many founder-friendly snack ideas are out there. Hopefully he can go back to regular snacking in no time though!

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    3. Thank you so much! I got peanuts today, and thankfully he loves them!
      I was really surprised that Rio ate them too. He's super picky.

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  8. Oh man, I'm sorry. Hope he feels better soon.

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  9. So sorry you have to deal with this! I hope he feels better soon.

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  10. Oh man, I'm so sorry. Poor boy. I hope he feels better soon. I'm sorry you're out of luck for riding too. I went through that for a while and I feel you. It's very frustrating to own so many horses and not be able to ride.

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    1. Thank you! I figured I could admit that on here, and at least a few people would understand.

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  11. Keeping Jamps in my thoughts :(

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  12. Hope he feels better soon how scary....and i hope he gets to have something besides bland hay soon too :)

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  13. Oh no! So sorry you're dealing with this mess!

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    1. Thank you! Hopefully things are looking up today!

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