Debut Of Dollar And Other Interesting Topics

Exciting day with our lovely vet gals on the premises (more posts to follow--eventually.) I'll give you a few little tidbits so I have ample time to do some pumpkin business at the end.

Most exciting was this little item. Do you know what it is? So if you do know, and you know for sure, please be vague when commenting. I'd love to see the answers our readers can come up with for this little beauty.
I dedicate this picture to my pal Demetria. She loves eyeball shots.

Well, not really. But still.

Ouch! Ouch! Rotten tooth alert. It popped right out when the teeth floating began.
Well to be fair, popped out is a bit of an exaggeration. Dr. Alex actually had to pull it. She thinks our little patient will be feeling much better without that rotten thing in his mouth.

And when I say his mouth, I am talking about our charming new gelding, Dollar Bill. We have shortened that to just Dollar because Melissa commented that Dollar Bill sounds a little gangster-ish. Dollar is sweet and skinny and is in possession of the highest withers ever seen on a horse. Don't believe me? I'll have to post a picture later. For now, please check out his cute little face. Does he remind you of any movie star?

In pumpkin news--

The City denied our petition to have our pumpkin stand in the same spot we've had it for the last three years. Apparently, someone complained about the parking situation. The city agreed. (We're not blaming them here--they're doing their job.) We are no longer able to set up and operate in the Quanz lot. We are sad, but realize there has to be a reason for this. Maybe a life saved? A better, larger location for our ever expanding stand? Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one. We'll just sit here and trust that God has it all worked out. If you know of that perfect spot, please let us know. We have to make some big decisions in a hurry! Without pumpkin and tree sales, GGYR is in tricky trouble. These two fundraisers are a huge part of how we can operate for free.

We are so very grateful to the owner and manager of Quanz for graciously sharing their lot with us for the last three years! What a company! If you ever frequent their business for your automotive needs, please thank them for all they've done for Galloping Grace Youth Ranch!!

Oh, almost forgot to mention something really fantastic. Ninety people have signed up for Cancer Comfort at the Corral scheduled for this Friday night at the ranch. We are so excited for these families to come out and enjoy the horses. Thanks to all our volunteers who so sweetly offered to work Friday night so this can happen. Yay!!

Have a good one.

Poor Toots

Gross leg wound pictures alert! Stop if you're squeamish.

When Max went out to feed this morning, he discovered that Toots had a rather nasty cut on her leg. Poor girl! She has also had a couple cuts on her face over the last few months. Max has theorized for some time now that her vision is failing. He looked all over pen but could not figure out how she could have cut it. He said with a wound that big, it should be something fairly obvious but no luck. The other horses in the pen have not been hurt at all.

Doesn't it look terrible?! Max whipped out his cell phone and snapped a couple shots for the blog. What a guy.

He loaded up Ms. Limpy and headed to the vet for some stitches. Sure enough, the vet confirmed our sweetie pie has some pretty severe cataracts. He said she won't be going blind any time in the near future, she just has to contend with blurry vision from now on. That's the bad news. Good news is that her leg should heal nicely. In the picture below you can see her tendon exposed--just terrible.

We're hoping Toots can still end up being a valuable asset to the herd. She is a beautiful horse with a very loving nature. Now that she and all those crazy boy horses have calmed down (go ahead and read here if you want to be refreshed on my immature side),we hope to be able to use her more and more. She went into heat too many times last summer to be used much by our participants. What a difference a few months make. Trish and Melissa used her the other day with their daughters to give Toots a little work and the girls a ride. She did very well.

I'll keep you posted on her healing.

All The Fuss About Pus

Dan asked for an update on Black. Here goes:



We thought Black, a 32 year old gelding, was on his way out several months ago. He had a nasty, putrid tooth/sinus infection he could not shake no matter how many antibiotics were inserted into his, um, horse's rear. As a board, we agonized on what to do with poor Black. He was not fit to ride. He most likely wasn't feeling well and he smelled like nobody's business! One brush up against Black and a person's shirt was nasty-stinky! BUT, we all realized what a good horse he had been lifetime and to GGYR specifically. He was one of the first horses used in any situation.


