Happy New Year everyone!

 Oh, you’re wondering about the post title? I’m referring to a neighbor, of course. Well, relative neighbor, since they are on a dirt road about 5 miles ride from here, but still. They, like many, have dogs that charge the fence line barking, but their dogs are the only ones that come *through* the fence and actually charge me on the horse. They are the type of dogs that see a horse charging them, coz I will and did while going by today, as a fight and in this case charging them did in fact make them come at us even worse. I was yelling as loud as I could at the dog and pretending to throw rocks which kept it mostly at bay,  but every time I managed to take a few steps past the stupid thing would come at us again. Roaring at the dog and keeping Scrappy calm was all I could do. I heard the people yelling for the dog and apologizing, the dogs retreated and I thought we were good, then here comes the worst dog again. I was almost past the place but the dog was still coming after us and I heard the people say “Just go past, just go past!” I yell back “IT’S CHARGING ME” to which they reply, “too bad, you’re on it’s property, just go” and made no further attempt to stop the dog. Okay, fine, so the county put a road through the middle of your land, or whatever, I don’t think that makes it okay to let your dogs basically attack passerbys. GRRRR!!!!!!!!!

Fortunately Scrappy is a saintly guy. This was also driven home as we were making our brief paved county road crossing on the way home and a plastic bag swirled out of the bushes on the right edge we were hugging as a car and Harley roared by on our left. Scrappy sort of sproinged all 4 feet a few inches off the ground but didn’t surge to one side or the other. Thank god.

 I don’t know if I should admit that the silliest reaction out of my saintly Rushcreek all day was when we passed cows? LOL

Fortunately a few miles from home I passed a lovely old couple heading out of their driveway in their ancient Ford with their happy yellow Lab hanging out the back. They greeted me most jovially and admired the weather and wanted to know Scrappy’s name. I absolutely love neighbors like those. They are the only kind of people I want to be around. The people that let their dogs attack us had horses, who knows, they could have controlled their dogs and we could have had a nice conversation like that.  It’s so pointless and poisonous to behave the way they did. Please people, whether you live in a place big or small, urban or country–just *don’t* be the jerk neighbor. Just don’t.

Besides “Trot outs that aren’t Possibly Toward an Early Grave: 101” Scrappy and I are working on a very important part of his education: The Selfie. If he is to star in this little blog of mine, he’s going to have to do better than this dubious near-mare-face:

At least *I’m* stoked!  😉

When I was a youngster, I was pretty serious. I didn’t like pink and I didn’t like little dogs. I already knew I didn’t want to be a vet because that’s disgusting or the president of the United States because they can never please anyone. I actually had serious intentions toward law and/or politics of some sort, folded my pajamas at the foot of my bed year round, and sent out Christmas cards religiously. I might as well have smoked a pipe and gone out for the Early Bird special, and this was all high school and younger.

At some point..Stuff Happened. I grew up, learned a lot, and one day in 2008, freshly in a new life with a new man, I watched a tiny black Chihuahua pup crawl into my lap in a trailer park on the north coast of CA. Georgia was the first little dog I let into my heart and now we have four; I also have a fabulous hot pink pea coat, work entirely outdoors, often on my 21 acres with my husband of now 5 years–and I won’t tell you where my pajamas are (okay, probably on the floor..somewhere).

So what I guess I mean to say is..wherever your journey in life may take you, however far from where you once thought or imagine others assume you should be–make sure it is in fact where and what you want to be, and if it is, let only peace be in your heart and mind. If it isn’t where you want to be, I wish you great inspiration and steely courage, to strive and fail and try again, to do whatever it takes to find your happiness and purpose.

I am ending my 2013 very differently than I started it, thankfully. I feel very lucky to say that I am ending the year happy, content, inspired, and excited for the (horsey!!!)  future as never before. I now only wish that we may all find the things that give us light, love, and laughter in this holiday season, whether it’s family, friends, a beloved dog, a cherished horse, or a favorite old book. Don’t be afraid to look at yourself and those important to you with equal unbiased clarity, and then choose to embrace them anyway, because minor differences should never overwhelm compassion and true friendship.

Also, look at these ridiculous photos of my dogs, because I bet, no matter what, one of them will make you smile!!

Rip

Happy Holidays to all from the Redheaded Endurance family!!

HELP JULIA HERE

*************
In May of 2011 I attended the Cache Creek Ridge Ride for the first time with my little gelding, Blaze. I hadn’t officially completed an AERC event since 2006, after totally failing at our first LD attempt together at Lake Oroville the fall before and finishing the Whiskeytown LD Overtime in April 2011. Cache Creek ride falls right around my birthday AND our wedding anniversary each year, so there was a lot going on for me at the ride. 

Long story short I tried to start the ride in a hackamore, managed to stop my horse long enough to cram a bit in his mouth, forgot to zip my cantle pack and bounced all the goodies out down the trail, while the camelpak I’d never ridden with before chafed my shoulders raw for the first 15 miles. We got our first completion together in 5 hours and 25th place.

This was a singularly special experience, not just because Blaze and I finally succeeded, but because we ended up chatting with our camping neighbors, first mentioned here at the end of my 2011 post:

“Oh, we were camped next to some really nice people from Humboldt county that did the Ride & Tie and got their email, they are really cool and can’t wait to ride and camp with them again.”

