Peevish Pen

Ruminations on reading, writing, genealogy and family history, rural living, retirement, aging—and sometimes cats.

© 2006-2023 All rights reserved

My Photo
Name:
Location: Rural Virginia, United States

I'm an elderly retired teacher who writes. Among my books are Ferradiddledumday (Appalachian version of the Rumpelstiltskin story), Stuck (middle grade paranormal novel), Patches on the Same Quilt (novel set in Franklin County, VA), Them That Go (an Appalachian novel), Miracle of the Concrete Jesus & Other Stories, and several Kindle ebooks.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Hairy Horse

My old mare Cupcake—who'll turn 30 on May 11—has had a lot of problems in her old age. Since last fall, she's had a recurring hoof abscess in her right forefoot. Part of her hoof wall recently separated where the original abscess was and the vet had to trim it away. She's pretty lame in that hoof and is currently on Bute and antibiotics. That's why, in the picture below, she sports a hoof bandage consisting of  duct-tape over purple Vetwarp over a diaper. It does the job keeping her hoof clean, but she can't go out in rainy weather because water could soak through the bandage.


She also has Cushing's disease, which causes her to have long hair. Because the weather is getting hotter, I decided to clip some of her excess hair yesterday while she grazed on the lawn. The pasture has been too wet and muddy from recent rain for her to walk around in it, so she's mostly confined to her stall. But the lawn is dry, and I figured she'd enjoy the treat. Plus I had a long extension cord on the clippers and could follow her around and clip as she ate.

Here's some—but not all—of the hair that I clipped off her while she was grazing.


After I clipped some—but not all—excess hair, I ran the shedding blade over her. This is some—but not all—of what I scraped off.


She's still pretty hairy.


While Cupcake was out, Melody ran into the stall to eat Cupcake's hay. 


Soon Melody was evicted from the stall, and Cupcake was incarcerated again.


This morning the sun was out, the weather was warm, and pasture was much drier, so Cupcake was allowed to go out.



Where was Melody? You guessed it!

 ~

Labels:

3 Comments:

Blogger RLMT said...

Cupcake reminds me more and more of my old mare, Bess (R.I.P.). You also just explained her long hair-coat, as well. Cushing's Disease. Poor old girl, I miss her so much.

~ R.L.McIntosh(Tipton)

1:49 PM  
Blogger Gigi Amateau said...

Oh, sweet Cupcake! I have a boy she might like to meet: Albert has Cushing's, too. I'm glad Cupcake has you and Melody in this stage of her life.

3:45 PM  
Blogger Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Oh my, she's a mess! I mean your lawn is a mess!

9:55 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home