After months of trying to get rid of his infection, Max was ready to throw in the towel. It came to that point where we were pumping hundreds of dollars of medication into him with no results. Every member of the board agreed that we would not be using GGYR's money wisely if we continued to treat a horse that would not improve.

Max called the vet and told her the decision. She asked to do one last ditch procedure (about $400) to see if it would help. We all agreed that would be the last. After that, we would have to let nature run its course.


Black spent a few days at the clinic after having a tooth extracted. (I heard the vet had saved the tooth for me so that I could take a picture for the blog!) The doctor said he was an ideal patient and things went as well as could be expected.


We are a couple months out now. Black is a new horse! He went from being Mr. Stinky Oozy Drippy Head to a happy, healthy ol' guy.
I bet he felt so fortunate he was well enough give rides and wear reindeer antlers at the Christmas Corral. Isn't that every horse's greatest ambition? Max and Tim joked about how humiliated the poor horses were with those on their heads. I guess every time Cochise found a way to tear his off before making it back to GGYR. Tim's theory was that Cochise had a reputation to uphold as the alpha horse. Reindeer antlers DID NOT fit his tough guy act so he refused to be seen like that.



There you have it, Dan. Black is doing well and appreciates your concern.


Dan, yours truly appreciates the blog inspiration. Thanks for helping a sister out! And look, I'm posting before midnight!

Hey Roy, Happy You're-Now-As-Old-As-I-Am Birthday to you!!! No more cracks about my old age, old man. We love you.

Gag A Maggot

Max doesn't feel like posting tonight, but he agreed to do the commentary on these pictures since I wasn't even there. So here goes--Max talking and me typing away.


Black had to go to the vet because he had really, really, really stinky boogers! He was treated last month for a tooth infection. The infection had gotten into his sinuses causing the putrid stench. He was on antibiotics for six weeks, and we thought it had cleared up. We were wrong!

On Monday tons of snot was pouring out of his nose. It was all over his legs, his pen, his face, etc. We consulted with the vet and were told to bring him in.

Brooke, Garrett and I loaded Black up Wednesday morning and headed to the vet. Here Brooke is helping the vets get Black into the contraption.
He was given a shot to sedate him. They flushed his mouth out with Betadine and water. The smell saturated the room!

Max no longer wants to play this game. He is giving minimal answers so I have excused him from what I thought was a clever activity. Why his brain does not function better in the evening, I will never understand. I will now try and recall how he explained it to me yesterday afternoon.

I talked to Max twice while they were at the clinic. Max said not only were he and the kids practically gagging, but the vet and tech were losing it as well. He said they were in a huge room that was completely saturated with the most disgusting smell he has ever experienced.

The "stuff" was pouring out of Black's big ol' head! It was floating everywhere on the floor. I'm so happy Max and Garrett took these pictures for me. Black now has to be on long term antibiotics twice a day. One is administered in his mouth, the other in his opposite end. We sure hope this therapy solves the problem. From what Max was told, the tooth is too hard to extract. She worries he would be left with a huge hole than would only get infected. Also, they feel Black is too old to be put under anesthesia.


I think I'm out of dialogue myself. All I have left is to tell you non horse people that yellow box is an x ray machine.
I'm off to floss.

He Made It!

Oh happy day! Oh happy news! Cochise is alive! There is no lachrymose ending to tell.

Things were looking very bleak last night. When I talked to Max last at 2:30 AM, he thought he would be putting Cochise down after a while. He was still suffering big time after taking pain killers. The vet (more on her in a bit) did all she could do and left. Her only advice was to get him to a clinic to perform an emergency surgery at a cost of about $7000-$10,000 with no guarantee of success. Unfortunately for GG, that isn't an option. We have a small balance in the bank account--nothing close to covering that amount. We were all left to pray and hope for the best. That's what we got!

