It was a bit of a busy week last week. I had a doctor's appointment, the ponies had their first appointment with their new farrier, and Phantom was hauled over to the vet clinic for her PPID bloodwork. Thus, I didn't get in as much riding as I would have liked.
I got out into the big crop field again with Cisco. He was a little more up than the previous ride out there - but since there was a horse trotting and cantering circles around us (as is needed when you haven't ridden your horse in a month) I don't really blame him for being a bit more excited. He was still a very good boy, I just didn't quite trust him to be on a long rein in the beginning.
The footing out there actually wasn't too bad. The ruts were still soft and not overly deep, so we did a little bit of trot and an easy canter. He was lovely and barely even threw his shoulders around.
Phantom is officially semi-retired as I had her shoes pulled. She has worn front shoes all year round for probably the last eight years. She won't get ridden much for the rest of the year (I should be working nights starting at the beginning of November) and any riding we will be doing will be inside. If I pull her shoes for the winter, I can afford to put shoes on both horses in the summer, when I will want to do more riding on ungroomed footing. Both horses tend to have thin soles and are not happy on rocky ground.
Before the farrier visit, I was back and forth as to if I was going to pull them. If I did it now, the ground is still soft and it will give her a chance to let them harden up before everything freezes and she has to walk on poopsicles. But, I had to take her to the vet two days later, and she would likely not be at all happy about being expected to walk across their dirt and gravel parking lot.
And then I remembered I have hoof boots for her.
Thus, her shoes were pulled!
Phantom wore her sneakers to the vet for her blood draw. We'll find out in 7-10 days if she has Cushing's or not - fingers crossed that it's "not"!
I popped her in the arena on Saturday evening to see how she looked without her shoes. Shockingly, she looked great. I expected her to be mincey and short in front, but no, she was stepping out nicely.
The plan was to hop on her on Sunday. That changed when I woke up Sunday morning with a scratchy throat, that made me cough when irritated by talking or sometimes breathing. I was hoping it was just allergies, but after waking up with it again on Monday I called the public health line and asked what I needed to do. Since a scratchy throat couldn't be differentiated from a sore throat, I could either get a Covid test (which, if negative, meant I could leave my house once symptoms are gone), or I would be legally required to quarantine at home for 10 days.
The swab has been stuck up my nose (not as bad as I thought it would be) and I'm stuck in the house for at least 1-3 days until I get the results. My mother was kind enough to leave me a care package on her step with a doggy bag from last night's Thanksgiving dinner that I had to miss and a whole bunch of chocolate that I picked up on my way home from the testing center. I just wish I had known this would happen so I could have brought my tack home to clean!
No comments:
Post a Comment