Layin Low

This was not the horsiest weekend ever.

The Boy and I have been passing like ships in the night for the past few weeks (between work travel and a few solo weekend trips to see old friends) so we took the chance to getaway for a totally relaxing (albeit brief) getaway.  Foruntately for me the getaway was just past the barn, so I asked politely if we could pretty please stop to give P a treat and pat the baby's nose.

He politely obliged so I got to give a quick kiss to both noses before kicking up my heels and enjoying some delicious wine and over the top meals. (yum).

I figured that my general neglect of the mare was justified on a few accounts

1) wine.
and
2) my theory to give her the week off while her hormones rebalanced.

P didn't seem to mind.  In fact I think she's relishing her new job as "treat eater" and "paddock protector."  As defending her turf appears to be her only major responsibility (apparently she's taken to charging at every horse getting walked past her gate... charming, P).

The time away was lovely.  Just enough distance between us and our normal routine to feel like we unplugged for a few precious hours, although the blood pressure spiked back to normal with an early morning text from the BO saying "I don't want you to worry, but...."

God bless her for knowing to start any voicemail/email/text with that line, but I still wasn't exactly the picture of calm while I waited for my phone to slowly open the rest of the message...

"I don't want you to worry, but Pia seems to have fallen and managed to scrape up her left knee pretty badly. everything else is good. Cut is rinsed and smeared in ointment"

Ugh.  Really mare!? you fell?!  I don't even know how that would be possible, but it can't feel good since you're on gravel.  What did you do.

It didn't sound serious, but still, I wasn't comfortable with scrapes and cuts that I hadn't personally seen and confirmed to be non-life threatening, which is why I was grateful when The Boy suggested we swing by to take a look on our way home.  I was thankful for his willingness to stand aimlessly in the barn while I poured over Pia looking for any other nick or scrape (there were none...) and then clomped around in her paddock (in adorable flats, a light suede blazer and a new spring scarf) looking for signs of scrapes or hair or blood that would somehow explain P's mystery scrape.



Oh, PS - the scrape was gross.  I didn't take a picture, but it resembled the bloody knees of last summer when P fell on the concrete after her second myelogram...

How she managed such a significant scrape on only ONE knee is still beyond me.  but there was no sign of scraping anywhere in the paddock.  nothing in her shed, nothing on her fences, nothing on her mats or her slow feeder.  About the time I started wandering back and forth in her paddock looking for the gravel patch where she may have "fallen" I realized I was being a wee bit ridiculous and realistically, the joint wasn't warm, there was only a little puffiness around the scabby grossness and it didn't look like it was turning into anything complicated.  So I threw another layer of goo on top and threw the mare back outside.

I left feeling pretty sure the scrape wasn't going to kill her (although it is pretty gnarly looking) and VERY sure that her hormones are fully back in business.  I say this because when P was in the crossties by the baby's stall, mama mare went BALLISTIC and starting trying to chew through the bars in order to murder Pia (who, btw had no idea what was going on).  Then, when I finally turned the mare back out into her paddock, she nickered to every single gelding (she's never done this before) and proceeded to STARE at her favorite boyfriend, while he hung his head aimlessly over his gate.

What a hussy.

making a racket (no one else cares)

All eyes on Riley (and he really doesn't care...)

Out to the barn today to hopefully get back on her back..  Something tells me she'll be feeling pretty fresh.

Oh, and Thursday we haul to the vet for our general checkup and hoof eval... fun fun!