November 20 2003 Newsletter

		November 20, 2003 I have a lot of room to cover since the last newsletter! The foals are really not babies any more. . . they are growing so fast I can hardly keep up. They’re almost as big as Buttons. A couple months ago Charlie was measured at 12:2h. They still have their own distinct personalities, and they are just so much fun. The colts (now geldings) have gotten over being mouthy and the fillies are learning to respect my space. We’ve had a lot of rain lately, and are gearing up for a nasty wet winter. Yuck. The babies don’t mind though. They seem to really enjoy playing in the mud. They tear up the field, but they have so much fun I have to just enjoy watching them. The fillies are very dainty and precise when they play. I’ve never seen them get so caught up in playing that they fall – but every once in a while the colts get so caught up in it that they go flying. Especially Al. Charlie has pretty good balance, but Al goes so full-blast that he sometimes really wipes out! I’ve seen him do double head-over heels flips, and just get right back up and keep going. Makes me cringe, but he’s learning. . . slowly. . . to be a little more careful! We got a late start breeding mares this year, and unfortunately we won’t be expecting any baby horses next year. But it might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. . . because we found out that we will be expecting a baby person in mid-May of next year! We find out December 19th if it is a girl or boy – if the baby cooperates for the ultrasound. I have to admit Bob and I are hoping for a boy, but I think my brothers are rooting for a girl. I think Bob’s parents would kind of like it to be a girl too. But we’ll find out soon, and we’ll be thrilled either way. Buttons had to have an eye removed a few weeks ago – and she is doing amazingly well. I am repeatedly amazed by the wonderful things they can do with equine surgery. I think the surgery was more traumatic for me than it was for her. She had a squamous cell carcinoma on the corner of one eye that had been dormant for years. Because of her age, the stress of trying to remove the tumor, and the fact that it was unchanging and didn’t bother her, we have just been watching it for 5-6 years. Suddenly, in the course of a few days, the tumor more than doubled in size, tripled in opacity, and started getting thicker and pinkish. The least stressful solution for her ended up being removal of the eye. The stressful treatments (radiation, risky surgery to scrape the tumor off the eye) didn’t seem a good option at Buttons age, and we were also concerned that the sudden fast growth may indicate the tumor could spread to the eyelid or other parts of the body, so we elected to remove the entire eye as soon as possible. Within less than a week from the time it started changing, the tumor had grown about 5 times the size, and become totally opaque, and over twice as thick. The surgery went well, there was no visible evidence that it had spread outside the eye, and she never missed a beat. In fact, as soon as she got home, she took a gallop around the field with the babies, and went about her business as if nothing was different. She never had any pain that I could tell, she had very minimal swelling. . . We’re thrilled with how well it went, and think she looks really good. She has an implant to keep the shape of an eye, and her eye was sewn shut as if it’s just closed. I think she even looks better, because that was the eye that had a messed up tear duct, and continually drained down her face. So it fixed two problems at once!

November 20, 2003

I have a lot of room to cover since the last newsletter!

The foals are really not babies any more. . . they are growing so fast I can hardly keep up. They’re almost as big as Buttons. A couple months ago Charlie was measured at 12:2h. They still have their own distinct personalities, and they are just so much fun. The colts (now geldings) have gotten over being mouthy and the fillies are learning to respect my space. We’ve had a lot of rain lately, and are gearing up for a nasty wet winter. Yuck. The babies don’t mind though. They seem to really enjoy playing in the mud. They tear up the field, but they have so much fun I have to just enjoy watching them. The fillies are very dainty and precise when they play. I’ve never seen them get so caught up in playing that they fall – but every once in a while the colts get so caught up in it that they go flying. Especially Al. Charlie has pretty good balance, but Al goes so full-blast that he sometimes really wipes out! I’ve seen him do double head-over heels flips, and just get right back up and keep going. Makes me cringe, but he’s learning. . . slowly. . . to be a little more careful!

We got a late start breeding mares this year, and unfortunately we won’t be expecting any baby horses next year. But it might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. . . because we found out that we will be expecting a baby person in mid-May of next year! We find out December 19th if it is a girl or boy – if the baby cooperates for the ultrasound. I have to admit Bob and I are hoping for a boy, but I think my brothers are rooting for a girl. I think Bob’s parents would kind of like it to be a girl too. But we’ll find out soon, and we’ll be thrilled either way.

Buttons had to have an eye removed a few weeks ago – and she is doing amazingly well. I am repeatedly amazed by the wonderful things they can do with equine surgery. I think the surgery was more traumatic for me than it was for her. She had a squamous cell carcinoma on the corner of one eye that had been dormant for years. Because of her age, the stress of trying to remove the tumor, and the fact that it was unchanging and didn’t bother her, we have just been watching it for 5-6 years. Suddenly, in the course of a few days, the tumor more than doubled in size, tripled in opacity, and started getting thicker and pinkish. The least stressful solution for her ended up being removal of the eye. The stressful treatments (radiation, risky surgery to scrape the tumor off the eye) didn’t seem a good option at Buttons age, and we were also concerned that the sudden fast growth may indicate the tumor could spread to the eyelid or other parts of the body, so we elected to remove the entire eye as soon as possible. Within less than a week from the time it started changing, the tumor had grown about 5 times the size, and become totally opaque, and over twice as thick. The surgery went well, there was no visible evidence that it had spread outside the eye, and she never missed a beat. In fact, as soon as she got home, she took a gallop around the field with the babies, and went about her business as if nothing was different. She never had any pain that I could tell, she had very minimal swelling. . . We’re thrilled with how well it went, and think she looks really good. She has an implant to keep the shape of an eye, and her eye was sewn shut as if it’s just closed. I think she even looks better, because that was the eye that had a messed up tear duct, and continually drained down her face. So it fixed two problems at once!