New vet

You may recall here where I lamented that I needed to find a new vet because my current one has deemed my new barn was too far away. Boo because I love my current vet! Anyway, the barn I'm at uses two vets mostly. One, who we will call Dr S, will never touch my horse with a ten foot pole. I've had too many friends/friends of friends use Dr S's services with bad results. "Bad results" could be a severe reaction to a vaccine to total misdiagnosis of an illness with drastic consequences. Either way, I'm not a fan. The other vet the barn uses we will call Dr D. This seemed like a better option and I've heard some good things about the practice. I called and got Digby set up for fall shots.

Old photooooo, always old photos!

I am actually quite pleased! I was kind of grumpy about the whole thing because, well, they aren't my old vet and I wish I didn't need a new one and blah blah whine whine. The vet that came out isn't the main vet but she was nice, knowledgeable and genuinely interested in Digby and I. Digby is pretty interesting given his history (you know, chronic colic, ulcers, blind in one eye, has been treated for lyme, has a navicular bone in two pieces, way too much chronic lameness...) but I love getting new opinions on his issues. She had a few suggestions. At one point she said, "if you want, you can ride more than you do. There are several options that won't break the bank to help with his issues that you haven't tried yet. Go ride."

WHEE! Love hearing that! I tried to keep my excitement under control since, those options may not work but that would be awesome. I miss having goals and riding my horse regularly!

In other news, Digby and I switched farriers in May when I moved to the new barn. He shoes some of the racehorses that my full time job farm owns. I was always impressed with him and decided to just give him a shot on my own personal (not racehorse) horse. I'm pleased to say that Digby's feet look the best since he's been back in PA. His heels are better than they were and his angles are finally even. Way to go Digby.

My favorite month!

Ah yes, life has settled down a bit for me. October is my favorite month so this is perfect timing. :) Since the horses are back on day turnout and I work 7-4 at my full time job, I'm not helping turnout at Digby's barn. I'm also not pet sitting at the moment. I went from working legitimately every hour of the day, minus my hour lunch break, to having almost every night off. It's a magical thing. I've been wildly productive since I'm not used to having down time.

Old Digby photo, maybe 2012?

It's been great to get some stuff done! I've been trying to ride more and I've been catching up on some of my blog reading. I've got some posts to write about, well, what's been happening, some stuff I've bought lately (and not so lately), and how the rides have been going. Stay tuned, Digby lovers! News is on the way!

Picking your battles.

Yes, I'm alive. I currently work 48 hours at my full time job, help turnout horses 6 days a week at Digby's barn and pick up pet sitting jobs occasionally. I eat, sleep and work. Oh and there's been some beer drinking and TV watching cause football is back! Whoo!

One of the yearlings I groom. Doesn't actually stand this close up front hahhaha!

Yearling season is in full swing. This means I'm personally prepping 6 yearlings for the sale in November. We have almost 30 in total but I'm only in charge of 6. I have 3 fillies and 3 colts this year. We get the yearlings in at the middle or end of August and they are basically never worked with before. They can't lead and definitely can't be groomed. We've really only messed with them to give them shots, dewormer and get their feet done. This does not mean they can pick up their feet though. They definitely can't.

Not my yearling but she's a witch. I promise, she only looks sweet.

I've been avoiding being kicked, run over, struck, stepped on, otherwise injured and I'm trying to break my yearlings. So far I've been successful! I try to take it day by day with the horses, especially the fillies. The females, I'm sure no one will be surprised, are a bit more sensitive and moody. Even as yearlings, they can come into heat. Even if they aren't in heat, they can be a bit touch and go. Anyway, I was working with one of my colts the other day and for whatever reason, he was all kinds of wound up. He was spooky coming out of his stall, didn't want to walk into the grooming stall, fussed on the cross ties. The yearlings have been in for several weeks so they're pretty good about most of the things I ask of them. I get to focus on really GROOMING now instead of trying to make things simple and make sure the yearlings are calm and understand what I'm asking. He was fussing and just being kind of a dick. I was a bit flustered. It was SO hot out, I was frustrated, it was my last horse and I was pretty mentally done. I very much wanted to yell at him. I needed to pick his feet and he was convinced I had never brushed his legs and definitely never cleaned his face and how dare I ask him stand still on the cross ties because I've never asked him to do that before! I took a step back and realized, you should really pick your battles here. He's obviously having a rough day so don't even try to pick his feet. It would just start a fight and you're tired, he's tired, it wouldn't be worth it. I decided I'd work on brushing, to hell with feet picking. To hell with standing stock still on the cross ties.

