Updated 10-8-08 Tumor time - this will have pictures of tumors on a gelding's sheath and penis







Spot is my 23 year old Appy gelding . He, as you can see, is mostly pink skinned, he is also sedated in this picture .




He is now suffering from a pretty typical Appy problem of Squamous cell carcinoma or skin cancer . Appy’s and other light skinned horses get this either in their sheath , vulva area or eyes . Spot started his chemotherapy Cisplatin today , which is injections into the tumors . This is the first round the next round will be in 2 weeks . It was a bit worse than expected , we knew about the tumor on the outside but not the tumors on the inside . After he was sedated my Vet found the additional tumors and after a call to UC Davis determined how much of the drug could be injected at one time .

After the first round of chemotherapy





Day 2

Quite a bit of swelling today . I am putting on a combination of Antibiotic ointment and Cortisone cream mixed 1:1 on it twice a day to help with swelling . Last night I brought him up and put him the wash rack and had Brian hold him. I wasn't sure how painful it would be or how he would react to me touching it . He was fine and didn't offer to kick me . Today I just treated him in his turnout and even with all the swelling he was fine with me touching it . My Vet said I wouldn't really see any changes until the second or third treament in the actual tumors .

later

The swelling continued through the day until it was just huge . When I called him to come up to get treated at night the poor thing moved like he was just gelded again . I buckled and gave him 1 gram of bute .

Day 6

Well it's a gory goopy mess . The swelling is down , it's been cooler at night so that might be helping . He is moving around well and eating like he's starving . I'm still treating twice a day and that's what's making it a goopy mess . I'm not messing with it and so far he is ok with me smearing the cream over it . I have a system down now and can get it covered without having to touch it much . I'm not sure how painful it is and don't want to handle it much in case it hurts and I don't want to get kicked .

Round two 10-7-08

Didn't go well . Spot wasn't the least bit happy to have the needles stuck into his sheath and did his very best to discourage it . He had to have 3 rounds of sedation , a twitch on his nose and on his neck . She did finally manage to get the drug into the tumors but it wasn't pretty . He did not want to drop to allow the inside tumors to be treated . He has 3 more rounds to go and my Vet did talk about general sedation to do it, said she would rather do it standing but left that option open . Of course the extra sedation ended up costing another $100 Last night he got 2 grams of bute and another 2 this morning as she felt he would be very sore . He seemed his usual Spot self this morning . I am not looking forward to the next 3 rounds .

Round two - day two

The big load of bute helped with the swelling and it's been cooler . He is perky and moving around well . Today we started back on the twice daily application of creams . I reached under to stick it on and he had look like " you have to be kidding , touch it and I'll take your head off " . I mix it in my palm and cup my hand and just dip the end in my palm , even that was too much for him today and he tried to kick me . I'm going to start doing it with my left hand so I can stand back further . The main tumor is on his left side and I have been reaching under with my right hand .

After round two of chemotherapy




I will continue to update Spot's progress through this - check back to this entry for the updates 2008 all pictures and content

Around 1 month

So far so good . Amy is still on the in at night progam . She isn't happy about it and catching her at night now is a production . We get the old cat game of " just close enough to touch but not catch " . This morning she was only out a few minutes and brought out a kangaroo rat and started playing cat soccer with it . Foggy wasn't around this morning and I was worried she might have gotten eaten but after about 20 minutes of "kitty kitty kitty " on and off she appeared . I'm really happy with them and they are doing a good job of keeping everything away from my hay and outbuildings .


Day 10+

It's been 10+ days since the girls were let loose . I am keeping Amy in at night and that's working out well . Foggy has moved over into the hay stack and she's doing her job . I don't have any birds coming into my shed now and I haven't seen any walking around the shed area . I also haven't seen any of the various rodents that were moving in over at the hay stack .

Day 4

So far so good . I have been putting Amy in at night and Foggy stays nearby . Foggy is like a feral cat should be slinky and hangs close to cover . Amy is silly and comes right out in the open and has started following me around the shed area . I think I'll keep Amy on the in- at- night program

The next day

I did catch Amy and put her in the cage last night . I was worried about Foggy but hoped she'd stay nearby . This morning I was happy to see Foggy's little face watching me from under the shed . I turned Amy out for the day and they both headed over to the hay stack

Freedom

Today is the big day . The girls have been here for 3 weeks , the suggested amount of time before turning them loose . I opened the cage and let them out a couple hours ago . I'm a bit worried about Amy who turns out not to be "Feral Amy" but just " Shy Amy " , I can pet and pick her up . I will try and catch her at feeding time tonight and put her in the cage overnight , Foggy is feral and I know I can't catch her . Hopefully if Amy is in the cage Foggy will stay nearby under the shed where she will be safe . Feral cat project - part 1

Amy heads across to the hay stack



Amy sitting near my wheelbarrow next to the hay shed



Foggy deciding what to do



Foggy posing outside the cage



2008 all photos and content

I went to the show and have a mixed report .

