So my one year post for Kezi, a week late!

So I have had Keziah a year now. Feels wierd since I have only riden her a handful of times. And only bareback and not very far, so it almost doesn't count. She has been a source of great vexation and stress over the last year, but somehow she feels worth it.

So for this anniversery post I am going to talk about why I got her, give a brief (I promise!) overview of the past year and my future plans for her, at least for this summer.


So last May, ah just coming off the whole horrible ordeal with Lucy (which was hard not only because she is my baby but because she got sick almost exactly a year after my mom did) I was desperate to ride. We had finished the chelation therapy with her and it was oviouse that she was going to recover most if not all of what was compromised. At that time I wasn't sure if she would recover completly or not but felt confident that she would never be the endurance horse I would want, so what better time to get an endurance mount, right?
Even though I wanted to spend the year training an endurance mount I didn't entend on buying another horse, but after talking with my endurance friend, who didn't think I would be able to find someone who would lease me a horse for the year (I believe that was bad advice) I tenatively looked on BayEquest. I didn't really mean to find Kezi, I was planning on just browseing to see what was on the market. But fate intervined and brought me Kezi. As soon as I saw the picture of her I knew she was mine. I had one of those "this horse was ment to come to me" kind of moments. After talking with the owner I almost didn't get her since my boyfriend didn't think it was a good idea. But again, fate intervined and I decided that I wanted to do what would make me happiest.
I went to see Kezi before I brought her home, but it didn't really matter, I knew I wanted her.

So the day I brought her home started it all. After spending three hours trying to get her in the trailer (owners: oh yeah she loads great!! HA!) we went on our merry way. Not 200 feet down the road I saw what made my heart stop; the escape door on my trailer was open and a head was sticking out. Now I don't tie in trailers, well I do Kezi now, but my other horses are never tied, and since it was a long ride I didn't tie her so she could put her head down. Well that was a big mistake.
So I could see that she was ready to jump out, my heart stoped and all I could say was "oh shit" over and over again.
Loren couldn't see what was happening but figured it had to do with her, so at the same time I brought the truck to a stop he jumped out, but she ended up jumping out and running around the front of the truck. On a side note, this has also happened to Lucy, but Lucy plastered herself against the trailer partition until I came to save her (I think she thought she was going to fall out!) Oviously I have now put lockes on the escape doors, but at the time I didn't remember that that door did that because I never open it to load my horses.

Anyway, we cought Kezi and got her back into the trailer in about a half an hour and went home. Over the next several days I got the horses acquainted, Lucy tried to attack Kezi and therefore that is how Ollie came to live with Kezi, I didn't trust the mares together and I didnt' think Huck would get along with Kezi (which I was very right).
I got to spend a week playing with her and lunging her (oh boy is she a brat with a lot of energy!) then she went lame. Very lame, and thats sort of what its been like ever since.

The first vet I took her too thought for sure that she had a shoulder injury of some sort, so I took her to Davis to be x-rayed. They did not agree and blocked her leg and said it was her knee. Oh and she also choked while she was there, not a fun trip, unless you consider Lucy's lung x-rays comeing out fun.
So she came back to being sound in the initial weeks following and was sound for about 6 to 7 weeks (she had been lame for about 6). I rode her a couple times but never anything much, then after a trimming where I trailered her and she was rearing a lot, she went lame again.

This time I had my chiro out who couldn't figure out anything with the shoulder but did find something going on with the neck that she thought was entirely different (thanks Nancy what did me a world of good!!). So off to Stinebeck (it was recomend by my new vet) to get neck x-rays. They took the neck x-rays, thought they saw something that they later changed their minds about, and said that they too thought her lameness was in the knee and probably a ligament tear so lets scoped it! For only 2k!! Ha! yeah, not fun! But then they got the EPM results back (because apperntly if it isn't colic, then everything can be diagnosed as EPM) and were then convinced that she had EPM. They based this off some facts that were about viable as horse poo! Really they were just elaborting on things I had said that were just her personality so they could get me to believe them. I almost did the EPM treatment. But then got smart.
Over winter she had a hard time with the mud, it was horrible and I started considering putting her down. I took her to see Dr. Peterson at Pennisula Equine at my chiros recomendation. Really liked him a lot. He was a lot more practicle then any of the previous vets and he restored some of my faith in vets, not all, but some.
He thought that a bone scan would be the only way to see what was really going on but that costs about $1100 plus her overnight expenses. We decided for now to try putting her on a low dosage of anti-inflamitories to see if that would help. She has gotten lame twice while on it (once was a very intertaining day where she just up and decided to visit Lucy, by jumping over her fence, well you can imagin what that did to her leg!) but it went away very quickly.

So as to my plans for the summer. For now keep her on her meds, but I am getting tired of inaction, thats all I have been doing with her and it oviously doesn't work! So from now on we are going for more, longer walks. I may even start taking her for Lucy and I's moring runs (at a walk only) and let them get used to being out together and then pony her off Lucy. I will have to see what Kezi does, Lu I am not worried aout at all, she will behave herself, but Kezi is hard to tell.

I may try and get the money together this fall to do the bone scan, or turn her out up at carolyns. I don't really want her going through another winter at my house lame in a paddock. So either she has to be sound so she can be turned out with Lu or up at Carolyns.

Well I think that is it!


Next: Unicorns!!