Belated Christmas/Early New Years?

So I bought a bunch of silly Christmas hats at the Dollar Store on clearance last Christmas, and I remembered in time to break them out for our little celebration. I didn't think to post them here so enjoy some belated Christmas photos and let's celebrate the new year!

Indy was less than appreciative of our festive-ness (you can't see it but my sweatshirt said "instead of gifts I'm giving people my opinion for Christmas", and also holiday dachshund leggings lol. And christmas light earrings!)

Also not super amused

The scarf and santa hat. I die. 

Everyone got a turn!

Also the ugly christmas sweater sweater cracks me up. 

"Halp. Definitely animal abuse"

Cooper was a good sport though lol. 

Ruby modeling one of my gifts -- four Kensington stall guards in my "black ice" pattern. I'm going to need to rehang the eyehooks though!

She was not fully sold on the antlers.

I could only get one ear, not both, lol. 

Cinna was absolutely on board though, even if I couldn't get both of them looking at me with their ears up at the same time, ha. 

Attempting to bribe them with alf scraps

So close!

man if only I hadn't cut off Cinna's nose

Ruby was DONE with my shit lol

"Hai yes more alf scraps?"

We wore the animals out

Lots of evening snoozing Christmas Day

"Blep"

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend as we prepare to enter 2021! 

WW: Rads

Over on the farrrr right side you can see the asymmetry -- but he had that before the injury. 

This angle makes it REALLY pronounced 

 

Trigger's Vet Visit #4: On the Right Track

I know I posted about the first bandage change after the cast came off, but obviously haven't kept up posting after each change -- mostly because I'm sure there are only so many posts you want to read about his hoof hole, and there is only so much to say, lol. But I have been photographing each one for documentation purposes, so let's catch up. Perfect timing, since he had another follow up visit yesterday. 

Second bandage change.

On the second change, I got a little concerned about proud flesh. I waited until normal business hours (since I change the bandage in the evenings most days) and texted a picture to the vet to see if she wanted to move up our next re-check, or if she wanted me to change anything about our treatment protocol. She said as long as the drainage hadn't increased and he wasn't lame/overly sensitive when I cleaned it, she wasn't super concerned yet, but to keep an eye on it and we'd see how it looked at our scheduled re-check (with the obvious caveat to move it up if he got suddenly more lame/more drainage/etc.).

Meanwhile Trigger is SUPER OVER stall rest and really would like to get back outside. Sigh. 

Handgrazing him when it's dry is sort of keeping him sane. 

And the velcro hoof boot is doing a great job of protecting his duct tape boot. He hasn't worn through a bandage yet. 

3rd bandage change

Getting a different angle to make sure it wasn't growing past the sole to where he was putting weight on it. Ignore how badly the hoof needs a trim 🙈 

By his third bandage change I thought maybe it looked a little less proud-flesh-y, but also that I was far from an objective judge since all I do is stare obsessively at it with every change, haha. His comfort level seemed the same, so I just stayed the course and kept on our trajectory. 

Meanwhile, Trigger took lots of naps. 

And got some good company from the barn cats, especially Lady. 

4th bandage change. The piece of gravel in that crack was starting to drive me nuts and every change I tried to pry it out, haha. The white residue in this photo is the remnants of the powdered antibiotics I pour in the hole every change. 

Over Christmas weekend (are we sensing a theme with his holiday weekend shenanigans?), Trigger had a puffy eye. This is not SUPER uncommon for him, since he is very prone to allergies and he loves to rub his eyes, making puffy eyes worse once they start. I think the issue was that Thursday/Friday it was COLD here so I had the barn door closed in an effort to keep him warm, and I think it just got a smidge too dusty for him. 24 hours in his bug eyes/pirate mask, and his eyes were back to normal before the vets were here yesterday. 

Dammit Trigger. 

He was REALLY climbing the walls this day, so before we changed his bandage we let him out in the (dry) front pasture for a minute, where he gleefully rolled. When he got up and attempted to trot off, I had to go catch him and bring him back in. 

5th bandage change (December 26). 

So that catches you up to our vet visit yesterday! After they wrestled my multiple layers of duct tape off (lol), they gave it a good scrubbing and poked and prodded the tissue growth. They were happy with how it looked, but wanted to take some rads just to be positive everything was kosher inside the hoof, which was fine by me. The vet is well aware of how obsessive I am and I would much prefer to pay for unnecessary rads that show nothing bad than skip them and try to save a buck and realize down the road we've got issues. 