We are forever grateful to our rescue crew! As I mentioned last night, Mike and Steph found Cochise down and did all they could until they got a hold of us. (We were at church with our cell phones off.) They did their best to keep him walking around. Their awesome son, Jonathon, ran to the store to get mineral oil in order to treat him. I LOVE THEM! Their hearts are enormous!

Marvin, Taylor, and Dalton came to help out in whatever way they could. Fortunately for GG, they now live right next door to Mike and Steph. We are very blessed to have such great neighbors.

Cowgirl Erin took a phone call from me asking what she advised for the colic--who we should call, what we (not really 'we' because I was home with my four kiddos) could do until a vet arrived, etc. Erin didn't hesitate in jumping in her truck and heading out to lend her expertise.

Renee drove Max out to the ranch. (Max's truck is still in the shop--estimate for fixing is now up to $4,600!) Not only did Renee do whatever needed doing, but she stayed with Max until 7 AM keeping a look out on Cochise! . Oh, Renee also called her friend and ex-coworker, Bonnie, for advice. Bonnie knew right what to do...bring out her daughter Paige who is a vet.

Paige got right to work helping Cochise feel better. I guess there was a tube put down nostrils, and hands in his rear to try and free whatever obstruction might be there. Even with the top pain killer for this condition, he was still feeling bad. I am happy I didn't have to see him suffering like that. Paige did all she could and left around 1 AM. Guess how much she charged for rushing to our aide on a Saturday evening and giving up several hours of her life. That would be ZERO! Yeah, you read that right--ZILCH! She wouldn't even let Max pay her for the medication she administered. Paige, thank you so very much! Bonnie, thank you for having such a nice daughter. Renee, thanks for knowing such sweet friends.

I guess with colic, it is important to make the horse move around to try and get things going. The whole crew took turns running Cochise around. When they could get him up to walk around and try to relieve his discomfort, he didn't want to walk. From how they tell it, it's a good thing there were so many of them taking turns going around that pen. What amazing people we know! Am I cloying your senses with all this gushy talk? Bear with me. A little more bragging on Mike and Steph is in order. They brought Max and Renee coffee and snacks at 1:30 AM to help them make it through the night! It was important that they stayed awake to keep an eye on the horse. They had to check his gums to see if they were turning purple and check his heart rate. If either of the two deteriorated, he would be too far gone to save.

I finally went to bed at 3 AM with the knowledge that when I woke up, Cochise would probably be dead. I had very fitful dreams about how he died. When Max called at 7 AM for me to unlock the door, I couldn't believe he had such great news. He said that it started to rain on Cochise at around 5 AM and that he was shivering. They got him to stand up, took him in the shelter, and then he started to do better. They observed him for a couple hours before calling it a night/morning.

We headed out to the ranch this morning to check on him. We saw Deanell and Steph walking him around the ranch. My children (and dog) quickly joined the party.

Paige advised only allowing him to have a small amount of feed today. He paced and paced in the pen wanting to get back with the other horses. I loved seeing them all check in on him. Apparently last night, the horses were very intrigued/worried. They gathered around and watched Cochise being treated. Max said Shorty was biting at him, almost like he was trying to nudge him up. Horses are incredible animals. If you look closely, you can see where Cochise had a bloody nose when the hose was inserted. Ouch! But, that was probably the least of his worries.

This glove has a mix of poop and water. Max and Steph were checking to see if Cochise had a lot of sand in his stool. If there was an abundance of sand, it would sink to the end of the finger tips. I guess that wasn't the reason for his colic because they didn't find much.

Thank you everyone for caring and helping last night! You guys are absolutely incredible.

You know, I almost headed out there at 11 PM with my children in tow to get a picture of the crew in action. I then reasoned that that was silly and might cause Cochise more distress seeing that flash going off. Please, if you will, imagine the rest of the people mentioned in this picture.

FYI, I'm going to try and announce the Word of the Day winners tomorrow (Monday.)

Have a great week and thanks for your prayers.

Cochise

If you're the praying type, please say one for Cochise. He is in a lot of pain right now suffering a bad case of colic. There are eight people at the ranch trying to help, and a vet is on the way.

