Horse shopping...again

Well we are officially back horse shopping.....at a leisurely pace since we don't "need" another horse.  

Seamus and Chance are both doing well, Seamus eats his "soup" of grass pellets and supplements every day and hasn't had issues with choke since his Christmas time scare.  Chance is keeping on weight and now shedding out like crazy.  Chance turned 28 in February and Seamus will be 8 in April!!

I know Chance could live another year or two or he could have a rough summer and we have to make the call.  You just don't know.  We want to get a second rideable horse.  Something Steve could ride but honestly will be one I mainly ride in addition to Seamus. After Chance passes I plan to keep the number at 2 and then they both will just go with me to clinics and I'll ride one or the other depending on the clinic.  Trail riding with Steve may happen, we shall see.  I'm doing a lot of beer stuff with him so I think I can sway him to be more engaged in at least learning a bit more horsey stuff.  He's great in the barn, feeding, mucking and generally caring for our babies.  He loves the horses and gives them kisses everyday.

Anyhow I was interested in several Haflingers and a Morgan that was at this horse trader in NC.  They have a good reputation from what I've read from numerous sources but it's still buyer's beware.  There is a 10 day money back guarantee so I figured I could get a PPE done on any horse I decided to take home.  First wrong thought I had.  I've since realized that I don't work like that.  If I bring a horse home, they are mine.  I don't think I could haul them back after a PPE no matter the result.  So I've realized this isn't my style of buying at all!!

Anyways I digress.  The experience overall was good.  I found him to live up to his reputation of being honest.  He pointed out the flaws he saw in the horses and any issues.  Most horses are from auctions so he doesn't normally know much history on each one.  One gelding we looked at, rode and really liked was a cute 7 year old Haflinger.  The seller had pointed out a small growth on the cornea of the left eye.  

I looked at the eye and noted the irregular pink growth.  I would look into that.  Overall though the gelding was well put together, cute as a button and very willing to do what was asked.  I rode him and then Steve did.  We both really liked him and decided we'd discuss buying.  We discussed our concern with the eye growth, the PPE and the 10 day window with the seller.  

Steve and I went to lunch, thinking on buying this very cute gelding.  I searched about what the growth was.  Several people that were also looking at horses said they knew someone that had a horse that had something like that removed.  Cost $400-$900 bucks.  I wasn't really worried about the price to remove a growth and the seller even said he'd cover the cost of removal.  My worry was the long term prognosis.  Would it come back? Was it aggressive and would be a lifelong problem....not just the eye but other light colored areas of the horse? I had a gut feeling putting the brakes on this purchase very strongly.  My gut has made good horse choices so I tend to go with it....still I wanted more information.

Research lead me to squamous cell carcinoma. Haflingers can be prone to it if they have 1 or 2 copies of a certain gene, careless breeding with todays genetic testing availability.  This can appear in the eyes, nose, anal and genital areas.  Anywhere there is less pigment and exposure to UV radiation.  The prognosis can be good if caught early but then there is constant vigilance and maintenance.  With a 7 year old and a decent price tag I was starting to feel woozy with that prospect.

I started seeing heart break written all over this sweet gentle soul.  I've lost 3 critters since May of 2025, one being my dear Daenerys.  At this point I'm a little gun shy at the prospect of losing another horse, even though I know Chance is up there.  Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) could be a small issue or a larger one. I've since reached out to Haflinger groups on facebook inquiring about SCC and they all have given me the information I need to know I was thinking in the correct way about this prospect. It sounded like the once and done removal of the growth was not typical. This sounded like an arduous journey I was not willing to navigate.

We decided to pass on him, we'd come back to the barn to see some other horses the seller had to show. We got to see a fun group of ladies helping another lady find her dream quarter horse.  She eventually ended up with a strawberry roan gelding with a high price tag.  He was gorgeous and looked like he was well taken care of, so most likely not from a random auction house. Hopefully it will work out well for her!

