Looks Like It Might Get REAL Quiet On Here

In my last post, I alluded to some difficulties with my father in law, lovingly known on the blog as Johnny Reb.

Those difficulties have since grown to.. well, shoot I don't even know how to say how much the issues have grown. Exponentially. Astronomically. Too friggin much in too short a time frame, indicating a serious underlying condition.

Johnny Reb is currently hospitalized. He is fighting off infections in his kidneys and brain, along with a sludge filled gallbladder. (For those newer readers, Johnny Reb had an extremely severe adverse reaction to anesthesia for shoulder replacement surgery almost two years ago. Since then, we have seen a slow and steady continuing decline in his health, culminating in the events that began early this month and ended with him hospitalized in serious condition now. What will happen next is yet to be seen.)

This has been an extremely trying time for the family. It has been heartbreaking, filled with fear, concern, worry, tears, exhaustion and still more worry, tears and exhaustion. But the good part is Johnny Reb is where he is getting excellent care. My Mom in law can sleep at night for the first time in months. We no longer listen for the phone to ring in the middle of the night, wondering if tonight will be the night that something drastic HAS to happen- because drastic already has.

Until we know more, until things can settle down a little bit, we are going to have our hands full keeping things rolling as best we can. Please say a prayer for Johnny Reb, his doctors and care givers, and for the family to have the strength to be able to handle what lies ahead for all of us.

I'll be back when I can to give updates. Please--- if you want to zap an email, DO SO!!! Hearing from folks, looking at photos of hooves, horses, kids, cars, firearms-- shoot anything to distract us a bit from brooding is always welcome.

In the meantime- kiss your horses. Hug your kids. Enjoy those around you who have abundant health, and treasure it.

Happy hoofin
~MM

No, No, I Still Love Y'all!!!

BECG mentioned yesterday that I've been scarce. Which is true. Finding me of late has been an interesting task to say the least.

Many of you were reading two years ago, when my father in law Johnny Reb had a severe adverse reaction to surgery. We went through a mighty tough time with the poor man, and then thing began to settle down.

Least it *seemed* like they were settling down. Unfortunately, that event was the kick off for a continuing problem, and Johnny Reb has continued to struggle daily with the effects. It's kinda tough to sleep at night when you keep expecting the phone to ring with pleas for help. Or to be away from home, when worry saddles up and rides along.

However, to look for the silver lining on the darkest of days, we ARE where we can be right there to help. Jo the Wonder Nanny Dog takes special care of her Papa now. Watching her ease up to Johnny Reb and sit quietly, patiently with her head in his lap is enough to make me tear up. She'll stay right there too, until Johnny Reb looks at her and rubs her head. Once he does then she seems to feel it is OK, and she smiles and heads to her Granny for a treat.

She really *is* a remarkable dog. Had a birthday recently too- old Jo turned 9 on Valentine's Day. We all hope she has another 20 or so years with us!


When I can, the Locust Brothers and I slip away to the barn and play with that cute little redhead in the pictures above. Nothing quite like some sweet pony time to bring things back to a happy place.


My (rotten) little brother and my Dad teamed up to surprise me with a gift too. I've been yammering on about getting a BackJack for far too long now, and Shorty and Dad apparently had heard enough of it. When it arrived, I called Dear Husband-- "Honey did you order a BackJack and not tell me about it?" Took Dear Husband by surprise, as he had to stop and figure out what a BackJack was again... Next up I called my rotten brother. And you know what that smart ass told me? He said, "Well, yeah. Me and Dad did. *giggle* You've talked about it for so long, we got tired of hearing it. Now get your miserable back to work!"

I'm kidding- he didn't quite say that. (There was more profanity. HA~) In all reality, the two of them about had me in tears (yep- lots of that lately) and they DID have me speechless. Which my rotten little brother wrote down as a historic date in family history as I am NEVER speechless.

It was with Great Excitement that I went to my first stop after getting my new support system. On the books was an older mare, who *generally* for three of her feet is manageable. We can normally get her taken care of with a minimum of complaining and fussing, right up until we get to the right hind. (Yep. Farthest foot from the brain right there.) Then the old girl will dance and protest a bit.

Well, not so this day. Right from the start she was overly interested in telling me exactly what she thought (which was also filled with profanity I bet,) and she made it darn near impossible for me to properly test out my new toy. Dammit.

