Dangerous Temps

Winter has arrived people!

We have been pretty lucky with our winter so far but this week we are getting hit hard. I have been riding but while I am not what I would consider a fair weather rider I am a bit more cautious about jumping in this than others. No judgment on anyone else! I think everyone knows their own horse and what they can handle. Winifred is 19 this year and I just do not think he needs to be doing too much. For example this past week our jumping consisted of just a few warm-up fences and a line. He was pretty sure that he could have done more and even tried to drop a stride in our line but one of us has to watch out for him. Lol.

I flatted him on Sunday and he was definitely on edge. It was cold and he is pretty sure the light spots in the arena in the afternoon are lava spots that are going to melt his hooves off if he steps on them. Silly boy! He will be getting this week off though cause NO ONE is safe riding in -45! Hand walking only this week.

Michigan……where you change your horse’s clothes more in one day than you change your own!

Dealing with the weather alone was not enough for Luther so he decided to throw leg infection in there too. Saturday our BO told me that he came in with blood on his front legs. We think that he must have been standing on ice, broke through, and cut his legs. I cleaned up the cuts and he seemed fine. Sunday it looked the same but I came out yesterday and holy sh$t his right leg was HUGE!! No heat but the smell coming from the cut was like road kill in the summer. The cut was also oozing nasty discharge. His left front was a little swollen too but nothing like the right which was swollen from his pastern to up past his knee. Luckily, my BO and family are amazing. I didn’t have my leg wraps because I took them home to wash and my iodine disappeared from my tack box. One of my barnmates gave me her wraps and iodine and my BO had antibiotics on hand. He is on SMZ twice a day and I am cleaning and wrapping. Oh and I am also praying! He is my old man and I worry when anything like this happens. Lol.

Went out there this afternoon and I am pleased to see that the swelling has gone down quite a bit but the smell is still horrid. I was too freaked out to remember to take pictures last night but here are some pics from a couple of hours ago.

Luther showing how he feels about an antibiotic mustache