Cats and horses and work, oh my!

[jennyaxe]

So, it's been a month since the last time I updated. Stuff has happened.

Tusse got well, but we both have the feeling that he got a lot older during his illness. We don't really expect him to be around for more than a year or so.

Work has been hellish but is getting better now. We finally got the $BIG_PROJECT into production. There's still some mopping up to do, but at least the time-critical stuff is over and we can breathe again.

And then there's the bad news. Melanie, the mare I've been riding since January, has been lame a lot. She was taken to the vets yesterday and got X-rayed. It turns out her hind legs are basically shot, and she has a problem in her neck that makes it hard for her to use her right front leg properly. So she won't ever be well enough to be ridden again. At best she might be good for breeding, but given her physical problems - she was born with one eye missing, as well as having had the leg problems - it mightn't turn out that well. In which case she'll be put down.

I'd gotten so very attached to her, I was planning on buying her in a few years, and I'd started considering how to arrange stuff so I could ride more often. I'm devastated. There's the practical side of it, too - I'll have to find another horse to ride on weekends, because I really do need to ride twice a week. But most of it is just grief that I've lost her.

Comments

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

oy. i am sorry about melanie. :/

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Not good about the horses.

HUGS

[jennyaxe.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm going out to the stable in half an hour, to ride gnapp's horse (the one in my icon). I'll make sure to visit Melanie some as well. Like I said, we've really bonded... when I go to get her in the field, half the time she actually comes running when I call her. Then she puts her muzzle on my shoulder and wants to be petted, and keeps walking with her muzzle as close to me as possible on the way back to the stables. It's not a sight thing, because she does this even when I'm on the side with the good eye. (I have a tendency to keep the horse to my left instead of to my right as most people do, since I tended a horse who had a fractured jaw on his right side.)

The owner has started looking for a stallion. If it works out I'll certainly be interested in the foal.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

I try to work on both sides of a horse: it's better to lead on their right when on the roads over here for a start.

And bringing on a foal can be very rewarding, even if I do seem to be throwing away the rulebook when it comes to Noodles.

[jennyaxe.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd want to be the sole owner of a foal, but I'd like to be a part of bringing it on and training it with an option to buy.

And the rulebook I think should be seen as a starting point, not as a law - you always need to adapt to the actual situation and individuals involved. Much as with riding.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear this about Melanie, on top of the worry you've had about Tusse.

And I hope you can find another horse that you get on with as well as you do with Melanie.