Thursday...

I realized and my mom also pointed out that I said nothing about how the laser procedure was :-p Spooky was able to lay down during it and we had to dampen her hair a little because the vet tech said otherwise we would smell her hair burning 8-o But I didn't smell any burning hair. It was very quick, I would say less than 10 minutes. It was a K-Laser, it's hand held and has a "pen" like instrument to apply the treatment. Yes we both had to wear goggles, Spooky didn't, but I kept my hand over her eyes. It didn't seem to bother Spooky at all, she turned to look a couple of times, but didn't try to get away, if she felt anyting it was just heat I was told.
Spooky and I got home around 7:30 last night, long day for her:-) I brought her back to work with me after the vet's and left her in my car, she's used to it and happy enough in there. After work I had to make a few stops, farm and stopped at 2 stores. I got puppy pads, canned pumpkin, yogurt, another kong and some chewies for Limo. Limo has yet to break into her new bone, she just prances around with it and buries it in blankets.
The puppy pads are interesting, but I wonder if they are too "attracting" and a false sense of security for me? She nailed all 3 I put in her X pen over night, well she hit the pad and some of her bedding as well. I still don't know her schedule. But I think I'm going to make it every 3-4 hours and allow her to have more water.
Last night I laid her on a dog bed near me while we watched TV for 2 hours. She slept alot. I rubbed the areas that the Holistic vet recommended, that really thin skin in the hock area (during the acupunture she stuck the pin right THROUGH that area :-) and a place about 2 inches below her hind knee (I don't know how else to say it). She was fast asleep. I also stimulated her toes. I pinched them enough so she would retract them some and she did on both, even on the left side which she was laying on.
I allowed an accident this AM, I got her up to put her blanket on and then remembered I still had to get the bed out of the dryer and put it in the car. When I returned she had pooped:-( I had even her 2 oppurtunitties with in the last 2 hours, but I guess when you have to go you have to go. She can get up on her own, lay down on her own and turn around on her own, she even tried to nest her bed last night.
I brought her to work with me and so she's out in the car. She has her snuggler on and I have the car on and the heat still running for her, but I'll turn it off as soon as the sun hits the car or it gets warmer. She is a warm dog by nature so I am not too worried. I also think now it is important for her to go places that aren't the vets. Lester is getting shoes today so in order to keep with my knew 3-4 hour plan I had to bring her. Plus I think the back of my CR-V is more comfortable then a crate and it's much easier to lift her from:-)
My back is still holding strong, knock on wood! Just muscle soreness, I don't think I'm using my back as badly as I think I might be....

Back from the Laser Treatment...

We are back from the laser treatment. My vet accessed her again and we gave her a steroid shot, soludelta Cortef 500 mg (I'm told it will make her throw up, but so far she hasn't), and upped her Predisone to 50 mg... she has another laser treatment on Friday. What I have been told and have read it takes at least 3 treatments to see any real results. In the meantime I'm really getting a workout on my quads, thighs and arms. She's in the back of my CR-V resting in the shade, makes for a great crate!
During the accessment she tested her ability to "right" her feet and she noted that they were slower to respond then on Friday... I knew this, BUT they were quicker to respond then yesterday, so even though she didn't see it, there has been some improvement.

I was smart this time and brought a bed and did not bring her in the building until we had a room. I would have been smarter had I brought my own rug though, next time! She has a horrible time on their floors even when she's 100%. I carried her in and carried her out, didn't even try walking on that floor.

I told Dr. Johnson that I didn't see the point in taking her to a neurologist because I would not do any surgery and therefore the treatment would be the same, we are doing everything we can. She said that personally she would not put her through surgery in my shoes either. I will do what ever I have to do get Spooky through this, but I can't see having to start all over again and have to have her relearning how to do everything again.

May we have a good night together and make it outside for every potty attempt...

Laser

In a little over an hour I will be taking Spooky for her first Laser treatment. http://www.alternativevet.org/laser.htm I called Dr. Johnson, out regular vet and tearfully told her the update and that we saw a holistic vet yesterday and did acupuncture. She immediately told me about the laser treatment they do and that in the short 6 months they have had this tool that she has seen amazing results. She also mentioned that it works in CONJUCTION with acupuncture so I'm very excited.

