Of vet bills and bloody clothes

The phone rang this morning. About 7:30 am.
I rolled over in my sleep ignoring it. It was probably my sister calling, wanting me to babysit like I had promised.
My dad yelled up the stairs "phone"
Damn, now I had to make some attempt at human life.
Sleepily I reached over for the cordless on my computer desk and put on my best "I'm awake" voice.
"Hello?" it was murdo
"How are you?" I tried to sound awake.
"Alright. Your Indigo mare hurt her back leg. Shes bleeding pretty bad"
"What? What did she do. Does it need the vet?" I blinked, suddenly more awake than a second ago.
"I don't know. It's pretty bad or I wouldn't have called"
"Alright, i'll be there in a few minutes" As soon as I hung up I launched into hyperdrive. I lunged for a pair of pants. I didn't even know if the clothes I had on where clean.
It didn't matter. My best friend was in trouble.

My mom came around the corner. She was carrying things for the trailer. Her and dad were supposed to leave in a few hours.
"Whats wrong?" she stopped to talk
"Indigo is hurt, I gotta go out there" I dashed out the door hardly having time to tie my long hair back.

When I arrived at the farm she was munching hay and stomping flies. Boy were their flies.
It figures, a horse gets cut and it's the worst day of the year for flies.

Indigo nickered at me when I came through the door. She was munching hay with Sheba at the pot. Boy was she a mess.
Her back right leg was covered in blood. Something was hanging from it. I could only hope it wasn't a tendon or other flesh that shouldn't be there.
Every time she stepped blood shot out of a puncture wound.

Long story short, I brought her to the emergency clinic, tranked her because he thought he was going to have to tie off the vein, the bleeding stopped on it's own so she was dopey for no reason, gave me a bottle of pills for antibiotics and sent us on our merry way with my pin cushion mare. Boy what a day.

Of horses and barn cats

Yesterday we had a drive with the carriage club. All went well (except for the fish flies...>:C). We got back to the barn and everyone was lining up for the hose. I pulled Indigo into the barn and my man came up to hold her so I could take her harness off (another horse was in her usual spot).


A couple weeks ago we brought two cats to the barn that were rescued from another barn (mom abandoned them) they were brother and sister. The male cat is extremely friendly. He LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES! people. Every time I groom one of the horses he tries to wander under them to see me. I boot him (not hard) out from under the horse and he effs off.

Yesterday was that exception. My man was holding Indigo and patting her and telling her shes going to get treats or whatever else he usually says to her and Mr.kitty comes sauntering on up.
You can guess what happened next. Well Indigo stomped a fly...and the cat. Mr. Kitty SCREAMED bloody effing murder. This event made Indigo lunge ahead in fear of the cat howling underneath her feet. My man is wide eyed at this point being very inexperienced with horses and almost trampled he is screaming "WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH!!" which just upsets Indigo even more. She stomps back down on Mr. Kitty again. He HOWWWLLLLSS!! hissing and spitting and sinks his claws into her leg like a pin cushion. Indigo lunges ahead again nearly tramping my still "WOAH"-ing man and knocks over a whole wall of shovels, brooms and various other barn tools which startles her again at the loud crashing noise below her feet. Kitty attempts escape again, darts for the door only to be clotheslined by her hoof booting him on the way out.

He eventually escaped. He was scared but not hurt, my man will probably never come out to the barn again lol. Indigo just had a pin hole that stopped bleeding quickly.

All this time I am standing there because I couldn't get in to intervene and grab Indigo. All I could do was laugh when everyone settled. My man was huffing and puffing, Indigo settled down right away (with a renewed aggression towards cats, she hated them before) The first thing I say is "Shes bleeding, aww poor neigh!" and go to tend to Indigos bleeding. My man looked for the kitty and everyone outside who just heard this ordeal going on poked their heads in the barn to see the aftermath of the war they just heard.

I guess a horse+ my man+ a really stupid cat sound like world war 3.

hahahaha. I still chuckle thinking about it.

Sophie and I are on our 5th ride or so. Shes doing great. She spooked at someone pulling in with a trailer on the other side of the bushes from the round pen. She half reared half cantered across the pen and snorted. Shes doing good though. She knows what leg means. I was going to ride her today but a big storm came up. Oh well. Our next step: the trot!

New beginnings

Today Sophie had her first ride. I kept it short and sweet since it was her first time in the round pen or with a saddle on even.

I worked her on the longe for 10 minutes teaching her how to disengage her hindquarters and react to the word woah. I also worked with throwing ropes all over her in a very rhythmic motion since she was a little scared about waving hands and ropes.
I then did the same rhythmic motion on and off her back with the saddle pad until she stood relaxed and then put it and the saddle on with no trouble. I longed her for another minute and swung up. She jumped forward at the movement of my leg but only went a step or two.

Of course I was riding her in the Nurtural bitless bridle. She has been driven in this bridle and does awesome. Since she had never encountered round pen/longeing/a saddle before this 15 minutes I didn't want to push her so I got on, and just sat there. She stepped forward once but I stopped her and we just stood. Good standing, I think it's the most important but often overlooked thing a horse can ever learn is a good long and beaten (but not literally) WOAH! If you have reliable breaks you can work on the gas safely. If you have a good parking break it makes it easier to do thing without having to wrestle an anxious moving horse the whole time.

Ride#2 is tomorrow so long as it doesn't rain *knock on wood*