The Golden Carrot Newsletter's Archive
The Golden Carrot
September 2016 Newsletter
I'm starting to get tired of hearing myself apologize for being so delinquent about keeping you up to date! I MUST do better. This time, literally over 5 months between newsletters.... and so much has happened.
Losses
I will start with our losses, because my guilt is killing me. Since April, we lost Buttercup, Jasper, Summer, Anaba, and our dear Reggie - I was able to write for Buttercup. and Jasper, but the others were so sudden, shocking, unexpected, I simply couldn't. I held off writing a newsletter, figuring I'd 'get over it' and be able to include memorials for them ... but their folders sit on my desktop, and everytime I start to look through the photos, my eyes blur with tears and I just can't. I owe them some final words. But I can't get there yet.
I am grateful that Butters' sponsors transferred their sponsorships to Gamut, Lucy, and sadly, one went to Anaba. Right now, that sponsor feels like a black widow! She is still kindly supporting, but not any specific horse.... Jasper's sponsor is now helping Jordan. And Reggie's sponsor is still supporting, but no one in particular.
New Arrival
Here's Bo. He was named Odessey, known as "Beau", but since he's now living in the stall our Beau had, and the web page doesn't allow the same name .... we just shortened it. He is a Selle Francais, 14 years old, and you can read his story here. So far, he's got a lovely temperament, is physically active but relaxed, likes the ladies but is friendly with all the boys as well, and has attached himself mostly to Jordan and Rebel. Honestly, I'm not sure about his condition. At the first of the year, I'm going to have Dr. Z reexamine him and see if we should start a little work with him - I'd say for sure he could never jump again, but trail riding, maybe a little dressage, I suspect are possible uses for him.
Injuries
This year I've had injuries like never in all our history. Summer had a fall that broke her leg and ended her life. But wierdly, both Dominic and Leo have also sustained leg fractures ... and they are still here. Now, getting x-rays to confirm is not possible here, but our veterinarian has been certain both of fracture, and how the injuries would go.
Dominic hurt his right hind foot - the doc thinks a fracture between the fetlock and hoof - a pastern fracture. Now, Dominic favors the leg; but mostly that means he goes directly to food and stands to eat it - we laughed a little at how that relieves us from all the Dominic excitement of races in and out each mornng and evening. His appetite stayed strong; and all we really did was give him pain meds. Even early on, I watched that crazy guy RUN on three legs .... and now, four months later, he bears weight. The healing was a little crooked, but he runs now for no particular reason ... and then holds the leg up for a few strides. The doc said there was certainly soft tissue damage as well, so dear Dom will never be completely right again, but hay, he's in the right place then, right?
Leo scared me much more. Leo was kicked, no doubt. And it was his ulna, just below the elbow. Now, even before Dr. Z said fracture, I thought Leo was done for. At that point his leg was hugely swollen, and he was dragging his leg forward, the same way Summer did. Her radius was broken tho, and the doc said the ulna is not really weightbearing. He was worried about the radial nerve, but two days of anti inflam therapy and Leo was moving his leg more normally, and pawing the ground. But like Dom, his heart rate was normal, gums pink, no sweat, great appetite etc etc etc. The pain, while definite, was not intolerable. And to my surprise, the doc recommended we 'give him a chance'. His injury occurred on July 5. If I'd isolated him and his friends from the beginning, I think he'd be walking fairly normally by now. But at first, he was determined to be with his friends, and I hadn't figured out how to isolate all three of them together. So he went out with the herd each day. When the doc saw him a month later, he was worried that the fracture had extended up the leg, perhaps to the elbow, but still felt he had a chance to heal. So, a way was devised to allow Leo, Basky and Jet to wander the stall line each day, and have access to their stalls; and at night, Leo was given access to the whole area to socialize safely, and have softer flat areas to lay down without fear of getting cast. And while I'm still knocking wood everytime I even think this - I feel I can say that Leo is improving, and setting down his foot in a normal way. Not quite ready to use his leg normally, but probably thinking about it. Laurie saw him yesterday and remarked how much brighter and more alert he seems, and he's on the lowest level of pain meds so far. Fingers crossed for our fighter. Leo never seems to get a break (no pun intended) - if something can go wrong, it does. But he's tough and smart and taking good care of himself.... With two bum knees, this injury will undoubtedly contribute to a shorter lifespan, but he's a happy gentle guy, and we can do our best to help that life to be as free and comfortable as possible.
