Getting up on the right side of the bed

Daylight savings: I get up extra early and I'm still an hour late.

Still, a good bath and a back scratch are just the thing to start the day. 

It sure helps get the blood flowing and take care of all the itchy spots...

and it just sets a body up for a nice day.  Even if it is hard to reach some of those spots on the back...

and under the chin.  

It's so much work, sometimes I have to hit the snooze button just one more time before getting up....

which happens to be a good time to check the manicure.  Ma really has a thing for feet after all.

Well groomed and properly attired, it's time to start the day.
"Where's breakfast?"

Cabin Fever

Sunday Stills - Potluck

This old car is quite a ways out in the woods behind my house.  I've photographed it several times before.  It had to have gotten where it is before any of the trees, which always amazes me just a bit.  Tanner and I walk past it all the time, but it always seems to look a little different depending on the weather and angle.  It's very much a part of the landscape and yet not at the same time.

The weather this winter has been a real trial.  It's been a relatively mild winter, but it hasn't felt that way.  It has been singularly dreary with long stretches of very cold temperatures, unending wind and very little sun.  Perhaps that is why, when the sun did show up, everything seemed very alive.  Even the buds on this very dead, fallen tree. 

This tree too, seemed very vibrant, but you can't see the hole in it's base.  It won't last another year. 

On the other hand...

these cold, snowy, windy Hemlocks are doing OK.

A deer's version of a snow angel perhaps?  Kind of a scary looking angel if you ask me.  Maybe a snow squid, alien, giant bug?

Wait, I know, it reminds me of one of those electron microscope pictures of a dust mite.  Creepy huh? 

 I knew those deer were up to no good. 

BTW, I stole this picture from the internet.

A rock embedded in the crevice of a tree and covered with snow - Mother Nature's version of rock/paper/scissors?  I can't decide who is winning.

Fortunately, some things are constant.

And yes, all these photos are from this week.  The weather really is that crazy.

A Very Different Picture

Cornell sent me a disk with all of Ramsey's x-rays on it.  He has had more than 60 radio-graphs taken.  Most of them were clearly taken during his surgery, probably for guidance and to make sure they had disease free margins.

The first two pictures are the first ever taken on Nov.2 and were how the vets diagnosed septic pedal osteitis.  I am no expert at reading x-rays, but if I have read this right, this is a front to back view of the right foot.  The bottom most bone is the coffin bone or P3 (the third phalanx), and is where the infection was.  If you look at the right hand side of the bone, you will see that it has fairly clear, well defined edges.  The left side of the bone appears fuzzy with vague borders, that is the infection.  Below the bone, there is a dark oval, I think that is a pocket of abscess.  The dark spot on the bottom right is where there was a piece of hoof cut out of the sole.

I think this is looking down through the top of the foot.  Again, the right side of the bone is clear, the left is a dark, fuzzy shadow.

These were taken during Ramsey's surgery on Nov. 3.  I think the needles were used as markers to gauge whether the margins were clear.

They took some bone out, repeated the x-rays and then took more.  Several times.

They were never able to tell for certain if the joint was involved so they treated it as if it were and flushed it with antibiotics.  You can see the needle inside the joint capsule.

These were taken on Nov. 30 to check Ramsey's healing progress.  The margins of the remaining bone are sharp and clear.  No infection.

A lateral view, also taken on Nov. 30.  You can still see the hole in the side wall of Ramsey's hoof.  The shape of the hoof and the position of the coffin bone is good.  The bottom of the bone is mostly parallel to the ground.

Compare the above image to this one taken on Feb. 25. (this was taken after the farrier trimmed most, but not all, of the foot).   The length of Ramsey's heel is longer here then above, but squashed underneath him.  If you are a horse or donkey owner and you hear the term "underrun heels", this is it.  It makes the coffin bone tip back a bit.  You can also see that the coffin bone is higher up in the foot then it is below.  This can get much worse in donkeys or horses whose feet have been neglected for a long time and allowed to over grow into a slipper shape.  The farrier at Cornell started to correct this, but it will take some careful trimming over time to get this foot back where it needs to be

I think this last film is the most striking for me.  You can see at a glance just how much of the coffin bone was removed and is just plain gone forever now.  That won't grow back.  You can also see where the ragged edge of his hoof wall corresponds with the missing bone.  That won't grow back fully either.  It is amazing to me that Ramsey can even walk let alone be out playing in the snow with his mom.

Sun Dreams

I have seen studies that claim that horses don't dream.

They usually site things like brain capacity, development and structure.

They say that dreaming is a human condition, that what appears to be dreaming is merely a projection.

They base their findings on anatomical studies, lab work and theory.

I think, if they really want to know, they need to ask a horse.  The horse will answer if we learn how to hear it.

Watch Tessa's ears, eyes, nose, body and tell me she does not dream.

I don't know what she dreams because I am human and I cannot know a horse's dreams as she cannot know mine, but I know she has them.

The Culprit?

Maybe whining actually is productive, look what made an appearance today...

It made it nearly up to 30 degrees and NO WIND.  Everyone spent the entire day basking in the sun.

I have been finding quite a bit of this in my hay, it's Canadian Thistle....

It's very prickly, but in no way toxic.  In fact, it is highly nutritious and the donkeys actually like the stuff.  Tessa avoids it, Gabe....I don't know.  It would be just like him to rush in, gobble this down and then complain about the prickers for the next two weeks.  It seems odd to me that he has more trouble with loose hay than the nets though.  With loose hay he could sift through and avoid this stuff like every other horse I know, but then again....he is a stinking hog.  I need to watch and study on it some more.

Whining, Complaining & Hungry Hippos

I know I actually said that having more snow would be a good thing for Ramsey's foot and all, but being plunged back into the frozen wasteland is really a bit much.  I keep seeing pretty pictures of other blogger's Spring flowers.  They are so very lovely and yet I can hardly stand to look at them since it hasn't even made it out of the teens here.  It kind makes me want to go put a pillow over my head.

OK, I'll try to stop whining now.  Just put it down to extreme sun deficiency and the constant howling of the wind.  The one useful part of the unending wind and snow  has been that Ramsey has had no desire whatsoever to over-do on his newly trimmed foot.  I have been leaving the barn gate open all the time for Emma and Ramsey, but it would take a pry bar to get them out of the barn for any amount of time.  A new muck tub has been the highlight of the week for very bored donkeys.

I am still not sure what is going on with Gabe.  Last week, he started acting like someone was stabbing him in the mouth again every time he took a bite of hay.  It could be some sort of sensitivity to something in the hay so I swapped some hay with Riding Buddy to see if that helps.  If that doesn't work, we will have to move on to x-rays and scopes.

Gabe is his own worst enemy in this case because he is an absolute Stinking Hog about food.  He will eat anything he can get in his mouth and he never seems to think twice about it.  Hence, his Hungry Hippo nickname.  Since he has access to food all the time, you'd think he would be a bit more sensible about it, but he isn't.  It is probably what got him in trouble in the first place.

I have been using the small mesh hay nets to slow down and limit his consumption and oddly enough, he does not have as much trouble eating out of those as he does with loose hay or the hay boxes.  I think it is because the net forces him to take little bites rather than just dive in and pig out.  He certainly isn't in any danger of starving as he still manages to consume way more than his fair share of food.  Since he hasn't lost an ounce (which is kind of too bad as he could really stand to lose about 100 lbs), the weather is so terrible and I want to completely rule out the possibility of a sensitivity, I am holding off on more tests.  I will see how the hungry hippo does with different hay and go from there.