We got her done though, but not with out a casualty.

Yep. That right there is a broken rasp. Now, you could say it is the direct result of a Rasp Enema gone bad (like on Mr ANON poster... ha~) but in reality it is the direct result of the old girl having a bit of a temper tantrum and stomping her feet. Luckily, she did not get hurt. Neither did I. Neither did the tool caddy. The rasp and my The Knife took a beating. I think I might take that knife and get creative with it- it sure has a very pretty curve to the blade now. The worst part of the whole trim was the rasp broke when I had THREE feet done- not the fourth. Being the stubborn cuss that I am, I looked the old girl in the eye and informed her will WOULD get the job done. (She pouted and stuck her tongue out at me.) Thankful for a wonderful set of nippers, I set to work nipping with the most precision I think I've ever done, and used what was left of my stubby rasp to level, bevel and round. Job done.

Never a dull moment in the world of hoof care. Ever.

New tools arrived, BackJack is adjusted, and I am raring to go to test it out better on horses that are NOT having tantrums.

Oh- one more bit of happy news. The Big Green Beast has given her all, and in fact still continues to do so. But with 260,000 miles on her, her "all" isn't that much these days. A bit of shopping was in order, and because I am one of those frugal wenches, a new-to-us truck was on the list. And we found it!


When I can steal it from Dear Husband, this is what I'll be using to roll up to clients in. Works for me! My next goal? Yep--- replacing the Big Green Beast with another truck similar to the above.

So. That about fills everyone in on the goings on. If I don't make it around to comment, please know I do read your blogs. If you email or call, I *will* get back to you as quick as I can (in fact an email is usually the best way to get me, since I can answer that at 2AM if I happen to be up for some reason.) The only other detail left out is picking the Locust Brothers up to ride that sweet red pony? Yeah-- holy CRAP the kids are growing and freaking HUGE! Going to have to teach them to crawl up on the pony by themselves!

There ya have it. All the news that is fit to print. Email me if you need me!
~MM

Y'all Might Not Want to Read This To The Kids

Seems that quite a few of us ladies who happen to blog have been visited by an ANON poster, spreading his umm... *wisdom*.. yeah- that's it- *wisdom* and exercising his right to free speech by proclaiming loudly (but not too proudly- he IS posting ANON after all,) that he despises American Women.

OK. That's fine. He can do that. It IS still a free country, right? Right.

Now, the FIRST time he spammed here, I opened my mail early early in the morning after a long night. Through barely open eyes, still blurred from not enough rest and clogged with nightly spiderwebs, I had to read his comment about five times for it to make any sense. I got up from my computer, retrieved a second (or was it my third?) Bucket O' Joe. While up, I stretched, rubbed my eyes, washed my face, fed the Locust Brothers, batted the DAT back and then wandered over to my patiently waiting computer to see if this was a figment of my imagination.

Turns out it wasn't.

So I laughed.

A lot.

Long, and HARD. (HA~ Bet THAT is something Mr ANON can't say... holycrapdidIjusttypethat?? Whups...)


ANYWAYS.


I let it go, other than to pass it along to a couple of friends, who also thought it was amusing.


Well, not two days later Mr ANON decides to post on NOTE TO SELF. Once again the humor was found in his proclamations against we ladies of American descent. I began to have even bigger doubts about his intelligence and sanity. Those doubts were soundly confirmed the next day, when I awoke once again to his same comment appearing on TheGunDiva's (formerly known as GirlsWithGuns.)


Seriously. The man (assuming he IS a male of our species that is,) actually spewed his irrational thought process on ... of ALL things.. a blog about WOMEN and FIREARMS. Women who SHOOT, and shoot WELL. (Well as in we can usually shoot the balls off a flea at considerable distance.)

Now there were several other thoughts that ran through my head at this development.

1) Dude is disgusted with American WOMEN? Well then maybe he needs an American MAN! Right? I understand that there are men out in the homosexual community who have a rather astonishing skill set. Maybe Mr ANON needs to take a walk on the wild side and see how it fits. (*coughcough*)


2) Wait. He is bashing AMERICANS. Well now-- that is a fine line being walked there, as when you bash my country son, you're walking on the fighting side of me.