"Should I get up? I'm not sure. What do I do?! OMG"

So I didn't pick his feet. I settled on standing sort of still on the cross ties and that his legs were brushed. The next day he was much better. He stood still. I brushed him all over. He picked up all 4 feet, zero drama. Success. I could of refused to leave until he had done everything I asked. I really could of. I'm glad I didn't. This really applies to life, on a whole. I've been thinking a lot lately and realized that it's just not possible to win every battle. Make sure the ones you pick are worth fighting.

Things that go missing.

I kid you not, this is actually July 2015. YES A SEMI RECENT PHOTO! THAT I TOTALLY FORGOT MY FRIEND TOOK... because it was during this ride I realized Digby was lame so I didn't ride. Ha.

I went to the barn to help with turnout, as I almost always do. I help turnout the 10 horses on the property for reduced board, with 2 nights off a week. It's hard now that I'm full time but I'll stop once the horses go back to day turnout sometime in September. I was running late (SHOCK. Haha.) and didn't say hi to Digby before starting to turn out. I grabbed two of the senior geldings and started putting them out in their field. The barn owner came over and asked what I did with Digby's halter. Now mind you, she had watched me pull in and immediately start turning out. I said something along the lines of "uh...?" and she said it wasn't on his door. He's a bit of a player, in that he'll grab his halter/fly mask/blankets/whatever he can reach and play with them and fling them around. The habit is somewhere between funny and irritating. I turned the older guys out and then went to look for Digby's halter. It was MIA. I checked his stall. I checked in front of his stall. I asked if she was sure he came in with it on. She was. I checked the bushes by his stall. Nada.

Hmm. I looked and saw that his turnout buddy, Ghost, had Digby's lead rope attached to his halter. I've been at this barn for around two months now and that has never happened. So that's odd. I also noticed that Ghost's lead, which is longer and thicker, was snapped to itself.... as if someone made a make shift halter out of it. I chuckled and realized the barn owner just probably didn't realize he, in fact, hadn't come in with it and she didn't notice because the guy who does stalls in the morning brought them in. While I have yet to track down Digby's halter in his field, I can safely assume it's out there somewhere. Luckily, I had a spare (two actually, plus a rope halter) so crisis averted. Digby and friend went out and all was well.

That made me start thinking about all the things that have disappeared at barns over the years. I've lost all sorts of things like a crop and a dressage whip, a saddle pad, a feed scoop, halters lost in fields or just MIA, bell boots (and not even in the traditional "in the field" sense, a person wandered off with my awesome Italian gum pull on bell boots which I have yet to replace) and a whole lot of fly spray and treats. I'm not sure what it is about barns that make other boarders think "well, this is here so I'll use it" and then NOT RETURN THE ITEM? I would not do that in a barn and I certainly wouldn't do it outside the barn either. I don't mind the occasional use of my fly spray or treats. I do however mind when someone uses my tack or equipment. I mind this even more when it gets returned dirty or doesn't get returned at all. Someone please explain this to me.

Blogs, by the numbers.

Sometimes, I don't feel like blogging. Other times, I'm too busy to blog.

Digby, 2010. He knows several tricks :)

Since I have been the latter as of late and I have time now, I thought it would be fun to list all the blogs I read regularly and how many blog posts I've missed since I haven't read any since the second to last week or the last week of July... Yeah. Admittedly, I MAY have read some posts on specific blogs and forgotten and my computer isn't the best for accurate posts (sometimes counts 2 posts on the same day as 1 post) sooo it might not be 100% correct. I didn't list anyone who's blog I follow if they didn't post since then. I don't want to make anyone feel bad because, you know, I've been there myself busy bloggers!!

