Ride Between the Rivers 50, AKA The Best Vacation: Thursday

Do you know what requires more equipment, clothing and food than an endurance ride? Camping with a toddler. Holy crap, that kiddo required a lot of stuff.

I have now attempted four times to write a nice, concise and entertaining post that would include all the fun we had the four days we were away. It isn't possible. Then I wrote out one extremely long post that covered it all, but I was too bored to finish it and if I am bored writing it then I know you will be bored reading it.  Instead you get to experience a mini series.

Ok....

Thursday 7/30/15.

The work week leading up to our departure was slamming busy. Good for actually paying the bills for once, bad for having any time to do anything else. When Wednesday came and I got home around 9pm yet again and still had to grocery shop and pack for the trip, I knew we wouldn't be leaving the next morning as early as planned.

Still, we managed to pack the truck for three humans and one dog for a long weekend camping and be out the door by 8 am. Pretty amazing really. We swung by the barn to wrap Gem's hoof and grab my saddle, pad and girth to take with us. I was really sad to be leaving the barn without hooking up the trailer and bringing Gem along with me, but such is life. We managed to hit the road for real by 8:45 am.

Somewhere along the way Dusty spotted a deer alongside the road munching away on the bright green WV grass.

D: Look Wyatt. A deer.
W: No, Daddy. That's a chicken.
D: No, I'm pretty sure that's a deer.
W: No. It goes cock a doodle doo. Its a chicken.

Hard to argue with that logic.

Einstein was absolutely amazing. This was his first extended car ride and he just spent the time snoozing between us in the front of the truck. He earned some major brownie points.



He just chilled the entire ride.

As we got closer and closer, my excitement began to soar and I left behind my pity party of having to leave my mare behind. This trip had ceased to be about horses and had turned into our first family vacation and a much needed one at that.

8ish hours after we left home we crested a hill and saw ride camp spread out in all its glory below:

The road sides were most excellent making it very hard to get lost getting to camp

Driving up and looking down on camp nestled between the hills.

Camp was pretty empty Thursday afternoon since the ride wasn't until Saturday. This field would fill up quickly the next 24 hours.

As we wound down the gravel drive, I looked up the text Liz had sent with a picture of her camp. We planned to set up beside her and I had promised her that Wyatt was no louder than the average drunk endurance rider. I'm not so sure that I kept that promise. Sorry Liz!! We found her right where she said she would be: tucked away beside the river in the shade of some trees.

I jumped right out of the truck (technically it may still have been moving a little) and ran over to say hello. I was so happy to be there!! We hugged and even though we had just met, it felt like hugging an old friend.

We set up our tent and met our other neighbor for the weekend. Her name was Cindy and she had entered the 50 on her 15 year old home bred Arab mare, Sara. Cindy was extraordinarily nice and welcoming and we gabbed a lot over the course of the weekend. Her mare joined us for breakfast each morning, begged hot dogs off us for lunch and avidly listened in on Wyatt's reading time. She was a great mare.

Camp sits in a small, privately owned valley stuck between the river and tree covered hills. The only way out is back up the very steep drive to the gravel road. After settling in, Liz came over and offered up a ride to see the trails. Then she followed this with one of the sweetest things ever: she had scrounged up red tack for Griffin (he usually wears green or orange) as well as a red and black club shirt for me. It was something so small, so seemingly insignificant and yet it made all the difference in the world to me. Liz is amazing.

Liz's Q and Griffin

We headed up the hill and I will admit to being slightly nervous to be on a 5 year old. He was an excellent boy though and we charged up the hill in a deep canter. Once on the gravel roads, Liz informed me that we would need to lead and I was all too familiar with the reasons behind it. It turns out that mentally Gem and Q are pretty similar and I could fully relate to and understand Liz as she dealt with Q on the trails.

Photo credit to the hubby. Griffin looked very handsome in his tack.