Looking back now I could have been better prepared but I lack self discipline . Saturday I only had one test 2-2 which is a pretty easy test, except for that stupid simple change at x which is difficult for me . I actually wore the boots for an hour on Friday, not to ride of course but to clean house . So we were good to go and entered at A . Second movement is medium trot across the diagonal . I usually post this at home, my back only has a couple in it and I just don't put myself through it . We were 4 steps into it and I felt something let go in my low back , we continued while I bounced and slammed poor Petes back doing my best not to fall off . She gave us a 4, a more generous judge would have given me a 5 . We finished the test and got a low score , marked down again for that stupid simple change I always time wrong .

Saturday night I was in a good deal of pain and decided to ride Sunday but only test 2 and not test 4 - test 2 was also scheduled earlier and it was hot . I decided to not even attempt the medium and just do a working trot and take the 4 she would give me but spare my back . We did get 4's but overall I tried harder and the score went up 11 points , if I hadn't had to throw away the medium trot and had gotten the timing on that simple change it would have been a respectable score . She gave Pete some very nice comments - just short of saying nice horse needs a better rider . Since I bred him and trained him I'm pretty happy when he gets nice comments . I was feeling discouraged on Saturday but got over it . If I work at it harder things will improve , next show is in Oct . and I'll try again .

Pete was the only Arab and for fun I thought if anyone asked I'd tell them he's a Middle Eastern Warmblood . Someone did ask and I did tell them Middle Eastern Warmblood ! my coach was standing there and she laughed and then told the lady he was an Arab - the lady totally bought my Middle Eastern Warmblood line .

This is my coach on a Hannoverian gelding , no pictures of me, we forgot the camera and Meralee had to work . He is the same color as Pete with similar markings but Pete is only 14.2 and this guy was around 17 hands



2008

Normally I steer away from conflict or controversy but I feel fairly strongly about this and have put some thought into writing about this experience before deciding to do it .

Back around 6 months ago there was an auction organized to help an ABN member who had a family member who was very ill . The auction was not here on ABN but many members donated items and there was a thread about it in the Café . One of the items donated was a puppy . A friend of mine had been looking for this type and color of dog , she placed a bid on the puppy . My friend was surprised she won the auction with her bid which was low but there was no reserve . My friend sent the bid money to help buy the medicine and she was happy to be able to help.

She contacted the donator of the puppy, a regular poster here on ABN . She did ask me about this woman who I did not know but thought must be ok, she had donated to help out in the auction . The puppy owner told my friend to send $300 for shipping the puppy from Oklahoma . My friend promptly sent the money via Paypal . She didn’t hear anything from the woman for a couple days so she contacted the woman to find out when the puppy would ship . She was told the puppy died . My friend is a good and kind person so she believed the story and simply asked to have her shipping money refunded . This all happened within a week, the woman said she would send the shipping money back . Of course she never did and came up with many stories over the last 6 months why she didn't send the money back .

During this 6 months according this woman’s website she has bought a new horse and she is often posting about horses for sale here on ABN . I felt partly responsible for my friend getting cheated out of her money because I told her about the auction and honestly pissed off someone would pocket $300 by taking advantage of this charity auction . I tried contacting the woman , I did not tell my friend but hoped the woman would finally see the light and give back the money . The woman was very rude and also told me a story about how she did not have the money . Here’s the thing , that money was sent to ship the dog , she must have quickly spent it on something else , told my friend some lame story about the dog hanging itself and then has strung my friend along for 6 months telling her she’ll give her back her money .

My friend is out the money and she could really use it to buy hay for her two horses, a 25 year old Arab gelding and a 22 year old ¾ Arab mare . We’ve been friends for 15 years, in fact I met her when I ran an Arabian Horse Youth Group , she was one of my youth members . You could never meet a more honest and kind person . I can’t tell you how mad it makes me this woman took advantage of my friend and this auction . My friend said she will tell her story to anyone who might have dealings with this woman , including all the emails back and forth . Not much more can be done at this point other than let people know about this dishonest person . I will put anyone I see dealing with this woman in contact with my friend so they make an informed decision on dealing with her .

