Sunday, April 27, 2008

Unlucky.

I am cursed. Or at least this farm is.

Yesterday morning went off with no hitch until I put Chewy and Buddy out in the back, which is right next to the mare's field. That is when I noticed a horse laying down, away from the herd. Immediately that cold, dread feeling gripped me. Since it was a very dark horse, I called out a few names. "I THINK SO?" and I saw her poke her head up from the crowd about an acre away. "RAVELLI GIRL?" and she looked at me too. "ANNA?" No head popped up. No movement from the downed horse. Anna had past away sometime Friday night. There were no lightning marks on her, or any outward sign of what caused her death. I'm assuming it was a stroke or heart attack. She was in the middle 20s and that sort of death isn't uncommon, though she was perfectly healthy all Friday. Poor Anna. I liked that mare so much. She was the Selle Francais that was imported as a youngster. Her owned showed her in the hunters till she blew out her suspensory. I guess she was quite the fancy winner back in the day.

After a few tears and a final pat, I dug up a tarp and wrapped her up so the other horses would leave her be. I was also a bit nervous about the coyotes bothering her body since the renderer is notorious for being at least 24 hours out. RIP Anastasia.

Since I still had to feed the outside mare's, I did, but Anna decided to die near the gate and everyone was scared of her body. Well I drug all but Precious in. She was to busy being a nutty 2y/o. The damn filly finally came up as I was putting the rest of the girls out. I put her in a stall, gave her grain, and walked away. 10 minutes later I get a phone call from the hired help saying Precious went over the fence and is bleeding. Fanfreakingtastic. I get out to the field where she is running madly, though completely lame. I was more concerned about her limping then the blood. AN HOUR later I caught the bitch, cleaned her up, and attempted to sedate her, until she knocked the needle into my arm (which hurt like hell). In my fury I stabbed the needle in her neck, let her freak out, and plunged in the Ace. She was nice and loopy after that. I couldn't get a hold of my vet, so I did my best doctoring and will just keep it clean till Monday, when he will be out.

Isn't it a nice way to live out my last two days at the barn? NOT. I just don't get it. My luck with the damn critters that is.

Gah. And with all the excitement, I didn't go talk to Cookie's real owners. Fuck. Another thing I deal with tomorrow.

Tired Girl.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Vermin.

I hate coyotes. If I owned a gun, I'd be sitting on my porch picking off the bastards one by one as they strolled on by. Since it's been absolutely gorgeous out for the last week or so, I've turned the heat off and opened windows. Last night I slept with all my four bedroom windows open. It was one of those days where you came in and pull out your teeth so I hit the hay early. Around 2am I was jarred awake by those disgusting creatures screaming their bloody fucking heads off. Of course Cookie jumps right out of bed (she sleeps next to me) and starts to howl in that husky Lab voice. Way to get my adrenaline pumping!

Being the paranoid nut I am, I sleep with a massive Maglite under my bed that is bright enough to illuminate tree trops. So I whipped that out and counted 13 coyotes. That is a HUGE pack. Biggest I've ever heard of around here! Typically they stick to smaller groups, but being breeding season and all, I guess the rules get bent. And they've never gotten that close to the house before. I'm sure they were on their way to bother the horses since I left the doors open. Great, but thank goodness there isn't a foal around. They'd chew through walls to get a baby.

Now I need to sweet talk my redneck hunter friends to stake out the farm one night. I'll provide the bait and beer if they provide the bullets.

Tired Girl isn't fucking around anymore!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Finally.

Tomorrow is the start of my last full week here. As much as I've hated it, I've loved it. It was a great experience that will look wonderful on any future resume. I'll miss waking up in my OWN house, totally silent, doing my own thing, making my own food, looking out at the property knowing that I helped make it beautiful. It's been fun, but I'm glad it's over.

Cookie, the dog who adopted me, is currently sleeping at my feet. She is the best dog ever. Really. Right now she stinks like sweaty dog who jumped into the creek this morning, but is still just the nicest critter. She loves me and I'm starting to love her. Now I have no idea how keeping her will work out or if I even can. Ugh, just another thing I need to stress out about.

This is me!

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

It was bad.

Last week that is. Tuesday night was spent out with the vet sewing up Lady's leg, which she sheared down to the bone. Stupid 2y/o filly. Thankfully this won't impact her racing career next fall. I got out of the barn around 12:30am and plopped myself into bed, no shower.

7:05am Foal Alert called my phone. "FUCK" was the first thing that came to mind as I stumbled out of bed, down the stairs, into some clothes, and finally down to the barn 3 minutes later. Twoey's water had broke and she has given absolutely no indication of foaling up until that point. The vet even checked her the day before. At 7:12am a pretty chestnut filly took her first breath. It was a red bag birth (broke inside that mama, full of blood) and I did help that little girl out. Except something just wasn't quite right with this filly. I immediately thought she was a dummy (Dummy Foal Syndrome), but gave her time to settle in. After the first hour, she had not gotten up, even with my help. At the 2nd hour I freaked and had the vets out in 40 mins (it's very important to have colostrum in their system within 3 hours). Dr Dawn said that the filly needed to be hauled somewhere right away after looking at her for roughly 45 seconds. An hour later Twoey, filly, and I were on our way to Purdue. When we got their an hour and a half later, filly's temp wasn't registering on the term. A team of senior vets and students were working on her right away. Dr Uberti and Dr Couetil were wonderful. I couldn't remember the name of the student or the techs, but they were equally as great. Twoey was being an angel. She knew her baby was sick. I left after an hour or so, knowing I wasn't bringing two horses home. Filly was put down the next day because of her multiple organ failure. She had septicimia, which started in Twoey. There was no way of knowing that the mare had an infection without drawing blood. So the poor little filly was dying before she was even born. Gosh she was so beautiful too.

