Whew, we survived the weekend

Saturday morning I was going to be sweet to Calvary and let him hand graze in the ditch. He wouldn't graze. He would eat if I picked a handful but he wasn't comfortable to put his head clear down to the ground. He was a bit shaky on his back legs when he stretched very low. Poor old guy. So I took him back and set him up with a hanging feeder plus put his water tub and 2nd feed tub on tires etc. Then I decided I was going to have a nice ride to ease my mind.

I took a wonderful long ride. It was sunny as I saddled up and I almost wanted to get a lighter shirt but decided not to bother. Took off and we got some cloud cover and breeze. Not enough to chill but so refreshing. I let Ole tag along as I usually do when I ride from home. I wanted to explore some field roads I had found a couple miles from home. Well Ole was busy sniffing and I didn't wait for him. He usually takes hisself home if he isn't up to the pace. Since he wasn't along we really boogied along, and explored extra side trails etc and we ate up 15 miles. It was so lovely, until I got home and Ole was NOT there waiting for us. Durned dog, I'm always joking that I'm trying to ditch him and cant succeed but it wasn't funny when it was true. Still, figured he met someone else from our neighborhood and followed them home and was hanging around playing with their dogs until they shut him out. But he didn't show up, dad went down and called for him, and went down one neighborhood road. I drove my car back to the spot where Ole had dropped off and called. Then went down the ditch road towards home and let Mia run a bit. No Ole. Not a good evening. I knew he was missing his tags; I had noticed they were gone but hadn't replaced them yet so no one could call us. Oh sht sht sht.

Finally late saturday night I figured I could call animal control and report him missing, but it was so late I left it till morning. Also asked animal communicators to talk to him. On sunday morning I called the published Adams county shelter/control # which was a recording of their hours and don't leave a message. So I dug in the book, called the city ac # and they transferred me to a county # that would take a message. Nuthin like red tape. I read the communicators post and was worried from what she got that Ole had been hit by a car and knocked into an irrigation ditch. There were no ditches steep enough he could have troubles getting out of them if he werent hurt and she had gotten an impression that he was in a hole, but she had a migraine so things were a bit fuzzy after accurate description of where Ole dropped out and him wagging his tale when she talked to him. But I know from experience that sometimes we cant tell if animals have died or not. So I drove back to the ditch and walked under the highway and checked really thoroughly. No Ole body. Drove down the ditch road away from home, fruitless search. Head home wondering what to do next. Walk in the door to a ringing phone. It was the pound and they had Ole, picked up wandering around, not hurt or anything. Whew what a relief. Mom had picked up the ph 2 seconds ahead of me and I let her deal with the lecture. I dug out the exact change $55 fine. Mom and dad fetched him home. Hey he got microchipped out of the deal.

Calvary ate and drank great wtih the raised tubs, rather then the merely good he had been before. I wanted to worm him but mom thought V already had, so we waited and called her when she got home from church. She hadn't but she figured we should play it extra safe and not give him a full dose so I gave him 15 cc's of safeguard. I haven't weight taped him and wouldn't know whether to worm the actual weight or what he should be. 23 cc's would be a full dose for 1000 lbs. For his size he should weigh at least 1200 lbs. I groomed him good, he is shedding and his summer coat does not look bad, surprises me for as thin as he is. I searched high and low and couldn't find my excaliber (sheath cleaner) but my vet has warned some horses have reaction to it anyway so I just took an oral syringe and some warm water with a bit of aloe juice and rinsed him. Flushed out a lot of crud and I may have even got a soft pair of beans -I'm not sure I know exactly where beans hide. Then I took a 2nd dressage lesson on RazzMo with V. It went pretty well. We mainly walked and did just a bit of trotting, but she showed me how I'm putting my feet too far forward when I post a trot and then moved the skeery cardboard the wind had liffted off the ground and flapped it against the arena fence so RazzMo could relax and just trot again and it felt good. I loff how V fixes my fundamentals and all my riding is improved so much after just a lesson or 2. But I must remember to replace the leathers on my saddle. We aren't using the ideal hole because it has a split. And I took the plunge and re-arranged horses. I put Grey, Cindy and Razz together in the portable shed pen --now its the diet pen. Shade is in with CJ, who has turned into a bit of a bully -grr and with Sadie. But Shade is shrugging off CJ taking first choice of feeder. I want to give her less alfalfa and more total hay -basically what Sadie and CJ have been getting. plus I wanted Sadie in that bigger pen. So crossing fingers that this works out. Razz is pushing Grey and Cindy out of food but perhaps they'll double up on him. Plenty of feeders so Grey and Cindy won't starve and they have even more spare than Razz.