3) Then I began to think about his comment in earnest. According to Mr ANON, (who lacks the balls to SIGN his posts,) we ladies of AMERICAN descent are lazy, slovenly, unfaithful, unwilling to reproduce, greedy, immature, prone to fits of psychotic episodes, lack the knowledge to properly cook and keep a tidy home AND we are arrogant and self centered. Oh- and we are FAT too.

Huh.

What do ya know 'bout that, Skippy. That boy, I fear, is a very sad, strange little man. There are moments when I almost feel pity for him.

Almost.

Cause, you know, sympathy can be found in the dictionary between shit and syphilis.

Reading the comment once again, it dawned on me-- he could very well be talking about either sex in today's age. Ladies, how many of us see those metro-sexual fellers prancing around, with their mani and pedi's, hair oh-so- perfect, and a little swish to their walk, and think, "Well damn. Give him a set of boobs and he'd make a GREAT woman!" (Now I'm NOT picking on you metro-sexual fellers out there. Just sayin...)

I don't know about all y'all, but comments like Mr ANON make me grateful. Thankful. Incredibly HAPPY.

Because I have married a REAL Man. Who has MUSCLES. A jack of all trades, master of a few Man. A "Man's Man".

Mr ANON, can you do even a quarter of the things MY Man can? Can you fix a truck? Haul hay? Fix fence? Shoot the eye out of a newt at 100 yards? Make small children laugh? Fix a gourmet meal? Take the time to help an aging and ill parent each and EVERY day? Can you Mr ANON, be bothered to get out of your own way to provide care and comfort to those who need it most around you?

Mr ANON, there are a lot of "women" out there who are total complete assholes. You won't get an argument from me there. But son, there are JUST as many "men" who are worse than we are. Son, let an old lady give you a tad of advice.

Get your head out of your ass, learn to be a strong independent well rounded person who actually has a lot to offer, and I bet you that The Right Woman of American Descent would find you. But at the rate you are going now son, you are going to have to mail order in a woman who does not speak English, and who does not know how to shoot. For all our HUMAN faults son, American Women are not known for tolerating bullshit like yours.

Good luck to you boy. May you grow a set and dig your head out of your ass before suffocation takes place.

Build A Sign! And PRIZES!

Miss Megan from Build-A-Sign contacted me a bit ago, to see if I'd be interested in doing a product review for them. The very first thing I am going to say is, Megan. Is. Wonderful. She was incredibly patient with my ever-changing and insane schedule, she is very knowledgeable about the products they offer and just a true joy to talk with. I enjoyed working with her as I muddled my way through designing some window clings, and I'm looking forward to working with her again in the future for a couple other things I have in mind!


The Build-A-Sign design tools were incredibly easy for me to use. I spent about three nights (after tucking in the Locust Brothers) browsing the offerings- which are MANY- and picking out which items would be the most fun to play with. Even for someone who has no talent in design (that would be Moi,) this site was extremely user-friendly. I can not tell you how much fun I had playing around on there, testing things out.

When I finally did decide, my order was placed and arrived with a quickness. Like a kid at Christmas, I could hardly wait to get into the packages and see what the goodies looked like. Now, pardoning my lousy photography, we see the result. Beautiful window clings, and some TOTALLY AWESOME License Plates. I seriously LOVE the plates. (Yes, yes, I know-- the image of the plate is not on a vehicle. Yet. I have to get Dear Husband to leave his truck in the drive long enough to slip one on there!)

So where does the "prizes" part come in? Well, Megan and Build-A-Sign were kind enough to send quite a few of each item I ordered. Which means that everyone who responded to the previous thrush posts can get one! Ta-Da! Neat, huh?

I have some of the snail mail addresses already, but those of you listed below, would you pretty please send me a shipping addy, so that I might get your prize to you? (email: swequine@yahoo.com)

Thank you!

Funder
Breanna
Fern Valley
Sahara4d
Kate
Jackie
lytha
Wolfie
BobbieNoSocks
Linda
Smazourek
Jenny
Jeni
MiKael
DiamondInTheRough

Always Something Fun

Most times, I open my inbox with a happy sense of anticipation. What will the days news hold? Who will I get to chat with today? Who has pictures of their horses/ kids/ funny stuff to share? I love my inbox. I love what comes to it.