The main vet wasn't here the day of the injury, so she also pulled up his old rads to compare. His hoof does have a slight defect internally (on the side where the hole is), but it was there in the original rads too, so it's not anything caused by this injury or a resulting infection -- he just has sort of shitty feet/conformation (which I already knew) compounded by his age and years of percussion on the bone. The rads didn't show anything else new or concerning, so she said just keep on keepin' on. We covered the alternative treatment options again -- they can come back and cast the foot, or a hospital plate is always an option -- but both of those are significantly more expensive than me just carrying on with the wrapping. They gave me two thumbs up on on the wrap they cut off, so I said I didn't mind sticking with that. A cast or hospital plate would mean I had to do less work, but honestly he's not bad to wrap and I do like being able to lay eyes on it periodically. If I thought either of those things would give us a better chance at a good outcome, money would be no object, but he's making good progress doing what we're doing, so I just need to remember it's a marathon, not a sprint :) he did get the green light for some turnout in a small confined DRY space for short periods of time, but of course we're under a winter storm advisory today. Oh well, that'll give us time to rig up some extra temp hot wire in the front pasture and build him somewhere to go that ISN'T his stall once it dries out again. 

Of course I didn't take an after photo but I finally got that damn gravel out lol. 

Making sure the drugs were completely worn off before he got to go back in his stall and stuff his face. 

If they send me the rads before this publishes, I'll add them, but if not, I'll try to post them in a future update! 

Blog Hop: 2020 Summary

A little late to the party on this one, but loving this 2020 summary blog hop from Alberta Equest!

What's the best thing that happened to you in 2020? 

Personal: Transitioning to working from home -- obviously not thrilled about the cause (fuck off global pandemic), but having that extra 1.5+ hours back in my day from not having a commute is HEAVEN. And from the sounds of it, my agency/direct supervisors are in favor of continuing remote work, so I hope this is a permanent change (I still do go into the office occasionally but I'm happy with a hybrid of like 85% remote/15% in person). There is nothing better than being able to look out my window at the horses while I work, or pop out to swap blankets or throw extra hay or feed midday meals. Also my dogs are living their absolute best life snoozing on the couch all day, or in my office on their dog beds. Bliss. 

Midday pony checks are life, especially with one on stall rest -- picking his stall every three or four hours means it doesn't get NEARLY as gross!

He has become one with the bed. 

#bestlife

OK so this was actually after work was over but still, they are V HAPPY I work at home now. 

Horsey: Being able to get back on a regular riding schedule after 2019 was mostly eaten up by construction. Also had some really great new trail adventures with my favorite trail buddies -- DH, Ruby, and Trigger <3  

From our last trail ride :( I hope this is in our future for 2021!

What's the worst thing that happened to you in 2020? 

Personal: My grandmother passed away in May, and because of the lockdowns, there was no way for us to go out and see her to say goodbye. It's still something I struggle with guilt over. She was mostly deaf by the end, so we tried to call when we could, but it usually ended up with us yelling into the phone and her still not being able to understand us, which sucked really bad. We still haven't been able to plan a memorial service of any kind -- she spent most of her life in Hawaii but they've had VERY tight restrictions about incoming tourists (which is absolutely fair, I'm not upset about that), so we're tentatively trying to schedule something for 2021, but it may not be until 2022 at this rate. 

Horsey: Toss up between Jack's EOTRH and now Trigger's hoof hole. 

I won't torture you with graphic photos of those events, enjoy Jack eating alfalfa scraps out of a bucket one weekend morning when I forgot to put his chain up after feeding breakfast but before turnout, lol. 

Trigger remains in good spirits (although he feels well enough now that every time you try to clean his stall he tries to escape, naughty boy). 

What was your biggest purchase in 2020? 

Personal: Definitely LONGBOI, haha. Although I guess that could kind of be either personal OR horsey, since I needed it to haul my horse trailer. Or the tractor? Honestly when you have a farm most big purchases are for the farm, lol. 

Still love it though. The guys at the feed store make (good-natured) fun of me every time I come get grain haha.

Tractor doing tractor things!

Horsey: It's not a fun one, but vet bills? Sigh. Or the truck. Toss up again, haha. 

What was your biggest accomplishment in 2020? 

Personal: It was at the end of 2019/beginning of 2020 right before the pandemic kicked off, which seems like FOREVER ago, but I got personally recommended by my boss's boss to be a trainer for a new program in my agency. That meant that I was the instructor for sessions that all supervisors in our agency were required to attend, and I had to teach them about coaching their employees. It was UTTERLY TERRIFYING when I was asked to do it, and I wanted to say no, but I'm so glad that I LEAPED out of my comfort zone and did it. It was very beneficial for personal growth and opened up a bunch of new opportunities. In previous jobs I was pretty stifled and kind of got accustomed to the status quo, but since changing jobs in 2018 the opportunities for personal growth have been off the charts and it's definitely changed the way I view my job as fitting into my life as a whole, in a good way.  

