Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
What are U doing today?
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What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread)
Chip has a small pile of manure (6am) in his stall & is looking perky. He even ate a biscuit. Still not out of the woods yet, but he's certainly looking better.What causes colic is a good question. We're wondering it ourselves. I think colic is defined as a belly ache usually accompanied by constipation. There are several different kinds. His seems to be a simple impaction - something didn't pass & has caused a road block. (Two other types listed below)
What causes it in humans? Change in diet, eating something 'bad', or not drinking enough water are the main causes. Often it's a combination of factors & a horse has to eat & drink a LOT every day, so if their GI tract has a problem, a traffic jamb can develop.
His diet has certainly changed because the spring grass is up. Marg quit feeding hay 2 days ago & Chip was the only one still nibbling on it, so that's a likely factor. The farm where he spent most of his life didn't have nearly the grass that we do. Their field management practices left a lot to be desired while ours are very good - actually, they're a topic of discussion for the neighbors. We do more mowing, spot spraying, harrowing, & field rotation than all the rest of the folks combined, I think.
Eating something 'bad' is always a possibility, especially this time of year. Normally, they won't eat anything that is bad. Like mushrooms, if it doesn't taste good, it probably isn't, so they don't. The list of horse-poisonous plants is long & we've never had a problem before, but everything is green & gorgeous, so he might have nibbled on the wrong thing.
Not enough water is also a possibility, although unlikely. I saw him drinking a couple of times, but one of the goats did fall in the water trough & stir it up. The little pond isn't preferred water, but they've all drunk out of it & he did have access to it.
So we're clueless as to what caused it & sure hope it goes away & stays away. Sometimes they get susceptible to colic & become a problem. A lot depends on the type of colic, though. This one is definitely an impaction & we'll be leaving hay out & keeping a separate bucket of water for the goats again. Marg & I will walk the field & pay special attention to what's growing. She's pretty familiar with most of the bad plants.
Unfortunately the poisonous plant list is a long one & not particularly accurate or well defined. For instance, you'll find fescue, the most popular grass, on the list. Actually, the grass isn't the problem, it's what can grow on it. There's a fungus that will cause mares to abort. Not a problem with a bunch of geldings, though.
Cherry trees are listed as poisonous, but it's only the cherry leaf around 3 days wilted that is a problem. During the wilt stage, the leaves are very sweet but they create a form of cyanide & are deadly. I don't think I've ever seen a horse field without a few cherry trees in the hedgerows lining them. If one comes down, we just clean it up immediately & dump the leaves outside the fence. My neighbors let me use their dump piles then.
Butter cups are highly poisonous, but I've never seen a horse eat them, even in a starvation paddock (one that is practically dirt). Our Shetlands used to be in a paddock like that with a ton of buttercups & never had a problem. Due to their breeding, even a practically bare paddock was more than enough for them. They always looked like little blimps.
Two other types of colic that I know of off hand are twisted gut & sand colic. Twisted gut is when they roll & a loop of intestines kink so nothing can go through. That's REALLY bad, but can often be fixed by surgery now. That costs around $6,000, though. Not happening. I've heard of sand colic & that is chronic, I believe. It happens more in places like Florida where the horse eats a lot of sand due to it being in their food & it silts up their guts, as I understand it. It can happen if a horse is a dirt eater, usually because they're lacking something in their diet or because they're goofy.
We'll be thinking of you (and Chip), Jim! Keep us posted.
Jim, thanks for the a good summary about colic in horses. Good to hear that Chip is looking better. Hope he continues to stay well. How about a link to a pic of Chip? I know I've seen one but you can find it faster than I can.
Jim, glad to hear the good news about Chip! (I wrote my post above before I'd seen your second one --not sure why the latter didn't show up when I clicked on this thread a few minutes ago.)
Thanks, all. Joy, add gas colic in. I'd learned that was a form of impaction, but Marg & the vet say it's different enough they call it by it's own name. It's just bad gas & usually passes on its own without any need for tubing or anything.Chip is the star of this album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...
This album shows a couple more pictures, including him with the tube up his nose last night.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...