We rode part of the yellow loop which crossed over the river and headed along ATV trails. We talked and laughed and the trail just flew by under us. Before I knew it we were heading back to camp and Liz exclaimed that we had done 8 mile. Ooops!! Sorry, Q! Griffin had been a blast to ride. He was forward and forgiving and man does he eat up the trail with his stride. Whereas Gem will put in a 1 mph walk (seriously, I have clocked her going that slow in the past), he effortlessly laid down a 4-5 mph walk in the hills. If he shows any interest in the whole endurance thing, people need to watch out. He will be a force to reckon with.

We made it back and headed over to the "pot luck". Now, I despise pot lucks. Truly, deeply and fully. Pot lucks and I have a bad history and so when she had said it was a pot luck I had taken a deep breath and made sure my own cooler was fully stocked back in camp. When we walked over my jaw dropped. This was no pot luck. This was a full on feast. They just kept dumping out loads of delicious smelling  food in heaps: corn, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, salads, fish, wings, peppers. It never ended and all of us were stuffed to the gills by the end.

After dinner, we waddled back to camp and the three of us crashed under the stars with Wyatt for his first night ever in a tent. He did great and slept the night away with minimal fuss and hopefully sweet dreams.

Gemmie Update: Dancing Shoes

I wrote this last Monday, but for some reason blogger never posted it. Gem had another vet appointment today, but I want to chronicle the entire experience, so you get last week's update first. 

It is funny how the mind works. With so many bigger problems with Gem's injury, I've been hung up on the fact that she will end up in shoes for some undetermined length of time. I know it is silly. I know its not the end of the world. I know there are bigger issues that can come from all of this, but still. I have always been so proud of her barefoot, rock hard, awesome hooves. Throwing nails through them just seems wrong.

Regardless, I found myself Monday evening awaiting an unknown farrier to do just that. The BO had set the whole thing up. I had asked him the week prior for a recommendation (BO is a retired farrier and extremely picky. If he recommends someone, you know they are darn good at what they do) and he went ahead and made the call. I didn't even know the farrier's name.

Monday was day 32 in the cast. As good as it felt for me to remove it and throw it aside, it had to feel amazing to Gem. Right away I noticed something very interesting. Hooves grow continuously. I had last trimmed her the day before the injury and so she was due for a trim anyway. What caught my eye was how different the two front hooves looked. They looked like they belonged to two different horses.

Look at the difference between her front hooves. I find this fascinating.

With the cast in place, the front right had only one option: grow vertically. The fiberglass was unforgiving and so the hoof grew up and narrow. Now to be honest Gem has the tendency to do this anyway when not kept up, but seeing the difference was eye opening.

With bated breath I then looked closely at the injury site. The body is an amazing thing and can heal the worst wounds. This is about as good as could be right now.

The blood is from a small spot of proud flesh. This is where the stent was left in and grew over. 

Lots of things to be happy with

Wire sutures still in place along the hoof wall

When the hair grows back the scars should hopefully be pretty well concealed

At 6 pm sharp, a pick up pulling a large trailer came into the barn drive. Out popped a very young looking man with a smile and a large belt buckle. Mr Farrier had arrived right smack on time. The cross ties are at the far end of the barn and he walked over to meet her and inquire about our needs and the situation with her front right hoof. Along the way he asked who had been trimming her. When I told him I do I saw him take a deep breath and try to hide rolling his eyes.

He then went back to his truck and trailer and pulled it around back so we didn't have to move Gem. I was already impressed with him and the fact that he had only just graduated farrier school in April only gave me a brief pause.

When he got everything situated he took a close look at her feet. He broke into a relieved smile and let out a sigh. With a chuckle he told me that he was really worried about her feet with me trimming them myself. He has seen some pretty horrific self trim jobs. Instead of having to fix my mistakes he actually complimented my trimming and said she looked perfect. Great angles and nicely even. Yay!! Go me :)

After patting myself on the back a good bit, we got down to the business at hand. She was to be put in a bar shoe front right, regular shoe front left and trim the hinds. He got to work trimming and did his best to lower the front right again without going too over board. We then talked shoes.

