The Lovely Miss Lexie...

We had a special visitor this morning: the lovely Miss Lexie, who dropped by with her housemate Casey to say 'howdy.'

Back in '09 , Lexie was the first of Daisy's puppies to leave for her new home. We all missed her terribly, but were thrilled that she found a people-person who will brush her teeth, trim her nails, and buy her premium dog food.

She is very pampered!

And very well-behaved, unlike somebody we know...

Yep, that's Tex, straining at the end of his lead, lunging at his sister and her friend.

How embarrassing.

Pookey Bear watched the 'reunion' from the safety of his stall, thanking his lucky stars that we did not keep all eight of those little heel nippers from the fall of '09!

Hoof update: Pookey is still walking great! He is even slapping a bit and pawing a bit and doing the 'Zenyatta' wave--it is a real challenge keeping him quiet now while those hooves grow good solid attachment, but I figure we only have another year or so to go and we will be in great shape!

Another retro day...

Yet another retro photo, as we bring you up to speed on Pookey Bear's progress...

Amazingly, Pookey has had nearly three solid weeks of complete and total freedom from pain.

Well, from foot pain, that is. Being 12 years old now, and having done a bit of western pleasure in his youth, I am sure he has a few creaky joints and achy bones.

But his feet?

They are fabulous!

At his checkup last week at La Mesa, his radiographs showed good sole depth and continued de-rotation, as well as improvement in his medio-lateral balance. For those of you who are rusty on your Latin, or have misplaced your Stedman's, that roughly translates to being tilted from 'middle to side.' Now, intead of listing like the Tower of Pisa, he is beginning to stand up straighter on his bony column in the RF, which will help apply more normal mechanical forces to the foot and therefore encourage more normal growth.

It is a good thing that Pookey has a great farrier. I would be very frustrated with the continual adjustments needed on a recovering laminitis case, especially when a tenotomy adds an additional layer of adjustments to the adjustments.

I would also be continually frustrated by the 'chicken and egg' nature of the problem: the worse the horse's original problem, the more out of balance the hoof is. The more out of balance the hoof is, the more abnormal the mechanical forces applied to the hoof during weight-bearing. The more abnormal the forces applied to the hoof during weight-bearing, the more out of balance the hoof grows.

I think I will just stick to herding cats!

La Vida Dolce

Somebody is enjoying his outdoor stall and hay bag once again!

Pookey continues to improve on his RF, walking almost normally even on the concrete alleyway in the barn.

Outside, his step has a bit of a spring to it--a welcome sight!

He has been off of NSAIDs for several days now, and seems to be continually improving. So we are going to proceed cautiously with the status quo for a few more days and then re-evaluate.

In the meantime, he certainly is enjoying the sunshine!

Eeyore says 'things are looking up'

Not everyone has a file photo of a dog atop an 18-foot manure pile.

I thought I would take advantage of this resource, and post a picture of Shorty playing King of the Hill, while I report the good news on Pookey Bear.

My failure to post updates for the past few days is due to the criticism I have received from certain twenty-somethings, who tell me that my reports often remind them of Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh's dear donkey friend who suffered greatly from the vicissitudes of life.

Can I help it if the horse is sore?

I would dearly love to be able to report, "Well, we saddled up and went riding today!" or "Pookey ran a 15.4 last night--his times are just getting better and better!"

But real life doesn't always work that way. It has its ups and downs.

Fortunately for Pookey Bear, he is once again entering an 'up' phase. After a great deal of soreness last week, he finally is perking back up, and is walking nicely once again.

I am being very careful to keep the Soft Ride boot he is wearing on his RF from twisting; so far, it seems to be affording him enough protection and cushion that he is once again comfortable both at rest and in motion.

Tomorrow, photos!

Today, an observation from Eeyore:

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.

"So it is."

"And freezing."

"Is it?"

"Yes," said Eeyore.

"However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."