And just to make sure I didn't have a spare minute, Lester went down, found when my neighbor came to let everyone out, and didn't want to get up. And then Diamond apparently cast himself, and injured ALL of his legs! His front legs are a huge problem for him anyway, but when he hurt his hind end as well ... geeze. Both boys responded beautifully to anti inflammatories, although syringing meds down their throats and Leo's every night was no real fun. But once they were feeling better and eating well (and now Diamond and Leo are VERY vocal about demanding dinner RIGHT NOW), breaking the pills up very small in their dinner is working well. (When they're in real pain, and don't want to each much anyway, pills can be left in the feed. So for a while, we have to forcefeed them, as all three were good at taking a cookie or carrot and spitting out JUST the pill - so I had to dissolve them and syringe them in for two weeks!). Now Lester and Diamond are on maintenance doses - between Diamond's traumatically damaged joints and Lester's age related arthritis ... this will be needed for the rest of their days.
And then, hearing that I was writing about everyone's injuries, Jordan felt left out and decided to injure his knee last night. Doc came this afternoon, and feels that some time in the recent past, Jordan had a puncture, which decided to brew and then flare today. For heaven's sake. Massive antibiotic therapy, as well as cold water hosing, for the next two weeks for our big boy.
General Stable Gossip
Couldnt watch this early morning effort each day to reach her boyfriend Pepe, so Glory now lives on 'his' side - and quite thrilled about it!
We moved Glory over to the southstream side, next to Lucy, as Glory and Pepe continue to be an item. Every night she'd wait for him to go into his stall, and then trek all the way across the property to her stall. For a while, she and her stallmate Polly would call for each other, but once Polly settled in and attached to Durango (or any other interested gelding), I thought it kinder to Glory to let her join Pepe's crew.
Originally Naomi loved Jedi. But he's high maintenance, and Gio is easier to be around. So ... that's who she adores now!
When Summer passed, I immediately moved Naomi to the south stream side to be near Jedi - but her stall was actually next to Gio's, and the two are almost always close together now. Naomi called for Summer only the first night - she knew her friend was gone. And she is now Gio's guardian - on a recent escape when pounding down the hard dirt road really hurt Gio's bad fetlock, Naomi brought him back to the ranch.
I moved Dominic to a stall closer and more level, when he was injured. He's next to Laddie now. Ugh! Now that he's mostly healed, the two are constantly wrangling and taking down fence rails between them. Sheesh. When Bo came in, I put him in Beau's old stall, moved Jordan over into Jasper's stall to be next to Rebel who went into Chief's old stall. It's working out very well.
Durango loves Polly - and she loves him, at least when he's around. She's awfully 'friendly' ... for a while even new guy Bo was following her around. She's happy with all the attention. But last night, I saw that she had Dominic following her around - uh oh! That boy actually knows what to do .... interesting to see if he tries for that... and what she does in response!
Gamut had visitors - The young woman who had been Gamut's only sponsor from her former connections came by to visit one day. I didn't get a lot of notice but she and her boyfriend came to see how Gamut was doing, and were very happy at her weight gain and overall demeanor. They told me Gamut had had a very large field to stay in at Stanford, after retiring and before coming here, but had stood in one spot all day long. That's clearly because her hocks were killing her, and here, she gets a daily dosage of Previcox which is working wonders for her. That and having Ronan and Boo to follow around ....
And speaking of donations. Folks, in April I reported lost sponsors for an intimidating level of lost donations. That hasn't really changed. We really need a large donation - I mean a huge one - for land, and I'm hopeful we can find a corporation that wants to sponsor us that way.
Sponsorship is not really complicated. ANY committed amount - even $10, $20, $50, $75 a month - will make you a part-sponsor of your selected horse. A full sponsorship is $160 a month, which basically feeds that horse. It's the COMMITTMENT that makes a sponsor - can you commit a certain amount to help one of these deserving and gentle horses? We really need your help. If one FIFTH of the "likes" on our Facebook page would give $10 a month, all of our financial needs would be met and we'd be able to even help more. Yes, please, give more if you can, because we aren't getting 10,000 people donating, believe me! :-D But whatever you can give, or if you can share our newsletters or Facebook posts, or comment on our posts so that we get more attention; or maybe you have time at home on the computer and could help with researching some things, or writing letters to corporations who might sponsor us, or in some other way help us raise money, is all appreciated.
This is our lead mare Star, with new boyfriend Laddie. Star doesn't have any sponsors since Jane passed away last December. Laddie has one sponsor. Just in case you were wondering...