KASPIN HAS A NEW HOME!

HELLO! 

Kaspin moved the weekend of Labor Day to his own property!!! Soooo great to never worry about boarding ever again!!! We own 17.5 acres in Carthage NC. We don't have our home built there yet. But I live 12 minutes away. Plus I have super neighbors super close by that keep an eye out!! Kaspin also has a sister now! We rescued a 36 inch tall mini mare last November!!!' Yes! Time flies!! She looks like a tiny mini Friesian and I just LOVE her to death! Her name is Enza a tribute to my passed lovely Enzo. Here are some pics of the NEW barn we built ourselves. We did hire out the metal roof and metal walls. We had no idea how to do that!! 

And a few pics of Enza! 

36 by 48 barn. Two 16 foot overhangs for horses and my car and trailer. 4 stalls, 1 tack/feed room, 1 wash stall, probably 1 mini stall later, and extra room for hay, tools, barn stuff. 

Kaspin in his SWEET ITCH suit! He is allergic to the midge bug bite! 

Till next time!! Kaspin, Enza and me!!

Ok back on trails again!

Vet came out last Tuesday and the Amyloid A test finally went to normal!!! We will never know where or what this infection was?? But let's hope Kaspin body just had to fight it on his own! My vet wants me to put Kaspin back to work and see if the swollen legs come back??? So far Kaspin has been back to work for 3 days and so far all good. Let's pray it stays that way!!! I spent a 1000 dollars on all the vet visits again!! Last time it came back after 1.5 weeks. So I will feel good if I can go 2 weeks and more and not see the swollen legs. This picture was from our 2.2 mile trail ride at a walk only yesterday!! Common trails!! 

Aghhh Kaspin sick again!

All 4 legs swelled up again!! Called the vet and we are watching his Amyloid A test. Which is saying an infection somewhere. This test can only pick up infection but cannot tell us where. First was swelling in back legs only about a month ago. His Amyloid A test was 1250 beyond super high!! Vet never seen one so high! Swelling went away and we put him back to work. Then swelling showed up about a month later again in all 4 legs! Each time no other symptoms! This time Amyloid A was 365. Still high, normal is zero. Then we checked Amyloid A one week later after pasture rest only. It was at 45. So again we will check Amyloid A this coming Tuesday to see if it ever goes to zero? If it does go to zero? We will once again put him to work and see what happens?? If swelling comes back and or Amyloid A test goes higher again? Then I will be taking Kaspin to NC state for further testing to see if we can find out where this infection is? Or what kind is it? Bacterial, fungal, viral, autoimmune?? NC state already gave me a quote of 800 to 1000 just for testing. I pray if we have to find anything?? It is treatable and affordable? So I am not sure what will happen yet, ekkkk. I think we would both be happy being back on the trails. Kaspin is getting bored with his 2 weeks of pasture rest! Yes vet has checked high and low for other injestion problems, poison, suppleness, vasculitis, you name it! And yes all other blood work is normal too! Send healing thoughts for the boy. Taking Kaspin on a walk in pic. Love us! 

56 trail miles and counting!

Kaspin and I have turned into trail riding fools!! I rode another 5 miles yesterday! Kaspin is even getting used to 4 wheelers now. He used to despise them but we see or hear them pretty much everyday at this barn. So finally Kaspin is getting used to them. I also had a massage lady come out and help Kaspin after all his laminitis and favoring his front left leg so long. That was the worst hoof from the laminitis. She did the Masterson method and Kaspin already moves much better after just one visit! I will have her out again in March. Kaspin's hooves are getting so nice and strong from all the riding! The lovely sand on the trails also helps his hooves daily. Happy trails!! Kaspin and me lol. 

Kaspin back outside

and hopefully recovering for the mysterious aliment! Legs were not swollen today after I removed standing wraps. I hope the swelling stays away too!! Time will tell! Vet thinks maybe Kaspin had a little virus??? Who knows but blood work all came back normal and swelling is going away. So beside him being a bit wet from the rain today! Let's hope we are both back on the trails soon!! Thanks for the well wishes!! 

Sick again, sighhh

Kaspin has something wrong. I went out yesterday to check on him like always. Plus natural hoof trimmer was coming out also. Kaspin's back legs are super swollen!! I called the vet out immediately! Something is not right! She took blood and did a test right at the barn but silly me forgot the name of test!!! Anyway it came back super high!! She never seen a test so high. Her thoughts were it might be viral or bacterial??? We sent out a full blood panel but today(Friday) I still have no results! Not happy. In the meantime hand walks, standing wraps, and love. My vet had me put him in a stall so he could stay away from the other horses outside. In case he is contagious. I hope not and hope Kaspin can go back out soon!! Good thing Kaspin is great about stalls!! Love my boy and hope he gets better fast!! 

Trail riding and trail riding!!!