He likes two different types and honestly the entire conversation was over my head. European versus American, wide web, rolled edges. I had no clue and told him she wasn't going to be competing in them so do what he thought was best.

He went with the European shoe due to the wider base and we went with it. When he pulled it out and measured it against her I remarked that it needed to be a bar shoe. This one was not. He chuckled but not in a condescending way. More in a "just wait and see" way and then he disappeared into his trailer.

I heard banging. I heard rasping. I heard a welder? Gemmie did too and it completely freaked her out. I think she nearly jumped out of her skin and then began to tremble. Poor girl. I asked what on earth he was doing in there. "Making you a bar shoe"

Fitting the shoe to her hoof shape

Inside his trailer welding and banging away on the shoe

Gem was pretty patient throughout

He was hand welding it. Amazing.

When he finally emerged from the depths of his trailer he had a face splitting grin. It was hard not to return it. He was obviously very proud of his handiwork and the fact that I was surprised by it. I took a close look while he explained to me that a pre made bar shoe is extremely unforgiving. Gem has pretty straight hood walls from toe to heel and he had to do a lot of re shaping of the stock shoe. If it had already had the bar on it, there would have been no ability to do so and it would have been an awkward fit. If I hadn't already liked him, I sure did now.

The finished product

I'll admit that I cringed openly as he pounded the nails into her pristine hoof wall. Gemmie wasn't so thrilled either. Having been barefoot for over five years, she wasn't too sure what on earth he was doing to her. She let him know she wasn't happy but otherwise was very good for it all.

With the hard side done he moved to placing a normal shoe to the front left and trimming the back. Gem was fairly patient through it all but was decidedly hesitant to place full weight on the front right when he shod the left. He hurried as best as he could and was extremely patient with her. Either he always acts that way or he was on best behavior by the BO. Either way he won himself a new fan and a new client if we need to continue with shoes.

Gem was not amused with the application 

What are you doing to me?!

One shoe in place

Shoe on. Nails in place. Ick.

Afterward we wrapped Gem back up and placed her bell boots. They fit kinda odd and I worried they were too small but after I took the pics I adjusted them and they looked much more normal. Gemmie got put back in her stall and I went to settle up with him. I was envisioning a bill in the $200 range given other local farriers bills and all his hard work. He actively worked on her for 2 hours and it wasn't because he was dawdling. The bill came to $80. Holy crap.

To say I was pleased with him is an understatement.

Back into the wrap

Bell boots on. They got re adjusted after the picture

Gem walked stiffly and unhappily back to her stall. When I checked on her late Tuesday night she was not a happy mare. Her back right was stocked up and she was not loading the front right as well as in the past. Was she painful? Was the shoe causing an issue?

I went home in tears. It had been a long day at work and was close to 10 pm before I walked in the door having left that morning at 7:30 am. Did I mention it had been a long day? I broke down a bit and Dusty offered to go look at her. He redressed the leg and put no bows and a standing wrap on her back right.

His report was that she was unhappy with the shoes but would adjust. He took her out and walked her the 5 stall length of the cement barn aisle. The first pass she was stiff, short striding on the right front, and hesitant. The second pass she was game for it and walked out nicely. The third go round she trotted and almost pulled his arm out as she tried to break for her freedom.

He text said along the lines of "she thinks she is healed, shod for a race and ready to go do a 50 this weekend". Oh how I wish that were true :)

He was much happier with her by the time he left and thinks that a) she was bored of stall rest and got stiff and b) she really doesn't like the heavy shoes.

This morning he went back or while I took Wyatt to school and she was doing really well. He removed the wraps from the hind leg and all the swelling was gone. He took her out to graze for a bit and she once again tried to make a flying break for freedom. She did stumble on both fronts but I'm chalking that up to not being used to the shoes.