Wish us well.

A Happy moment...

Spooky pooped outside this AM! I must have had her timing perfect. I picked her up- I have found that if I lean over some first and then pick her up using my back then I can get to my feet- yeah not good for me, but carrying her saves time and accidents. So after she ate, standing up, I took picked her up and got her outside. I had the towel around her waist and put a little pressure on it and she squatted like she was going to pee, but pooped instead! I was so freak'n happy and excited, big praises for her and I swear she had such a look of accomplishment and happyness on her face. So I carried her back inside and put her in her crate- I feel so much better knowing she is in her crate and not the Xpen. She is getting up on her own and can even turn on her own. Still needs help walking, but I have noticed that she is "righting" (placing her feet correctly) every few steps, not always knuckeling over.
Last night wasn't all good. We had a pee accident. I was trying to help her up and just messed it all up, hit the bladder trigger and she squatted, peed and fell on her hiney, screaming of course. :-( I set my phone alarm to wake me up at midnight to pill her again and she was happy about a midnight snack. Even with getting up like that I feel pretty rested today.

Acupuncture

I took Spooky to a Holistic vet today that does acupuncture. There are non near Newnan so I went to Altoona Animal Hospital in Woodstock, at least this place is kinda close to my parents so I can visit with them some when Spooky goes for acupuncture. I called them at 8am and they gave me a 10 am appointment. I quickly got ready and loaded Spooky in the back of my CRV. Then I had to run into the house 3 different times because I first forgot the directions, then my phone, then my purse....
Traffic wasn't bad and we pulled in right at 9:45. She got up and repositioned herself about 3 different times on the way up. When we got there I went in first and the lady at the desk got 2 vet techs to help me get her out. I lifted her out of the car and she immediately squatted and pee-ed. I evidently hit the bladder trigger. We wobbled and stumbled in and were put in a nice exam room with a blanket. She plopped down with my help and laid flat on her left side. She doesn't seem to have a preference of sides at this point. The vet tech came in and took our history and all the important info as to how I thought this happened and how it's progressed from pain to this. The vet, Dr. Wansky then came in and did some tests. Pinched her toes on both back legs which she squeaked at so she does have feeling in her toes still. She took a pin or needle and poked down her spine, again she had feeling all the way down. Spooky can stand, well support herself, but once she trys to take a step she will fall over. She will get up on her own at home, but she couldn't do it in the office, I think it was because of the blanket slipping on the floor and she just didn't have any traction.
Dr. Wansky didn't sugar coat anything and was straight forward. If it's bone cancer then she doesn't have a lot of time and the acupuncture could even excel the spread of cancer. But we are all hoping it is not cancer and have had one treatment of acupuncture and she on Predisone now which is a steroid that will reduce inflammation if it's a disk problem.
I did not see the point in taking her to a neurologist:-( I would not opted for the surgery. She's 11 and having to carry her like this for only 1 and 1/2 days has showed me that we would both be miserable:-( I hurt her everytime I have to get her up, I hurt her when I have to move her. She is 63 lbs and I just can't carry her everywhere and she would hate that anyways. She doesn't understand what is going on with her and she's so not happy. I haven't seen her wag her tail in days:-( We just have to hope and pray that the steroids and acupuncture will get her mobile again, enough to be happy.
So I chose to go ahead with the acupuncture today. The vet stuck her with 14 needles, not one made her make a peep. It was intersting to see them and how flexible and small the needles are. She missed the target when laying back down on the blanket so I believe she was cold laying on the floor as she quivered some. I put the sweatshirt over her and layed over her and talked to her. She got that happy, rub my belly look a couple of times after the needles where taken out, she also did a big stretch which I haven't seen. Getting her back in the car was awful. The sweatshirt around her waist hit her bladder trigger again and she pee'd 4 times before we made it to the car with the help of a tech. I picked her up and put her in and got her home. I put her on the ground and couldn't get her to lift up enough to put the sweatshirt around her waist so I just picked her up, man what a workout. I put her in an xpen behind the couch and it's right next to the back door so it's working pretty good. She soiled her blanket again around 4pm, I just can't get her schedule:-(

