rural life

Since kj recently mentioned our horse(s), I thought I'd give you an update.

Cupcake (on the right) hasn't been doing well. His arthritic knee has worsened; Ruby can longer ride him. Furthermore, the anti-inflammatory meds gave him a bad belly ache (colitis), which had him out of sorts for a couple of weeks. We'd been suspecting that the vision in his one remaining eye was worsening for a while. Apparently, the other recent problems caused his vision deterioration to speed up. He is no longer limping as much, but Cupcake is now almost completely blind. This has been difficult for all of us. The sweet old pony we've grown accustomed to hugging and loving on sometimes won't let any of us near him. He became jumpy, agitated, (understandably so) and wasn't resting well, plus at first he was still not eating well since the colitis.

While we'd been looking for another horse for Ruby to ride, we sped that process up because of Cupcake's blindness. Enter Wrangler. He isn't fancy - but he has turned out to be a great blessing for us. Cupcake is eating better, less jumpy and seems better over all. Wrangler seems to be trying to stay close to Cupcake- who listens for him constantly and apears to take comfort in his presence. That was our great hope. There hasn't been any posturing or prowess-proving between them. Sometimes animals just understand.

It is quite possible that Cupcake's blindness is being caused by a brain tumor. He has good and bad days. Today was not a good day. He wouldn't let Keith get near to brush him. Twice Cupcake was about to run into something (as he avoided Keith) and Wrangler neighed to warn him. If that doesn't bring tears to your eyes, I don't know what will. There's probably a lesson in there, but I'm too choked up to think about it.

Wrangler is a bit of a rascal. We had to turn on the electric fence for the first time in 2 years. He kept getting into the yard, though the grass in the field is far better. He's doing well with Ruby. Wrangler had been moved around a lot lately, but we think he's happy here, and we're happy to have him. HIs nickname is Pig- which surely requires no further explanation.

We're mentally trying to prepare for the loss of Cupcake. We want him to be happy and as comfortable as possible for the time he has left. We made that promise to him and we will keep it. Now, we'll make the same promise to Wrangler.