The seller brought out a couple more horses including another halfinger mare....she was in bad shape, big belly, thin, ribs and very hairy.  I would have bet she had unchecked Cushings for sure!  Poor thing. A nice halfinger/belgian cross was brought out but she was just too big....we are little horse people!  LOL. The morgan I was interested in was sold.  Oh well.  We thanked the seller and decided to head home.  There were a couple other sets of people arriving to look at horses, he was certainly busy.

We'll keep our eye out for good prospects.  The thing is Steve isn't really into horseback riding, so this will be a second rideable horse that I will have to keep up in work, with occasionally Steve going for a ride.  I want a sweet heart, and one that I can enjoy too, we've kind of decided that another gaited wouldn't be good for him.  He's mostly going to walk but if he goes up to the next gait a saddle rack would be more challenging to learn to maintain than a trot.  I've learned a lot about gaited horses but I devote myself to working with Seamus. 

We shall see what comes along.  For now I have several clinics arranged for Seamus and myself.  I also booked a weekend stay in a cabin at a ranch not far from here that includes a 2 hour guided trail ride.  You can bring your own horse so I'm hoping I'll be able to bring Seamus and get us doing some trails this year.  He's a good boy.  Summer just kills me here with the heat and humidity but my goal is to at least put in the effort for groundwork during the summer months if I'm not up for riding. Right now weather is pretty good and Seamus and I can enjoy the less buggie time for now!  Spring is so lovely in NC!

Saying Goodbye to Stubs

 Stubs shared several posts on this blog back in 2013 and beyond when I started boarding Dani at a self care stable in Colorado Springs.

The origin of Stubs was one of the boarders had adult children that found 3 wild kittens.  Instead of taming them and neutering them the boarder decided that bringing them to the self care barn and feeding them there would be a good idea this was about a year before I'd brought Dani to the barn.  The kittens were not bonded to any humans.  The fate of one kitten was that it ended up in the clubs garage unbeknownst to anyone and perished.  The other disappeared (coyotes are potentially a stow-away in a horseshow person's trailer).  Then there was Stubs.

Stubs had a full blown tail at one point and I was told by the boarder that one day she found a bodyless tail on the ground.  Either a horse stepped on it or a predator.  Obviously Stubs had gotten away and survived the harrowing ordeal.  What a traumatic life.  My heart still hurts to think of her life there.  

When I joined the barn with Dani and learned of all this I made it a point to set out food and on occasion of seeing Stubs talking to her softly. She was an unnamed cat at at the time I didn't know her sex, the short stubby tail made me think Stubs was a good barn name for her.....um him.....lol.  That fall I'd heard from that one of the club members that this little kitty had a litter of kittens, okay. So now she was Little Miss Stubs.  They couldn't get ahold of her but when the kittens were old enough they adopted them out.  Stubs remained.

It was getting into winter and the time change meant I was there at the barn later when it got dark.  Stubs would appear near Dani and I's run to go eat her food.  I'd seen her a lot and stayed chatting with her often.  I started bringing wet food regularly and ended up staying quite a while with Dani and Stubs, the three of us just chilling in the evening hours.  

A polar vortex was on the way and I feared for this dear little girl having already spend a hard 1.5 year living outside pretty much on her own raising kittens....eating kibble yes but I know for sure mice and baby bunnies were on the menu.  I seen this tiny bobcat in action!  I felt a connection to her and wanted to give her a better life or at the very least get her spayed.

I talked with a coworker at the Public Health Department that worked with feral cats.  He said his wife would trap them and then brining them in for trap neuter release and he'd lend me a trap.  I wasn't sure about TNR.  As I was growing closer to her I felt we would eventually reach that trust level and she could be an indoor cat.  I just knew it in my heart that if I trapped Stubs, she would never have to live outside on her own again.

The trapping was a success but took several resets due to her small size.  I took her home and began the work of gaining her trust.  I was hissed at that first night but after that there wasn't too much animosity.  I fed her and spent the evenings with her in our guest room.  She warmed up to me and has been my dear Mini Meow ever since.

