This Year...

So this year has been a roller coaster it seems full of adventures, tears and laughter. I was looking through all the blogs that I have posted and I seem to have forgotten where this whole thing began. I want to catch you all up on the latest when it comes to my horse Tanner.

I left off saying I just started riding him lightly but as of today my horse is being ridden 5 days a week. He hasn't taken a lame step (for all of you non-horsey people that means he hasn't limped). We started trail riding allot but I have found that for my own personal reasons as well as Tanner's liking we will continue to focus on the arena stuff. Im impressed with all that he still remembers even though its sometimes a fight to keep him motivated. (Reminds me of the Biggest Loser series where as Tanner is a contestant getting in shape and I am the personal trainer; Im going to say I more resemble Jillian aka I will kick his butt).

This leads me to my next point of topic... I have decided to sell my golden palomino. It doesn't really have to do with him its more because when I bought this 2 year old horse I thought I would have all the time in the world to make him into that family horse that everyone wants. I got a reality check when I got approved to graduate and my parents said "guess you are closer to working 9-5!" Made me really think how in the world am I going to have time for a 4 year old horse who needs to be ridden at least 4-5 days a week!!!!

Thats when I realized I was becoming a grown up even if I didn't really want to...

Its been an emotional week of trying to figure out what to do and push aside the feelings I have for him and do what's best for the both of us... So feelings aside I realized its time to sell my beautiful, big hipped, sometimes sassy, horse and move onto the next chapter.

My goal from the start of this blog was to see that my horse recovered... Now that that goal is accomplished I can move to my next goal one that is even more difficult... getting my horse in the best shape and selling him....

Until next time ride tall!

~September~

Its September! That means schools are in session and the seasons will begin to change. As for my horse changing... well the horse trainer/whisperer guy has been helping out a lot. I can say that Tanner has more respect for "my space".

I have been riding him every other day. Trying to get him into a routine. I ride him four days a week nothing big mainly walking. I started jogging him a little. The vet said that I can canter (its like a run) him at the end of this month... that can not come sooner.

Tanner is a wonderful horse and has so much potential to become one of those horses you can put anyone on. But I get so frustrated with him. I know that all I really need to do is let him run run run but can I?!?! No! I want to so bad so I can get that little "tude" out of him.

So I am frustrated. Thats it. I wish I can skip this part of recovery because its the most stressful and not fun part. Who knows what the future has in store all I know is that I am at a cross road...

Ride Tall.

6 Months!!!!!

Im pleased to say that we made it to month six in operation heal Tanner the Beast. After the last time I blogged the vet came out and instead of hearing the inevitable that I had been planning I was pleasantly suprised with good news. Travis was there for this whole ordeal. The vet came out nice and early and made me trot him out. Tanner attempted to tromple me but what can you expect. Any ways the point is quite simple my horse is on the track to being ridden.

And today was the day where I did it. I actually tried riding him a little the other day but today I rode him the whole 15 minutes. Im oh so excited that I can ride slash that I lived to tell the tale. Im feeling so good about this now. My life is looking up!

Tomorrow we are having a horse trainer/whisperer coming out to help with Tanners sassiness. That has maximized since being stuck in a corral all these months. Im hoping that this will solve the problems. But guess Ill have to wait and see.

Till next time

Ride tall!

Its July!!!

The countdown is on... I have made a countdown calender and we are at 42 days till its been 6 months exactly. 

As of now though I have been brought face to face with the reality of it all. Not only is the decision resting heavy on my heart its coming closer to having to make it. In the beginning I was hopeful with the possibility that Tanner would be healed. After visiting the specialist I had a new found hope. With the swelling going down so much I felt a sense of ease that all will be well with my baby. 

But as I continually mark down each day and the day of truth comes closer and closer I am getting ever more worried. As of yesterday Tanner started limping... we gave him some bute which helps relieve pain. When I went out there today he was still limping. This isn't a good sign. Also there is heat in his leg which means the injury is still very prevalent. I'm worried that this next month of waiting is all for waste... I called the vet leaving a message.

The question remains is a month enough to heal this injury or am I just putting off the inevitable fact that Tanner is terminally broken....  

My heart is breaking with this question. Hope is harder to find in the darkness of this reality.

I finally cracked the case!!! aka I remembered my password

Sorry for the long time between blogs I forgot the password but as you can see I broke the code!!!! Any ways here is a briefing of what has happened since last we talked.

So its been quite a journey thus far with the beast. We completed therapy using the cold compression system, Game Ready. Tanner enjoyed every minute of it. I measured his leg from the middle of treatment to the completion and it went down 3/10ths of an inch. I am so pleased.

Bed ridden or should I say corral ridden Tanner is doing the best a 4 year old can do. We have figured out a system on how to keep him generally calm but he still gets a little hop in his step every once in awhile. 

