The 2015 edition of Jan Hare's life
Hop on 2015 and join me on the roller-coaster ride of training - training horses, training dogs, training humans, and attempting to establish order in my life.
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My vet came out this afternoon to ultrasound Corky. Luckily he managed to come in that tiny window of time I have for lunch, so I sped out to the barn for the appointment. I love that he commented on how easy Corky was to work with. That's my girl!
The ultrasound showed that Corky was
I haven't slept well all week. I have a major major life change that I am announcing later this afternoon, and it's literally making me nauseous. I tell myself that it is always better to make big life changes yourself rather than waiting around to let them happen to you. Yeah...but it's still a difficult thing to do. I am often plagued by the "what if's" in life. Sometimes that works in my favor, because it prepares me for every possibility. Other times it does nothing but paralyze me. Stay tuned....
AKC Agility Trial - Easton/Columbus, OH
I had a rough day yesterday - announced my retirement from teaching to my students. I am retiring and taking a position with a software company, becoming an out-of-the-closet computer geek! It was a rough day, so I was glad to head to Columbus for some fun agility time with my boy Pretzel.
Pretzel did not disappoint - it was
Saturday's trial was still pretty good, but some mistakes caused us not to Q in anything. I still feel like we took a positive step in the right direction...
My vet came out to ultrasound Corky during my lunch break. She was
The answer to that last question is
Later tonight I found out that they did track it down and it finally arrived. Thank God. Now we wait and cross our fingers for ovulation.
And, when it rains, it POURS. Alisa contacted me to tell me that Tango is very very lame. It is his left front, his pastern has some swelling and he is very sore on it. We have no idea what is going on - is it an abscess brewing or did he somehow injure himself? Or possibly did this farrier that worked on him not get his foot angles correct? The last time he was lame in the front was back when he was a 2 year old and he ended up having to get wedge shoes to raise up his angles to support his navicular and coffin bones. I am worried....
My vet called this morning to say Corky ovulated over night. They bred her yesterday evening, and again this morning. She developed some fluid in her uterus from a reaction to the semen, so he will keep her another couple days to flush her and clean her out. I will pick her up on Monday. Fingers crossed.....
It seems (big surprise) that my dog show life is as up and down and inconsistent as my horse show life has been the past 25 years. So, last weekend pretzel wa awesome. This weekend....
I stopped out to see Tango after the agility trial. He was only slightly off on that left front leg, and you really only could tell while turning him. There was a slight puff on his ankle, and very slight swelling on the pastern. Maybe he is getting better???
I picked up Corky today from the vet's place. It looks like our timing was almost perfect. He did give her a caslick to keep her 'clean". Now we wait...
As if i don't have enough on my plate, I pulled in the the driveway after dropping Corky off at the barn, and the transmission went on my truck. Yes, i do see the bright side - at least it happened with an empty trailer in my driveway and not while I was hauling Cork down the highway. But still...ye gads...$2500 repair bill! Who the heck has that kind of money laying around. Today was a very emotional day, and I really didn't need that. US Rider once again came to my rescue and towed my truck to the local transmission shop. See ya in a week, big Ralph!
Alisa messaged me and told me that Tango has no swelling today, but he was actually more sore. She has a call in to a vet to get him to come out and do some diagnostics. I am very worried...
AKC Conformation show in Columbus, OH
Something different this weekend - an AKC conformation show! Saturday we showed early morning, Pretzel showed REALLY well and earned us a Best of Opposite placing. This means the Best of Breed was a bitch, so he was the best dog of the opposite sex. Pretty cool! Not enough for a grand champion major, but I will take anything at this point...I need some success!
Sunday's show went equally well, Pretzel really knows how to turn it on in the conformation ring. It's interesting how he knows the difference. He is all business when we step into the ring. I sure wish this could translate over to agility trials!
Today we also got Best of Opposite. They were also doing the Owner/Handler series, and we ended up winning Best of Breed Owner-Handler. This means we had to stay around for 8 hours and wait for the owner-Handler Sporting Group. Pretzel was really on fire in Group - he gaited way out in front of me and looked awesome. For once, I didn't stack him too stretched-out, and we ended up with a Group 3 placing...yay!
Well, Tango is still lame. We suspect a soft tissue injury. the vet is coming out tomorrow to fluoroscope and possibly x-ray his ankle and pastern. Yes, I am very worried. This could end all of my plans for him this summer...
