Many updates!!

I've been a HORRIBLE blogger this past week! Not ONE update... and there is so much good news to share!

First off, and most importantly, Sophie's prepurchase finally happened today. I didn't actually even know it was set for today until a day and a half ago, which is why I never updated anyone on it... it happened so quickly! The vet called me this morning to give me her two cents, and basically what we found was absolutely nothing that we didn't already know about. We discussed the wonkiness in the LH, which showed up somewhat today but didn't change during flexions, and improved with movement. We also discussed the fact that she is 15 years old, living in a field, completely out of shape and not on any sort of supplements or therapies.... it is no surprise in the winter that she comes out a little stiff. With maintenance, she should be able to be a perfectly serviceable mount for years to come.

In other words, after seven years of chasing this beautiful, wonderful, sweet, lovely mare.... I finally will have her. Everything has come full circle like it was meant to, and I can hardly believe it. Is this really happening?? It hasn't even really hit me yet. SHE'S COMING HOME.




Now there is of course no possible way to top that completely excellent news, but Bay Girl clearly deserves her rightful update as well, and the news is equally as exciting on a much smaller scale. She had two enormous milestones this week, both of which were small but monumental in their own ways. Firstly, she was able to be trimmed by the farrier WITHOUT sedatives for the FIRST time since she has been at our place. She was a notorious kicker before I started working with her, terrified to have her feet handled and unable to be worked on at all without drugs. I also suspected that she might have a thing with men, as she squirmed and squirreled around whenever any guys showed up on the property. This time, the farrier was able to trim her alone (no handler!!) on the left side completely by himself, and then with a handler was able to do her right side. To be fair, when he went to work on her right side by himself the guy mowing the lawn showed up with his giant scary lawnmower machine right outside the barn door, so it was a bit much for her to handle, and he called a handler over to be safe. But this is a HUGE step in the right direction... SO proud of her.

The other thing that happened was a completely surprise to me. I had finally decided to completely give up on the whole cookies and pretend deworming thing, as it was making her standoffish and uncertain. Maybe we'll revisit deworming somewhere down the road, but for now, I think it is best to leave well enough alone. I had also completely given up the idea of giving her cookies. It was getting to the point that every time I would offer up something in my hand, sweet feed included, she'd turn her nose up suspiciously at me and snort. I didn't want her to continue to be unsure, so I just started to offer her sweet feed by hand again. Today, on a complete whim, I offered up one of those giant chunky apple wafers from Manna Pro - you know, the ones that look completely unappetizing - and waited to see what would happen. I expected it to go the same way it always has, with her sniffing it suspiciously and then snorting and turning away. This time, she sniffed it, sniffed it harder, snuffled it around with her nose, lipped it, and then TOOK IT AND ATE IT! SHE ATE A COOKIE! And she must have liked it well enough, because she took a SECOND one and ate that one too!

I can't believe that after all this fuss she finally decided to give one a try. It is ridiculous how excellent it felt to watch her crunching on a cookie for the first time. Between that and the news on Sophie, I couldn't stop smiling all the way home.

By the way, does she not look like she is going to pop any day now? She's HUGE!






I'll have a post about her feet coming soon, seeing as I am finally able to pick up her feet long enough to take pictures of them... stay tuned!