Her next follow up is Monday which is cutting our weekend trip short a day but there isn't anything to do about it. I'm hoping she gets the clear for hand walks and honestly even if she doesn't I may do it anyway.

A Whirlwind of a Week

So much to write about.

Last week was insane.  My aunt died and the funeral was planned for Thursday with viewings Tuesday and Wednesday. I knew I couldn't make the entire trip work, but I could make the Wednesday evening viewing. I managed to squeeze in an entire week worth of patients in a day and a half (I had already blocked off all Monay afternoon for Gem's recheck) and hit the road early Wednesday morning.

The typical way to get to southwestern PA from SC is a pretty straight shot up north through NC --->VA --->WV ---> PA.  Having not actually ever driven back home since moving here, I just plugged it into my van and hit the road.

I have no clue why but my van decided to take me a different route. I ended up heading west once I hit NC. My route looked like this: SC ---> NC ---> TN ---> VA ---> KY ---> WV ---> PA. I' glad I made it at all.

Anyway. It was odd being back home. I moved away 9 years ago and haven't been back since the last funeral I attended 2 1/2 years ago. A lot has changed. There is a mall where I did my junior year ecology forest study. There are townhomes and apartments where I used to hike with my dog. There are different businesses where my old haunts used to be. There is a Dover instead of the BBQ joint Dusty and I ate at during his 2 hour dinner breaks when we first got married. Wait...a Dover? Ok...I can live with that one.

Just as I was beginning to believe the old saying that you can't go home again, the memories began to flood in. I took a couple of hours after the wake and before meeting for dinner with some great old friends to just drive around my favorite places. And you know what? I could picture the good times so vividly it was like nothing had ever changed. I saw myself walking Hero as a pup on my favorite trail as he chased the squirrels. I saw Christy and I shooting basketball late at night during a warm summer. I saw my kayaking friends meeting up at the now vacant Wendy's waiting for Caroline to get off work so we could get on the water. I smiled and probably looked insane to anyone who looked as I slowly drove on by. It was great.

Dinner with my friends was fantastic. I don't have many friends still in town. Most have scattered like I have, but there are still a few and it was great to laugh with them once again.

Saying goodbye to my aunt was not fantastic or fun, but is a part of life that you unfortunately can't avoid. Rest easy Aunt Jozia.

Before coming home, I made two stops. One was to get homemade pierogis. I grew up with a heavy polish culture. My mom's side is polish and came over through Ellis Island only two generations prior to her. Her grandparents only spoke Polish and my grandmother was fluent in both polish and english. I grew up eating pierogis, haluski, stuffed cabbage and the like. You can't find any of that down here, so when I had the chance I got 5 dozen homemade pierogis from a wonderful little polish store. The second stop was Dover. Gem will be living in bell boots once the shoes are on. I have a set for her, but they are non spin ones with a lump of material on the inside that sits between the heel bulbs to prevent the boot from spinning. This would be very bad for her since it would put pressure exactly where we don't want it. I needed simple boots for her.  Fortunately for my bank account, Dover didn't have a single piece of red tack or clothing in the entire store. It isn't a little store either. They remodeled the entire pre existing two story restaurant. They had to have at least a million dollars in inventory. And not anything in red. I left with black fleece lined bell boots, a mineral salt block for her stall and some more No Thrush powder since I was running low anyway and it would avoid paying shipping.

While I was away Dusty changed Gemmie's cast for me. It needed removed Friday, the wound cleaned and put back on. He went over on his lunch break, grabbed Gemmie from solitary confinement and put her in the cross ties on the cement to have the cleanest possible area. It all came off fine and he was impressed with how good it looked. There was one area in the center that didn't look so great, but he poked around and found the culprit. A penrose drain acting as a stent had been left in and the body was pushing it out. He removed it and was much happier. He snapped some pictures for me which I am leaving out because I will hopefully have some newer ones to post very soon anyway and they don't look much different than the last set. As he was wrapping her back up, she bit his butt. Several times. Sorry honey. Gem has a long long standing hatred of Dusty which is comical and while she behaved as best she could for the most part, apparently she had had enough.