I am just loving the weather in NC! I get lots of chances to ride all winter. Unlike MI where many times I couldn't even make the snowy or icy roads to get to the barn. Plus, Kaspin is now 15 mins from me! In MI I was an hour to an hour and a half away from Kaspin. Also with Kaspin so close! I get to see him everyday now! Before I couldn't afford the gas! This barn I board at doesn't have any arena's though. So I have pretty much no choice to only trail ride. They do have miles and hours worth of trails!!! So as soon as I got the ok from vet and hoof trimmer to ride. We did!! Kaspin was soooooo nervouse the first weeks. I never thought I would get Kaspin to relax! My hands were hurting from trying to hold him back. I worked hard on Kaspin listening to me and not the other horses. I practiced circles when he couldn't stand still at all. I practiced backing, stopping, trotting when other horses were walking, walking when other horses were trotting, side passing on trail, being end horse etc. I did all these things so Kaspin would pay attention to me only on the ride. Finally after a month Kaspin blew out 4 times on the trail yesterday!!!!! Meaning he got relaxed enough to blow out! Yes Kaspin has trail riden before! But he was off work for at least 8 months from his laminitis and insulin resistance and I took him trail riding cold with no arena work. Just a little bit of round pen work each day before the rides. Either way Kaspin has learned lots in the last month. We pretty much trail ride 4 miles each day. Kaspin still gets nervouse being end horse. He likes to lead. Kaspin gets really nervouse with things far behind him and noises he can't see. I am hoping over time he will get used to all these experiences and I keep working with him trusting my leadership! He needs to trust me. Here are some of my pics! Keep it natural!! Thanks Kaspin! I love you!

Merry Christmas!

It's last year pic but still a great one! After my move from MI to NC. I just was sooo busy not enough time to get some new Christmas pics. Kaspin and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!! I hope for a lot more riding with Kaspin again for 2015! Xoxo

Finally in the saddle!!

Best 1st day of winter ever! Got to go on an 1 hour trail ride! Has been a long road to get here again. Got the ok to ride again from vet and natural hoof trimmer. Actually was incouraged to get Kaspin back to work to continue the healing in his hooves! And the work keeps sugar levels in his body down. Kaspin was nervous on his 1st ride out in about a year. But I was very proud of him and will try to get him out a few times a week from here on out. Hopefully Kaspin will get more and more comfortable with trails. This was us once we returned back. There was 4 of us that went out. 

All smiles!!

All happy j9 and Kaspin!!!

Weather!!

Kaspin and are soooooo enjoying these sunny skies here in NC!!! No more depressing clouds for 6 months basically! So weird to not walk out the door with gloves, hats, scarves, extra layers of all clothes and no hand warmers!! Today is 74 degrees and sunny on 12/1/14. Just love it!! Kaspin really is doing amazing after his long haul from MI. I am so happy for him. We only have a round pen and one pasture to play in at this new boarding barn, but it works!! Smiles!!!

We moved!!!

Well Kaspin and I made it to NC!! Took us 21 hours to drive and basically 3 days!! The most stressful thing I am sure Kaspin and I have ever done! We had terrible rain to drive through for hours. Including terrible rain in the night for hours. If my steering wheel would have been thick glass I would have broken it!! Since I was gripping the wheel so hard!!! After all the rain and darkness we made it to lexington KY to stall Kaspin for the night. We drove 9 hours and 44 mins this day. Kaspin was pretty stressed and breathing hard. Gave some banamine for his bit higher temp 101.4 and for his muscle pain. Kaspin was so out of shape for this trip. Due to the laminitis he was recovering from the last 6 months. We were to travel to NC the next day but we decided to not travel. Kaspin needed more time to rest. We needed more time to rest! And the weather was still crazy! 30 to 45 miles per hour wind now!! Wasn't going to travel in this!! Took off the next day and what another tough day that was!! We drove 12 hours to NC! Longest day of my life through the mountains. Twisting and turning, up and down constantly. It was nuts!!! THEN  of course more rain and my running trailer lights went out in KY!! On both these days we traveled we would stop to give Kaspin muscle breaks and a break in general. I was also giving horse calmer paste. To keep Kaspin calm while traveling. The calmer helped a ton and so glad I used it. Kaspin isn't too fond of the trailer in general. All and all I am super proud of Kaspin!!!!!!!!! Here are pictures of our journey along the way. I moved my home, dog, 2 cats, Kaspin, AND my fish in my 12 gallon fish tank!! Just happy that we made it here all safe and sound! I never want to do a long distance trip like that again!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! Safe Kaspin and J9 

Kaspin making friends!

Kaspin has a new barn kitty friend! Kaspin is so gental with the cute kitty and they both match in color! 1 more week till the huge move to NC! I think Kaspin is better. He is perky again. But he is being super picky now about his supplements. And it's things I need Kaspin to eat! He got picky when he was sick. He basically stopped eating his grain. So I removed the supplements and only gave grain. Now I have been adding them back in! But Kaspin now has figured out that grain taste much better without any supplements. The little stinker!! So basically the not eating grain well is more from him being picky than not feeling well! Not many things I can top dress with when I have a insulin resistant horse! The right rear hoof seems to be doing well too. No more heat and walking fine. Smiles from kaspin!!