Thanks for the links to the pics, Jim. Chip is easy to identify among the others with those markings on his rump. Otherwise it's hard for me to tell the difference between those horses, except for white Speedy, of course. That's quite a crew you have there. They're living the life of luxury on your beautiful tract of land there! Lucky guys.
Glad you liked them, Joy. Yes, our animals do have a rough life. The vet agreed last night as one of us had to guard his truck & the stall. He calls them lap dogs & says he's never seen a friendlier bunch of animals. As one of them nibbled on the collar of his shirt, he swatted at them & said we obviously abuse them well.;-)
He's a good vet & knows all their names, but so do the office workers. They're very reasonable in their rates & everyone is friendly. When I walked into the office this morning, I was immediately asked how Chip was & they normally deal with Margaret. Maybe it was the tube that gave me away, since I was returning it, but knowing the name of the patient says a lot about them.
Oh, Chip is now out in Speedy's paddock where he can move around more. I've been hand walking him since last night, so I'm glad to be relieved of the responsibility. I also got in a much needed nap.
To my outdoor friends; this was a happening at our house yesterday. We have a garden room at the back of the house with ceiling to floor windows and a small fence enclosed garden beyond it. Yesterday a robin began pecking at the windows and continued doing it for seven hours straight. Finally, it sat on the fence apparently waiting for it's mate. At darktime it gave up. We were glad. Distracting to hear peck, peck peck on and on. This morning there sat the robin on the fence again. After a few more attempts of pecking it finally left. I ended up glad it departed but sad for it that the mate didn't show.
Weird robin, Nina. Chip is back out in the field & feeling fine. Yipee! It's been a long 24 hours.
I posted a few more pictures in my Spring 2012 album here:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...
Shows off some of the 20 tons of gravel I put down & a really wild looking Japanese honeysuckle.
Jim, you sure deserve that nap. Yes, on friendly treatment at the doctor or the vet. It means a lot. Nina, I feel bad for the robin too. Reminds me of my poem about a swan without his mate (true story): http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...
I'm off to look at Jim's additional pics.
Erin's home & we're having fun. As usual, she barely got in the door before we headed out to play with the ponies & had a nice ride. Chip was feeling very good, which was nice & reassuring.After, Erin & I went out to the shop. She's very interested in practical projects that are easy to make for students. She's looked around & decided that of all the resources available, the best is Daddy. Now how cool is that?
Joy H. wrote: "Jim wrote: "... Chip wasn't looking quite right today & tonight it's clear that he has colic. ..."Oh my goodness. Poor Chip!
What do you think caused the colic?
Jim, please keep us posted.
I will..."
Jim, Chip is in my prayers today and hope for better news tomorrow. I remember when we were frantically throwing hedge balls over our fence so Megan's horse wouldn't eat the them and get colic. In the meantime I am the mountains east of San Diego in my son't mountain knotty pine cabin. Walked along the beach at the ocean. Strong wind blowing cold air but didn't take away the grandeur Later pizza with my son and four grandsons. Tomorrow an Easter picnic at the beach with five grandsons, a granddaughter, a son, his wife and two great grandchildren/big party. Happy Easter to my Goodreads friends
Thanks, Nina. Chip is fine & has been for 2 days now. It was probably just green grass colic, usually just a gas colic, that turned into an impaction because the bloody goats got into the water trough. I guess Chip is fussy about goat flavored water.;-)
Happy Easter to you too, Nina! Glad you can spend the day with family.
Had a fantastic day today. I made up a couple of oven tools & took pictures so I can make up a lesson plan for Erin to do with her students at school, then went for a ride with Marg & Erin. They have been training Chip up a bit for me, so he went beautifully. We jumped 4 or 5 little jumps (18" or so) bareback. Erin also suggested switching him to a hackamore & he likes that a lot better. He has a low pallet so any bit we put in his mouth bugged him.After lunch, Erin went home & Marg went grocery shopping. I cut up a black locust tree that fell over the other day & got some good wood to make bowls out of. Then Marg & I went for another ride this evening to give the dogs a run. We're up to 6 dogs now since Erin left Molly & Jazz here. Just what we needed, 2 long haired, medium sized dogs that are shedding. I hope my cousin Karen likes dogs. She's visiting from Oregon next weekend & will be sleeping in Molly's - I mean Erin's - bed.
