The place to be on a hot day

Dude, such a handsome guy with his mane blowing in the fan's breeze!

Summer returned to northern Vermont today. After about a week of days in the 70s and nights in the 50s, today the temperatures crept solidly into the 80s and they are supposed to climb even higher tomorrow and Wednesday. When I got to the barn around 5 pm, the horses were in the barn, and Dude and Bestie were sweaty but cool to the touch. I groomed both of them in front of the big barn fan - they love it. Bestie fell asleep so I didn't have the heart to take her picture and have the flash pop in her face. Whenever I put them on the cross ties in front of the fan it amazes me - I never would have thought they'd walk up to this big rattly thing, let alone fall asleep in front of it!

Playing nice with others ... or not

Yesterday a mare returned to the barn after being at home for the summer with her rider on college break. This mare, Lexie, was Bestie's sidekick back in the spring before she went home. The pecking order was Bestie, Lexie, Bacardi - a little palomino pony - and Sadie, a Quarter Horse mare who came to the group last and was definitely the low girl on the totem pole.

When Lexie went home, Bacardi moved up to sidekick position. Whenever I'd go get Bestie from the field, as soon as I'd get her through the gate, Bacardi would do a couple bared-teeth-rolling-eyes-monster-pony faces at poor Sadie just to let her know who was in charge in Bestie's absence.

Then Bacardi went home, and the dynamics shifted yet again. While I wouldn't say that Bestie and Sadie become BFFs, they did seem to reach some sort of agreement whereby they would hang out together quite peaceably, and Bestie would even get upset if Sadie's rider came to get her out of the pasture. The girl and her mom would end up bringing Bestie in to the barn also (thank you to them for their niceness and understanding about that!).

So now that Lexie is back, I figured Bestie and Lexie would immediately rush back together again; after all, it's only been about 3 months. But no - no nuzzle nuzzle reunion. Lexie's owner said today that Lexie is now the lowest in this little herd. Bestie and Sadie seemed to have teamed up to shun her. When Jessica, Lexie's owner went to get her from the field today, Bestie and Sadie were at the gate and there was no way Lexie was going to walk up and approach the "mean girls." Does she have to earn her way back into Bestie's heart? Is Bestie giving her the cold shoulder to make her pay for leaving for the summer? Will Sadie drop back down into the third wheel position she held for months? Only time will tell. It's tough out there in the mares' pasture!

The barn garden, the definition of "lush"

I've been meaning to write about the vegetable garden at the barn for a while now. About ten of us went in on seeds and plants, and now we have this amazingly lush garden that cost each of us $20 and a little bit of sweat equity. We planted together, people are assigned to harvest twice a week, and each of us has a weeding day assigned, and that's pretty much it. It's amazing what we've harvested already: summer squash, zucchini, swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, beets, carrots, radishes, green beans and yellow wax beans, eggplants, potatoes, endive ... I think that's it, so far! There are a ton of tomatoes still ripening; we've harvested a few, but there are a lot more on the plants and in fact they needed to be thinned out because they were so thick that it didn't seem the tomatoes were getting enough sun.

This is all very exciting, but I have to admit that for a couple weeks now I've felt a bit of veggie overload. Back in the spring (when I usually make rash decisions about gardening) I bought a farm share from an organic farm. I pick that up each Monday at work, and then get load #2 on Fridays from the barn. Early in the season, it seemed we ate kale and chard in every conceivable form; now, we're doing the same thing with zucchini and squash. It's absolutely great to have all this good fresh food, but it is a bit overwhelming. Katie had to harvest for me last week; I'm trying to stay out of the garden since the footing is so uneven, and after quality time bean harvesting she said she hoped she NEVER saw another green bean again!

The monster zucchini harvested last week; still on the counter for new visitors to the house to marvel over :)







Looking down the garden, greens up at the top, squash and zucchini way down at the bottom, herbs in the raised bed over to the right.

Horse Mom has a lameness issue

I haven't written about this because I kept hoping it would just go away :). Just over three weeks ago I was supposed to play in a weekend hockey tournament. In the first period of the first game, I took a fall; got tangled up with another player. When I fell my right leg swung out to the right and I felt a painful stretching feeling on the inside of my knee. I got up slowly, sort of testing it, and it could bear weight without any problem so I kept playing. Probably dumb of me. I iced it when I got home but nevertheless, the next day I was pretty sore. After a week of Motrin and icing it felt pretty good, but then I twisted it while picking vegetables in the barn garden. Grrr.

Since then it hasn't gotten better or worse. It gets really stiff when I stay in one position for too long, but I can basically get around. No way can I swing the leg up over a saddle. Pretty much anything that would cause a stretch to that inside portion of my knee hurts, so I avoid those movements. Given that I play hockey, ride horses, and work at a ski resort, I have heard LOTS of very interesting knee injury stories. I'm going to an orthopedist this week.

I'm pretty sick of the knee thing, needless to say. Missing hockey, missing my bike, missing riding. I've made it to the barn most every day and my activities consist of grooming the horses and mucking their stalls. I'm pretty leery of walking out and getting either one out of their fields, since I don't want to get bumped around and tweak the knee again. I did get Bestie one day since she, more so than Dude, is pretty respectful of your space and where you want her to go.

