Mellon Update

 

'Mellon' rolling in the deep (mud) and feeling better

Our vet was out yesterday to reevaluate Mellon.  He is now done with his first month of medicine for EPM.  The vet was very pleased with how well he’s doing.  He upgraded him 2 grades instead of 1 because of he's progressed so well so far.  He'll probably never be 100%, but this is better news than we could have hoped for!   Mellon has been allowed out with the rest of the herd for about a week now and the vet sees no reason to not continue letting him have his freedom.  He’s happiest when he’s among his herd so we feel mentally as well as physically it is the right thing to do.  Dusty is also delighted to have a vacation from her nursing duties. 

On Monday night they decided not to grace us with their presence for dinner and opted to stay out.  The rule around here is if you are not in the catch pen by 7 p.m. you will be spending the night outside.  I think their “you are my slave and here to serve me” attitude sort of backfired on them this time.  I believe it went down to the low 20’s and they had to deal with the cold.  Color me surprised that Dusty didn’t come in, because she had her grazing muzzle on and usually is in a hurry to get it off.  In the morning they were all looking miserable and wanted to come in. 

'Blue'  the service around here is a little slow

The breakfast buffet was served promptly.  Then Donnie and Blue lay down and took a well-deserved nap.  Blue is a professional napper by the way.  He can sleep anywhere at anytime and doesn’t like to miss his beauty sleep.  When it was time to be turned out to pasture again, they all came to their doors and waited--all except Blue of course.  He continued to eat from his hay net with his butt to the door as if to say, “I’ll let you know when I’m ready, but not just yet.”  So he was left to munch happily away while the service staff went into the house.

The barn is visible from the kitchen window so Blue could be checked on periodically.  After an hour or so he poked his nose around the stall opening and stared at the house.  This is his way of saying he’s ready to go out.  I love this horse and get such a kick out of his unique personality.  He’s quite a character.

p.s. The farm has power, but we still have no power or phones at my house.  All my neighbors’ power was restored on Monday night but since our lines are underground they forgot to hook us up.  We called and they had a crew come last night to assess the situation. I’m hoping that sometime today they’ll be able to hook us up.  Probably just in time for the N’or Easter to take it down again.  The phone company said we’d have service by Saturday at 8 p.m., which is pretty specific.  If they can be that precise on time I think they could do a better job with service to customers.

Until next time

Quote for Today

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.

The Week In Review

"Mellon"

Waiting for dinner - "The service around here is a little slow"

Mellon visiting with Sami and the boys

There has been a lot going on this past week to deal with.  My daughter’s horse Mellon, who is twenty-five years old, was diagnosed with EPM.  They had been staying out and at first he just seemed tired and a bit stiff, but then began having trouble walking and was stumbling around a bit.  We decided to have him checked out and the vet confirmed the diagnosis of EPM last Saturday.  He has been on medication now for a week and seems to be doing a little better.  Our vet also took a blood test for Cushing’s and that was also confirmed this past Saturday.  Mellon will start his medication Monday for that and hopefully it will help him better able to fight off the EPM.  Mellon is the type of horse who will never surrender his leadership of the herd or give in to feeling poorly.  So he is a little difficult to deal with when he is sick.

He has been put in the small side paddock with Dusty for company.  If she is out of his sight he will pace the fence calling for her.  Since we didn’t want him any more stressed, we thought it best to simply let him have her for a companion until he is well enough to go out with the rest of the herd.  Dusty, of course, doesn’t really care for Mellon and his stalker antics, but she puts up with him because she has to.  We decided it would be better if Mellon were less stressed last weekend, so I didn’t get a chance to ride her, but that’s okay.  The important thing is that he gets a chance to relax and let the medicine do its job.

On to this past Saturday:  We put Blue out with Mellon and Dusty in the hopes he wouldn’t have a meltdown if I took her out to ride.  While I was grooming and tacking up, we kept an eye on him and he seemed to accept the fact that she wasn’t with him.  I took her to the indoor so he could see her from his paddock.  He only called a few times and then settled down.

Unfortunately, when I brought her back into the paddock, Mellon decided to chastise Dusty for leaving.  He started to canter off after her to give her a bite on the butt, then did a huge buck but didn't stick the landing and went down.  I nearly had a heart attack until he got up.  I’m glad he didn’t hurt himself badly, but we’ll have to make adjustments and leave Dusty in with him until he’s more stable on his legs.

Dusty, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more insulted by the fact that she might have to work for a few minutes.  Apparently, she’s forgotten how to stand quietly at the mounting block again.  It took four longeing sessions before she would stand still and let me get on without swinging her ample butt away from the block.  Since she had already had a lot of exercise and was sweating, I only walked her around on a loose rein to cool her off.  The main idea was to make her listen and let me get on board.  On a good note, she did look balanced and had a nice pace at the canter, which was formerly her pogo stick gait.  I’m looking forward to trying this new balanced Dusty canter soon. 

Until next time

Quote for Today

A horse doesn't care how much you know until he knows how much you care.