The New Years Starts with a......

Happy New Year!

Lilly decided to start the new year out with an abscess! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS? The dreaded abscess! Every horse owner's nemesis! On the very first day of the year, I went over to groom Lilly. When I was bringing her up through the pasture, through all this impossibly drifted snow, I didn't notice anything amiss. Perhaps because I was freezing to death. But Brandon called from the gate: THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH HER!!!

Sure enough, my brumby's rear, right fetlock and up was swollen. I was so distraught I didn't even get a photo. Bill gave her bute and moved her to the paddock. Two days later the swelling was still remarkable it had not gone down at all. Dr. Snow was not working. The vet was summoned. He located a spot on Lilly's back inside heal bulb where some yucky stuff had drained out. Now I had looked at her feet carefully just two days before and saw nothing. So either it had just blown out that morning, or I better get some glasses. He gave Lilly a giant shot of tetracycline (did I say GIANT?), gave Bill some medicine packets to put in her food and told him to wrap her rear legs up, both of them. He said that the place where the abscess had drained had sealed before all the infection had gotten to drain out. So, with nowhere else to go, it had gone up. POOR BRUMBY! Today when I went to the barn, I dragged this dreaded  boot out so I could soak her hoof in some epsom salts.

I couldn't get the boot on. Lilly had a mini freak. So Bill wanted to take over. You see her leg is in the boot in this picture because Bill is a horse whisperer.. When I snapped this particular picture I looked at it and thought, Hmmm, I want a better picture. So even though I was supposed to be distracting Lilly by giving her nibbles of carrots, I stopped for a second to take a step closer to her rear end and the soaking boot. BAD IDEA. Lilly took a step with me and immediatly realized there was something superweird going on with her back leg and hoof.

 Another freak followed! This is the picture that I snapped...the one that was supposed to be better than the other one! So now it is certain. National Geographic will never hire me. Bill said that the freak out was my fault! Hah!

But it was OK because you can see that when we took the wrapping off, her leg is not swollen at all. I picked up her hoof and saw the bloodied spot where the abscess had mostly drained. She wasn't limping at all. The abscess drama was significantly subsiding. THANK GOODNESS.

Meanwhile, long, lost Christine and QTee were getting ready to do some trouncing around in the ring where the snow was perfect and powdery. Since the vet had said I could ride Lilly, I decided to go down with Christine and QTee in the ring and just sit on Lilly bareback. It was very cold and there is nothing like sitting on a furnace in the cruel wind.

 It was super windy and super beautiful down in the ring! Brrrrr.

Lilly was not limping at all, but all the same, I mostly sat on her and slowly  moseyed around, a few steps here and there. 

To see a two second video of us in the ring, click here!
The funny thing about this video is that I thought Bill was taking pictures, not video-ing! So that is why I am idiotically smiling at the camera forever. I look like quite a moron. But oh well! At the very beginning of the video, you will see QTee give a little excited hop. She may be an old lady, but she is still going strong!