;-)
Wow, I didn't get any notifications for this until now. Going back to Apr 4. I thought everyone was as boring as me, lolSounds like you have an awesome day, Jim.
What's a hackamore? What grade is Erin's students?
I'd like to see the wood from the black locust tree and what you do with it.
Molly's bed, lol
You could always tag me for photos and stuff on facebook, my newsfeed hasn't worked and I rarely go page to page looking at friends pages. Everyone tags me if they have anything they want me to see.
Still recovering. I had a follow up appt yesterday and the doc said I'm doing well and still have a few more weeks of healing. I've just been reading, watching TV and I even had a vacation from housework!
Jim, I'm still here, and okay. I just haven't done much lately to post about outside of my ordinary activities, which are to work frenetically at home and at work, help at Deborah's as much as I can, and grab what time I can for reading and Goodreads. (Yup --that about covers it. :-) )Glad you got to have a visit from Erin. Have a great time with your cousin!
Jackie, wow. What are you recovering from? How do I tag you on FB? I'm getting totally pissed off with it because I never see anything from Marg & vice versa.
A hackamore is a bridle that doesn't use a bit. It uses a collapsing nose band instead. The one I'm using is padded on top of his nose, so it just puts pressure there & leverages against a curb chain (flat links) under his jaw, so it still has the cheek pieces. Others work by just tension around the whole thing & other ways.
Black locust wood looks a lot like Osage Orange, just a light gray-green instead of yellow orange. Very hard with strong rings formation. Both are very rot resistant & used for fence posts, although locust grow faster & straighter in our zone. They have thorns that are very strong, but short, unlike the Honey Locust. Once dried, it's about impossible to drive a nail into them. Makes very pretty bowls because it sands to a mirror finish quite easily.
Werner, glad you're OK & keeping busy. We had a fun time with Erin & I expect to with Karen. Thanks. I've spent the past couple of evenings vacuuming, trying to do a good spring cleaning. Unfortunately, spring deserted us. It went down to 29 last night & killed off my tomatoes even though I had a bucket over them. It's supposed to get even colder tonight & then warm back up. Lots of wind, too. At least the grass isn't growing as fast.
I haven't been getting notifications either. I just found the previous 11 posts waiting for me when I checked "unread". Sheesh! I too was wondering where everyone went, but I was so busy with our company last Easter weekend that I had no time to check in. Will be reading the 11 previous posts now.
Glad to see that everyone is doing OK and Jackie is getting better. Nina sounds like she's having a wonderful time in CA with her big family. It's great the way she can travel at her age.Jim, how about some pics of those dogs, Molly & Jazz. Will they be staying with you permanently? Wow, 6 dogs! That's a lot of dogs! lol
Werner, don't forget to take a rest every once in a while from all that work, if you can. I've been resting since the kids left, trying to get back to normal, but I'm retired and have plenty of time to rest. :) I take full advantage of it too! lol
Jim, thanks for the info, very interesting. So...which bridle do you think is better? Or does it depend on the horse?I definitely want to see the bowls whenever you finish them, I know it's a process. I wish I lived near you, I could have a good time with things like this, and learn a lot from you too.
For FB tags, after you upload the photo, where you can write a caption and all that, click on the photo and a + shape will appear and a drop down box, asking who you want to tag. Just start typing my name and it'll come up, click it and I'll get a notification.
I don't spend much time at FB, so when I go, I never think to check out anyone's stuff.
Recovering from an ingrown toenail surgically removed. It sounds like such a small thing, but it's intense. It had to be removed all the way down at the base of the nail under the skin, almost to the first digit. It's not fun, but I had an excellent doctor.