The “really nice people” were April Moore and her best friend, Julia Ralsten. They were incredibly friendly and warm, offering me braiding bands for Blaze’s mane, snacks, anything we could have needed. We all hit it off and had a great time chatting in the moments we were in  camp in various groupings, as April and Julia went out and completed the Ride n Tie the same day I did the LD. They also happened to the be the folks who picked up my hoofpick and other goodies I donated to the trail from my open cantle pack! We all laughed, joked, had a beer, and just generally embraced the best of AERC ride camp atmosphere. It was one of those fun, special endurance weekends where success is achieved both in ride goals and in true and total enjoyment of the experience and the people involved.

As the quote mentions, I got their email and later we all connected on Facebook. I have had the privilege to share trail and travel time with April now and am completely in admiration of her as a person, horse trainer, and shoer. I haven’t had as much of a chance to see Julia but I think of her with great fondness and always hope to see her at events. She began riding with April when she was 11 years old and is without question a wonderful young lady and a talented and tough horsewoman.

Unfortunately Julia was seriously injured in a terrible car accident this past week and is now on the long road to physical and emotional recovery at Stanford. Her family has reached out for support and I in turn ask any of you that are able to, to send what you can in support of a wonderful young horsewoman who’s life has changed forever.

HELP JULIA HERE

 He will turn grey, and is the last colt bred on the Rushcreek Ranch before it closed it’s doors. This lovely guy is available for $2,000 until April/May and then some boarding costs will be added if he stays at the Messick ranch. I am headed to Nebraska myself in late April/early May to pick up Aurora and can be talked into hauling Abe with us to a destination along the way! Please contact Brenda Messick of Messick Performance and Endurance Horses for more information on this lovely Rushcreek colt: messickquarterhorses@yahoo.com

RC Abe on the left striding out with RC Aurora

 You can tell she had a hard time getting photos and had to keep backing away from the foals as they mobbed her. Sweet thangs!

Ah Desire, my problem child. My first sensitive skinned girth galler, first baffling lameness issues, first travels for lameness exams, first EPM test, first hock injections, first retired endurance horse, and now first uveitis/vision issues. 

 First of all, I found and read this article and everything I read there regarding uveitis, causes, symptoms, treatment, etc, was confirmed by my vet today. I can’t vouch for it beyond that but at the very least it is a basic education on what the heck I’m talking about if you don’t already know:

http://www.thehorse.com/articles/18087/moon-blindness

***********************

What began with the occasional, light tearing of Desire’s right eye (one day nasty, next day fine, etc) returned looking less friendly a few weeks later, with squinting of her right eye on the weepy days. I had notions of allergies early on and keep her in a fly mask most of the time anyway, since she’s a grey. With the Thanksgiving holiday and travel on my part, and emergencies on her end, my vet and I finally connected to check out Desire’s eye today. I already had a vet appointment at that point but I had seen 2 days previously that she was suddenly that morning holding the eye closed with a trickle of clear fluid. Later that day when I pulled her to trim her feet I put a cold compress on it for a while which clearly gave her some relief,  but I could tell her vision was impaired on that side because when I stopped touching her leg and hoof while trimming she would instantly panic and  try to find me on that right side. I’m not going to lie, it was heart breaking to see her both uncomfortable and extra fearful. She is already a tense, high strung horse and the impairment to her vision was clearly making her even less okay with things. My vet mentioned “Moon Blindness” or recurring uveitis on the phone earlier in the week and having educated myself on it, I saw how much it potentially fit her case and felt terrible that I hadn’t addressed it sooner. I was worried about potential long term scarring to Desire’s eye if it was recurring uveitis, let alone the toll impaired vision or eventual blindness could take on her quality of life long term.

 Still, all we can do is learn and improve and do better next time. So here we were today, vet, owner, and uncomfortable miss Desire. My vet sedated her, blocked the nerve that allows them to close their eye nearly against all odds, and did a stain. No scratches were visible or revealed by the stain and the good news as far as the uveitis is that she *doesn’t* have a lot of scar tissue built up on the eye yet. PHEW. She is going to get a steroid cream in her eye 2 x a day for 5 days as well as one dose of banamine for 3 days, and if at 5 days things haven’t improved the vet will return. If she does fully improve, we may have gotten lucky and had a one time uveitis episode. If she’s better but not all the way better, the steroid cream will continue another few days. There is a chance, of course, that she will get better but in a week or two or three it will flare up again and she will turn out to have that nasty recurring uveitis, or “Moon Blindness” which becomes a management issue for life. Time will tell!

In other news, I went to eye doctor today too, for the first time in years. I was out of contacts and my glasses from 2005, still perched on my nose at this moment, are held together with zip ties and super glue, I shit you not. Luckily my eyes weren’t a whole lot worse and my corneas got a “Niicee” which is surely a good thing. Also glad I made my old glasses survive so long, since this is the first pair I have ever bought myself (last pair that I am wearing now was end of high school era, thanks Mom) and I’m fairly certain frames weren’t $70 back in the day! Also, from an amused nerdy economic standpoint (I ❤ Marketplace!), Desire’s eye exam and drugs cost the same as my eye exam and new glasses. Interesting.

Ahh Desire, my teacher. My first horse purchased out of state, first horse shipped, first pregnant mare, first foaling experience, first weaning experience, first reconditioning a broodmare, first 50 mile endurance ride, first multi day endurance ride, first humbling lameness pull, first triumphant top 10 and BC showing..

PHOTO ROLL CALL! 😉 

preggo

good job mama

getting back into it