Fungus Among-us

Rea and I have had a wonderful summer riding and even went and did a two day intense Weekend Warrior dressage camp. (I needed a good butt whooping when it comes to dressage!) We had a blast....thanks Britt for coming being my cheerleader and taking GREAT photos!




Well Rea tried her best not to go and poked her eye on Thursday before the clinic- she is lucky (or unlucky) her mom is a vet and on Friday her eye looked like this.... Success!

The clinic was amazing and we had a blast! But on Saturday her eye was swollen again- dang mare! I started her on a very strict regiment of Antibiotics and added in antifungals as well as antiinflammatories.  Well her eye was still swollen shut for these photos Sunday but she rode in the clinic with a bum eye.

I took her home but had a bad gut feeling so I kept her at my neighbors house to keep her close. Tuesday my vet gut wouldn't shut up so I took a cytology (scraped some cells off and put them on a slide). Low and behold there was fungus. I called the big wigs at the university and they said get her up here now! My mom came to the rescue and drove with me and Gale graciously let me use her trailer as ours is still being repaired. We left right after work and then got home at 2am- wouldn't recommend round trips to Raleigh with such quick turn around.

We got to the university at 8pm and she was immediately examined and a catheter placed into her eye for aggressive treatment.  We discussed surgery but it was a stretch that we would even have to go.  Long story short- she will have been in the hospital for 21 days and has had 2 surgeries by the time she comes home.  It was hard being a vet and still not being able to get your horse right. Fungus is very aggressive and impossible to get rid of - I have a new respect for it!

It has been a very crazy emotional roller coaster with work being absolutely crazy on top of this battle! She is finally coming home Tuesday and I am so glad! She is still going to have to endure some treatment- she will be on eye meds for 5 weeks after she gets home.  She will also have a permanent blind spot in her left eye.  I can't believe that I would have the horse that would have the fungal infection that seems to be mutant and so determined to take her eye.  I have to thank my parents who without them I would have given up after the first surgery. I was willing to go ahead and take her eye out.  Wow - so glad they were optimisitic and pushed me to try again! For all you horse people out there-- don't let eye problems go it is always a veterinary emergency!

FEC Hunter Show

The Rea and I did a Hunter show at home last weekend. I couldn't believe how quiet she was! She went into the schooling ring saw the chaos and horses running around everywhere and just went - huh ok mom! We schooled in the morning and then had to wait  until after lunch to show. We were going to take it easy but she was so good we kept right on going to the 2' division! I could not be prouder of her!

This past weekend was supposed to be our second dressage show. She unfortunately was trimmed the week before and became super foot sore. So she didn't go to the show but I took Ace moms wonderful horse! 

 We had a good day- I remembered that I have a ways to go until I am in the riding shape that I am used to being into.  That said Justin and I will be starting the Dukan diet tomorrow (again) we did it before the wedding and it is great. The many veggies coming out of the garden will make it very easy. Its pretty much just a restricted carb diet. He took one for the team tonight by helping me finish the Ben and Jerry's ice cream left in the fridge- yea I know such a hard life!

If anyone is looking for a great read Me before You by Jojo Moyes was beyond AMAZING!

Rea

So now that the weather is warming up I am planning my summer show schedule- wahoo! Rea is doing great! I finally get time/make time to ride. 

This weekend is a centered riding clinic at home with the amazing Susan Harris. Then at the end of the month is a hunter show at home. June will kick off with a dressage show in Huntersville and then a combined test two weeks later at TTC. Then hopefully going to do a baby horse trials 4th of July. So there you have it 4 shows in the works! It feels so good to have goals/plans/and exciting things on the horse front again. It has been waaaay too long!