Joy, haven't had time for photos, but will try while Karen is here. I'm not sure how long we're going to have Jazz & Molly due to kids in flux. It all depends on when/where Erin gets a job or decides to move in with Josh & what their situation is. We'll certainly have them a couple of months, probably longer, but it's not a huge deal. We're a fairly friendly pack.;-)
Jackie, it depends on the horse as to what works. With Chip's low pallet & good nature, it works fine. Marg was using it on Speedy, who is just about the opposite, so I guess it's pretty good for wandering around the place. I'm not so sure how it would work on someone like Cutter going over a course, though. Marg has a trunk full of bits & still mourns the loss of one 15 years ago. You wouldn't believe all the different kinds & configurations. Frankly, I'm clueless. I can barely tell a Pelham from Bristol or a Snaffle. I do know the difference between a full cheek & a D ring when it comes to cheek pieces, but would never presume to pick out one for any of them. It's complicated & I'm not really sure there's that much difference sometimes. It makes them feel useful, though.
;-)
Thanks for the info on FB. I'm not much on using it either. I mostly just look at the feed a couple of times a day. Sort of like here. I just look at the home page on GR & then hit the wheel on the mouse to open new tabs for the topics that say there is a new message in a topic. I never get email alerts or digests & only look at the feed for book reviews.
I'm a little worried about getting to the bowls. There's so much going on that I'm not sure when I'll have time.
I'd forgotten about your hang nail surgery. Glad it's recovering well. I've heard that's a drag.
E-e-w! on the ingrown toe nail op, Jackie. Hope you recover quickly. What caused it to be so far ingrown? I usually just clip a nail if it's starting to stick into me in the corner.Jim, about the pics, take your time. Whenever they're up, let us know.
Mine started at the base, I've been trying to cut down for years but can only go so far and it keeps growing back. Most likely the cause was wearing tights shoes. I'll wear my summer sneakers in the winter with heavy wool socks, it doesn't seem that tight but apparently it is. This is a problem I've had for 15 years. The doctor said if I took care of it right away, this wouldn't have happened. She also told me cutting the edges doesn't cure it, it'll only come back, but to file it instead. I'm not quite sure how filing is any better but I'll be sure to take her advice because I never want to go through this again.
Jackie wrote: "Mine started at the base, I've been trying to cut down for years but can only go so far and it keeps growing back. Most likely the cause was wearing tights shoes. I'll wear my summer sneakers in ..."Mine were simply infections, from sweaty, numb feet. The still called them 'ingrown' though. The first time I had it done (while going to company school in NJ), circa 1988, I felt better right away and it didn't take much more than 2 weeks to nearly fully heal. Within the next year it came back and that's when the NH podiatrist cut a sliver out and poisoned the nail root. Can't remember that taking a LONG time to heal either. But a few years later, here in GF, the 2nd big toe took forever to heal, especially on the 2nd try, when he took the whole nail off. The healing depends very much on your nerve endings, as well as circulation. If your feet are numb, like a diabetic's, they will take a LONG time to heal. My numbness comes, I suppose, mostly from spinal stenosis, though no doc ever STATED that.
Earl, thanks for that info because my healing time is now making sense. I have poor circulation; hands and especially feet are always cold, even in the summer.It's healing, but slowly.
Jackie wrote: "Mine started at the base, I've been trying to cut down for years but can only go so far and it keeps growing back. Most likely the cause was wearing tights shoes. I'll wear my summer sneakers in ..."I notice that, over the years, I keep needing larger sized shoes. It's a shame to see all my nice shoes becoming useless!
I recently found a Dexter sneaker at Walmart online:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Danskin-Now...
Comes in black or white. Not expensive. I recently saw almost the exact same style in a more expensive sneaker at BonTon:
If you put the following Dr. Scholl insert in the Walmart Dexter sneaker, it's really comfy and there's still plenty of room.
http://www.drscholls.com/drscholls/pr...'
I originally found the sneaker at the Walmart store, but when I went back, there were no more. So I searched online and found it.
It's roomy and it looks decent. Doesn't come in wide width but the regular size 10 feels fine on me. I have a wide foot.
I need larger shoes too! I thought it was just me. OK so we can now add feet to the list of things that never stop growing. Ears and nose are the others ones I know of. I will only wear a cloth upper on sneakers because I don't like to wear socks in the summer and it allows my feet to breath. But the problem now is that none of them have any treads on the bottom, dangerous for walking on any surface. I slid across the wooden deck and even my kitchen floor...no thank you. The only sneaker that's got a canvas upper and good treads is Converse but they're not a sneaker that you can wear with a summer dress, it makes me look like I have big duck feet, lol
Oy, the problems with getting a good sneaker!
