beejy
so kelli and i did a mild flexion test on beej to see where he's at.
he made faces at me when i put the slightest pressure on his near knee & was of course, dog fucking lame on it. he's a lot less tense through his back & quarters tho, which is great... but otherwise. i just don't know.
i had a slight panic on FB and lots of people were super nice & reassuring about how flexion tests aren't the end of the world. one lady suggested i try depomedrol joint injections.
one thing is that when the vet came, he was lame in ALL four legs after flexion tests. i simply cannot afford xrays/scans & joint injections for all legs. the worst is his knee & what we believe is causing the referred back pain.
we just did that on friday so i've kind of had my head in the sand for the last 4 days.
and then yesterday i very impulsively emailed a girl who came on the ride with a super nice horse that she is looking to lease out. i will never ever be able to afford to buy a super nice horse & idk if i have the time and patience to bring on another tb because for some reason my fucking biological clock is starting to tell me that time is running out to GET THE FUCK SERIOUS about being a grown up & that eventually i'll need to stop playing with ponies & put my money into something more productive like a HOUSE and a CHILD.
idk, i'm really confused about THAT, and not having horses makes me bug the fuck out.
....
argh.
idk, these are my options.
1. xray & inject one joint at a time on beejy (obviously supplements and all that jazz are included in this option)
PROS
- may pull up 100% sound & have many years left of awesome riding.
- get to ride my horse again!
CONS
- long & painful process because of the $$$ and then there's still the uncertainty anyway. PLUS - beejay is a bloody difficult horse & will always be a challenge & never will be a jump on bareback & go for a jaunt type of horse
2. retire beejay with blitzen
PROS
- he can live out a life of luxury with the old man.
- cheaper to keep a retired horse than keep him in fancy agistment like he is now.
CONS
- so fucking sad to retire an 11 yo horse
- 4 years of hard work just gone
3. pentosan to keep him comfortable & keep him at paul's & just focus on parelli & liberty work
PROS
- keeps him active
- a good challenge
CONS
- i want to ride
- too fucking sad every time i look at him.
- too expensive to keep him in fancy agistment just to 'play' with.
4. Pentosan to keep him comfortable & lease him to a middle aged parelli-ite who never rides.
haha. yeah right!
in theory this might work because he loves being doted on & being a one man horse. plus he's sensitive & great to play with & learns super fast. but most middle aged parelli-ites would probably freak out at his first tantrum. they seem to all want 13hh fat ponies nowadays, not fire-breathing red heads.
plus, such a person might be difficult to come by.
BUT if i were to find such a miracle home for him then i could look at leasing a nice horse for a couple of years myself, to get this riding bug out, before i give up riding for a while to have babies or pay for a house.
........
there is another option that a couple of people, experienced with tb's and their ongoing unsoundness, have suggested to me. but i am not open to that idea.
........
as for retired horses, my responsibility is of course to blitzen. taz is getting on soon too & i made a commitment to him a long time ago that i would be his last owner. i can't have a whole bunch of horses out on retirement - it's not practical. and because i don't have my own place it's not like i get to see & love on them every day.
through the years lots of people have suggested selling beejay due to our emotional issues. that there was no shame in finding a better home for him. i just never felt that our story was finished tho. i always felt that we had a lot more to do together.
and now i just don't know. it's like someone has ripped the final chapter out of this book & i have no idea how it ends. before i always had a vision of sorts of where i wanted to go & we were starting to get there with going to pony club & the few shows we did manage. i've always plugged along a few chapters at a time with beej, but now i just have no idea.
riding has become very important to me lately, since i've started to get "feel" (not entirely, but it's there!). idk how important competition is, but i know that i have a lot more to learn & a lot further to GO with my riding.
maybe since i've not been riding him for ages, my heart has started to close, which is why i'm entertaining the idea of leasing him out & getting another riding horse. maybe i've just always been half hearted with him & it's just my stubborn nature which has prevented me from biting the bullet & finding a more suited home. idk. i DO love him & my heart skips a beat when i see him.