A fellow barn mate just started riding Bestie at the end of last week. Her own horse is having some navicular problems and just went home to hang out, and she was looking for a horse to ride until she comes up with a new plan. She's a good rider and a thoughtful one, so after mulling it over I asked her if she wanted to ride Bestie. She worked with Emma for the first session, since Emma has ridden Bestie and has some insight into what makes her tick. I did get a cell message after the first ride that they worked through some "issues." Yeah, I bet they did, since Bestie has had the easy life for a couple years now, and undoubtedly will want to test her.

Hoping to get a game plan at Thursday's doctor's appointment.

Good boy, Dude!

Two moments at the barn yesterday that could gone either way -- and luckily went the right way.

First, when Dude was on the cross ties in the aisle, a little kid came running up to him and shouted right in his face, "Hey, this is a big horse!" Dude didn't move, just sort of looked at him like, "Yeah, and what's your point?"

Second moment: I was in Dude's stall with him with the stall guard across the door, when all of a sudden the boy's large black dog came halfway into the stall. It certainly took me by surprise. Dude was eating his hay, swung his head around, checked out the dog, registered a momentary "huh-how-'bout-THAT" expression and went back to munching his hay.

WhatEVER. :)

Vaccination time coming

I was just starting to think about mid/late summer vaccinations when Julie at the barn mentioned that the other local vet practice had already been out to the barn to do their clients' horses. The Potomac and the flu/rhino vaccinations were given. I'm never very consistent about getting Dude and Bestie scheduled for these two (I feel like in past years they've been given them anytime between August and September), so it was good she reminded me. They'll get scheduled soon with the handful of other horses that use the same vets we do.

Word on the streets is that Potomac may be bad this year in our area, although our vets do not yet have any words of warning on their website, and they're usually good about that. I can never remember the specifics of the disease, and had only a vague sense that snails were somehow involved. I visited the website for the American Association of Equine Practitioners to grab the following info:

"Equine monocytic ehrlichiosis (Potomac Horse Fever) is caused by Neorickettsia risticii (formerly Ehrlichia risticii). Originally described in 1979 as a sporadic disease affecting horses residing in the eastern United States near the Potomac River, the disease has since been identified in various other geographic locations in the United States and Canada. The disease is seasonal, occurring between late spring and early fall in temperate areas, with most cases in July, August, and September at the onset of hot weather.

Clinical signs are variable but may include: fever, mild to severe diarrhea, laminitis, mild colic, and decreased abdominal sounds. Uncommonly, pregnant mares infected with N. risticii (usually in the middle trimester between 90 and 120 days) can abort due to fetal infection at 7 months of gestation.

If Potomac Horse Fever has been confirmed on a farm or in a particular geographic area, it is likely that additional cases will occur in future years. Foals appear to have a low risk of contracting the disease. Vaccination against this disease has been questioned because field evidence of benefit is lacking. Proposed explanations for this include lack of seroconversion and multiple field strains whereas only one strain is present in available vaccines.

Vaccine
The currently available commercial vaccines are killed, adjuvanted products. Two of these are also available combined with a rabies vaccine. None of the current vaccines carry a label claim for the prevention of abortion.

Vaccination Schedules
Due to the seasonal incidence of disease, vaccination should be timed to precede the anticipated peak challenge during the summer months or fall.

Adult horses, previously vaccinated: Manufacturers recommend revaccination at 6- to 12-month intervals. However, veterinarians may consider an interval of 3 to 4 months for horses in endemic areas because protection following vaccination can be incomplete and short-lived."

(There's a bit more info on the vaccination protocol on the AAEP site at http://www.aaep.org/potomac_fever.htm)

It certainly doesn't sound as though the vaccination is a sure bet in terms of prevention, which is unfortunate. But still, it will give me some peace of mind once they've received the vaccination.

Weather finally shifts to summer

After weeks of rain and cool weather, we plunged into summer last Friday. Typical Vermont weather change - the day before I wore a soft shell jacket in to work! Friday was actually quite beautiful with sunny skies and a good breeze. It's gotten progressively warmer since then.

The horses' fields are really drying out with this warm weather, which is good. Dude had lost a shoe about a week ago when the field he was in was pretty swampy. It was so wet back in the field that there was no way I would find the shoe, which I realized after about ten minutes of walking the field. It'll probably turn up in a frost heave this winter! We've been scrubbing his legs quite a bit since it seemed like the constant mud might contribute to scratches.

I rode Bestie on Friday and it was a nice ride. She didn't do her usual 360 turn as we headed out to the field after about fifteen minutes in the indoor. And she was totally over the pigeons roosting in the rafters, which had caused a major sideways leap about a week ago - yay for saddle horns to grab on to!

The past couple of days we have gone to the barn only to clean them up and hose them down because it has been so warm. Dude in particular gets really sweaty when the temps zoom. I decided to cut his evening grain by half over the next few days just to play it safe. The big barn fans are running and there are a couple of box fans hung down at our end of the barn, so the air is circulating and the barn stays fairly pleasant. I think Dude and Bestie sweat when they first get brought in as a result of the transition from outside to inside and the walk in. And Bestie unfortunately has the afternoon sun coming in her little window, although she doesn't get as sweaty as Dude.

Looks like the whole week will have temps in the upper 80s. I am certainly not complaining - it is great to feel the warmth and see the sun!