Howdy from Texas
I just got back from Texas.
I have been on the road a week, recovering for a week, and preparing for a week. I went before aanyone else knew about Tito. I actually learned from Natasha when she called me from Moscow to spill her guts, because this was far more complex than the message board knows.
I went and helped "make things better" before other people got there, and it was NOT GOOD. Tito's been having little strokes for a long time and was gradually decending into disability. She was in Russia, and had no idea he was having more and more trouble. It was a real mess, Jules. A really horrid mess. His judgement is shot. His limp is pronounced. Hes weak. And he couldn't, for a while, get out back to the broodmare pasture.
I went home with Two mares. Gumsara and Darpa. Natasha's favourites. They are in sad shape, tho Gumsara is better than Darpa, and both are bouncing back pretty good. They gave me a stallion. Sadyr. Hes Amanat X Samsa. Bay, perhaps even sweeter than Lucky, hes got a little more presence than he has, and so we call him "The Admiral." He likes to supervise evertything, but hes almost childlike in his docility and gentleness and he is very loving and sweet. Problem: Hes spectacularly foundered.
His gaurdian Angel has been working overtime.
Weird lucky things happened all through the trip. We got lost, and i called a Texan friend who never answers her phone--she answered, got us back to the hotel, and then hooked us up with a vet who did the coggins thru the trailer window and then fed-exed it to a vet friend New Mexico, so we could drive straight through, and not stop to wait for the papers. We could not find hay, went to 5 feed stores but the drought made our search laughable--a sheriff from Fort Stockdale, heard our story, saw our starved horses, agreed we couldnt give em alfalfa cubes, and threw me in his truck to go get hay. He gave us Two heavey bales of grass hay from a friend, with a prayer for our safety. We were almost stopped at the border, and a man started trouble in another car--they waved us through. I think he was an angel. There is more but i hgave to write it all down to keep it straight. The biggest thing was that we were LOANED and truck and 4 horse trailer FOR NOTHING-- "just bring it back clean."
So I have to think God wants Sadyr to live. The skinny mares are already looking better. But I am sooo worried about Sadyr. His left front foot is very deformed. But again, his Gaurdian angel was at work-- My friend has a barefoot farrier who takes no new clients-- She had to fix her trailer a block down the street from me. She literally heard the story and came over the next day, and did her first trim on him. She stunned me. The result was really good. But for some reason the left front is still sore, when it should be as much better as the right. His feet were full of abcess. Maybe its an abcess. When she started to cut, his feet squirted pus and STANK!!!!! There was a hole the size of a silver dollar in the right front right where the coffin bone should be. AUGH! I couldnt look while she was cleaning it out. Every pebble she ran into looked like the tip of his coffin bone to me!
I admit to turning away and quietly having a By-Myself-Meeting (TM) about not freaking out in front of the farrier and my seventeen year old sidekick.
Throughout all of this Sadyr was a brave and quiet soldier. He tried to understand the new things that were happening. He tried to stand on feet he'd not stood on for months, maybe YEARS, so she could trim the good ones, too. He never got cranky, even tho it hurt. He did bury his head under my arm. I held his head in my arms, against my chest and rubbed both sides of his neck. The farrier was just STUNNED. He was the best horse ever that had a laminitis trim. He tried so hard to be brave and quiet. The farrier even wrote a detailed explanation of what she did, so that if the vet had a problem with it, I had a whole sheet and a half essay, that broke down, quadrant by quadrant, what she did and why.
Today the Vet comes to take x-rays.
Ihave been so busy trying to make Sadyr comfortable. He seems so much better to others. But I feel a tad guilty. I would be judgemental, if it was someone else's stallion they were torturing like this by prolonging his suffering. But this breed is rare, and this horse a gem rarer still. Hes a dark bay, minimal white, prefect conformation, typey purebred akhal Teke. He looks like a darker Lucky with a better topline. LOL all my stallions look like brothers!
I guess my taste as a breeder is clear, as to where I want to go....
If I can keep this brave little stallion alive and comfortable enough to breed... I will have one HELL of a breeding program. With Kara, GG, and Darpa, for size and type, and Guerma and Mahiar for endurance and just plain courage and intelligence, I admit to taking Gumsara just because I love her and see her as a kindred spirit. She was born at 9 months gestation, and was raised by hand in the living room. She is a pet. as well as a great broodmare for type and exotic looks. I am so freaking blessed... As long as i can get the new ones to live and be healthy enough to breed.
Right now I am still worried. But i think I have been gestating this new adventure.Perhaps that was why i went inward for a few weeks. I admit my marriage stuff has been difficult these days too.
Darpa's emaciated body will make you cry. Her teeth were so bad. But she is still so beautiful-- and Gumsara's huge bright eyes will make you laugh. She is such a busybody! and so is Sadyr. And Guerma was so glad to see them! She was prancing around and arching her neck, and you almost see her bragging:
"HI GUYS! LOOK AT ME! I'M FAT!!"
So maybe I can break the sadness of your last few tough weeks with my little refugees. I am sorrry to have disappeared for so long, but I just have been AFK for a long long time, getting my new children sorted out.