*JINGLES* FOR SPOOKY NEEDED

I have a miracle horse, is it too much to ask for a miracle for Spooky now too? :-( As I posted earlier last week I believe Spooky must have slipped on the wet ground/ snow which caused a sever spinal injury. She started off just whimpering when she would lay down and whimper when she tried to get up. This was Sunday. By Tuesday she was back to playing with Limo in the house and wanting to run in the yard again- I should have halted both immediately, but it was a relief to see her in play again. By Thursday night she would no longer lay down. She had horrible back spasms and was so tense. I got her to lay down once that night and I think it was for only an hour, the rest of the night she stood and paced the floor. I took her to my vet the next day, Dogwood Animal Hospital. We did an xray of her spine and it didn't show anything as far as a slipped disk or severe arthritis. But it did show an old injury between her shoulder blades on the first rib of her ribcage and it has a "moth eaten" appearance to it, course this could mean bone cancer, but she did not have any pain when she was touched in that area. It's been recommended to xray the same area in a month to see if there has been any progression. In the office she was shaking so bad with spasms that the only way to stop them was for her to literally sit on my knee/ thigh. Dr. Johnson's tests revealed some neurological problems. She wouldn't right her left foot at all when knuckled over and she was very slow to right it on the right side.
We were sent home with some muscle relaxers, Methacarbanol (sp) and pain pills, Tradimal (sp). She did much better over the weekend. No more spasms and she was getting better, almost annoying because she wanted to play and go go go, but I had to keep her quiet and on a leash.
Well by the time I came home for lunch yesterday she was going down hill and fast. She walked with her hind legs out behind her and wobbled back and forth, yet she still had control of each leg and didn't need assistance. I decided to lock her in the bedroom to keep her off all the slippery floors in the house. By the time I got home last night from the farm she was worse:-( but still getting around on her own. That changed quickly, as I was preparing their dinner she was behind me and screamed and when I turned around she was pooping on the floor. I don't know what happened, did she slip and that made her poop or did she poop because she suddenly lost control? I don't know. She ate fine with me standing behind her holding her rump. I began using a sweatshirt to stable around her hips. She was still moving her legs at this point, but I wanted the support to be there. I borrowed an xpen and crate from my good friend Teresa- thanks Teresa! Through the night she progressively got worse. I slept on the couch and she layed on a bed next to me. I had a leash on her so if she pulled I'd feel it. We got up 4 times to try and go potty. The first attempt I didn't support her well enough and she fell and cried:-( after that she didn't want to attempt it anymore. But finally after the 4th time she went and I was able to support her. I noticed each time that she had less and less control of her legs when we went out:-( She soiled in her crate over night, I don't think the control is there anymore:-(

Walk, trot, spook

Lester had an interesting lunging moment yesterday...

The Perfect Canter...

The snow has all gone away now, well except for the few ugly lingering GA snowmen :-x (People in GA really don't know how to make snowmen) , but you know me the photo whore, have to always post a pic:-) Isn't he handsome in his blankey? Blue plaid, he wears his blankees like a champ too, never rips them or destroys them and can take one head on! (he lets me do up the front straps first and then put it over his head instead of doing the straps after I put it on) I pull the blankey on over his head and then first you see his lil' ears pop out then his cute lil' nose:-)
The horses really have been living in their blankets lately, it's been so cold. Yesterday was no different as it was WINDY and cold, I was lucky to get off work around 4pm so I guess I didn't realize or have enough time to comprehend how cold it really was and as the night went on the wind got worse. BUT not before I got the PERFECT CANTER. I lunged him in sidereins and he looked fairly relaxed and moving well enough so I did hop on for a few mins. We started out with some lateral and sideways work and he immediately went round and soft in my hands. Had a lovely trot going right, but since I was in my big heavy coat I felt like a blob and couldn't ask for much. Then we went left. Did some sideways stepping and round he went, so, so light and lovely, I asked for the trot but got a perfect walk to canter transition and just went with it:-) It was so niiiiice, he was up, balanced, collected and so controlled. It was the kind of canter that makes the world just seem perfect:-)
The vet was coming out to pull blood on Less and check over a few of the other horses so I really, really wanted the vet to see Less on the lunge line and just tell me what he thought soundness wise. Well remember the cold and wind? By the time the vet got there Less have stiffened up like a Popsicle and was no longer soft, loose and supple :-( I put him on the lunge and he was hitchy, stiff and lame :-p bleh, just my luck! My fingers had frozen up too and with my mittens on I was helpless and lost the lunge line, course Less thought he was still lunging and just stopped when I said ho. Good boy.
On a side note, Lester might be the new poster horse for the vet's new ad! He was the only clean horse in the barn so he used Less for his photo shoot- it was getting dark so I don't know how well the photos turned out though....