She continues to be an amazing horse. No stocking up. No bute. No sedatives. She is calm and happy in her stall even when all the other horses go out for the night and she is alone. Her weight has been maintained although she has lost a good bit of her condition. In general she is being content to be lazy and have her own personal fan blowing the flies away and keeping her cool during these hot summer days. I am impressed with her attitude and so thankful that she has healed to date as well as she has.

Gem Update: Forward Progress

At the last update, Gem had been placed in a second cast with instructions for stall rest, daily wrapping above the cast, twice daily oral antibiotics and ace as needed. The vet wanted her back in 10 days exactly and so I cleared my schedule at work for the afternoon.

Gem has done exceedingly well on stall rest. Her legs have remained nice and tight,  has gobbled down her antibiotics, ate the barn nearly out of hay and has remained calm and mature. I love this mare.

Monday afternoon I hooked the trailer up and got her out of her stall. I felt really bad about leading her straight onto the trailer and she did balk upon loading. I understood her complaint loud and clear as this was the first time in 10 days that she had been out of her stall at all and 3 weeks since last in the pasture. Sorry mare, but this is just how it has to be right now.

I hit the road 30 minutes ahead of schedule and called my dad to confirm some details on the funeral and what they were planning on doing. Life is very complicated right now.

As I merged onto the highway 10 minutes later, a man in a mini van pulled up beside me in the next lane and started honking his horn and staring at me. It freaked me out. So much so that I slowed way down in the hopes that he just wanted over before the exit that was coming up.

He slowed down as well and continued to honk and then rolled down his window. This really freaked me out, so I slowed even more and he eventually pulled ahead of me. He then slammed on his breaks and honked. Um??

The exit came and he got off, but then stopped on the exit ramp and continued to look at me through his open drivers side window. I apologized a bit to Gem and sped way up to get past him and hoped he wouldn't sped back onto the highway in pursuit. I didn't feel like being murdered that day.

I continued on holding my breath and looking into the rearview mirror hoping never to see his dark blue van again. Thankfully, I didn't and I arrived at the clinic in one piece.

Or so I thought.

When I got out, it was over 90 and I figured Gem was getting pretty hot in her metal box. I went to open the rear top doors to give her air and noticed a big problem: the electric cord that I had assumed was nestled nicely in the plug on the truck was in fact dragging on the ground. Apparently the man did not have visions of rape and murder, but had in fact been trying to warn me of my broken trailer. Oops. 

The plug is cracked and the wing on the right side is completely worn off.

At first I was naively hopeful I could still get it to work, but the entire thing was smushed into an oval versus the circle it needed to be

 

 I texted Dusty that I had arrived safely, but had broken the trailer. Sorry, honey. Hopefully they can just replace the plug and it won't cost a fortune.

 

I opened up the trailer and headed inside to check in. I gave them Gem's name and told them we had a 3 pm with Dr. B for her cast removal. The receptionist told me that that was impossible since Dr. B was off that day and I must be mistaken.

 

My head exploded.

 

Seriously, this place has the absolute worst customer service ever. The medicine may be good, but I will never use them ever again after this injury.

 

I informed the lady that my mare was going to have her cast off at 3pm, that I had stood in that same spot 10 days prior and made the appointment per the insistence of Dr. B and that they would be seeing me. She gulped and told me to unload as she figured it out.

 

Gem came off the trailer fine and immediately tried to pull me over to the small patch of grass lining the drive. I apologized again to her for the solitary confinement and led her over to the barn. A nice tech met me halfway and took Gem to one of the outpatient stalls. She told me to wait in the lobby and I replied that I would not be leaving my horse.

 

I was 30 minutes early and so I settled in with my phone to vent to friends as I awaited some vet to come care for my Gem. In the meantime, Gem drank half a bucket of water and dropped for a nice roll in the clean shavings. Good mare!!!

