Lilly's Second Day -

So Many Firsts - Not all Good

I am writing this with some good advice and reflection under my belt. Thank you Meghan for talking to me last night and helping me reflect and be kind to myself. I also got some great advice from my two facebook support groups. I am ready to take on a new day. I know that I can do this. I know that it will take patience. I know that it will take time. I know that we will be successful.

So, yesterday was overwhelming.

Let's start at the beginning.

First thing in the morning as soon as the vet's office's in town opened I started calling them to see who could come out and check on Lilly's eye. Yesterday, I noticed that her eyes were very weepy and one eye was more so than the other. So I knew that I wanted a vet to come out and check it today. Gem city was unable to come out so I also called alpine to see if one of their vets could come out. The vet WAS able to come out at 3:40 that day. So with that taken care of I made my way out to see Lilly.

I packed up the supplies I would need for the day (but I forgot the correction tool - this would be important later). I knew there was a high wind warning today - but thought I would try and see if I could make it. It was scary. I decided to take the short cut so I would be biking less. The winds were about 40 miles per hour from the west. There were also gusts that were even stronger (up to 70 miles an hour). It was tough. When I first rode I was riding into the wind. This slowed me down from going 20 mph to going 11-12 miles per hour. Then I rode south which made the wind push me to the east. I had to push right into the wind so it did not blow me. Going over the bridge was scary but I made it. Than I turned east and the wind was at my back so that was not hard. Then I was south again and fought the wind again. I would say that going south was the hardest and scariest part of the journey. I lost my brand new special mask I have been waiting for 2 months to receive. The wind blew it away. 😔 I was a little beat up after my ride but excited to interact with Lilly.

Then came our next adventure. Lilly started learning yesterday to give me space while I am feeding her her supplements. Well I guess she learned that she didn't like that all that much. I also probably taught her some bad habits the day before because today when I went in there she was VERY VERY pushing.

I did the horseman handshake and she greeted me. I was able to put her halter and lead rope on pretty easily. Things were going pretty good - but than Lilly got impatient and very pushy. I definitely see that I need to leave things outside the paddock.

She was trying very hard to get the food bucket. She would try to push me against the fence and then she was trying to get her legs into position to kick at me. So somehow yesterday I must have taught her that she could move me. Bad idea. So after 3 times of this I was starting to get scared so I threw the closed bucket of food over the fence and got out of the paddock.

She did not like this. But she also calmed down. She met me at the fence and seemed to want to engage in a less pushy way. So we did some bonding over the fence while I calmed down. It was scary but I knew I needed to think of a safer way of feeding her. We are not ready for be to come between her and her food. We need to take baby steps.

Than Andi came by and told me that I could take Lilly in out of the wind and groom her in the barn. I thought this would be a good opportunity to feed her in a safer way. So I put the food in the barn and than led her too it. This was an anxious time for her since she had never been to the barn before and there were a lot of scary things along the way and the wind was blowing SOOOOOO hard. But I stayed calm and she calmed down pretty well. We still need to work on leading as she does not listen very well because I am not being clear with what I am asking her to do.

So I lead her to the barn and she ate while I did some grooming with her. She was antsy and moved around a lot. I also let her move around and investigate to help her stay calm and curious. I did not let her pull me around but I did matching steps with her as she walked. That went well and she did very well even with the winds blowing things around and loud noises.

We made it safely back to the paddock and I was able to take off her halter.

I headed back home. The first part of the trip is going northwest so I was fighting the wind again. But it wasn't too bad. Then I rode west and had to fight with the wind. Again I went about 11 miles per hour but it wasn't too scary or dangerous. Then I had to ride north and this is where it got super scary and even dangerous, The wind was blowing so strong from the west that it was pushing me off the road. I had to go over the bridge and I was being pushed so hard. I was very scared. At one point I even had to stop because the wind was so gusting so hard I knew it was going to push me over so I planted my feet and held on. After that I was able to go west. That was so much safer and easier going with the wind. Then I went a little north again, but was inside the city so it was not too bad. Then west again and I was home! I was exhausted. But I was safe. I sat with Elizabeth and we watched Heroes Rising again (she loves My Hero Academia). It was nice to decompress and relax with the dogs. They are always so happy to see me again.

During the movie I KNEW I could NOT ride back out to take care of Lilly and meet the vet. I knew I needed to find a ride.

