Briefly Benched

 While we were at the first interschools qualifier last weekend with Mawarda and his child, M called to say that Arwen had a mild fever of 38.5 at breakfast. It was 38.8 an hour later, not staggeringly high, but certainly climbing.

This made me a bit twitchy because it's prime biliary (similar to piroplasmosis to my US readers) season in South Africa and I like to jump on them very early and aggressively, which generally gets them sorted out within 24 hours or so. But as it was one of my own, who always suffer from a little neglect compared to a client pony, and also as it was Arwen, who is made out of cast iron, we finished up the show first. Her temperature had dropped to normal by 2pm, but when I finally reached her around 6pm, it was 39.0. Again, not a raging fever, but not right at all.

meanwhile, Mawarda and kiddo were perfection

Now normally I never, ever treat a biliary without a positive blood smear. It's so common here that people LOVE to dose them up with Forray (imidocarb) without a definitive diagnosis, often missing other diseases and giving the poor horse colic because Forray's side effects can be a real beast. But I was looking at the most classic biliary I've seen in years; she was jaundiced, her heart rate was in the 40s (high for her), and she had a miserable look in her eye. It was 6pm on a Sunday and though I take my own blood smears to the vet, it would necessitate a (more $$$) emergency consultation. So I just phoned the vet to check and then gave her Forray right away with a bit of vitamin B/liver extract as a booster and a round of flunixin to make her comfortable.

The next day Arwen's heart rate was still a touch high, which is pretty typical as they can have anemia after the Forray kills the parasites and their host cells, but she didn't have any fevers. After that she declared that she was perfectly fine, thank you, and didn't need any more needles. She has been her usual self ever since but is still getting a couple of weeks off to give that hardworking heart some extra rest.

no Arwen pics because Felix stole her thunder by damaging himself in a far more expensive manner than she did, and yes, there is not a thought behind those eyes

In the meantime, we still had a pretty busy week. Thunder's fitness is slowly returning - thanks for nothing, Friesian blood - and I had a couple of nice rides on him. His canter, as ever, remains a bit of a mission, but it'll come back with strength and fitness. We currently lunge at least two or three days a week to help him rebuild without my hindrance and he should be fit enough to get back into lessons in March, I believe.

I had a really cool ride on Wynnie last week, too. I still plan to do a proper post about her backing, but I've had five or six little "rides" on her now where I basically just sit there and pet her and give her treats. I introduced the (very gentle) whip aids for walking forward and shoulder-in on the ground a couple of weeks ago and last week was the first time they really seemed to translate for her in the saddle. She was still a little sticky and hesitant, but we walked all the way around the arena. Obviously, there was no drama - Wynnie is a brat and a babydragon and the wiggliest youngster you've ever seen, but there's no malice in her. It was the greatest feeling. We're basically Olympians now in my book.

so very grown up

can you believe this was the same horse?

Lancey also had a good week. We schooled on Tuesday for the first time in a hot minute, which is always a bit messy, but he was an absolute rock on Wednesday when I ponied Wynnie out the furthest she's ever gone. Wynnie was pretty good - generally staying by his side on a loose lead - but Lancey handled her odd spooky moment with great aplomb. Of course he did. He's my unicorn.

Erin came over on Friday to teach us more about showing. We obviously started out with a hack on the two unicorns, who were both excellent, although Erin's unicorn did have moments when he thought he might not be.

Then I presented Wynnie for some turnout tips for HOY. Wynnie was impeccable the day before when I bathed and plaited her and she stood still for nearly an hour and a half - a magnificent feat. Sadly, it seems she ran out of standing-still-ability and had none left for Friday. Erin tried to show me how to plait her tail but Wynnie was having absolutely none of it. Horses gonna horse. Anyway, we also showed her our in-hand work, and Wynnie was a star for this part, even standing up for the judge.

That rounded out our week, and this week has been even quieter. Arwen is still off, we had wonderful rain for the past three days, and I had to have a (very) minor procedure that left me with a tiny incision which is annoyingly not allowed to get wet, so there's been no riding in the rain for us. We needed the rain, so there are no protests from me.

Erin is a horse butt artist seriously

Looking forward to green pastures and sunny days. God is good.

also got to hang out with Mystique, who was my up-down pony at the riding school nearby when I was a tiny kiddo <3