Seven Snippets

1. After doing some  research and talking to the farrier, we are going forward with him pulling the shoes and trimming him on the 19th. After that, I am going to talk to a woman farrier who does natural horse trimming. We are going the natural way.

2. Ashke is still forging and clipping. He is starting to paddle with his rear feet and not breaking over in the front at all. Until we get his feet straightened out, the amount of work he can do is limited.

3. We will be ending the Amplify. He is no longer eating it, which means he no longer needs the extra fat it provides. The bag has a statement indicating the horse will self-select off of it if they no longer need it. Ashke will only be on alfalfa and grass hay, with the occassional carrot/apple fix.

4. We went from incredibly hot weather to inclement weather, including 2 - 3 inches of rain in an hour several times over the past three days.

5. Moving from hot weather to cooler weather can cause colic. Symptoms of colic should include sluggishness, being "cinchy", refusing treats, being tender along the flanks and general grumpiness.

6. Colic is a sleep-depriving, soul-sucking, confused, painful experience for everyone involved. And it leaves the horse very grumpy during recovery.

7. Making decisions based on the price tag sucks, although in the case of this last weekend, the decision was also based on not believing in major surgery for horses. Their recovery and survival rates are not great and its incredibly difficult for them. It's even more difficult in talking to people about your decision, because discussing horses in terms of cost effectiveness vs replacement cost feels cold and unfeeling to them.

PS. Having a stethoscope in your medical kit is a nessecity. It is the only way to measure your horse's pain and stress levels, especially if your horse is a wimp, which Ashke seems to be. I thought he was dying but his heart rate never got higher than 52 bpm and if I could have monitored that, we wouldn't have had to call out the vet the second time.