I knew there were going to be times I could not bike out to the farm. So before Lilly arrived I looked into carpooling with other boarders. I found 3 people to help me. I need more because so far only one person has been able to help me and don't want to burden her. She has already helped me twice. Yesterday and today. It is hard because COVID many people (rightfully so) don't want to get COVID. I use my VERY good mask. It blocks 99.97 viruses and bacteria. It is also great for pollution so it helps with the air quality issues because of the fires.

So I texted the people who offered to do carpooling. Sarah (the one who helped me yesterday) could not take me to the farm. Caroline did not answer because she was too busy. So then I decided to ask the vet if she would be comfortable taking me out to the farm with her. I thought I could ride my bike to the clinic and she could take me with her. I forgot that I would still need to cross over the bridge on 15th if I met her at the clinic. She said she was fine taking me out there. Now, I just needed to find a ride to the clinic. So I looked at Uber. I was able to find an Uber (all drivers and passengers MUST wear masks!). So I took an Uber to the clinic. She said she wanted to leave at 3:15-3:20. So I of course wanted to be early so she would not have to wait for me. So I got there at 3. But she was late. We did not leave until almost 4 (we were suppose to be at the farm at 3:40).

When we arrived at the farm, I harnessed Lilly and walked her over to the barn. This was the first time she went into this barn. So there were lots of new experiences for her. She did very well.

The vet needed to examine her. She listened to her heart, lungs, digestion, and took her temperature. She did not mind any of this. She did very well even during her temperature.

Then the vet needed to examine her eyes. She did not like the vet looking at her eyes. So the vet had to sedate her. She did not like this either. The vet actually had to give her two shots because the first one did not work all the way. When a horse is sedated they stay standing up. They just get very sleepy and hang their head. However, they can still pull away, pull their head up, and walk backwards. These are all things they do.

Lilly did very well even though she did not like all this vet stuff. After she was sedated the vet was able to examine her eyes better and stain them. She said that she could not see anything wrong with her right eye but in her left eye there was a cut. She had to stain the eyes to see if there were any cuts.

She also flushed out the nasolacrimal duct. This is the duct that runs from the horse's eye down out of the nose. There is a tiny hole in the nose that the vet needs to stick a tube in to flush the duct with saline solution. This is to make sure that it is not clogged as this can cause lots of drainage and discharge as well.

She did not like this and I had to use a neck twitch to help distract her. A neck twitch is when you hold the neck skin very firmly and wiggle it to help the horse focus on that instead of what is happening to the face. The vet also used her hands to do a nose twitch because she did not like any of this but she did very well.

Finally, the vet showed me how to put the ointment in her eyes. I am suppose to put the ointment in her eyes 2 times a day for 7 days. It was easy to put it in her eyes because she was sedated.

Andi and Jerry (owners of On A String) offered to give Lilly a face mask to help keep the wind from blowing things in her face. It was very kind of them. So Jerry helped me put it on her. It is a little big for her but it will help keep debris off her face. Hopefully she is okay with it.

Finally, I had to wait until she woke up from sedation. She could not have any water or food during this time as it can cause choke. Choke is when food gets caught in the horse's throat. It can be very bad. Horses can not regurgitate or throw up so it is very vital that they do not choke.

Because she was the one that had to experience all this new and scary things I wanted to follow her lead. So when she started waking up she wanted to walk around. So we did. She talked to the other horses. The other horses were also very interested in her. The lead horse in the paddock did not like the other horses being interested in her.

Then Andi came out to talk to me and asked me if I wanted to put her in a stall for overnight because of her eye injury. I didn't think she would like it - but she said we would try and whatever place she felt the best is where they would put her.

So I walked her over to the barn and stable. But she did not like it so we took her back to her pasture. She was much more relaxed. I gave her her supplements and lead her to them said my goodbyes and left. It was already after 5:30 and I was exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Sarah and her boyfriend Tanner (the two people out of the 3 people who offered to help me with carpooling) had arrived. They feed their horses, hung out with us and Lilly, and took me home. I arrived home just a little before 6.

Elizabeth helped me quickly put our meat away. I quickly made our shakes. I was exhausted and emotional. Meghan called and I talked to her for a little before sleeping.

It was a very exhausting day. There were a lot of good things I learned. Lilly and I had a lot of firsts today. We will have many more new firsts in the days to come. I will keep my focus on all the "golden nuggets" of our time together!