Bad Luck

What a week we've been having here...I'm hoping that the bad luck fairy has finally finished up and has vacated the premises. Someone once told me that bad luck happens in groups of threes, and I am inclined to think that said person was actually right.

First of all, I've been dealing with all sorts of nonsense with my car's exhaust system...tomorrow will be the FOURTH time that it has gone back into the shop to get re-adjusted. Why can no one seem to get this right? I'm seriously getting fed up.

This past weekend I spent grooming at a local A circuit hunter/jumper show for a trainer, M, that I used to work with at the "Big Show Barn." Back then, she was the assistant trainer but she has since branched out and started (or maybe re-started? I'm not really sure...) her own barn. I've worked for her a couple of times since then and I've always really enjoyed it. It's much nicer to only have 5 horses to deal with and prep in the morning verses 17 of them! Anyway, I had a good weekend at the show, but (as always) it just made me want to show my own horses really bad! Maybe once Cool gets going a well I can stall with her at some of the local A circuit shows? It sounds like fun to me. I had a pretty easy weekend grooming, although on Sunday I did end up having to re-hang one of our ponies fake tails. One of the professional braiders hung it originally, but it really looked terrible (which is not typical of this braiders quality of work...) so anyway, I asked M who had hung it and she told me with the comment "I don't know what's going on with it, but the braid is sticking out and you can see her name sticker through her hair!" In defense of the professional braider, let me mention that this is a SMALL pony...like tiny...with a medium pony length tail, so hanging it the correct height so that it's not dragging on the ground is difficult. Said pony also has a really terrible top to her tail, so the hair is thin and hard to hid things in it. Anyway, I asked M if she wanted me to cut the tail out and re-hang it myself? I've always hung my own horses fake tails and I did one for a friend once, but I've never done one at a show where it really mattered, like a rated show. She gave me the green light and said to go ahead. So there I was, stopped on the ground behind this pony re-hanging the tail when the trainer from the Big Show Barn walks down the barn aisle and sees me. She stopped to look at what I was doing and was like "Oh wow, I didn't know you could do that!" I did feel a pretty proud at the moment, but I told her "Well, I'm trying at least!" She said that the tail looked good and then carried on her way to the show office. I've braided forelocks for Big Show Barn before (usually on the ponies if we leave their braids in overnight) and they have always looked good. When the pony went out to show, I asked M if she thought the tail was alright (it took 2 tries to get it at the right height, but in the end I thought it looked stellar) and she was like "Wow! It looks great!" I was pretty excited...I guess I do have a few more talents than I thought?

That was pretty much the end of the excitement though because Emmy decided to puncture her hind leg over the weekend also. I have NO idea what she could have hurt it on...our stalls and paddocks are totally Emmy-proof and there is literally nothing for her to catch it on or hit it against. Ugh. I cleaned it up and was bandaging it while she was stalled until tonight. The swelling is down so I want to see what it does with the bandage off. She seems to be sound on it so far and the wound is drying up and starting to close. I hit her with some SMZs just to be safe.

This morning I open the barn door to find Cool standing in the aisle surrounded by a mess of, what used to be, the horse grain buckets. Every night I make up the next day's feed and supplements, that way it can easily just be dumped into the horses buckets, regardless of who is around to feed. Normally, I keep the buckets stacked inside the big tote where I keep the rest of the grain, since our barn has no feed room. Of course though, I recently just got grain, and the buckets don't fit inside when the bin is totally full. So, I mixed them up as usual, and left them sitting on top of the bin with a towel over them to keep flies out. The horse's stall doors are impossible for them to open from the inside, unless the latch is not fastened all the way...which of course, only ever happens with Cool's stall door. Occasionally, if you don't push the latch all the way through, it will "latch" but not really be seated all the way to be secure. A couple of pushes with wiggle it right out, and I must have accidentally left his door like that last night. It's totally my fault...for the door and for leaving the grain out in a place where he could get to it. I was so mad at myself when I found him standing there surrounded by empty buckets this morning. All day I was have been watching him for signs of colic or founder. I put ice on his feet right away and kept checking his pulses, then pumped him full of mineral oil and walked him at half hour intervals. He pooped this morning and then again early this afternoon, so I think (knock on wood) that he's alright as far as impaction goes...but I'm still concerned and his feet still worry me. I opened his dutch door this afternoon and let him go out in the run pen behind his stall. It was muddy but there's no grass and I figure that standing in mud is kind of like standing in poultice and would help draw any heat. Finally, in the evening I put Emmy's grazing muzzle on him and sent them both out into the paddock. Poor Emmy had to be cooped up all day because I can't separate them without Cool throwing a fit, and I really didn't want him working himself into a tizzy today. OH MAN was he mad about the muzzle. He tried to rub it off a few times before realizing that he was stuck and after I turned him out he just stood by the gate and stared at me as if to say "you're kidding right? like seriously, this is a joke..." to which I told him that this is what happens when he decided to eat more than his fair share of grain. They were out for maybe 2-3 hours and I don't think he moved more than 10 feet from the gate the entire time. When I brought them back in, I checked his feet and pulses again. So far (knock on some more wood) everything seems alright, but I'm going to definitely keep monitoring him and if he thinks that he's getting grain tomorrow he's kidding himself. I have him just a little hay tonight to keep his digestive system going...and to keep him from throwing a fit...and made sure that he had lots of fresh water to drink. Hopefully he will be alright...it was so stupid of me to leave feed out.

So, like I said, I'm really hoping that the bad luck has passed. I've really, really had my fair share I think.

Peace.Love.Ponies.

**EDIT: A little aside of good news that I forgot...I finally picked out my birthday present! I celebrated a birthday at the beginning of the month and the bf told me to pick out something that I really wanted as a gift and he would buy it. Some people might think that this is kind of the "cheating" way out of him having to pick something for me...but honestly, I don't mind it. It means that I get exactly what I really want :)

And so, here is what I chose:
http://www.doversaddlery.com/wool-dress-sheet/p/NC-24040T/

It's a new wool cooler for Emmy! Very fancy and nice (and it was on sale!) I have always had fleece coolers for my horses, but this summer I let another horse borrow it at the county fair and he ripped a huge hole in it. Cool has a fleece one, but its WAY too big for tiny little Emmy. So, we got a wool one! I'm also getting it monogrammed...I can't wait!! I kind of wish it was in grey, but black is nice too...and for the price, I'm not complaining!