 

Eventually the owner wandered over, gave her a dose of Ace and had me lead her to the treatment area. On the way he asked if her cast was bi valved. I admit I was annoyed. Why didn't he either look up her chart or communicate with the surgeon? I asked him if he knew her case at all, he stammered out something and then disappeared to text with Dr. B. Sigh.

 

Eventually he came back and got to business. With the gigli blades already in place under the fiberglass, it took about 30 seconds to remove it and Gem was none the wiser.

 

Outer layers removed with the gigli saw wires exposed

The inside portion bi valved

I was very anxious to see what the hoof looked like. Would it be healed? infected? Dehisced open? Necrotic?

It seemed like forever as he unwrapped the hoof and finally revealed her injury.

Unwrapped with sutures still in place

After sutures are removed.

I let out a huge sigh of relief once it was exposed. It looked really, really, really good. The wound is still young and very fragile, but the skin is doing it's job at healing. A lot of the swelling was gone and there was zero signs of infection.

Gem is healing this about as good as is possible right now and it is both amazing to see and slightly terrifying at how much damage was actually done.

After he cleaned it all up and removed the sutures (he left the wire in the hoof wall) we talked about the plan. Well, actually I talked about the plan while he hemmed and hawed and took pictures for Dr. B.

Eventually a plan was hashed out and I even got an explanation as to why.





Going back into the bi valved cast

Cast still fit well

  Ok...so the plan moving forward:

- No more antibiotics  - yay!!!
- She was placed back into the bi valved cast with wrapping above it.
- The wrapping will need changed daily
- The cast is to be removed on Friday with the wound cleaned and the cast put back on
- On Monday the cast is to be removed permanently - yay!!!
- On Monday she is to be placed in a bar shoe on both fronts
- Bell boots at all times on the fronts
- Even with the shoes she will need to have the heel wrapped with gauze and elastikon daily. This is to keep swelling out and to provide support for the fragile heel bulb flesh.
- Continue strict stall rest for 2 more weeks
- Return in 2 weeks

I was pretty happy and relieved with the news, the way it looked and the plan. I put Gem back on the trailer and went to check out.

They told me I owed $3800.

Now to me that seemed like a lot for a dressing change and suture removal appointment.

She rolled her eyes at me and explained that I had never paid her previous bill. Um...yes I did. I have the invoice in the truck to prove it. Once I showed her that I had in fact paid it, she rung up the $30 fee for the day.

$30 seemed awfully low, but I wasn't going to argue.

The drive back didn't involve any crazed men trying to get me to pull over to have their way with me, so I considered that a win and we arrived back at the barn safely.

I spoke with the BO and he is going to care for her in the mornings now which is a big win for me. It means I can once again take Wyatt to school before work. I will still go out in the evenings to change her dressing and make sure everything is still going well.

She is off the antibiotics, no bute and has been off the Ace for nearly a week. I am planning on adding her Grand Vite daily to help and am starting to research hoof supplements to help that injured hoof wall.

All in all it was a great report. Back to waiting for 2 more weeks!!

Goodbye and Rest Easy Aunt Jozia

I have said goodbye to more beings in my life the last 13 months than the entire 32 years that preceded them. My heart is sad and very tired.

My mom is #8 of 10 and I am fortunate that all of them have been in my life in some form or another. Some lived far away as I grew up and then I became a young adult and moved away myself. I lost contact with a lot of my family but three remained fairly constant.

Aunt Jozia was one of them.

Growing up she was an ever happy presence. I don't recall ever seeing her angry or upset. She was bubbly, positive and supportive regardless of your life choices. She came to every family function and even drive two hours for my medical graduation. If she was asked, she did her best to make it happen.

When I began this blog she was my only reader. She knew nothing about horses or endurance and yet she read and commented on every single post no matter how boring or tedious she found the material.