.........
i would really love some feedback & advice on this & the options i've outlined. maybe you guys, in all your wisdom, have other, better options for us to explore.
he made faces at me when i put the slightest pressure on his near knee & was of course, dog fucking lame on it. he's a lot less tense through his back & quarters tho, which is great... but otherwise. i just don't know.
i had a slight panic on FB and lots of people were super nice & reassuring about how flexion tests aren't the end of the world. one lady suggested i try depomedrol joint injections.
one thing is that when the vet came, he was lame in ALL four legs after flexion tests. i simply cannot afford xrays/scans & joint injections for all legs. the worst is his knee & what we believe is causing the referred back pain.
we just did that on friday so i've kind of had my head in the sand for the last 4 days.
and then yesterday i very impulsively emailed a girl who came on the ride with a super nice horse that she is looking to lease out. i will never ever be able to afford to buy a super nice horse & idk if i have the time and patience to bring on another tb because for some reason my fucking biological clock is starting to tell me that time is running out to GET THE FUCK SERIOUS about being a grown up & that eventually i'll need to stop playing with ponies & put my money into something more productive like a HOUSE and a CHILD.
idk, i'm really confused about THAT, and not having horses makes me bug the fuck out.
....
argh.
idk, these are my options.
1. xray & inject one joint at a time on beejy (obviously supplements and all that jazz are included in this option)
PROS
- may pull up 100% sound & have many years left of awesome riding.
- get to ride my horse again!
CONS
- long & painful process because of the $$$ and then there's still the uncertainty anyway. PLUS - beejay is a bloody difficult horse & will always be a challenge & never will be a jump on bareback & go for a jaunt type of horse
2. retire beejay with blitzen
PROS
- he can live out a life of luxury with the old man.
- cheaper to keep a retired horse than keep him in fancy agistment like he is now.
CONS
- so fucking sad to retire an 11 yo horse
- 4 years of hard work just gone
3. pentosan to keep him comfortable & keep him at paul's & just focus on parelli & liberty work
PROS
- keeps him active
- a good challenge
CONS
- i want to ride
- too fucking sad every time i look at him.
- too expensive to keep him in fancy agistment just to 'play' with.
4. Pentosan to keep him comfortable & lease him to a middle aged parelli-ite who never rides.
haha. yeah right!
in theory this might work because he loves being doted on & being a one man horse. plus he's sensitive & great to play with & learns super fast. but most middle aged parelli-ites would probably freak out at his first tantrum. they seem to all want 13hh fat ponies nowadays, not fire-breathing red heads.
plus, such a person might be difficult to come by.
BUT if i were to find such a miracle home for him then i could look at leasing a nice horse for a couple of years myself, to get this riding bug out, before i give up riding for a while to have babies or pay for a house.
........
there is another option that a couple of people, experienced with tb's and their ongoing unsoundness, have suggested to me. but i am not open to that idea.
........
as for retired horses, my responsibility is of course to blitzen. taz is getting on soon too & i made a commitment to him a long time ago that i would be his last owner. i can't have a whole bunch of horses out on retirement - it's not practical. and because i don't have my own place it's not like i get to see & love on them every day.
through the years lots of people have suggested selling beejay due to our emotional issues. that there was no shame in finding a better home for him. i just never felt that our story was finished tho. i always felt that we had a lot more to do together.
and now i just don't know. it's like someone has ripped the final chapter out of this book & i have no idea how it ends. before i always had a vision of sorts of where i wanted to go & we were starting to get there with going to pony club & the few shows we did manage. i've always plugged along a few chapters at a time with beej, but now i just have no idea.
riding has become very important to me lately, since i've started to get "feel" (not entirely, but it's there!). idk how important competition is, but i know that i have a lot more to learn & a lot further to GO with my riding.
maybe since i've not been riding him for ages, my heart has started to close, which is why i'm entertaining the idea of leasing him out & getting another riding horse. maybe i've just always been half hearted with him & it's just my stubborn nature which has prevented me from biting the bullet & finding a more suited home. idk. i DO love him & my heart skips a beat when i see him.
.........
i would really love some feedback & advice on this & the options i've outlined. maybe you guys, in all your wisdom, have other, better options for us to explore.