Long time… HI!

Well much has happened since the last time I wrote… YIKES!!!

The last time I wrote we had gone to the show and were up before the birds… on the hottest day of the summer and spending the day outdoors.

Three months later probably the worst thing to happen to any pet owner happened… our beloved palomino got sick.  Not just cough/cold sick, but we thought she was colicking except that a few hours later it turned to diarrhea…

She was seen by the vet who referred her to OVC (Ontario Veterinary College) in Guelph, Ontario.  She’d lost tons of fluids and was severely dehydrated just from half a day.  The lead vet, Dr. Baird–the most amazing vet I have ever met to this day–pulled me aside when I finally arrived and said that it was all pointing to colitis and that more than 90% of horses who present with colitis never go home.

Prayers and no sleep that night found us exhausted in the morning and waiting for the phone to ring.  Finally, it did.  Our beautiful palomino had made it through the night and her blood had normalized.  She was doing much better.

After actually colicking a few days later, she was on the mend and on the way home.

That was almost two years ago.  She has since been back jumping and doing all the things she used to do, except show.  We figure the stress of taking her to a show isn’t worth it.  After all, she’s one of less than 10% that made it.

Last November I had to have surgery which greatly reduced my visits to the barn.  I was out for six weeks and I haven’t been going back as regularly partly because I haven’t had time and partly because my daughter is capable of going out there on her own and being out there on her own.  She’s become more independent out there because mom’s not going out there and holding her hand.

This past spring, after shopping for a bit, my daughter has found another horse to train and, with lots of hope, get her into the jumper ring!  She is 3 years old and quite a handful though, despite running away the first night on the farm and putting her face through a mirror at the end of May, she has really calmed down and learned a lot.  I think she’s going to do just fine!

So that’s where we’re at!  Every time I see our pretty palomino I tell her she has to keep fighting.

Actually, you know what, I wrote the story of her for a contest that I didn’t win… in the next few days I’m going to post it here and you can read it for yourself.