Progress. . .

(I have to start this post with a pre-script (?). I started writing this last Sunday and have hardly touched my computer since then. It is now Sunday morning, 7 days later and it's been pretty crazy. Hopefully I'll have some time today to post and reflect on the whirlwind week!!)


My posts are going to be a little confusing and out of order for awhile but I guess that's an accurate reflection of my life right now. On Thursday we had our second to last horse lesson of the season. It was the last lesson for me, however, since this upcoming Thursday is the first Nampa Nights of the summer followed by one event after another. . . Literally.
Gloria loves her lessons and takes them very seriously so we'll plan on taking lessons again in the fall. . .

It's been a very interesting experience all the way around for both of us. . .

This next set of pictures is from the previous Thursday and were taken by my mom:


It was really nice having my mom and dad come out to lessons and watch Gloria and I with the horses. They know I've never been real fond of horses so they could see first hand just how far I've come!!

Plus, it was fun for me to see my dad in his element. He grew up on farms and would have loved to raise us in the country but it never quite worked out that way. . .

Even though Cookie is a biter, I've learned some tips and tricks to keep from getting bitten and I think she has figured out that I'm ok and not out to hurt her. . .

Cookie has a bit of a sore back so it's a little painful for her to be brushed and saddled. It helps to have a pile of hay to keep her busy. . .

I've even figured out how to attach this strap thingy around her tail. I never thought I'd get this close to a horse's hind end!!

It's been a great bonding experience to share this with Gloria. . .

It's funny to look back on my blog post from the very first lesson. I know I have a long way to go in working with horses but I think I've made some good progress!

Saving Emma. . .

My poor, baby Emma gave us a bad scare this week.  We’ve been incredibly busy with work and school so I’ve been dragging the dogs and the kids along with me to the shop every day so I can multi-task as I attempt to accomplish everything that needs to be done.  On Wednesday, the dogs got into the trash at the shop, making a big mess and eating things they shouldn’t.  Shortly after that, Emma started to throw up but I just chalked it up to the trash incident.  She continued to throw up for a couple of days but it didn’t worry me until Friday morning when I let her out around 5 a.m. and she laid down in the grass and wouldn’t get up and come inside.  My gut told me something was very wrong so I loaded her up in the van and took her to a vet emergency clinic.  They took an x-ray and found a golf ball-size obstruction in her small intestine that was, in all likely hood, an actual golf ball.  She seemed to be in a lot of pain (understandably) and was quite dehydrated by this time. . .

After a thorough exam, the doctor at the emergency clinic told me to go straight to my regular vet for a follow up appointment and, quite likely, exploratory surgery. . .

It was all a little confusing and I didn’t realize until later just how serious it was.  Our regular vet was out of town until Tuesday so we ended up going to another vet that was nice enough to squeeze us in.  I dropped her off at 11:00 a.m. on Friday for a 1:00 p.m. surgery.  It was really hard to leave her there.  I had a hard time concentrating on anything for the next 24 hours until I could see her again.  (It didn’t help matters that I also have a nasty cold and haven’t been sleeping well!!)  She made it through the surgery just fine and, amazingly enough, the doctor didn’t find the obstruction so assumed she somehow passed it before we brought her in.  I can’t imagine what that must have felt like!!  She was still in pretty bad shape and needed plenty of meds and fluids in order to recover.  We picked her up at 2:30 on Saturday and she was pretty glad to see us.  She even got a pretty new bandana for being such a good patient:

She’s going to be pretty sore for a couple of weeks and we still can’t get her to eat very much but she’s definitely on the mend.  

The whole experience made me realize just how attached I am to this sweet pup. . .

McKenna’s 4!!!!!