Sometimes, a lot of funnies come through, forwarded from one friend to another, passing the giggles along. Once in a while, some yahoo finds my email address (not like it's secret,) and sends a note that is just off.the.wall.

This morning for instance. I began my daily routine of propping up my eyelids with toothpicks and diving snout first into my first bucket of coffee. I fumbled one hand out to fire up old faithful, and headed to my email.

And I found this:

"Sat, February 12, 2011 2:25:30 AM

horse purchase

...

From:	Gary Hamilton ... Add to Contacts
To:	revolutionhouse8626@yahoo.com

---

Hello,

My name is Gary Hamilton,i am a citizen of U.S.A but live and work in U.K.I will be retiring in some few weeks time and i will like to purchase a horse before i arrive.I will like you to send me the list of breeds you have,i will also be paying via check through my financial broker in new york.

I will be expecting your response.

Gary"

Oh boy oh boy oh BOY!!! Gary from the US but works in the UK wants to buy a horse from ME!! Oh happy DAY it is SUCH a good thing I have SO MANY horses for SALE right now for him to purchase!!

He will like me a whole lot I bet, should I work up a response and bust his b@lls a bit... muwahahahaha...


Oh!!! I KNOW!! You guys are all a creative lot-- lets ALL write Gary a letter telling him about our available horses for sale. Now how much fun would that be? We can dink around with a spammer!

Leave a creative comment, and let's all screw with Gary, who will like a list of breeds for him to purchase. Muwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa

~MM

Clean View and I Haz Happies

For all the ribbing I got over the above photo, look! There is a SAND FREE one!!

Now- those who picked out the deep tissue thrush, EXCELLENT job. Let's hear some more treatment suggestions though. I was serious about the prizes part too-- but more on that in a bit.

Now- for those who commented on the balance issues: bear in mind- this can be an optical illusion in photos. In person, this hoof has a ways to go before I can take anything else off. We don't want to *force* this mare into a foot shape-- time is on our side. I'll take more pictures over the coming months, and we'll do a comparison / case study as we go.

For the record- her deep tissue thrush with just one treatment looks TREMENDOUSLY better and the mare is moving darn near sound now.


Now.. I Haz Happies. Lots. Of. Happies.

There is a special large pony/ small horse at this barn that has wormed his way into favor with the Locust Brothers and myself. Lucky for us, his owner has invited us to ride and play with this guy as often as we wish. And since he is only 15 minutes away from home, it looks like getting there fairly often is going to be possible.


How can you NOT love that face and those soft, soft eyes?



Yes, even Mrs Mom can crawl up on the little feller and mosey around. This fellow is laid back enough that the Locust Brothers (with me right there hovering of course,) can lead him around. In fact, when we were done today, Cub was able to lead him to the round pen by himself and put him in. Wrecking Crew opened the gate, and Cub did the honors. Can't get better than that. When the boys are mounted, he drops his head, sighs, licks his lips, and moseys along gentle as can be.

There is nothing in the world like a ride. But there is nothing in the Universe like a child's laughter as he is mounted on a safe. study, sweet pony either.

So fire away with treatment options! Lets see what you've all learned from three years of talking about horse hooves!!

~MM

Let's Play: What Do You See?

Pop quiz! Obvious answers such as "A Hoof" won't count. Today we are playing for ca$h and prizes! OK so not the "ca$h" part, but there ARE prizes. Play along and see what everyone has to say. To "win", tell me what you think might be the "problem" with this horse, and what you suggest for treatment.

Ready? Set! GO!!

~MM (no, Budweiser was not consumed during the making of this post either.)

Tulips and Budweiser

I can hear you now- You think Mrs Mom has lost her mind, thinking about tulips and Budweiser's at the same time. And honestly, you would not be that far off.

As you can see above, Tulip with Cindy at the Central VA Horse Rescue is still fighting with Cranker the Canker. Cindy has informed me that first not only is the tissue bent on rapid growth, but that it has a special "s-t-a-n-k" to it that she'll never, ever forget. My heart goes out to her there to be sure.

However, there are some very interesting and wonderful updates for Team Tulip.