She flooded my Facebook page with positivity and love. I can't recall a single negative post. Ever. She filled it instead with beautiful photos, quotes and reminders to just live the world and each other.

With both her and Christy gone my world has become a little less sunny.

Thank you Aunt Jozia for your never ending love, support and happiness. Cancer is a terrible thing that doesn't discriminate. You were well loved and will be sorely missed by many.

Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as they learn to say goodbye to a sister, aunt, daughter, niece, wife and friend.

Life is short and haphazard. Love those close to you. Tell them you love them. Let go of negativity. Say goodbye to toxic and negative people.

Goodbye Aunt Jozia. I am sad that you are gone but I know now your pain is finally gone and you are at peace. Everyone is free to believe what they want about life and death. I choose to believe that I will see my loved ones again someday.

Mom + Injured Horse = ?

A while back I wrote a post about the challenges faced by a working mom with a horse. You can read it here if interested.

The whole working mom + horse thing has worked out for me because Gem is on full care/pasture board at her barn. I don't have to go out to care for her or see her on a daily basis. The fact that I generally only see her 2-3 times a week, and to be honest sometimes only once a week, probably wouldn't sit well with a lot of fellow bloggers who take a much more active role in the horse's lives. In an ideal world she would be in my back yard, but she isn't. This scenario works well for me and Gem has done just fine pre injury with this set up.

 But she is now post injury and everything has changed and I am way beyond stressed out with it all.

Gem needs care twice a day. She needs her doxycycline powder mixed in applesauce and then grain added to that to make a nice gooey delicious mash that she gobbles down greedily. She was getting Ace twice a day, then only at night when the horses all left the barn and now isn't getting any and she is doing just fine. Her leg needs wrapped above the cast daily. Thankfully she has not stocked up at all so her other 3 legs have been able to be bare.

The BO offered to do it, but with so much at stake I feel the need to take 100% ownership of her care. If this all goes wrong I need to know she had the best care possible and that it was just bum luck. So that means I have to go out twice a day. Plus he thinks she needs an 8 quart bucket filled to the brim of grain twice daily and my 900lb mare doesn't need that much food. Not even at the height of her conditioning. That's a ton of food.

So....my dynamics have shifted tremendously and it is taking its toll big time. Ready to listen to me whine?

I haven't been able to take Wyatt to school all week. Instead I go to the barn at 7 am before work while Dusty takes him to school. Thank god for supportive spouses.

I haven't been able to pick Wyatt up from school all week. Instead I go to the barn at 6 pm after work while Dusty picks him up. Picking him up from school is one of my all time favorite parts of the day. He sees me and screams "Mommy!" as loud as he can and comes running over to tackle me in a big toddler hug. It makes being away from him all better. I haven't gotten this all week.

I have missed bed time 3 times this week. I never miss bed time.

It sucks. A lot.

I know it is hopefully short lived and her cast comes off on Monday afternoon, but being a full time working mom and having Gem is a delicate balancing act as it is. Trying to make sure I have my "me time" with her while not giving up too much "Wyatt time" is difficult even in the best of circumstances. Now the scales have shifted so much and I am burning out big time. I love Gem and I will do all I can to take care of her and if that means twice daily dressing changes for the next year, then I will make it work somehow, but for right now 7 days into it I can tell you I am stressed. I am burnt out. I am tired. And I miss my son.

So I guess my advice on how to make being a working mom work out is to not let your horse ever get injured to the point where their care will throw everything out of balance. If they do, well..I don't know.

Einstein...Our Newest Addition



Last one, I swear!!!

 

When Hero died in the Spring of 2014, Bones was a little lost. I think she enjoyed being the only dog, but she now had nobody to play with. Knowing what a difference puppy Bones made to mid aged Hero, we decided to add a new family member that summer after my Biltmore LD in July.

 

We disagreed on who that new member should be.

