Cash finds a new home

OK so I will try to make this long story short. After all my ups and downs with Cash I decided to sell him. I couldn't afford emotionally or financially to keep just another trail horse and I didn't want to drug him up every time I showed him just to keep him feeling OK. So I sold him to a very sweet lady that just wanted a love bug/trail horse. He is shown in the picture at his new home. We dropped him off on January 7th, just 9 months after he came into my life. I am really happy that I was able to prepare him for someone new as I know he would not have been able to go to this same home 9 months ago. He came a long way and is such a great horse. I am grateful to have found a home where he will have all his needs tended to and lead a less stressful life.

Now I must decide what to do next. I really want another horse, but at the same time I am scared to get burned again. For now I will enjoy the time I am actually home (and not out of town for work) with my old lady (Ginger) :)

Zebra Christmas

So I just found out some sad/bad news and wanted to run to my blog to weep about it, but instead I am posting a Happy post, the sad can wait :)

Let me start this with a preface before you think I am totally crazy. Last year I wrapped all of my Christmas presents in Zebra wrapping paper and used red and green bows tied around them.

So this year I was SUPER excited to find that they had Zebra Santa's at Hobby Lobby!!! This picture is of bags that I am putting homemade horse cookies (made by my Mom) in for all of my fellow boarders. I also purchased Zebra tissue that had green and red ornaments on it, and bags with the same Zebra Santa. I was so in awe I could have pee'd myself!

Anywho if there are any other fellow Zebra lovers out there...head your booties over to Hobby Lobby :) Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like...tradeshow season :)

Oh geez here I go not blogging for nearly a month! Well it's only going to get worse. Tradeshow season (well the paperwork) is coming upon us and that means I do not have a life for say the next 8 weeks. I most recently went to Nashville for a show and before I left I went to see my babies. This picture is of Cash saying "Don't leave me Mommy" or more likely, "Where is another cookie?!". I am SO glad he gets to stay out nearly 24/7 now. He has a few battle wounds to show, but nothing like it was before. It is especially nice that the geldings get to stay out even in the rainy weather because they can all go hide under the covered arena.

Ginger is on the mend and seems to be doing well without shoes. Still lame to an extent, but we have ridden her a few times and she fared just fine. It takes a little longer to get her ready now with giving her bute and putting on her boots before hand. However it is worth it to get her out and moving on someone else's command not just her own. She was a real handful the first time out after her 3 months off. Steering was a bit of a challenge, but my Mom handled it GREAT! I have said it a million times, but I am so blessed to have my Mom help with Ginger and Cash when I am gone (and when I am there). She is a regular old horse woman now :)

Back in the Pasture again

Well here Cash is back out in the pasture with the evil geldings. As I said in my last post, the vet said in short terms that Cash needed a lifestyle change. Being that I am at a boarding facility my only option for him to be on pasture is for him to go out with the mean old men. I am hoping that this time around they can all learn to adjust and not beat my poor man up too much. I know, I know they all get beat up at first, but last time it was 3 months and he was still coming in bleeding at times. Anywho what do you know...last night I got a call from the barn manager after his first day in the pasture with his new friends...he had a swollen jowl.

Ugh...can this horse catch a break! So I went out to the barn last night to give him some bute, but then turned him back out with the geldings that go on night turn out. Anything(almost)is better than him being stuck in a stall. I knew our vet was coming out for someone else this morning so I gave her a call and left a message of our mishap. She called back with a response of, "Do you need me to bring you some bubble wrap?" lol! I said I think it would be best if we could make him a large plastic ball like they have for hamsters. Well she came out as planned for the other horse and I told her I would see how Cash's jowl was and decide if he really needed to be seen or not. My concern was that he was kicked or maybe had an abscess, versus the barn manager thinking he may have been stung by a bee. Sure enough I went out to get him and he seemed fine. So I walked him up to the barn anyways thinking I would at least clean his hooves out. The vet took a quick peak and said he was fine.

So above is a pic of him out in the pasture, clearly loving the little bit of grass that is left. I also took this picture so I could have a reminder of his(over)weight. As he is switching to all alfalfa we will be cutting back slightly on his grain. Excuse the whiskers in the left side of the shot, that's another horse who thought my phone was a snack.

Poor Cash, Poor Wallet :(

So...Cash coliced on Tuesday night...we had been doing so well. The vet came out and came to the conclusion this MUST be ulcers as he has coliced 3 times in 6 months. She believed the show on Saturday must have put him over the top thus causing this colic. She recommended having him scoped at a local vet clinic to make sure of the ulcer situation and go from there.

Thursday morning we headed out to Weatherford for Cash's scope. He wasn't excited about the trailer and I wasn't excited that I had to pull it without my husband. Surprise, Surprise...no active ulcers!!! Only scarred areas from previous ulcers. Suggestions were a change of lifestyle including getting him a buddy, feeding only alfalfa hay, turnout to pasture as much as possible, and neigh-lox morning and night. Well seeing as I board some of these are hard to accommodate. I spoke with my barn manager last night and we will see what we can accomplish.

Oh wait! I almost forgot :( I went out to the barn last night to find the above (picture). Pitiful is all I could think; he was gassy, moaning, and droopy lipped. I walked in, talked to him, praying he could understand I was trying to help him and we would make it through this. Finally after some stomping on the ground he got up for me. I led him into to the main barn hoping he would snap out of it. My Mom suggested maybe it was from the scope since they did fill him with air/water during the procedure. I called my regular on call vet to see if this was in fact normal. She let me know that "No" this was in no way normal after a scope, he was having a mild colic. Luckily we had some paste banamine in the fridge so we administered and waited. After an hour he was doing better and perked up. I put his blanket on him and led him back out to his paddock. I haven't seen him yet today, it will have to wait until after work, but no news is good news I suppose.

Anyone reading this please say a little prayer for Cash and I as we try to figure out/fix his problem.

Our First Show Together :)

Wow! that is what I have to say about how amazing my little man was. He was an absolute dream at the show. So patient and calm throughout the whole LONG day. I purposely chose the classes I did so we could be done by noon and not over do it our first outing. Well our classes were not done until almost 4pm and we got to the show at 9am.

On to the funny/not so funny oopps of the day. Well I thought I had everything ready; air in the tires, trailer light adapter, hay bags hung, etc, etc. You see we borrowed a friends trailer as I sold mine a while back when Ginger could no longer show. Well my husband has a hitch that he pulls his boat with so I thought we were all good. Not so much...it was not the right sized ball :(. Thank the lord Jaime (our farm hand) had some tools and finally ended up having to saw off my husbands rusted ball so we could attach the right size one. Then Cash decided he wasn't so keen on getting onto the trailer...15 minutes later (8:45am) we were on our way to the show that was set to start at 9am (but did not).

Whew...I still had time to warm up because they were running late at the show. Super late...my first class wasn't until 12:30. Anyways it was a great day and we ended up with Reserve Champion in our 18" division. Go us!!!

Preparing for our schooling show

So our big weekend is almost here! Cash and I are going to our first schooling show on Saturday(thanks to a nice lady at the barn letting us borrow her trailer). I swore I would try to get him to one by this fall and here I am sneaking in the last one of the season. We are signed up for some walk trot classes and w/t 18" hunter classes. It should be a fun experience to get him out and see how his "show mind" will be.

Of course the weather has decided to change today and it will be chilly(for us Texans that's around the 50's) for the big day. But my pretty boy doesn't seem to let the weather changes bother him that much. Tonight will be our last ride before our warm-up on Saturday so I am hoping all goes well. Friday will be full of beauty regimens and praying his sheet will keep him clean before the big day.