So, most things have settled down on the veterinary front, Satin continues to do, Ok,  she is holding her weight, and seems to be comfortable, and not really showing me any signs that she is in excessive or crippling pain. I am content to let her be, and know that she is moving toward her end, and it makes me sad, and everyday she is with me makes me smile, but, with those emergencies over, back to when and how am I going to afford more hay.  I teach lessons in the Spring, Summer and Fall, but since last fall, I am loosing at least a lesson or two a week because of rain, seriously, its been raining since last August, mostly on Tuesdays.  But, Weather conditions affect my lesson business, and my tenuous income from said endeavor.  The last 4 years I have picked up a part time job, to help pay my hay off over the winter, my job this past fall/winter was in a pizza restaurant .  It was fun, but I didn’t make enough to cover my hay expenses, so I am behind and feeling the pressure.. its a bit of a sickening feeling.  I don’t like owing. On top of that, at the end of May, I only had 60 bales of hay, and with the addition of the recovering pony , 15 horses to feed. Facebook searches let me find hay, but, with the constant rain, it has become a valuable commodity. normally in our area, a bale of hay goes for $5.50 to 6.00 per bale, People who still had hay were selling it for $7.00 to $9.00 per bale, it kind of made me sad, to think of people taking advantage of fellow horse owners, and that’s how I feel , that they were taking advantage,  so not only was I searching for hay, I was searching for affordable hay. On top of that, I had to go pick up and load  this affordable hay myself, and I was feeling my age this year. Loading 15 bales of hay, and driving home and unloading it was exhausting. Plus, it took up 6 hours of my week,  😀 .  Usually the times, I would have had time to hop on and ride.  With the at least twice a week rains, the fields have been too wet to get into, and all the haymakers in my area are chomping at the edge of the fields, to get the haying started.  But, last week, Saturday was beautiful, and two more good drying days were predicted .  On Sunday when I went to pick up some hay at “my” hay guys, I saw that he had laid two fields down, and last night, my first shipment arrived. HAY!!!  I am both happy, and resigned, and looking for a job to help pay off my passion.  Happily this morning I am off to hay.

Somewhere I was reading recently, I remember a comment, that the equine species works Monday thru 5:00 pm Fridays. After that… its an equine emergency.  On a particularly cold filthy day in MAY no less, it was feed time, when I went to call in my old appy mare, she was no where to be seen, I panicked a little, and trudged thru the mud and down into her paddock, Everything, was a gray muddy color, and Satin wears a gray blanket, and yes, a few of my horses were still wearing their blankets into MAY, my eyes scanned the uneven ground and finally saw a gray shape laying on the ground… I approached slowly, not knowing if she was dead, or sleeping or stuck, when I got to her head, she was just staring into space, I checked that she wasn’t tangled in her blanket, and then began to talk to her, and rub on her blanket, her eye slowly rolled toward me, and I helped her lift her head… the ground didn’t look like she had been struggling, but I pulled her legs forward, then lifted her head again, that seemed to be enough to get her interested in getting up, She and I walked slowly to the barn, and into a stall, and I called the vet, .  A few days later she seemed to be slowly coming back to normal, although her gait was stiff, and she walked very slowly, she was eating, and drinking, but seemed sore.  But on a morning just about 8 days later, she could barely stand.. and I called the Vet again, when he arrived, he examined Satin, She was in so much pain, he seemed to feel, that maybe based on her history, that it may be her time, horses that have been down on their sides, can actually destroy their own muscle mass, and basically it begins to die inside,  The dr. told me to consider my options, we gave her some dex,and some banamine, and pulled some blood.  I knew she was old, but I wasn’t totally prepared to loose her.  While I was sitting with her, thinking of our time together, my mother texted me that she had just put her dog to sleep, and 10 minutes after that, my daughter called me to tell me that the very expensive pony she had purchased as a training project was colicing.. so putting sass to sleep, got set down for just a moment.  I texted some friends of mine, who had more experience with old horses, and downed horses, and the general feeling was that an old horse, that had been down, and wasn’t doing well, was ready to pass , another friend had told me a while back, when she had to put her old guy down, that the veterinarian told her, ” God, isn’t such a bad owner..” so their opinions helped me firm up my resolve.  All I had to do, was decide where she would rest,,, Except, that a few hours later, my daughter called me back, her pony wasn’t doing well, and she was having him trailered to the equine clinic we use in emergencies.. so I climbed in the car, with my credit card, and headed up to help.  The pony required surgery, on a Friday, after 5,  (I currently call him the 10,000 dollar man, )   By the time we were home, and Saturday rolled around, I had decided to just let Satin be.  When the time presented its self, I would have more resolve.  This morning, she cantered from her stall into her pasture, she is enjoying being in the first stall, and getting a bit more attention than before, and my daughter’s pony is recovering well, although, the resale lesson is a tough one to swallow.  They are our worlds these horses…. and they certainly keep us revolving around them..   off to hay…. second cut, which is easier to digest.