(Pt. 3) Chances Are

3/4

Buckets. Damn them. So many buckets.

Twice a year, I remove buckets from the trailer. I scrub them, bleach them, and set them out to dry in the sun. I also clean out my travel box and restock last minute supplies. Currently I am lacking:

- Powdered electrolytes. I currently have only tubes and the dose which comes daily in my horse's smartpaks.

- Long sleeved tee shirts. Because laying is an endurance rider's ally, and it's going to be cold.

- Number 13 stall tag. I bought my number for the year. I will be 13 every ride, so I need to print out a big, laminated sheet of paper with horse info to stick on my stall/highline.

Really, that isn't bad. I usually run out of a lot more stuff over winter break.

I did a tack check last week... I've already sent in my deposit... Trailer's on its way to getting packed...

We're leaving for Spanish Trail on Thursday morning, and I'm desperately nervous. I just hope I've done enough over winter break. I hope my horse is fit and will stay sound... I hope she'll behave. God, I hope she'll behave. It's not that I have no faith in her... It's just that I can't picture this going well. Which I guess is almost the same thing.

I hope I get proven wrong. Wish us luck! My next entry will probably be next Monday-ish when I'm back in town. For now... I'm going to do my best to chill out!

3/11


I have really bad news, everyone. We made it 10 miles into the ride before BG slipped on some gravel, slid into a hole, bent back her pastern. She took a couple steps on three legs before managing to place weight on her right front with difficulty. She acted like it was broken. Twenty more steps, and I knew we were done.

I led her up a little hill to the spot we were told to wait for the emergency trailer. The walk of shame. All the other open riders passed us and asked what was wrong. Lame horse. Lori jumped off her horse and trotted Baby Girl in hand for me. At this point, BG had walked it off a bit. She looked sound at a walk, but bobbed her head at a trot.

BG bowed a tendon two years ago. Same leg. I think/thought she re-bowed it and knew in my heart it was time to stop. But the decision was wrenching. It was right, but it hurt.

When BG figured out we weren't going on, she was furious. I have never seen a horse so legitimately angry. She baulked and tried to pull me down the trail. She didn't get why in the world we were walking in hand "the wrong way!" She was not getting in the trailer. Like a spoiled child. I coaxed her in eventually.

Everyone knew I would beat myself to death if I had time, so Patrica told me she would take my horse to camp, hose her leg, and put on standing wraps. I was immediately made a vet secretary and wisked down to Stephanie, the vet judge. (Stephanie is my favorite vet judge, so life could be worse.) Stephanie only had one secretary before I dropped in. One of her secretaries didn't show up. Lucky for her a rider got pulled within 3 hours on Saturday. Just what she needed!

Secretarying is actually harder than riding, by the way. I spent all weekend hanging out with Stephanie and writing whatever she said. I was field secretary; I stood next to Stephanie while she checked horses on the trail or in camp. It was a great job; I actually learned a lot.


It was also an excellent job to keep me from worrying about my horse. There was nothing I could do except for what I was doing.


Excitement covered a lot of pain, I discovered when I returned to camp. BG was dead lame at a walk. Her leg was hot and swollen at the pastern/lower tendon area. I cold hosed and kept it wrapped.

Sunday (day after), she appeared to be getting better. She was almost sound at a trot in a straight line. A little head bobbing, but not much.

Well... Today was a turn for the worse. We drove home, and I turned BG out last night in a smaller paddock with a bunch of foundered ponies so she wouldn't run around. This morning she was dead lame again. Head bobbing at a walk, hurting, miserable lame.

I called Dr. Cook. Dr. Cook was pretty concerned. She told me to keep BG on stall rest, ice her leg, and keep it wrapped. It seemed to be healing when she was resting in her stall all weekend, but just couldn't handle walking around in a paddock.

Stall rest is the lesser of two evils. PSSM horses should never be stalled. Well, except for now. I took BG off all grain and am hoping we won't have a compounded tie-up/major lameness problem.

I'm taking her to the vet for a sonagram and maybe an x-ray as soon as possible. We need to know the extent of the damage. The lameness and pain is worse this time around than last bowed tendon... If this is even a bowed tendon. It might be a problem in the fetlock/pastern joint.

Either way, it looks BG is out of NATRC for at least the spring season. At worst... Well. I had a well respected women tell me horses with tendon problems shouldn't be open horses. (I've had people tell me horses with PSSM shouldn't be open horses either. The first time we bowed a tendon, people said we weren't going to come back. We came back kicking. But maybe third time's the charm...)