Hart Square behind the scenes

I http://www.ourstate.com/hart-square-village/

This Saturday Mom scheduled an outing for Justin, her and I. She had been talking about this Hart square place for MONTHS. Justin and I didn't know what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised. Once we got there and drive for what seemed like 5 minutes we got to a clearing to park and then there were many little beautiful cabins. We walked around and explored the open ones and enjoyed all the views. The real treat came at lunch where we all sat down with our boxed lunches and Dr Hart came to speak to the group. He shared his favorite stories from the cabins that were open. What an interesting individual he bought cabins from the area and then took them down and painstakingly put them back up piece by piece. The afternoon we looked at the remaining 6 cabins that were open and mom bought herself a beautiful coffee table book that was signed by Dr Hart.

cool printing press

If you ever get the chance...go! It is really neat. He hosts a festival every fall where people are dressed in period clothes and all of the buildings are used for their original functions...printing press, gun shop, ect.

Rooms filled to the brim with beds...

The skulls of two deer that apparently got stuck fighting then died because they starved to death...once in a lifetime finding- although depressing...

Inbox is empty

I have a favorite book which helps you not to sweat the small stuff. It has a great lesson in it which tells you that your inbox will always be full and those of us that try and empty the inbox will never be fulfilled, there is always more to do. That said I can say that my inbox (at least of the important things) is empty! I have FINALLY caught up on all work paperwork, my truck is fairly stocked, and my workroom downstairs is clean and organized. What a feeling it is to finally have some time to rest without a huge weight of the millions of things i need to do.  That said I could not have done any of it without the help of my wonderful mom! She came over last week and helped me file which I caught up on medical records, invoicing, and double checking the numbers with the bank.  I finally finished the last few pieces last night and now all i have to do is keep up (easier said that done). Yesterday after a fun day at Hart Square she came over and we overhauled the work area downstairs. It never really got fully organized, I just moved in as much as I needed to and then started working.  It looks amazing now and I am so relieved to have that done!

That said the inbox is never truly empty, I know I have a filthy house, bathrooms, and other things I could be doing. But I know that mental health is also important and I have spent my morning reading Harry Potter in snuggly sweat pants on the couch. The house and bathrooms will get cleaned in due time!

Tonight I will finally get to ride my sweet girl again. Megan has been wonderful and riding her some this past week- she rides her so well! I had plans to go meet both her and Mom but of course emergency phone had different plans and rang as soon as I was changed and ready to head out there. Such is the life of a solo practitioner.


Rea and I have great plans for the summer, a centered riding clinic in early May at home, then maybe a dressage and cross country schooling mid-May and finishing it off with a Hunter show at home. Again all of those plans are written in pencil as we all know horses make their own agendas and its not fun to make plans in pen.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday!

Transformation Tuesday

Rea my newest addition is wonderful! It's been about three months since I've had her so I thought I'd do a transformation tuesday! 

First trial November 2014

December 2014

First Horse show January 2015

April 2015

Chickens

We have Chickens now! As some of you know my wedding present from Justin was a chicken coop. Since we moved I had always told him I wanted chickens. He told me he really didn't want them so I agreed (reluctantly) to be ok with not having chickens.  Low and behold on our wedding day I got what I wanted :)

This was my face in response to him wrapping it in a USPS express mail envelope.....very Justin.

(photo cred- Vesic Photography)

"OHH I get a chicken coop! WOW!"
(photo cred- Vesic Photography)

Since October I have been anxiously awaiting chickens. When I did research I noted that many chickens stop laying in the winter. Well I didn't want to get them and then feed them all winter and not get eggs so we deiceded to wait until the spring. 

Last weekend we pulled the chicken wire for their pen. We wanted them to free-roam but not bother any neighbors.

Then this weekend we got the chickens. I found young pullets that had just started laying in Winston.  Justin agreed to get up early on his day off and go get them with me. We squeezed in an awesome breakfast with Nana, Papa, and D'Neil then went to get our chickens.

Copper rode in the back and kept them company (really he just shook and whined all excited-like the WHOLE TIME!) 

Here are our beautiful hens- meet Ginger, Cherry, Caramel (and the last one doesn't have a name yet)