First is the treatment plan. Tulip had been getting daily treatments with White Lightening, wrapping, packing and bribery from Cindy to get this all accomplished. But- that was not quite doing the trick. Thanks to some tireless research and questioning on Cindy's part, she was able to connect with a farrier who has worked with a vet (Dr. Reilly) who developed a treatment plan for the (wait for it)... Budweiser Clydesdale's. Ta-da--- tulips and Bud.

By the way- those of you who thought the canker looked like an octopus- Dr. Reilly concurred. He also said that this is much like proud flesh, with infection inside the tissue. Accounts for the aroma that all who encounter it will never be able to forget, and the speed of the tissue growth. The pictures above show a two week progression- from the initial stage, the removal, to two weeks to the day- and there is quite a bit of tissue in hyper drive trying to grow back. It amazes me just how aggressive this is.

The new treatment plan is *not* easy. I was shocked at the intensity involved, and my heart went out to Cindy and Tulip both. The biggest issue they faced was keeping her feet as dry as possible. Anyone care to hazard a guess as to how much a hinny mule can pee? I am told it is a TREMENDOUS amount.

The next issue to overcome was the treatment itself-- the worst foot had to be cared for first. The medicine is in powder form: massive amounts of SMZ's,metrondizole, antifungal powder, and a few other select ingredients.

The treatment steps are difficult:
For the first three days, she had to clean and dry the foot as thoroughly as possible. The directions said to dry the foot with paper towels to wick away as much moisture as possible. The foot then had to have about a 1/2" of the powder packed into it, and be wrapped in place. (Buy stock in vet wrap and baby diapers.)

Day four was when the canker was to be removed. Since we know this is a very vascular area, a good bit of blood flow was to be expected. Complete instructions were included on how to stop the bleeding, and once things settled down, MORE powder needed to be packed back into the hoof.

The next six days were lather, rinse, repeat of the first three. By Day 12, tulip should be comfortable enough to stand on her worst foot so that treatment may begin on her other poor hooves.

Now- for some great news. Farrier Dave Giza, who helped to connect Cindy with Dr. Reilly, has generously offered to foster Tulip and provide the physical labor to do the treatments on the remaining three feet. All CVAHR would need to do is supply the medicine. Tulip should be taking a ride to Mr. Dave's facility this week.

There might be a major hitch in that plan though, as on her way to pick up a donkey over the weekend, Cindy's reliable old truck burst into flames. She was unharmed, the trailer was unharmed, but the truck is toast. RIP, old reliable Western Hauler.

I'll keep you all posted as I hear more on Madame Tulip. She is a tough old bird though, and I fully expect to hear from Cindy that she has totally taken over the farm!

Hey, I Didn't Say WHICH Tomorrow, Right?

It is official- the week from Crazyville is over. O-V-E-R. Done. FINI. Ended. Kaput. Complete. I can now sit and breathe, catch my breath, stop my head from spinning and hands shaking from the insanity.

It's all Golden from here, baby.


Now. Tails from Travels.

We see a lot of crazy things on the road, going from client to client. Mikey and Wade have some of the best stories, but I have one of my own that will make you sit back and say, "What the HELL?"

This past Tuesday, in an attempt to beat the weather, I crammed in a full day of horses and ponies. It was going to be a marathon day for sure, but the Locust Brothers and I were up for it and mentally ready. Before dawn broke, Dear Husband's alarm clock was doing it's duty, waking us all from semi-peaceful slumber. We took him to work, and scrambled back home to eat, and for me to ingest another essential bucket of coffee. Right before we were headed out, Dear Husband sent a message, "Hey! Come back- I need this, this and this please!" Of course, it was out of the way, but... well, it was for Dear Husband. Nuff said.

We dropped off what he needed at the range (including lunch,) and I crammed the Locusts back into the van with their portable lunches (because they are LOCUSTS. It did not MATTER that they had just eaten- they were ready to eat AGAIN.) We trundled on down the interstate, and I see this little four door car with a lift of some sort mounted on the back. Now either that lift was made of about 1,000 pounds of steel, or the car was pretty much shot in the shocks and struts department. I had to look close about three times, trying to see if there really was a driver in it. There was- a tiny little blue hair couple was perched on the big front seat, tooling on down the road.