Two weeks

Both will come when I call "kitty , kitty" and have the canned food . Foggy will hold her ground when I walk by and Amy, ever hopeful, does come to the feeding area every time I come by . They have another week in the cage then I'll turn them out and keep my fingers crossed . I returned their travel crates to the Nevada Humane Society today . The adoption specialist who helped me before was there . I let her know the progress and she let me know I could get more anytime , she also thanked me for taking them . They are trying very hard to be a no kill shelter and are very close .



Day 10

I'm popular ! Feral Amy loves canned food she comes to the cage door when she sees me coming at "canned food" time and even talked to me . Foggy came out today and took some food off the plastic knife . Foggy does wait until Amy is eating before slowy approaching . I do the "kitty , kitty , kitty " chant while giving them the food . They still have another 12 days or so in the cage before I turn them out .

Day 6

I have seen both cats out but they run and hide as soon as they see me . It's been unusually hot for August the last couple days and Feral Amy has come out in the open to catch a breeze . She sits in or on the large crate , Foggy has been in the cat house most of the time .

Feral Amy








The Nevada Humane Society has a program that adopts out feral cats . The cats are fixed , vaccinated and free after your application is accepted . I was approved last week and picked up my feral cats this morning . They are attractive grey shorthair adult females and they are wild .

My plan is to have them do small rodent control in the hay and around the buildings . Right now they have to stay in a cage for @ 3 weeks so they learn this is where they live . I have them in a 4' x 6' cage with a small cat house , large crate and small crate to hide in . I opened the doors to their travel crates and the one called , "Feral Amy " at the shelter, came out gave me a look like I was the worst thing she'd ever seen and went in the cat house . The other cat called "Foggy" won't come out of her travel crate .



The adoption people were very nice and encouraged me to come get more any time, they had plenty . These two came from a cat hoarder , from the Reno Gazette-Journal August 7 2008 -

"The Nevada Humane Society is expecting more than 40 cats and kittens taken from a Sparks home during a police investigation. Twenty-nine have arrived at the shelter at 2825 Longley Lane, with the rest expected within a week. About 75 percent are feral, unsocialized and in need of barn homes. The rest are friendly and would make great pets. Most are in good health and mostly gray or gray with white. "

I'll update their progress on this entry - check back to see how the feral cat project goes

I thought I'd start my blog up again , I have a couple entries here .


August 1

In a very half-assed way I'm moving Pete up the levels . We are now second/third and will competing at second this summer . I had an epithany while schooling the @%#@* 12th movement at 2- 2 . The movement is at the canter E -turn right, X - simple change , B - turn left . I have no excuse for not realizing it sooner but it was a funny moment when I realized , hey ! this is making me perfect my timing for higher levels . Of course my timing sucks and Pete will think he knows what I want after he schools it twice . Today we worked on a couple movements from 2-4 , shoulder in to renvers . I had the concept down pretty well , we did a walk through with Suzan walking along side telling me when to change the bend . I think the only issue I actually had was reading how to do this movement online . It really isn't difficult and reading 50 opinions of how it should be done just clouds things and makes it incomprehensible . We also tried to get a better turn on haunches , Pete will offer something pretty similar to a reining spin if I'm not precise . I had told Suzan " oh, no problem we've got that down fine " then we proceeded to give an ok reining spin and a weird turn on the haunches that felt and I'm sure looked bad .

After much thought we will be doing 2-2 and 2-4 later this month . These two tests make the most sense to me at this point , the other second level tests just seem counter- productive . Both the tests I've picked have lots of canter which is good for us and we need to really polish our canter work anyway .


July 30

Nothing much has happened around here since we lost Bert . It is mostly adjusting to him not being here after 19 years and trying to move forward . I know it seems strange since I never was much of a breeder but after he died it seemed like the possibilities went with him . I still have 4 mares 2 of which I'll breed , one next year and one the year after . My original vision is now gone and the plan is different .

Here are some random pictures from the last couple weeks .

Ernie's 33rd birthday






Chuck shows Ginger his cone , she gives her opinion



Chuck decides to beat his brother with his cone



2008 all pictures and content

We have a variety of wildlife visit our place . I'm not usually able to get pictures but today I was able to catch this guy/gal having a hot breakfast .









Early in the winter we had a bobcat , we never did get to see it but it left it's tracks and parts of it's uneaten meals.
My bobcat tracks are now on the Animal Tracker site .







2008 all pictures and content

A husband, a son , a friend , a father , a sister , a mother , a neighbor , a niece , a nephew ....

















Please take a moment and say a prayer or send a positive thought for all of those guys

2008 all pictures and content