Stubs made good friends with Armani our tuxedo cat.  They snuggled and played.  Then in 2015 when we moved to NC with them, our two dogs and later Dani.  Stubs was always kind of my cat while Armani was Steve's.  Armani loved me too and cuddled with me as well but there was a special bond with Steve.  With Stubs, I was her person.  Steve could barely hold Stubs....she always seemed to have her paws pushing away from him or he held her like a machine gun.  She was affectionate with him don't get me wrong.  And in the last couple years with Steve working from home, she decided his desk was the place to be during the day.

Stubs slept by my pillow nearly every night.  She sometimes had times where she wanted to sleep elsewhere but after a weekend away she was then stuck to me like glue on the return. 

Her cute little trot down the hall was always the cutest thing to witness.  Without her tail there just seemed to be an added element of cuteness to that derriere of hers!  Even though she'd lost her tail tragically it never stopped her and it just added to her charm. She loved boxes as all cats did, but she seemed to take it to the next level of ridiculousness and managed to squish herself into the smallest boxes.

Other kitties joined the household as we found a kitten under a bush as my work or we had a lone neighborhood kitten eating food from our outdoor kitty we inherited from friends.  Stubs let them all know she was boss.  She was the smallest of the household but even the dogs knew who ran the show!

When my parents passed she knew when I was sad and made it a point to be near me whether I was sitting at my desk, the sofa or in the bedroom.  She was my forever comfort.  Later when Dani passed, and I sat waiting for the day to have the Agape Service company pick up her remains I laid on the sofa to cry and try to find distraction on TV.  Stubs snuggled next to me to comfort me in my need.

This past year she lost her friend Armani in May 2025, he was 17.  She didn't seem to have too much trouble but she again was comfort to both Steve and I in losing our dear Armani. 

Stubs had kidney disease that was under control with her diet but the past couple years she seemed to not keep as much weight on so she was in the vets more often. Recently this fall they got her on a blood pressure medication but didn't see anything worrying about her thyroid.  We tried to get her to eat more food.  Then she started to have major issues with her back legs.  Tests were all fine and it was concluded it was most likely a slipped disc.  We went the acupuncture route and over 4 weeks her mobility improved with getting her legs under her and standing up better.  She also had gained about a pound.

We were very optimistic that she would continue to improve.  We got steps for the bed and sofa so she could get to her favorite places when she decided she didn't need sequester herself in the office "I.C.U." that we'd built around her new chosen sleeping spot.

Then after her last acupuncture she seemed to be eating less.  She occasionally had days where she seemed a little in pain from all the movement she'd been doing. One evening we noted some more labored breathing but it was short lived. Then Steve noticed she had a harder say moving around, her legs seemed a bit weaker.  The labored breathing was back with a wheezing sound.  I recorded it so I could play it for the vet the next day and hopefully get a check up appointment.  I gave Stubs her evening meds but within a minute she started vomiting violently and the wheezing increased quickly, she was having convulsions.  I was suddenly panicked not knowing what was going on and tried to help her but she went limp almost immediately.  She passed within a few moments.  It was so sudden.  

The heartbreak is almost unbearable.  In May we lost Armani, July we lost Dani and now in February we lost Stubs...the last 3 of our dear critters that came with us from Colorado.  Losing 3 pets in less than a year.  That is really, really hard.

My dear Stubs was 14.  I'd hoped that the slipped disc was healing and that she'd be around a couple more years, though not quite as agile. I know only too well that you can't avoid the inevitable.  Something else was going on and though Stubs tried so hard in her last 2 months death comes for us all. I loved her dearly and feel like she loved me just as much.  She was my little girl, my tough nugget, my mini meow. My sweet dear Stubs, I hope you know how much you meant to me. I hope you know how much you were loved.  We tried our hardest for you.  I will miss you forever and cherish every moment that I had with you.  I love you.

The End of 2025 was a Face Plant

 This year did not end the way I had hoped.  The horses had been doing well and the kitties inside were doing well. We'd gone to Cancun for Thanksgiving with friends. We were excited for some more time off.

