Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Banes and blessings

My poor horse Russell looks like a maniac with clippers got to him. In addition to a front and a back leg that were shaved for imaging and treatment of suspensory ligament injuries, he now sports shaved patches on both sides of his neck! Last week he wasn't moving comfortably; when Rick examined him, he suspected neck issues. X-rays showed some arthrosis, so yesterday Rick did ultrasound-guided steroid injections between C5 and C6 and C6 and C7 (with three-inch-long needles - YIKES!) to alleviate the neck pain. Hopefully I'll have a chance tomorrow to see if Russell feels better. It may be that I will have to turn my focus from dressage to just hacking and trail riding; Russell will let me know. Dressage is certainly not the cause of his "issues," but like any other sport pursued in a serious fashion vs. the occasional casual effort, continuing to train and show up the levels would place added strain on his physique.

While I may joke that "the cobbler's children have no shoes," I do realize what a tremendous blessing it is to have a horse vet for a husband. Rick can provide most of the "best practice" treatments for any ailment my horse may have, and he has been a lifesaver for my sheep as well. He can't "fix" everything, but I am so thankful for all that he can - and does - do.

Here's "leg news" of an entirely different sort: Jackson is starting to lift one a little in the middle of his potty breaks! I guess that means the baby-pup is turning into a boy-pup. He's also tall enough to use the toilet as a water bowl - EEEWWW! I have never had a dog do that, and I don't intend to give Jackson access so that he can make it a habit.

That's it for now at . . .

5 comments:

Tammy said...

Poor Russell. I hope he improves and puts all this behind him, so you can enjoy each other again, whatever path you take. You are indeed blessed to have a vet 'in house' for the tough things that come along. Boone does the 'anointing' his water bucket too. And ewwww is right! I lecture him often, but it doesn't do any good. I ended up putting it up on a block of wood so he only hits the side. He also does this to his (empty) food bowl, anything that I set down (like water buckets, tools) for a minute, and Ariel if she accidentally gets in the line of fire. Man, it has taken some getting used to, having a male dog around. However, I will say, that if I catch him doing this in an inappropriate place and scold him sternly, he never, ever makes the same mistake twice. It's just catching him in the act.... Have fun! ;-) Bracing for a big snowstorm here...
Tammy

Tammy said...

oops... ha... I just realized I misread your post... I thought you said that Jackson was using his water bowl as a toilet... Now you know all (well most of) Boone's dark secrets and didn't even need to. hmmmm. ;-)
Tammy

~~Sittin.n.Spinnin said...

Its funny, I have 4 dogs that share their house with us, and none of them drink out of the toilet; I do have a cat however that is fascinated with water and has been, um, tinkeled on once or twice LOL

Kathy said...

I'm sorry to hear about Russell...I know that if he must change his job from dressage to just riding and fun, he's in good hands there as well. :) Poor guy. He's probably like me this winter having a mantra of: "Gee, I hate this getting older business..."

Why not train people to shut the toilet lid? It's amazing how that works at keeping animals from using it as a water bowl. :)

Kathy said...

Tag! You're it! See my blog!