More Snow!

I think the previous snow pics are cuter, Less just looks wet and annoyed:-(

The horses went out about 9am on Saturday and came back in around noon and were happy to do so. Their necks were drenched since it started out as sleet and rain first. My fingers were freezing when I took these pics, I bet their little ears were freezing too! I had Limo with me too, I left Spooky at home because I knew she would be miserable, but I thought Limo would tough it out better than she did! She started to shake and got really cold so I put her in the car for most of the time, she was happy to just look out and stay warm. Guess she's smarter than I give her credit for:-)

I guess I haven't ridden Less since he was crazy and hyper and that was last Tuesday, wow it's really been a week? I have lunged him though and he's been looking good.

I lunged him with sidereins on Friday night and he did really nice. Saturday and Sunday he had completely off and then last night I lunged him just in his halter, I just wanted him to move a bit without really working. I don't know if it's just my imagination or just hopeful thinking, but I think he's moving much free'er in his shoulders now even his right one! Time will tell I guess.

I got some cute pics of the dogs over the weekend....I'm a little worried about Spooky, I think she slipped on some ice last night at the farm and tweaked her back or hindend:-( She's been pittiful and squeaking when she lays down or gets up. I hope she'll be better in a couple of days.

Limo looks so funny running! LOL

SNOW DAY!

My boss let me off work early yesterday because I had the strange request of going and taking pics of Lester in the snow :-) He's such a cool guy! Not really what you would call "snow" pics, but cute all the same! It was snowing heavily for a good hour or so, but as soon as I got to the barn it turned to sleet:-( I'm surprised I got the pics that I did. But thanks to my boss I was able to get these!

What is this stuff?

Ick, it's wet!

When in doubt, eat it.

Sugar Please

I'm a digital artist and "painted" this using my mouse on the computer. When ever I tell peoople this they say "Oh, I thought you drew that?!" :-o Well in short I DID DRAW it. It is not a manipulated photo of any sort, no tracing or copy and pasting, it's all in blending the colors, just like "real" painting. Here are some of the stages that I went through: Aren't they ugly :-)

Ride at your own risk...

How does this sweet face turn into a demon horse? :-/ I don't know what was with him last night, but he was a handfull to say the least. Even when I was leading him to the barn from the pasture he was leaning way into me and struck out and was hopping. So at least I was smart enough to lunge him this time. But wasn't smart enough to put on the right pad- I guess. During lunging I noticed a little hitch in his step, but he was still tracking up. In fact he was floating and lengthening all during the lunging. When I asked for the Caaaaaaan ter he picked it up and then protested rudely by leaping into the air, bucking and then just a dead stop. Great he's going to be fun tonight I thought. So I got him to canter again and he finally did it without being rude or a maniac. So I brought him in and took him off the lunge line, left the right side rein on and hand trotted him in a left circle, WOW he was fancy smancy so I really wanted to get on. From the time I got on to the time I got off (hmm, I'd say it was 7 mins max ;-) ) he was a round ball, of CRAZY energy. When I asked for the trot I got that wicked round back that says I'm going to buck you off! So we walked a little more. Then trot. He was still round and chewing, but it didn't feel like he was going to buck me off at that very second so we continued. He spooked wildly and I almost came off again, damn, I'm getting sick of this feeling! I wanted to jump off then, but I knew I had to ride through it some so we continued. He had some great moments and then some very scary moments. This was the kind of night where I had to just ask so nicely and be happy with what I was given and not ask for much more, and to think I ALMOST carried a whip last night 8-o LOL.
So riddle me this. If his back was sore or his right stile was bothering him, WHY was he so forward round and over stepping without a whole lot of encouragement? AND he was soft in my hands. I can only guess that the gel pad was bothering him. I forgot a square pad and it left the gel pad a bit floppy I guess.
Horses! Bleh!!!