Steve and I were planning to go to FL to see his family for Christmas.  We were really looking forward to it since it'd been a while since we were down there for a holiday. The evening before the flight, we were getting ready to go to our homebrew club holiday party. I went out to feed the horses and while grabbing hay after giving the supplements to Seamus I heard a very odd sound.  It was kind of a retching sound.  I saw Seamus spin slightly and stomp his front foot. I went into the house and told Steve, and went to grab my phone.  When I came back out he said there was a lot of mucus coming out of Seamus's nose....it was choke. I called the vet. immediately.

The vet told us since it just happened to wait about 15 minutes and call her back, sometimes things aren't that bad and it sorts itself out.  That was a long 15 minutes.  We tried to walk him some and she said to stroke his neck in the area where the blockage was. Things didn't improve so she was there shortly after my second call. He was in pain, coughed up a lot of mucus and a lot of mucus came out his nose.  I felt helpless.  Once she arrived we got warm water started since she was going to tube him to get the obstruction out. It was a gross process, I don't do well with vomit, snot and the like.  I held it together without retching myself till just about near the end when a lot of the food bits came out.  I did good though and Seamus's obstruction was  finally clear. 

The Unbeetables Pellets I used as the carrier for his supplements didn't get soaked long enough and Seamus has been bolting his small ration lately so that combo led to this incident.  I feel like such a fool.

Some snot still two days later so we started antibiotics

The next couple days were busy.  We didn't go to FL which our family understood.  I fed very small mushy meals of just hay pellets....er, hay mush.  After about 48 hours he still had a good amount of mucus from his nose so I contacted the vet about that.  To prevent a lung infection due to any aspiration from his procedure he was prescribed antibiotics for a week.  Within a few days the snotty nose did clear up; he was good about taking his apple flavored powder for the course.

We are still on a mush regimen since I'm now paranoid.  My old 27 year old gelding hates mushy food but he takes his time eating his pellets.  Seamus, the 6 year old is the one that has to eat the mush....it's so backwards!  But horses are weird. I'm glad to say that he is completely back to his normal self. Not how I wanted to end the year though!

A week after Seamus's ordeal Stubs started eating less and less to almost nothing.  She also started to have trouble getting up on the sofa where she liked to sit with us. We got her into the vet and she'd lost a good amount of weight since her October appointment.  Stubs has been on a kidney diet for 5 years now and in the last year has been getting a little skinnier (she's 13 years old). She's been in a couple times for tests etc. Thyroid is slightly low and she now has high blood pressure. She was already on some medications...now we have a little mini cat pharmacy going.

Two weeks before she was "helping" me wrap presents

The vet did many tests and all were inconclusive.  The suspicion was a urinary infection, though that seemed very slight. We treated for the symptoms with a planned x-ray or ultrasound the following week if things were still off. There could be a tumor, gut inflammation or even some type of spinal injury.  Her backend has gotten weaker where it's very hard for her to walk about.  It's been a few days since we started the treatments and she has eaten a little. We are giving her treats, sneaking in kibble, and have a couple senior cat higher calorie supplements she seems to like.  One evening she came all the way down the stairs to come to bed to sleep in her normal spot by my head. Eating is off and on, sometimes she just not interested. I just have no idea where to go from here.  We are in the wait and see and it just sucks. We have her on meds for nausea, a steroid and then also a painkiller/anti-inflammatory- plus an appetite stimulant. 

The little ICU built around the spot she's decided to stay

She has sequestered herself on the bottom shelf where we've had a self warmer (reflective) pad that the cats like to take naps on.  We've set up a little ICU around her with her microchip feeder nearby, a water fountain which she is still good about drinking and then a litter pan that is shallow and easier than the other one to navigate.  We've seen her use both but it's good to have options. We are trying to give her options to eat throughout the day...I haven't seen her use her feeder so we bring stuff directly to her. We have another appointment set up this week, unless we feel she need to come in sooner. This wait and see is no fun. 

My holiday break has been different from what I'd planned. I've been nurse to one animal or another and the worry has left me less motivated to do any of the projects I had on my list. It's been a little rough but I'm happy to do it; they are my babies. It's so stressful not knowing what to do to help them but we try our best I guess.