I'm really starting to feel the depth of this injury... Im gettin horse crazy. I really want to ride him and it kills me whenever I walk out to feed or water or even just bath him. This whole situation is just terrible. I know that it could be worse but I am getting stir crazy with out my noble stead to sit upon.

Well I will try to remember to do this more often. To keep his progress updated. 

Oh yes Tanner is turning into quite the funny guy lately... when I go in his corral to clean it he takes the pitch fork and walks away from me... also the other day I was loading up the wheel barrel in his coral and right when I was about to put the last scoop in the barrel Tanner decided it would be a great idea to flip the entire barrel and all my hard work over. So I had to start all over. 

Till next time...ride tall

Twenty- Six miles....

Twenty-six miles down the 15 freeway we found ourselves on our to the fate of my trusty stead. As I pulled up the driveway with my rig I witnessed one of the most impecable stables I have ever seen! Tanner was excited too he was stomping and rocking the truck and the trailer.

Let me get you caught up, we made an appointment with Dr. Mark Martinelli and where scheduled to be seen on Wednesday at 2:30-3ish. He is one of the best Orthopedics for equines he works alongside Dr. Norman W. Rantanen who has wrote books about the ultrasound systems in the horse world. ( So they are the BEST at what they do or as my dad said $$$).

As I parked the trailer and hopped out of the truck a young woman came up to great us right away she intruduced her self as Dr. Lea Walker, who is an intern. The next thing I know I lead Tanner out of the trailer which was...hmmm. Any ways as soon as he made it to solid ground someone took him and settled him into a nice stall.

Dry Humor is a understatement to give these Dr.'s I can honestly say I am terrible at it even though I grew up in a house full of it. But by the end I think I did myself justice since I am a Comm major.

After they did the ultrasound they couldnt say that they were exactly pleased with what was going on so they suggested us getting x-rays again to check to see if there was any changes since the injury first occured.... As I waited I have to admit I wasnt as stressed as I was before I figured my horse maybe crazy at times but he isnt dumb. Most horses that get there leg caught in anything frantically pull and end up breaking there bones. He on the other hand figured "Well I guess Im stuck... Hello..."

The results where something along the lines of this " The radiographs confirmed that there was a fracture to the collateral ligament of the left hind fetlock. There was no other abnormalties. "

Recovery is in full swing here at the Rahe's... We brought Tanner up to our corrals and he is so much happier. He has bucked and ran... even though he isn't supposed to but I can only do so much... if he wants to get better he is going to have to figure out that he isnt coming out of his stall for 5 more months and he needs to lay low. His regime is this...no more 10 minute walks from hell... just 20 minutes of Game Ready twice a day. Game Ready is used on athletes aswell its a cuff that applies pressure with cool water its a from a cold compressive threrapy. It helps release the fluid and swelling.

So every day now I get to look outside my window I see golden specs reflecting of my California dreamin' horse...Tanner.

Ride Tall.

We met again at the hitching post...or in this case the bath rack

I havent posted in awhile mainly because A) I have been really busy B) I have been doing the same thing everyday with "the beast" and didnt want to bore you C) I kept forgetting.

I dont remember if I wrote that Tanner is on a shot that is supposed to calm him down... its like a horsey "prozac". I think its working. But then again today on our daily adventure to the bath rack he started goofing off. He is kind of cute when he does this its like he is playing. He jumps and lifts up... and then I get nervous and ask him to stop. Im not going to lie its very intimidating one false move and he would clobber me.

Today was also his last day of the 15 pills in the morning and in the evening. Which is great! Giving a horse that much medication is no fun... Although he was the dream little medicine eater he licks that bucket clean.

Tomorrow, I am going to re-wrap Tanner's leg but this time we get to use different supplies. Usually the wrapping proccess consists of a cotton sheet then medical vet wrap and then a casing of stick tape. We are moving along in our healing so we are upgrading to a quilted sheet and then just a polo wrap... sounds a lot easier. I am also going to bathe Tanner if the weather permits. And if its sunny enough I may put some more sun-in in his mane and tail since they are kind of yellow.

We called the San Louis Rey Equine Hospital to schedule Tanner's ultrasound. We are going in on March 13 which yes is a Friday... and is perfectly a month since this disaster happend. Best case scenario is they find nothing is wrong... no tears and no problems with that bone chip.... next best case would be that he tore a ligament but very slightly and it would only take 4-5 months off.... worst case would be that the chip is what is causing the problem then surgery would be mandatory... and the most terrible scenario is that the surgery wont work.

I am keeping positive however because of all the progress he is already showing. On our walks he is barely short striding the leg which is a blessing in itself. So until we get to the vet I can only pray that all will be well.

Ride Tall~