Earl, it seems that many of the older people I talk to have spinal stenosis. Comes with the territory as our bones lose density and the spaces between our spinal bones get smaller. Nerves get squeezed and we may feel tingly in our legs. At least that's the way I understand it. As you say, no doctor ever explained it quite like that, but it seems a likely explanation.
Cousin Karen arrived, but not where I expected. I went 20 minutes west to the Louisville airport & couldn't find her flight. Information couldn't help, so I went to the ticket counter where they told me that flight went to Lexington. So I drove back east past work, past my house & finally managed to snag her a little over an hour late, but not bad. I got her home & we had a nice walk about until Marg got home. Then she rode Chip, I rode Cutter, & Marg rode Speedy, all bareback. We had a nice ride around the fields until near the end when Cutter spooked at something. Chip & Speedy spooked because he did. Marg & I stayed on, but Karen got to fall off a horse for the first time. She wasn't hurt or hurting last night. We'll see how she feels today, though.
We had a great dinner. Marg made up a pork roast with scalloped potatoes & then we played dominoes until bed time. That was fun. We all had a great time. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do today. Marg is just about to leave for a horse show. She should be back before noon.
I guess we'll go into Frankfort & see the sights, maybe climb the bluff up on 421 that overlooks the city. Not sure that's legal, but there's no signs posted, so I guess it isn't illegal...
Jim, hope your cousin Karen enjoys her stay. Falling off a horse wasn't the best way to start her visit. LOL Glad she's OK.
She was feeling good enough to climb up a rock cliff with me today for a better look over Frankfort. I'll try to post the pictures on FB shortly.
What a beautiful area, Jim. You and Lily look great together.
Jim wrote: "Here are the photos of our outing today.https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s... "
Wow, Jim, you and Karen were brave to climb up that cliff. Looks daunting to me! The views are awesome. I especially liked those tenacious iris, still hanging in there. What a beautiful clump of flowers, a lovely shade of purple. Thanks for the tour of Frankfort and for the geography lesson. What is the name of the mountains in the distance?
Mountains? They're just hills. I supposed they have a name, but probably individual ones since most are in Frankfort proper.The climb up was very easy, getting down a bit tougher, but still not bad. The far end of the cliffs has almost steps to go up, they're just 3' tall or so & about 40' up there is a wide ledge that we could walk up to the close end & step all the way up the rest of the way. I don't think you'd want to do it, but it's not too bad at all.
Today we're going to the Shaker Village after Karen cooks up a cheese cake. I guess we'll go riding this morning, too. Have to get the monster dogs out for a run. They felt somewhat neglected yesterday, although I went for a quick ride around on Chip in the morning & then we took them for another quick walk in the afternoon, but we spent a lot of the day out of the house.
Marg got to the back lawn on Thursday & I got the road sides earlier in the week, but the front yard is desperate for mowing. Yesterday it rained just enough to keep things too damp to mow & I'm sure it will be this morning. I might just do it anyway. It won't look great, but if I don't knock it down, it's going to get too far ahead of me.
Yum, cheese cake.The lawn in our backyard has started to get thick. Soon it will need a mowing. I covered our patio blocks with astroturf to stop the weeds and dust from coming up through them.
Our grass is growing so fast it needs cutting every three days. It is lovely to look at, though.
Our next step in the yard is spring clean-up. Lots of large cones to pick up.
Be glad they are not not hedgeballs. That was a terrible chore. What my "kids" remember as the worst chore ever was picking bag worms from bushes in front of our house.
What are hedgeballs? All I could find was this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_...
Never heard of bag worms either.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bagwo...
E-e-w! :)
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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Oh my goodness. Poor Chip!
What do you think caused the colic?
Jim, please keep us posted.
I will feel very sad if something happens to Chip.
You've made him very real to us. He's such a keeper!
My thoughts are with you, Marg, and Chip tonight.
Joy