Old Bones

There's people following this blog! People I don't know/didn't force! Hello! Welcome! And thank you for all of your comments -- I'm using this as a way to respond to all of them at once. I've been catching up on your blogs as well; there are some amazing stories out there.

I haven't been updating as frequently, because there hasn't been much to update about. The rain and the cold still haven't let up -- it's worse than ever, in fact -- so the work I've been doing with Kachina has been minimal, more of the same. And I still haven't received word from The Son regarding her paperwork, so I'm still chomping at the bit (yeah, that pun was intended) to get her registered. However, I'm eager to start working with her once the weather clears up, so hopefully I'll have something more substantial to post.

Friday, when P and I were cleaning the paddock, I found a bunch of old deer bones half buried under the thistles and leaves. Donna's been using that spot to dump manure in for over six months, and as a driveway for at least a year before that, and she says she's never seen a deer carcass there. So these bones are, at least, over a year and a half old. Some of them are missing (the skull most notably), but the leg, toes, lower jaw, pelvis, ribs and vertebrae are all there. I dug around to see if I could find the skull but I had no luck. Most likely it was claimed a long time ago, by people or by another animal.

I took a few of the bones and, out of respect, buried the rest again (although Donna's dog Odin did snag himself a rib). I'll get pictures up soon -- my camera decided to be difficult this weekend.

Kachina had a small cut on her mouth last night. Nothing serious, but it was a little swollen and painful, and it obviously bothered her when I tried to clean it. I'm afraid that, by trying to put medicine on it, I may have undid a lot of the progress I'd made with being able to touch her face and ears. I bought some gentler antibiotic, so I'll probably spend today's visit getting her to trust me enough to treat it.

This is the biggest thing I have to remember (and frequently forget) about Kachina: not to take things for granted. I'm so used to Maverick, who trusts me so completely that I can do whatever I want with him and he doesn't put up a fuss. Kachina's new, and although she likes and trusts people, she and I still have a very young and delicate bond.

I forget that she's only known me for a handful of weeks, and I even though her temperament is amazing, and she's incredibly polite and willing, she's still a new, young horse who was born on a PMU farm, has been passed around a lot in her short life (and only to people who own rescues and breeding ranches, and who had very little time to devote to just her), and who hasn't had much handling. I doubt she's ever had the opportunity to really establish a deep bond with a person, so this is all just as new to her as it is to me.