Weekly Report: Vet Day, Jubilee's Recovery, Ranch Photos

This has been a full week here at Bit of Honey.  We had the fall veterinary appointment for dental work, vaccines, and general maintenance on all the horses on Friday.  Total we worked on thirteen horses.  A close look at Garmin the pony's eyes revealed that he is actually completely blind now from cataracts.  That explains his change in behavior, over the summer and into this fall he's been acting much more like a tyrant, blustering and trying to dominate other horses in an effort to prove he's not the weakest in the herd, since nature would dictate the weakest gets eaten first by a predator.  So he now has emeritus status as the retired Public Relations Pony, since he will be safest here at home in a securely fenced paddock with horse friends he trusts.  In his familiar environment with me around he seems to feel comfortable and doesn't get too rough with the other horses, I think he knows he's protected here at Bit of Honey.  So when humans go into his pen they neeed to be very aware that Garmin can't see them, and be sure to talk to him so that he will know where they are.

I had quite a few people here for the veterinary appointment, including some kids.  The oldest daughter has been riding with me for a few weeks, and to learn more about the horses her dad brought her and her brother here for the vet.  Everyone got to see all the way back into a horse's mouth.  To his delight, Highboy got to interact with the youngest human, too.

Before the vet arrived I had a client come out for a training session with her mare, Jubilee.  Jubilee is a miracle horse.  She very nearly cut her hoof off approximately a year ago, with the wound going through all the skin, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and clear into the coffin joint at the bottom of her leg.  I was absolutely sure she would need to be euthanized since a wound that deep will almost never heal well, and while waiting for it to heal the opposite foot will have problems because of bearing the extra weight.  Even if it did heal, she likely would never be rideable again since it probably wouldn't work mechanically.  We don't know how the injury happened, she was found in the pasture bleeding last November.  

Somehow with thousands of dollars in medical care and a lot of heavy duty prayer, Jubilee has recovered.  Not merely to be a pasture ornament, but actually recovered enough to be a light riding horse with no limp.  When she came over for her dental and fall vaccines her owner and I were nearly beside ourselves with gratitude for her miraculous healing.  I rode her at the walk and trot and she is sound.  Her owner rode her at the walk (the owner herself is recovering from a hamstring injury).  This little mare is amazing.

 Saturday was much warmer and sunnier, and I got some fun pics of Miles giving his tennis ball the Border Collie Stare.  He and Mahzi have been alternately stealing it from each other.