Since they were in the passing lane, and moving slow, I paid them no further thought and headed west towards the exit. Next thing I know, this blue blur goes bobbing and weaving by me like the tiny driver's hair was on fire. The car was doing it's best to keep all four wheels on the ground, but I tell you what-- it was a scary sight. The nose of that sucker was weaving all over the place, and the body of the car was bouncing like a row boat on rough seas. Imagine my sheer overwhelming JOY when the bouncing weaving blue streak cut to the right... directly.in.front.of.me.

And the tiny blue haired driver took his tiny old foot completely off the gas.


My exit was coming up fast- no way to pass safely, so I backed down on the speed as well. And prayed they were headed for a different exit.

Nope. Not my day to be so lucky.


The tiny blue haired driver bobbed and weaved around the semi-circular exit, onto Interstate 95.


Tell you what--- I gave up counting the number of close calls between the blue streak n' crawl and other traffic when we hit 25. No kidding. Merging onto I95, with the blue streak n' crawl directly in front of me, all I could do was hold my breath. For good reason too-- blue streak came back and the tiny blue haired driver stomped his tiny foot to the floor, and the car shot off like a rocket.

It flew into three lanes of traffic, cutting about six other drivers off. I heard lots of brakes squealing, (used mine pretty hard myself,) witnessed fists shaking, white knuckles and mouths moving rapid fire in what one can only assume were prayers for someone's safety. (Yes-- that was SARCASM.)

After letting the blue streak (it lost the crawl part) get several cars ahead of me, I eased up to speed and exhaled. Blue streak continued with the foot to the floor antics, increasing the distance between us by quite a bit. However, they were still in sight. And they were still cutting people off, bobbing, weaving and in general causing havoc and stress.


The Locust Brothers and I continued on to our first stop of the day. The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful, with clients being their usual well behaved selves. We covered almost 200 miles that day alone, and the entire time all I could do was keep an eye out for blue haired drivers that needed to take a cab.


We're pretty lucky. In fact, everyone that had to share the road with the blue streak n' crawl (for the thirty minutes I kept them in view) was pretty damn lucky. What happened after I can't say- but they sure did make me appreciate fast reflexes!


Next time your hoof care provider is late, horrible traffic situations might be one reason. (Client related reasons are usually the most popular, but traffic comes into play too.) If they happen to show up with shaking hands and wide eyes, give them a moment to breathe deep and calm down before you bring forth your fire breathing steed. They might need a moment to get the wedge of seat cover out of their tush. (Cause when you get THAT upset, various bodily openings can suck up seat cover like there is no tomorrow.)

Drive safe out there y'all. Not everyone needs to drive like they are in a NASCAR race, OK? (Cause let me tell you---- 95% of you out there can't drive for CRAP!)

~MM

OK People---

Funder beat me to this today, but I'm going to say it again here. You still need to read Funder's post though, because she details pre-planning what TO do in the event of your untimely death, and she did it wonderfully well.

But the 52 horses that are going to be shipped to Sugar Creek Auction this weekend? Yeah-- they have all been placed.

Look-- I'm all for spreading the word. I'm all for networking. But PLEASE-- do some research into things before you blindly send it on (and on and on and on and ON.) If I've gotten ONE of those messages in my inbox in the past few days, I've gotten about 50 of them. Each time, I've *politely* sent notice back that the horses are safe.

So. Because we do get a good bit of traffic here? I'll say it again-
The 52 Horses Are Safe. None of Them Will Be Taking A Trip To Sugar Creek Sale Barn This Weekend.


OK? All good now? OK.

Now- this week has been flat out monkey fu.... errr-- wait umm.. it's been flat out crazy busy. One might say that Mrs Mom has been busier than a one legged woman in an a$$ kicking contest. I've got updates and pictures of Tulip from Central VA Horse Rescue, a story about what it's like to be on the road trimming, and hoof talk to be covered. And know what? It's going to have to wait just a tad longer to start because y'all, if I had testicles they would be dragging in the dirt right now.


So for all my fellow bloggers and friends up North where the weather was (and still is) truly frightful, please stay safe and warm. (OnTheBit--- those ice pix of your car and the trees? HOLY CRAP!!! Talk about bad memories there... yeowza.) I'm hoping everyone's barns and arenas stay up, horses are safe, and no one gets banged up trying to get through the snow and slippery crap.


Until tomorrow folks. Its time for this old fart to drag her arse to bed.

~MM