 

I wanted to get a 2-3 year old dog from a local shelter. I love my Bones mutt and figured a dog in that age range would be over the puppy annoyingness and maybe house trained. Both of these things sounded wonderful with a toddler.

 

Dusty was not so keen on this idea. He was worried that a dog of unknown history might not enjoy the toddler so much and he worried Wyatt would get hurt. So that nixed that.

 

If we were now looking at actually purchasing our first pet, I wanted a Basset Hound. I had been wanting a Basset Hound for many years. Now was my chance. Add to that the fact that Dusty had promised me a Basset when I allowed him to find Lulu (the pitt bull pup who showed up at our door the previous fall) a home other than ours, and I thought I had the Basset locked down.

 

Except Dusty played the "We have 4 house pets and I had no say in any of them" card. Crap.

 

He wanted a Boykin Spaniel. My first thought was "What the heck is a Boykin Spaniel?"

 

Apparently, it is the state dog of SC bred to be both an excellent hunting dog plus the best family dog around. He figured the dog would have enough energy to hike, run and ride with us, but would still be able to sit around the house as well. It seemed like a good choice. He also just happened to know a breeder who had pups of the perfect age. We went to look.

 

Now....

 

If you ask Dusty he will tell you that I picked out Einstein. In a way this is accurate. I was the one who looked at the entire litter, grabbed up Einstein, declared him ours and gave him his name.

 

But....

 

He put the following restrictions on my choice:

 

- Must be male

- Must not be the largest

- Must not be the runt

 

There were three males. Once was tiny, one was large and one was just right. Not much of a decision to be made. I remind Dusty of this often.

 



 

Einstein at 8 weeks old

 We waited a few weeks to bring him home and he immediately took to all our family members including Wyatt. The cats hated him at first sight. Bones was ambivalent.

Wyatt meets Einstein summer 2014.

Worn out on his first day home

Einstein is special. In a take the short bus kinda way. I'm not sure where Dusty got his information, but this breed is not well endowed in intelligence. Seriously, the dog has rolled off the couch numerous times, ran head first into trees and took 9 months to house train.

I'm special

But....he is also the sweetest dog I have ever met. Einstein is not happy to merely be sitting by you. He will climb into your lap and sit on you and be perfectly content. He will lay on top of you if you let him. And Wyatt? He puts up with everything that kid throws his way. Tackling him from across the room? No big deal. Trying to ride him like a horse? Sure, why not? Pulling his stub of a tail and his big, curly ears? Ok by him. Hangin out in Wyatt's clubhouse under hot, stinky blankets? Sign him up! We couldn't have asked for a better toddler friendly dog.

Wyatt watching a movie with his two best friends

He stayed like this for about a half an hour until Wyatt decided to move

 Einstein is also a great trail dog. We have always let our pets off leash in the park as long as it is not busy with others. While Hero was extremely intelligent and Bones moderately so, it took them both about 3 years to be 100% trusted off leash to not go chasing everything and to come back when called every single time. Einstein did this from day one. He has an innate sense of sticking around and while his hunting breeding will kick in to make him circle around us, for being just about 1 year old now he is amazing off leash.

Einstein doing what he does best.

He adores swimming as well. He splishes and splashes with Wyatt and has been caught jumping into the bath tub to enjoy the water with Wyatt.

Playing fetch in the woods

Most of Einstein's behavior issues can be directly linked to the fact that he is a high energy dog who is crated Mon-Fri while we work full time. He goes to Puppy Day Care on Thursdays where he is the biggest hit with everyone. We also hike with him every weekend and once the weather cools he will start running in the evenings again.

The only big complain I have is that he is very mouthy. He chews on everything he can get his mouth on and has destroyed so many items I can't even think of them all. Part of it is pent up energy, but even after a strenuous run he still chews on absolutely everything. We are both doubting that he will ever fully grow out of that.

Wyatt adores him though and is always calling him into whatever room he is in, covering him up with blankets and in general loving him.

Going for ride in Wyatt's care seat