I'm still taking both horses out every Tuesday for lessons. DC is coming along very nicely. I've had her on a couple of solo rides around the neighborhood. Our most recent ride we worked on crossing water, which she got down pretty quick. She did try to convince me that, since she had stuck her face in the water, she shouldn't have to stick her feet in the water. She also had to pass a pair of dollies (the sort used to move furniture and appliances, not children's toys) which were new on the trail. It was not easy but she managed it. Eventually she decided the dogs would probably not be next to the dollies if they were about to attack. There's an abandoned trailer out there she still doesn't like. As we approach it, she looks for all sorts of reasons to go another way or turn around. But, there's only one way through, and that's past the trailer, and she will do it. I also got to take her on her first trip out in the trailer for a trail ride. My friend, Wendy Turner, came along and rode Hoss.
This brings us to another bit of news. Five dogs now call Chalice Ranch home. In mid-December, a friend from church, Ruth Turner (Wendy Turner's mom), emailed me. She sent a link and commented, "Wouldn't this guy fit in nicely at your ranch?" The link was to a picture of a very sad and scared-looking brindle dog in the shelter. Ruth works with a local rescue. The rescue pulled this fellow from the shelter.
Of course I didn't think I needed another dog. Then I got to looking around. Roxy recently had her third or fourth bout of pancreatitis, and is now getting home-made chicken and rice for her meals. Ash is starting to show intermittent lameness from his bilateral hip displaysia, and I've started hearing his hips pop on walks. Even Mac is starting to show age, limping more often on the torn cruciate in his hind leg. Both of the "younger" dogs will be five this year. I always said when they were four or five it would be time to get another dog. I thought by this time Roxy would have passed (I'm happy she hasn't), so I'd still be at the four dog level.
It didn't take much thinking to say yes. Ruth brought the new dog, dubbed "Cliffy" by the rescue, out to the ranch. Wendy came along as well, and we had a short trail ride while "Cliffy" started acclimating to his new surroundings and spent some time bonding with my daughter.
The dog was sweet and bonded easily. He wanted nothing more than to be close to a person. That night, when I went to bed, all the dogs came into my room, including "Cliffy." He discovered Uh-oh the Goat on the deck outside my bedroom, standing halfway out of the sliding glass door to stare at her. He followed Tiger the Cat around until she jumped up on the cat tree. He cried a lot, wanting to be close to me. At one point I woke up to find him staring right into my face.
"Cliffy" didn't stick. Somehow it just seemed like the wrong name for this brindled sweetheart. Besides, when we got Mac and Ash, we decided on a formula: the dogs would have "bad-ass" names. This really started with a dog we lost in 2006, Mauser, so named for the firearm. Mac got his name from the Mac-10 rifle. Ash is named for the Bruce Campbell character in the Evil Dead movies and Army of Darkness. So this new fellow needed a name. We ran through several before my daughter came up with Sam. It was an appropriate name. Once again, we are using the name of a character. Yet another Bruce Campbell character from the USA TV show Burn Notice.
Sam got to go on his first trailer-out trail ride the same day DC did. They both had a very positive experience. I did learn Sam is shy of every horse *except* Hoss and DC. This isn't really a negative, but it does make passing other horses more interesting.
We're quite pleased to have added Sam to our "pack." Although young he's not a terribly high energy dog. He's sweet and easy to teach. And, of course, he's adorable.
Here's video of Sam playing with the other dogs on a morning walk about three days after he came to us.
Also in mid-December, the week before Death Valley, I took Hoss to see the vet. My trainer and I were concerned he was developing some hock and stifle issues. At a lesson a few days earlier, his stifle was popping a bit so we were quite worried.
After an exhaustive exam, the vet felt the stifle popping was meaningless. It was gone by the time of the exam, and was not apparent on a short trail ride a couple of days earlier. The vet did find some fibrotic myopathy, basically scar tissue in the muscle, in Hoss's ride hind leg. It's probably the result of a fall he took in the trailer in late August. He will short-stride slightly for the rest of his life, although I can say he can sure reach forward when he wants to.
As a result of this exam, we decided not to inject Hoss's hocks, but to put him on a round of Pentosan. He had his first four loading doses and my trainer and I watched him in the arena. I hadn't actually watched him move on his own the entire time (how do you watch a horse you're riding?), so I really had no basis for comparison. My trainer, however, was very impressed with the improvement she saw. While I didn't really feel a difference in the saddle, the difference in how he moved and especially in how he stopped was noticeable. I don't feel like I'm riding an especially different horse, but I will be keeping him on the Pentosan and may have his hocks injected sooner rather than later.
That's all that really fits into this stage of the blog. Stay tuned. Lots more to get up to date!
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