Mike and Steph, our precious neighbors, called and let us know they found him down, kicking and spinning in circles in pain. I got a little chocked up a few minutes ago thinking about him. It was neat this morning--he came up to the fence and had a moment with me. I was kissing him on the face and feeling pretty proud of myself bonding with him. :) Last night's post is now seeming weird. I wish he were doin' well.

I'll keep you posted.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

If you start to read this post and wonder, "What does THAT have to do with a youth ranch?" remember that our dog goes to the youth ranch. Do you see the relevance? He's a ranch dog. Therefore, he should be highlighted. It makes all the sense in the world (in my head.) Plus, I told you I would post pictures of Hank every Monday for a while. I always keep my word. Now you're ready for this riveting post.

Our little Hank is exactly eleven weeks old today! The girls and I loaded him up and headed to the vet to get his next round of shots. Speaking of shots, I find it comical that my mother begs and pleads for me NOT to immunize my children, but she insisted that I do the dog. Take what you want from that.

As we walked up to the receptionists one asked, "Is that Hank?" When we told her it was, she informed us that one of his siblings was being seen in their office right then. (Original owners had used same veterinary office.) Exciting stuff! Yes, of course I rushed to my vehicle to get my camera in case the long lost siblings had a chance encounter. Am I ever glad I'm a dork sometimes! (OK, often.) I would not want to have missed this picture. How often do litter mates get to see each other again? Not very often I tell you. I'm not quite sure why the owner of the Siberian Husky wanted to allow her canine to intrude on the family reunion.

Which is Hank, you ask? Oh, he's the one with the red leash--you know, the one with the uncombed fur. I was a little horrified at how lovely her Golden looked compared to poor Hank. He was sleek and shiny and perfect. In Hank's defense, he is outside all the time. Plus, like I said earlier, he is a frequent visitor to GG. Mr. Sleeky Pants wouldn't look so great either if he rolled (and ate) poop all the time. I bet our pup could beat up their pup. I think Buddy was trying to identify the offensive smell on Hank. "Gee brother, sorry you got stuck with those people. My people feed me grapes and massage my paws and let me sleep on my own water bed and let me watch Animal Planet all day. I will remember you fondly as I eat my thrice daily meals of steak and sausage ."

All was not bad. The nurse told us that our puppy was better behaved than her puppy. Isn't that what matters most? Hank was so good that he wagged his tail while getting his shot. Sweet muffin! Sweet, scruffy muffin!

The vet, Dr. Mike, has been out to Galloping Grace to help during one of our big work days. He was part of the round pen building crew, and he's also a member of our church. Nice guy! He must have answered fifty questions I had in my attempts to cadge information from him. (I bet he felt sorry for my pediatrician.)

Right before we left, I told Dr. Mike that I had a blog for the youth ranch and then asked if he would mind being on it. He agreed and then laughed as I pulled out the camera.

What a good sport! Thanks Dr. Mike & Crew. I've never had such a great time visiting a vet! Can't wait to do it again in three weeks.

Buck's Diagnosis

Buck has been Max's horse for the last eight years. He was a true working ranch horse.

Buck gathered cattle, roped bulls, dragged calves, etc. He did it all. For many years, Buck was a horse only experienced "good" riders could ride. He was extremely responsive and would get very excited when he saw a cow.
( This great picture in front of the boxcars was taken by our friend, Debra, a few years back. )

One summer Buck had an amazing transformation. He went from a horse few could handle, to the best kids' horse on the ranch. The first time I saw Max put Brooke on Buck, I thought he was crazy. Turns out they both did great. From that day on, Buck was the horse every child wanted to ride.

We have been very concerned about Buck for the last two months. He has been limping badly on his front legs, and he cannot keep up with the other horses. We hate to see this--we were planning on him being the star of Galloping Grace herd, and we don't like to see him in pain.

Max took him to the vet today. We have been preparing ourselves for the worst. After x-rays and a thorough examination, the vet determined he has ring bone and arthritis. He said that the best treatment for Buck is to get plenty of exercise--like having children ride him! We are so excited about this!

God willing, Buck will be around for many more years.