So blessed to be in an organization that helps me out of my comfort zone. 

Horsey: Nothing is immediately springing to mind -- honestly probably just keeping up with the slow, steady slog of making sure my horses are reasonably trained solid citizens :) I'm in a phase of my life where I have to fit the horses in where I can, not where I build everything else in my life around the horses, and I'm fine with that, but it also means it's not a season of big accomplishments, just the slow and steady little personal wins. 

WFH means I spent SO MUCH quality time with these derps in 2020. I love them. 

What do you feel COVID robbed you of in 2020? 

Personal: Getting a chance to say goodbye to my grandmother tops the list. The second thing would be that DH and I were hoping to do a lot of travel after construction was over (including FINALLY using our passports), and clearly that... didn't happen. That's been a super bitter pill this week in particular, as this time in 2016 we were in Puerto Rico, in 2017 we were in Seattle, and in early 2018 we were in Hawaii, so seeing those memories pop up in FB is a little depressing. 

Last visit with my grandmother.

Horsey: Truthfully I hadn't been doing a ton of lessoning and showing prior to 2020 (between burnout and construction), so while I had hoped to change that this year, covid merely delayed it, so I don't really feel robbed of something I hadn't been doing much of lately, lol. Although going hand in hand with the travel above, meeting up with the best blogger friends at not-Rolex is always top of my list every year for trips and Covid fucked that pretty badly. Fingers crossed but not hopeful for 2021.... 

I need more of this in my life, STAT. 

Were you subject to any COVID Impulse Buys in 2020? 

Personal: Ha. We were originally hoping to nurse our existing hauling truck through a few more years, but when I ended up with PTSD over driving it, a new truck could be considered an impulse buy I guess lol. Also once we had moved in/lived in the house for a while, we had a better idea of layout changes or small additions to make things nicer -- like screening in the back porch. So I did a LOT of online shopping for weird little one off purchases like lighted bathroom mirrors or plant stands for the growing plant addiction haha. Also basically any time we made a trip to Walmart or Menards we somehow came home with more plants. I did not see 2020 as the year I would become a crazy plant lady, AND YET HERE WE ARE and I have zero regrets. Also had to buy a lot of computer equipment and desk things to set up a home office, lol. 

I took this photo for a blogger friend who had 28 plants in her house and I have nearly that many IN THIS ROOM lol. And that's not counting the rest of my windowsills (almost all full of plants) plus the hanging baskets and other ones. We have a problem?

Horsey: ARE YOU NEW HERE? 😂 Oh gosh let's not talk about this. Saving money by not commuting led to a lot of not-strictly-necessary shopping. Selling my Pixio and getting a Pivo, Custom Mattes pads when Hufglocken ran their 25% off sale, a ridiculous amount of Kastel, new sheets/blankets, greatly increasing the scope of my tack shed renovation (which started pretty small and ended up becoming the Taj MahTeal), the unicorn bridle which then led to more unicorn bits, the rose gold bridle, ombre breeches and saddle pads, the works, lol. I guess on the farm front, not COMPLETELY an impulse buy, we had been planning it for a while and just moved up the timeline -- bigger tractor to move round bales with. 

That day I decided to see how many blue (or blue-trimmed) Kastels I had. That's not all of them. Just the blue ones. AND I STILL DON'T HAVE ANYTHING THAT MATCHES MY PEACOCK
LE MIEUX SET (not even the damn peacock base layer from LM). 

Ultimately while 2020 was certainly full of difficulties and frustrations, I can definitely say that we are lucky in the grand scheme of things -- DH and I are still employed (even if his employment is what directly led to us both contracting COVID this fall, UGH), we are in a much better place financially than we have been in the past, we are settled into a house we love, we have made significant improvements to the property in the last few years that makes it more enjoyable/chores easier, and we have a life full of things that we enjoy doing (even if somewhat curtailed by covid restrictions this year). And since he's an essential employee who still goes in to work every day, we didn't even have to overcome that phenomenon of never getting any time apart while working from home :) plus I am an absolute HOARDER of funny memes, and this year has had more fodder for those than any time I can remember #itsthesmallthings. However, I am still more than ready to see out 2020 and welcome 2021!