Rip - Weeks 2-6

 Well, I was sort of getting caught up here, then things went south again. Lol   Well, to be fair, work was pretty rough last week.   Even though I'm still working from home, I pulled several late nights last week dealing with lots of things that made the news. Sigh.  In good news, things are slooowwwllly starting to open up here now that more people are getting vaccinated. I had my first shot a month ago, which is way ahead of what was predicted.

OK - on to foal pics!  I guess this is a better late than never sort of thing at this point?  Lol

This brings us back to late Jan/early Feb. Rip was born on Janurary 17 and stayed at the fancy maternity barn until the end of Feb, when he and his dam came to my place.

Cute little man!

Rip, like most foals grew (and still is growing) like a weed! Around the 3-4 week mark, a creep feeder was put in the stall to start giving him some foal starter pellets.  The only catch, is that his dam outsmarted all of us and was able to lick some of the pellets out of the feeder!  Lol

I will crack this puzzle.  Lucy, probably.

The barn owner also handled Rip for us as well, since we weren't able to get there that often. He haltered him, picked up his feet and led him around the barn a bit.  He also got some turnout in the arena when stalls were cleaned.

The cutest wee halter!

He got to meet some of his neighbours as well!

I think this guy is a half brother (same stud)

As the end of February approached, I started to get excited and nervous as Rip was due to come home.  I've never worked with a foal before, so I had a lot to learn.

Hopefully it won't take me so long for the next post! 

An update on Copper and Sophie

I feel like Copper and my dog Sophie don’t get much attention on this blog. The cats and big horses tend to hog the spotlight. 

Copper is doing great and continues to be such a good boy. He is the barn favorite and everyone that visits falls in love with him. He has the temperament of a Labrador retriever, which certainly helps!

A friend who is nervous of big horses loves Copper

He has an old shoulder injury that has slowly affected the rest of his body over the years.  He is pasture sound only but that doesn't slow really him down at all.  That being said, I have my vet and chiro check him regularly and no one really has any tips to improve his lameness.  They have assessed that he isn't in much pain, but his injuries have forced his body to just not work properly, if that makes any sense. He has been on previcox as well with no real improvement. 

This winter I met a new equine body worker that really helped Fred, so I thought I’d have her out to check Copper.  She did a complete check and was able to help him unlock some stiffness. I’m not sure what kind of magic she worked, but he was walking better after a 30 minute treatment. He had a lot of stiffness in his SI joint and his spine. He will need more treatments and some exercises to build up strength, but I feel confident that this therapy can help him move more comfortably over time!

Copper - chief cookie tester. These homemade gingerbread cookies passed his inspection.  :-)

And on to Sophie... this poor dog is only six and she has a host of medical issues. It is a bit of a heartbreaker situation for sure. She has seizures and is on two different meds to keep that at bay. The meds work so that is good. They do affect her energy level and to top that off, she has also been limping on her front leg for about a year. I’ve had her to the vet, the chiro and a dog physio. None have been able to pinpoint the issue. 

A chicken collar and tootsie roll toy: one of the many perks of having a friend that owns a pet store!

On a whim, I asked the equine body worker if she happened to work on dogs as well. She said that she did, so I added Sophie to the list for treatment. 

Sad face expert

She found some soreness in her hind end and treated it with massage and then cold laser. I’m never sure if some of these therapies work or not, but within 24 hrs, Sophie’s limp was almost gone. Now, this treatment will need to be repeated to help with the pain and I may need to do a xray or something to help identify what might be causing the pain.  An old injury? Hip displaysia?  Hard to say...

It is now 72hrs later and Sophie is still not limping and has more energy than I’ve seen in a few months. I’m hopeful that this type of therapy helps her longer term and I can get my dog back to a more normal state!  

Needless to say, whatever treatments this lady is using have been making visible differences in the horses and the dog, so I'll keep going down this road for now.