A lot depends on the next few days. I don't want to jump the gun and say life is over... But I don't want to say everything will be okay either. Truthfully, I don't know. I just don't know.

Oh NO! I'm so sorry to hear this! Poor Baby Girl!

I feel your pain (sort of)...I was conditioning my own pony for endurance when he came up "lame" with a stifle problem...

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Sorry about your pony. And thank you for the condolences.

3/12


Baby Girl's getting worse. I put her in the tiny round pen outside for some air, like the vet recommended. Still wrapped and everything. A few hours later, she was dead lame. She could barely walk.

I took her in, iced down her leg, and gave her more bute. She's back on stall rest. She can't handle turnout, even in a 20 foot round pen.

We're going to the vet tomorrow morning. All I want at this point is to be able to ride her again. I can wait six months. I can wait a year. I want this to be okay.

I'm so so sorry. I'll be praying and thinking about you both. Keep us updated when you can. I've always admired you two. -hugs-
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Thank you so much! I'll update ASAP tomorrow. It's like 1:00 in the morning and I can't sleep... I'm so nervous...

Oh no! I just read this update! I'm so sorry! I'll be hoping and praying for the best possible outcome!

Keep us posted.

Oh no...I will be praying that she is alright. Let us know the diagnosis as soon as you are able!

3/13

Sometimes, things seem so perfect that it can't be by mere chance. I've always been a fan of saying things will work out. But occasionally, things work out in a way so sublime... It's like reading a book. All the elements come together.

BG went to the vet today. She wasn't terrible lame this morning, as she had been in a stall all night. Dr Cook's assistant trotted Baby Girl in hand in a figure eight pattern. BG didn't respond to flexion tests or palpation of her tendon/lower leg. BG wasn't even terribly lame when trotting on dirt. BG's leg was only a little hot and hardly swollen.

I stood on the sidelines, puzzled, as Dr Cook told her assistant to trot BG on the gravel driveway. BG was suddenly dead lame in a manner similar to what I have observed over the past several days. I was dumbfounded, but Dr Cook half smiled and pulled out her hoof testers.

It didn't take long for the hoof testers to find a spot near BG's toe that caused my little mare to nearly leap out of her skin. Dr Cook brushed away some dirt to reveal a small, half moon shaped black spot on BG's sole. Dr Cook made a quick slice with a hoof knife. A drop of pus oozed out.

"We have an absess."

Dr Cook sedated BG and drilled a small hole in her sole. Puss and blood leaked out. I was thrilled. One of the happiest moments of my life.

"You'll be riding again in no time!"

Dr Cook showed me how to pack and dress BG's hoof with betadine, duct tape, and cotton. I was instructed to soak it once a day in a betadine/epsom salt solution. It should be better in less than a week.

Remember how I said we slipped on some rocks? Well. We didn't. A rock pierced BG's sole. That was the cause of her lameness. The lameness got worse when inject started to set in. That explains a lot!

BG was less thrilled and is still a sad little mare. But she's a sad little mare who isn't crippled for life!



She doesn't even want to put weight on it!




Okay. So BG will probably/hopefully be back for Dixie next weekend. That means... That National Championship is on. But only with some help.

I told you guys that BG getting pulled last ride allowed me to hang out with Stephanie all weekend. Well, Stephanie seems to think I'm a pretty tolerable and okay human. She gave me her number and told me that she would take me to any ride in region five. The boss promised to take me to 9 rides. Spanish Trail was one of them, but it no longer counts. Amy was going to take me to one later in the year, but plans changed. I need 10 rides to get a national. If Stephanie can take me to one... This thing might just be possible.

Let's back up to yesterday now. The boss noticed I was terrible depressed over this whole BG thing. This is my last year as a junior, and at the time it seemed BG was down for the count. So the boss called Catheryne.

Catheryne is an endurance rider and collector of Arabs. Catheryne has been a little over her head lately. Stuff happens. She had a proven endurance horse for sale. Her name is Catalina Comet, AKA Cat/Miss Kitty. She's a 14.2, light gray, nine-year-old Arabian mare.

I signed a free lease agreement and whisked Cat away.

BG became unexpectantly competition worthy... And I still had an Arab prancing in my pasture. What did I do?

Ask Catheryne may I pretty pretty please keep her.

So, everyone. Because we got pulled at Spanish Trail, I recieved a way to get to rides all over the region, an Arabian, and a soon-to-be-sound BG. Couldn't have written it better if I tried.