RIP Nameless Filly. I wouldn't let myself name her unless she came home. It sounds heartless, but it's easier.

I have two mares due in two weeks. Both will have blood drawn and be on anti-bios big time. I'm not losing another one.

Sadly the horse side fails me once again. I promised myself I wouldn't let anyone die. Even though the filly's death was out of my control, I still feel as though I could have done more.

My father called yesterday about a job for me. His best buddy growing up manages a multi-million dollar farm down in KY, full of racehorses. It is owned by a sheik of Dubia and absolutely incredible. I don't know what I'd be doing down there, but at this time, I don't want it. I'm so burned out of horses. They break my heart.

And I've only got two more weeks with the animals.

Tired Girl.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

My baby.

The last 24 hours have been awful. Boss's 2y/o Thoroughbred sliced open her leg down to the bone sometime late afternoon. The vet came out around 7pm since and left at 10pm. We had to lay her down and the Catamine takes a while to wear off, which is why he was there so long. While he was there he checked on Twoey, since she was due to foal last Sunday. He said she had a few more days on her.

Well that was a lie. The mare foaled at 7:12am this morning. My Foal Alert went off at 7:05am and I was down there 3 minutes later.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Yikes!

What I failed to mention in my last blog is that one of my broodmares is about to foal. Yay! Babies are so much fun, yet so unbelievably stressful. Thinking of it freaks me out, which has lead me here to update my imaginary readers. I had a mini-episode last night when I realized how much could go wrong. The mare, Twoey, has a special monitor sewn in so when her water breaks, the monitor seperates and sends a signal out to call my phone. It's called Foal Alert and it's fucking awesome. That means no sleeping in the barn for me! Twoey's due date was yesterday. I'm thinking a new baby will be here by Thursday. Just one of those feelings I get.


Tired Girl.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Pig.

I woke up to a ladybug crawling into my nose. No joke. Actually I think it was a manbug since it was yellow and stinky. That might have been an indication it wasn't going to be a good day. Usually on Sunday's I sleep in a bit since I don't have to beat the stall cleaner out to the barn. That fucking bug disturbed me to the point I got up 2 hours earlier. So I settled in on the couch with my new favorite concoction of oj and cranberry juice with a side of buttered wheat toast. Don't knock the blend till you try it. I love them together. After checking all my websites and snoozing, I went down to feed. Thing went quick today. Most everyone was good except for a select few mares that didn't want to eat this morning. Weirdos.

Then I came in because being outside depresses me. Yes I know I'm crazy not to enjoy the 65 degree, sunny Sunday, but I'm not. I live on a horse farm without a horse of my own to love on and ride. What the fuck. Yesterday I could have almost cried. It brought back memories of my beloved Haley who died 6 years ago in November. She is the one horse I would have kept forever. Even my parents, as non-horsey as they are, adored Haley. They would have footed her bills for as long as she lived. I wanted my kids to learn to ride on that mare. Damnit. She was a once in a lifetime horse I'll never get back. Honestly I haven't rode a horse I loved and trusted as much as Haley. Tommy was a good boy and nice ride, but he couldn't stay sound. He was too skittish for my parents and friends to be around too. Though if I had the chance to get him back, I would. Maybe he's mature into a Steady Eddy.

And that leads me here, on the couch, with no windows open (albeit heat off), alone writing this. I've sufficiently stuffed myself by munching on dry Special K, a bar of Godiva milk chocolate, leftover Chicken Almond Ding for lunch, about 20 Hershey Kisses, and 6 bottles of water. I think that's all I've had. For some reason all I want is chocolate. For the first time ever all I've got is relatively healthy food. I broke into the barn candy dish stock for chocolate and the Godiva bar is quite a few years old. Whoops. I'll just be fat for the rest of my life.

I was doing so well on the veggie diet. Looks like I'll need to start that again on Monday. Which reminds me I need to get more vitamins.

ETA: Ugh. Editing out more sap shit.


Tired Girl.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Lovely.

What a splendid day. Just glorious. Or maybe it's one of those highs I get before a major crash. I don't know and hope it's not what I suspect.

Since my time as a barn manager is nearly up, I've kinda been on a job hunt. Well something fell into my lap. One of my boarder's owns an insurance company. He pretty much offered me a job yesterday. So I interviewed with his 2nd in command. She hired me. I start May 5th! Now I know nothing of insurance, but am totally willing to learn. All I need to do is study up, take a couple classes, then pass a licensing exam. I sure hope I do well. Testing has never been my thing.

This new job could be my niche. I could be good. Really good. Or be a complete failure like I so easily can be.


Tired Girl.