26 - 'Fraidy Cat Eventing
26 - Bay with Chrome
26 - Behind the Bit
19 - She Moved to Texas
18 - Viva Carlos
16 - A Enter Spooking
16 - Hand Gallop
14 - Cob Jockey
14 - Sprinkler Bandits
12 - A Collection of Madcap Escapades 
12 - Paradigm Farms
12 - Smooth Strides
11 - Dandyism
11 - Hopeful Jumpers
11 - Ponytude
11 - Post Secret (not horsey, love it anyway)
11 - Zen and the Art of Baby Horse Management
10 - Back in The Tack
10 - Stories from the Saddle
10 - Wilbur, Ellie and Emily
9 - Oh Gingersnap
8 - Draft Mare
8 - Fly on Over
7 - Bringing Up Baby
7 - Four Mares No Money
7 - Guinness on Tap
7 - Poor Woman Showing
6 - Dotstream
6 - Eventing in Color
6 - Pony Express
5 - Bays over Baes
5 - Stubborn Together
5 - That Red Mare
5 - Jumping Percheron
5 - Weanie Eventer
4 - A Gift Horse
4 - All In
4 - EquiNovice
4 - In Omnia Paratus
4 - Incidents of Guidance 
4 - Life of Riley
4 - Me Jump Pretty One Day
4 - No Hour Wasted
4 - The Reeling
4 - The Owls Approve 
3 - A blonde, brunette and a Redhead
3 - Contact
3 - Flying Free
3 - If the Saddle Fits
3 - Peace and Carrots
3 - Stampy and the Brain
3 - The Polka Dot Periodical 
3 - Tucker the Wunderkind
2 - A Yankee in Paris
2 - Candyland
2 - Pia's Parade
2 - The Moody Mare
2 - The Poor Amateur's Almanac 
2 - The Young Horse Experience
2 - Wait for the Jump
2 - Walk, Trot, Canter, Banter
2 - We are Flying Solo
2 - Wyvern Oaks
1 - A Mare Called Lilly
1 - A Work in Progress
1- Alchemy Eventing
1- Breeches and Boat Shoes
1 - Confessions of an AA Event Rider
1 - Dressage Pony

Guess I've got some reading to do! I was done work at 4 and since it's raining, I find myself with NOTHING TO DO for once in what seems to be a very long time. This calls for some adult beverages, Netflix binging and blog reading. :) (Side note: if I missed your blog, spelled something wrong, or entered a hyperlink wrong, let me know! The adult beverages maaay have already started.)

Not dead.

Ah yes, I am alive. If you know me in real life, you know I regularly post on Instagram and fairly often on FB but I try to keep Digby related things here on the blog.

So, what's been happening?

Hmm. Ok. Digby's lyme test came back positive. We've started treating with Doxy. I give him a probiotic daily in the midday. He finished his course of Previcox but is still getting Adequan. He's also finally almost done his ulcer meds. We tapered them super slowly because of his move and that whole "acid rebound effect" that I've written about before but am too lazy to make a link for. I got him switched over to the barns grain, instead of buying my own. He's lost some weight as of lately which is a bummer considering how hard to worked to get that weight ON him. I'll keep tinkering with his feeding regimen. In a perfect world, I'd keep buying him the TC Senior but honestly, it's $22 a bag. This barn is nicer than my last barn and thus more expensive. I just don't have $22 a bag, when he eats several bags a month, in the budget when I dropped almost a grand in the past 2 weeks on him between the vet bills and meds.

Oh, and I blew a tire on my car last week. A tire that I had bought in July. It was just over a month old. This did not please me. More money spent.

Otherwise, I'm back to full time at my job (48 hours/week) buttt I wasn't supposed to be so I had previously made plans and got some pet sitting, dog walking, on the side jobs. So those plus my regular full time job? I'm busy. Like really busy. The hony has not been ridden since August 2nd. I feel guilty. On the positive side,  I'm making some serious cash! That vet bill will be paid off quickly. :)

I'm also super behind (haha weeks) in my blog reading. Sorry guys! I will catch up eventually.

Guess what?!

Begging face!

The hony went back to work today! I decided to do some hand walking up and down the hill that's next to the pond on the property and then sit on him. I'm not going to say he's 100% sound but he's improved since before his Previcox/Adequan. All in all, I was pretty pleased with him. There was no sass and he was happy to work. There's another heat wave but I'm going to take you guys' advice from the last post on how to deal with the wild temps. Annnnd, I will have a July recap/August goals for you guys soon. My apologizes for the quick, poorly written post! 

Adorable eating hony