It's a monster, it's a deer, no wait, it's just a tree!

Lester was good and bad on Sunday. I hadn't been on him in 2 days and stupidly decided not to lunge him. We went for a hack around the farm with Laura and another rider and he was NUTS! Originally I wasn't going to join them, but when I saw the neighbor driving a pickup truck down into the woods near the area we ride in I thought a working ride was doomed so I rushed (trotted) to catch up with them on their hack. He jigged and danced the whole way not to mention hung on my arms endlessly. It's the equivalent of someone jumping into your arms saying "Hold me, I'm scared"! Then it was time to turn back towards the barn. Not exactly sure what really caused it- my parked car, Limo, the fact that Laura and the other girl were ahead of us? But he decided at this time to do the spin, bolt, freak out movement :-x Not sure how I hung on, I was definitely unseated and was hanging on his mouth (for a change) I let out two big "Ho, Hos" and spun him in a circle and was able to hang on. I was determined to stay on, usually at this point in the past I would have just gotten off and walked back, but he wasn't going to win this one. So I stayed on. We got to go first and had to walk by some trees. Oh the torture I put him through! His eyes were dead set on looking at the trees and what ever might be in them- I didn't hear or see a thing, but he sure did. He tried to bolt and spin twice, but I held on and made him collect up and walk sideways looking at the woods- sideways at least puts me in a little more control or gives me that illusion.
So we got back to the barn and since he was all keyed up I knew he would be forward and I could probably get some decent work out of him. He just wanted to go go go. For the first time in a long time we did a collected canter, it felt great to the left, to the right he wasn't so agile and kicked out or bucked at my spur.
I thought for sure after a day of collection like that that he would be sore, but he wasn't. I lunged him with side reins and he looked really good, nice and forward and had a nice over step both directions. I got on him and just walked, forward and collected. He will still just pull the right rein out of my hand, he's really perfected that move of his.

Happy 12th Anniversary Lester!!!