I have been on the road a week, recovering for a week, and preparing for a week. I went before aanyone else knew about Tito. I actually learned from Natasha when she called me from Moscow to spill her guts, because this was far more complex than the message board knows.
I went and helped "make things better" before other people got there, and it was NOT GOOD. Tito's been having little strokes for a long time and was gradually decending into disability. She was in Russia, and had no idea he was having more and more trouble. It was a real mess, Jules. A really horrid mess. His judgement is shot. His limp is pronounced. Hes weak. And he couldn't, for a while, get out back to the broodmare pasture.
I went home with Two mares. Gumsara and Darpa. Natasha's favourites. They are in sad shape, tho Gumsara is better than Darpa, and both are bouncing back pretty good. They gave me a stallion. Sadyr. Hes Amanat X Samsa. Bay, perhaps even sweeter than Lucky, hes got a little more presence than he has, and so we call him "The Admiral." He likes to supervise evertything, but hes almost childlike in his docility and gentleness and he is very loving and sweet. Problem: Hes spectacularly foundered.
His gaurdian Angel has been working overtime.
Weird lucky things happened all through the trip. We got lost, and i called a Texan friend who never answers her phone--she answered, got us back to the hotel, and then hooked us up with a vet who did the coggins thru the trailer window and then fed-exed it to a vet friend New Mexico, so we could drive straight through, and not stop to wait for the papers. We could not find hay, went to 5 feed stores but the drought made our search laughable--a sheriff from Fort Stockdale, heard our story, saw our starved horses, agreed we couldnt give em alfalfa cubes, and threw me in his truck to go get hay. He gave us Two heavey bales of grass hay from a friend, with a prayer for our safety. We were almost stopped at the border, and a man started trouble in another car--they waved us through. I think he was an angel. There is more but i hgave to write it all down to keep it straight. The biggest thing was that we were LOANED and truck and 4 horse trailer FOR NOTHING-- "just bring it back clean."
So I have to think God wants Sadyr to live. The skinny mares are already looking better. But I am sooo worried about Sadyr. His left front foot is very deformed. But again, his Gaurdian angel was at work-- My friend has a barefoot farrier who takes no new clients-- She had to fix her trailer a block down the street from me. She literally heard the story and came over the next day, and did her first trim on him. She stunned me. The result was really good. But for some reason the left front is still sore, when it should be as much better as the right. His feet were full of abcess. Maybe its an abcess. When she started to cut, his feet squirted pus and STANK!!!!! There was a hole the size of a silver dollar in the right front right where the coffin bone should be. AUGH! I couldnt look while she was cleaning it out. Every pebble she ran into looked like the tip of his coffin bone to me!
I admit to turning away and quietly having a By-Myself-Meeting (TM) about not freaking out in front of the farrier and my seventeen year old sidekick.
Throughout all of this Sadyr was a brave and quiet soldier. He tried to understand the new things that were happening. He tried to stand on feet he'd not stood on for months, maybe YEARS, so she could trim the good ones, too. He never got cranky, even tho it hurt. He did bury his head under my arm. I held his head in my arms, against my chest and rubbed both sides of his neck. The farrier was just STUNNED. He was the best horse ever that had a laminitis trim. He tried so hard to be brave and quiet. The farrier even wrote a detailed explanation of what she did, so that if the vet had a problem with it, I had a whole sheet and a half essay, that broke down, quadrant by quadrant, what she did and why.
Today the Vet comes to take x-rays.
Ihave been so busy trying to make Sadyr comfortable. He seems so much better to others. But I feel a tad guilty. I would be judgemental, if it was someone else's stallion they were torturing like this by prolonging his suffering. But this breed is rare, and this horse a gem rarer still. Hes a dark bay, minimal white, prefect conformation, typey purebred akhal Teke. He looks like a darker Lucky with a better topline. LOL all my stallions look like brothers!
I guess my taste as a breeder is clear, as to where I want to go....
If I can keep this brave little stallion alive and comfortable enough to breed... I will have one HELL of a breeding program. With Kara, GG, and Darpa, for size and type, and Guerma and Mahiar for endurance and just plain courage and intelligence, I admit to taking Gumsara just because I love her and see her as a kindred spirit. She was born at 9 months gestation, and was raised by hand in the living room. She is a pet. as well as a great broodmare for type and exotic looks. I am so freaking blessed... As long as i can get the new ones to live and be healthy enough to breed.
Right now I am still worried. But i think I have been gestating this new adventure.Perhaps that was why i went inward for a few weeks. I admit my marriage stuff has been difficult these days too.
Darpa's emaciated body will make you cry. Her teeth were so bad. But she is still so beautiful-- and Gumsara's huge bright eyes will make you laugh. She is such a busybody! and so is Sadyr. And Guerma was so glad to see them! She was prancing around and arching her neck, and you almost see her bragging:
"HI GUYS! LOOK AT ME! I'M FAT!!"
So maybe I can break the sadness of your last few tough weeks with my little refugees. I am sorrry to have disappeared for so long, but I just have been AFK for a long long time, getting my new children sorted out.
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