Never a dull moment around here, man. Last Wednesday morning Mina, the most stoic and hardy of shelter-turned-barn dogs, had a randomly very swollen head. When we went out to feed around 7 she looked normal, and then an hour later I got up from my computer to go put riding clothes on and she looked like this:

The whole right side of her head was visibly swollen and she had some hives on her head. I had no idea what she got into… could have been anything. She’s usually pretty smart and doesn’t go into heavily weeded areas or the pond or anything, but she does have pretty much free rein of the farm. I couldn’t see any signs of a bite, but she was holding her head funny, almost like something was in her ear. The most alarming thing about it to me was how fast it swelled up. I decided to just run her up to her vet (I take her to the University of Florida site at WEC) and have her properly looked at.

Which turned out to be a good decision because her head just got bigger and angrier looking as we went.

GAH

Since we didn’t have an appointment we had to sit there and wait for a while, but luckily it didn’t get any worse in that time, although she did pop up with a few more hives other places on her body. They checked temperature, looked for any signs of a bite, and checked in her ear, but nada. I was pretty convinced they’d find something in her ear, so I’m glad that wasn’t the case.

A couple hours later we were on our way back home, her with a dex shot and a Benadryl shot on board, and me with a lighter wallet. I’m glad I took her in though, it was alarming how fast it swelled. I still have no idea what caused it – knock on wood she’s been totally fine since then.

Thursday was Strax’s second puppy vaccinations appointment.

I felt bad for him this time. He was excited to be there, wagging his tail at everyone and overjoyed to climb awkwardly onto the scale (11.5 lbs!). When the tech came to get him he was DELIGHTED to see her and happy to leave with her. He’s a really happy guy.

And then I heard him screaming bloody murder from the back. I figured that was for his shots.

Alas, no, he screamed and tried to vacate the premises like a miniature grizzly bear when they stuck the thermometer in his butt to take his temperature. He’s really sensitive about things like that. He didn’t care about his shots though, so… there’s that? Strax was a sad little ball of corgi fluff when they brought him back out.

Friday was farrier day, and our vet was also there to take xrays of Hillary’s new mare’s feet so the farrier could use them as a baseline and the vet/farrier could discuss what changes to make with her shoeing. It was a whole thing though, having both of them there at once. A whole expensive thing, but moreso for Hillary than me, for once. Presto did get to graduate to a wider shoe though, so there’s that!

Otherwise it’s been same-old same-old as far as riding and stuff goes. I’ve been working on some content creation stuff so I’m drowning in photo editing at the moment, plus making a website, and working on pedigree reports. Plenty to do! Yesterday I took Presto over to Majestic early in the morning just to jump around a course in the ring… he was feral. The yeehaws were aplenty. He was jumping great though.

I can’t remember if I posted about it or not but he finished his very first Adequan series a couple weeks ago, and I’m pretty sure all that lube just went right to his brain to make it extra smooth. Super. There was no particular reason for the Adequan other than he’s a giant 6yo doing a hard sport and we all felt like it certainly couldn’t hurt. I don’t feel or see any difference other than he’s been a little more yeehaw lately, but hopefully the magic juice does it job and helps support his big boy joints.

Otherwise, nothing particularly fun to report here. I’m selling my gray Romitelli boots if y’all know anyone that might be interested.

They’re charcoal gray with silver accents (top, foot, and toe piping) in a 38 SA, which is their slim tall. Their footbed runs slightly large IME, normally I’m a wear a 39 but I’m a 38 in Romitelli. I thought I would wear the gray more than I do… I think I’ve worn them 8 or 10 times at the very most. They’d look really good with a gray coat, which I don’t have and definitely should not buy.

Hope everybody is having a good week! Gonna try to get some fresh new baby pics (including the weanlings) for y’all this week too.