First pic taken together I wrote this about 5 years ago:
I bought Lester from a horse trader when he was 4, and he is now 11 years old!...where does the time go??! Before I bought him he had a pretty unsuccessful racing career; winning only once!
In 1995 I started "horse shopping" for the 3rd time in my life. I've never really been big on shopping and horse shopping is even less fun! Every horse I called about in the month of November and December was already sold! It was very frustrating and my patience was running low. I called a familiar horse trader (Sally)and asked what horses she had available. She told me about a few and I scheduled a time to go see them. The price I was quoted on "Little Bit" (Lester), was $2500. When I went out to "try" him out I was told his price was now $3000 (by the "rider", Laura). I still rode him and liked him. I did everything you can possibly do WRONG when it came to buying a horse! I brought my own saddle and they supplied me with the bridle (a kimberwick snaffle), in other words, it was a gag bit with a chain. Laura assured me that he would "go" in a snaffle no problem. Being the trusting person I am, I believed her!
Having ridden "Little Bit" once, I decided to make an offer on him. When I called I once again had to deal with the "rider", Laura. I asked her who I would need to talk to about "money" and she said I could talk to her. I offered $2300 for him and she laughed at me and told me that anyone who NOW came to see him, he was for sale for $3500!! Disappointed, I hung up the phone and told my sister what happened...... She Immediately called Sally and left her the following message: "This is Jennifer L.~ and I am calling to tell you why I will never buy a horse from and why I will keep everyone I know from buying a horse from you! Your business and your riders are very rude and unprofessional to change the price of a horse twice and laugh at my sister's offer.....I got a call from Sally the following day and she said I could HAVE him for $2500:-) Thanks Jen!
Then it was "vet check" time. Let me give you some advice; NEVER go to one a lone:-) Even if you pick someone up off the street to go with you to be your moral support, you'll be better off! OK, well maybe not, but be sure to bring someone who's opinion you trust highly! I had to go it a lone. During the exam the vet told me many things. Everything from "this horse is LAME, do you want to go on with the vet check" to "the way his hair (mane) grows, it may fall out during the summer"! Not sure what to do at this point; thinking, "Do I really want to buy a lame horse that may go bald every summer"? At this time I went a head and took some X-rays since the lady offered to pay half the money for them......Well it turned out that Lester's feet were just bruised from being ridden on frozen ground and so I went ahead and said I would buy him!:-)
January 11, 1996 was the day that Lester became mine. After school I went to the bank and withdrew $2500 CASH!!! The bank teller looked at me worryingly. Strangely, I knew the woman, she had substituted for my math class before (Umm, does that make sense to anyone??) She probably thought I was planning on running away from home or something! But I finally told her, "Don't worry, I'm just going to buy a horse".
My sister and I hooked up the truck and trailer and we were off to pick up Lester...."Driving through the sleet on all the slippery roads.... laughing all the way..." (OK, enough singing). It was a cold, miserable day, but even so I was happy to be bringing my "baby" home:-). Up until this point Laura and Sally had been calling him "Little Bit" and up until the time I singed the Bill of Sale, I thought that his real name was "Little Bit Less", not, "Little Bit Wet". So we called him "Less" the first couple of minutes and then Jen started calling him "Lester" And so the name "Lester" just stuck.......
It was another week before I could ride him because his feet were still too sore. But finally the day came when I finally got to ride Lester as my own. (Drum roll please......) I tacked him up and put him in a nice plain snaffle and climbed on, Actually I think I probably got a "leg up". His walk was nice and his trot was also great. Then I asked for the canter which he promptly picked up. I then realized that I had been lied to by Laura, the "rider" when I tried to ask Lester to halt. He had no BRAKES! I had to run him into the rail to get him to stop. This continued for a while and so we had many ups and DOWNS.
I now know that Lester is probably one of the best horses I will ever have. He's got it all; the looks, personality, great work ethic, confidence, intelligence etc... and he can always make me smile!

Who's that skinny bay?

Why it's Lester! At this rate I may have to up his feed some. But he's looking good. I tried to take a full body shot of him yesterday, but this is how it turned out. When I stomped my feet at him to "stand" he stuck his tounge out at me ;-) Gotta love him and just give'm treats.
He's been an absolute joy lately. When I mount, I just insert a sugar cube into his mouth and off we go, he doesn't expect another one for a while longer:-) But seriously, he isn't spooking and he isn't "nervous" I truely believe that the Thro-L took the edge off him just like my paxil does for me:-) Friday I took him on his first hack in AGES and solo. He was alert, but not spooking and no complete meltdowns... I can really get used to this! He wasn't sore at all from his shoeing. I make sure to give him his Icon (generic Adequan) on the same day as his new shoes now, the timing is just right, once a month.
I only lunge him and warm him up in the sidereins on the cold days now. Watching him go around like a western pleasure pony really makes me tired:-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy 2008. Today Lester got new shoes, he went 4 1/2 weeks this time, his feet have been really growing lately. What better way to start off the year then with a new pair of shoes! He was perfect as always and Ronnie once again awarded him with the ugly smiley face on our receit:-) It has been SO COLD the last couple of days that Lester has been living in his blankets, today was no different. I gave him a hot bran mash with some senior feed and oil and some bute so hopefully he won't be too sore. His feet are never the problem, I have come to the conclusion that its the flexion of his joints and having to stand that way for prolonged periods of time that makes him sore.
Did I tell you I got on him on New Years day? It was a very cold and windy day, the kind of day I have avoided riding in for YEARS. So in effort to continue my new riding attitude I decided it would be good for me to at least sit on him. And I did and I lived:-)