The Green Horseman

I really haven’t posted much about life since June when I recapped one of my favorite trips camping to date (Tiger’s Tales: A Camping We Will Go). Since then I’ve been pretty quiet.

The week after we returned from Otter Creek I rode Tiger in my neighbor’s sand ring. We had an incredibly productive and fabulous ride!

The next day I was horrified to come home from work and see my thoroughbred three-legged lame with a swollen fetlock. With the severity of his lameness he looked to have an abscess brewing but he also did have the rubbing from his hoof boots. I cold hosed, wrapped, and soaked his hoof….all the things…just to cover my bases. The next day no improvement so the vet came out to look.

To make a long story short, I enclosed Tiger in the shed with clean dry shavings. We treated with antibiotics and prednisone cream. Luckily there was no abscess and things cleared up treating him with the medications. It took a while to heal but I was relieved it wasn’t a soft tissue injury.

During the same time Tiger was recovering from his leg issue Nahe was fighting the worst sweet itch I’ve seen. Since owning him I have tried to treat him without steroids…flaxseeds…probiotics…Zyrtec…Hydroxyzine…flysheets, sprays, and masks galore. I buy fly predators but they don’t work on gnats. I try to remove manure as much as possible. With the rain we had this year, however, there was NO escaping the relentless gnats.

As much as I had tried I gave in and got the prednisone for poor Nahe. Next year I decided to try allergy testing/shots to see if that will help. If needed I will go back to prednisone but I hate to have him on it long term.

June and July passed quickly for me. The bugs made riding miserable. I spent most of my days woodworking. During these few weeks I got into a deep low. I pondered why I had horses and complained I “had no joy” because it was all work and I rarely enjoyed. Looking back I’m so glad (but not surprised) I got myself out of that funk.