Hummm...not sure what made me look here, but on the AKC website they have the rankings for the national standings for Owner-Handler Weimaraners. Before our win on Sunday, we were actually ranked 18th! This weekend's win might actually bump us into or close to the
Devastating news from the vet today about Tango. His
Tango was diagnosed Back in August of 2012 with this issue. The vet recommended wedge shoes. I took him home, had the shoes put on him, and he walked off 100% sound and never took a lame step again. Honestly I just figured the vet was being a bit overly-negative or worst case scenario...I trained, rode, and showed him the next 3 years with NO problems whatsoever. I had no idea that the coffin bone was slowly deteriorating. The vet today took thorough x-rays and saw that it not only had deteriorated, but it actually had pieces of the bone missing.
To make a long, horrible story short, this diagnosis obviously means he will never jump again. It also possibly means he will never be sound for riding again. The vet gave him a shot of
Words cannot describe what I am feeling right now. I honestly feel like giving up. Why do these things always happen to me? How am I going to handwalk a crazy stall-bound gelding every day when I am starting a new job in June that is based in Columbus, 2 hours away? What do I do if Tango is never sound again? I am just at such a loss. I feel empty.
Looks like I am picking Tango up on Sunday and bringing him home. I laid awake all last night worrying about what to do with him. How can I keep him quiet and happy in his stall for the next 4 months? I worry about what to feed him, how to hand walk him when he is crazy from confinement, worry about how to get him handwalked with me having to spend so much time in Columbus this summer learning my new job, worrying about what to do if he never gets sound again. The worries just keep piling up. I also worry about my sanity...not having a horse to ride all summer may just about kill me. I haven't missed a horse show season or having a horse to ride and work since Looking back on my training diary, I noticed that he did go sore in his left front for me back in September of last year. I had forgotten about that - he was only sore for a few days and then was back to normal. I suppose this issue has been creeping along all these years and I was just lucky it hadn't progressed to this point until now. I tell you, it's really hard not to feel totally defeated about the whole thing. I started adding up my horse disasters, starting with losing Tory to a broken leg in 2000, losing Fruit to colic and losing a full term baby for no apparent reason in 2003, losing Lazlo at 30 days of age in 2009, losing Taylor after giving birth to Tango in 2010, the list goes on and on. I know I've had some great years and some wonderful successes, but it is just really hard to remember them right now in the throes of my depression over this whole thing. I am trying hard to remain positive, but right now I just want to wallow in a big vat of self pity (and apparently that is exactly what I am doing!). Bear with me.... What a birthday for Tango...starting day #1 of his stall rest at home. Yeah, like I predicted, he wasn't very cooperative with the hand-walking. He was almost walking on top of me, and was pretty fired up and hard to control. Gonna be a I notice today that there didn't seem to be any swelling on that pastern or ankle. The vet had mentioned that he suspected Tango had a 9% tendon tear, and that was probably due to the weakening of his coffin bone that put added stress on everything in that leg. No doubt that will easily heal during his stall rest/hand-walking months, so that is the least of my worries (as long as I can keep him quiet enough to not further injure himself!). Today Tango is supposed to start getting his daily dose of Previcox. This is an anti-inflammatory that he will need to be on for the next 2 months to help get rid of the inflammation in his coffin bone. The trick was HOW to get the pill into him every day. Unfortunately, since I board my horses, I am at the mercy of the boarding stable and the feeders. They cannot/will not give him the pill each day by hand, so I need to insert it into something that they can toss into his grain each day, and it has to be something I can prepare a week's worth in advance for those times when I cannot make it out to the barn. I received a Tomorrow I will attempt round 2. I went back to the grocery store (second time today!) and this time bought some apple Fig Newtons, a bag of cheap marshmallows, and several 6 packs of the single-sized servings of apple sauce. One of these has got to work!!!So far today I have spent more on Tango's groceries than my own...silly horse. It was hard to watch everyone else ride at the barn while I walked him in circles. It was especially hard to know that they are able to ride outside now. The weather is just darn A baby...I am so excited. This baby will be either black or bay. I am hoping for a filly this time, but heck...if mare and foal survive I will take ANYTHING that is healthy!
Happy 5th Birthday Tango!
On to May, 2015......