My new drugs begin on July 4th, so cross your fingers that it works and that the cross over is easy.  Lucas and Chilly are both doing good.  Chilly is now going w/t/c on the lunge with halting and changing directions easily.

Lucas was good this weekend as well, some old friends of my parents/mine (I used to baby sit the daughter) that are kind of looking for a horse.  They really wanted to wait another year but love Lucas from all of his pictures on facebook and the videos.  The brought out apples and carrot tops for all of the horses which made them even better in both Lucas' and mine opinions.  I hope they will decide to take him, it would be the perfect situation for everyone. 

New Video of Lucas

Of Lucas and Dean





He looks so good when Dean rides him.  He was super lazy as well.  Oh well, hopefully this will attract a new home for him.  I went out and helped D with chores this am (C is judging a show) and then D rode him for me.  I managed to get my car clean this weekend as well.  Chilly had the week off because she is growing so much (she's almost level this weekend but was an inch and a bit lower in the withers last week).  Lucy is getting her feet done next week and I'm going to try riding her, there is a chance I could show her at the end of August if I can get both of us fit enough (and my hips can handle it). 

boring!

Yup I'm not doing too much more than working, either at work or at the barn, and studying  I found out that I have been approved by my drug company for the new drugs so I should know in the next couple of days when I will start that.  It looks like I'm going to end up officially starting my meds and my course at the same time so I've been reading ahead so that I don't have so much to worry about that week. 

I do have to say that my boss and direct manager have been awesome about the changes that are taking place in my life right now.  They got me approved for extra sick time, got me set up so I can work from home on the days that I'm too tired to put in a full day (8 hours of work plus an hour of commute twice a day is too much when I'm wiped out, but I should be able to do a couple of hours from home).  They are also trying to get some of my courses paid for.  Let alone the actual dollar amount that my work insurance is paying for my drugs.

The weekend

So I finally took some pictures on the weekend!  It was a good weekend, but a long one.  I'll caption all of the photos with who is in what.  I took off on Saturday and went to the horse show for a bit so I took pictures of the lovely province that I live in.  First off is Chilly, looking cute, wanting her supper!

Chilly

Lucas on Saturday morning waiting for me to bring him breakfast

Lucas helping to keep the grass trimmed around the paddocks.

Loading docks for the salt mine, this is (I think) the same boat I got to get on when I did my work term at the mine.  This is in Pugwash.

Drive on the way to the show, great views on the drive!  This is Wallace Bay

Going over a bridge

Lucas eating grass again... he works really hard!

Some of the kids at the show

Chilly standing like a big girl, tied to the wall.  She shot up in the hind end this week so shes back on a bit of a mini break for a bit.  No need to press her so we'll let her grow a bit until she gets more even as it was hard for her to stay balanced when shes this downhill.

Recovery

Got my IV last night so I'm taking it a little slower today.  Thankfully its an extra long weekend for me as I have Friday and Monday off!!!  (Booked it when I still thought I was going to show)  So I'm off to the barn tomorrow afternoon for another weekend, and I think I'm going to the show to watch at least one day (its only an hour away).  My books came for my course so that's also giving me something to work on!  And I promise to take lots of pictures this weekend!

Hunter Ponies

Im going to go a little off topic here, but first, work has agreed to give me some extra sick days for the next couple of months until we figure the new drugs off, and D's brother-in-law is thinking about coming to try Lucas out.  Cross your fingers, they are wonderful people who would take very good care of him.

Recently there was a post on another blog about a hunter pony that died at the Devon horse show due to an improperly done IV injection.  While this is a tragedy on its own, I really disliked her comment 

" I sometimes wonder of ponies at this level are loved by their little girl owners/riders or if they're more often treated as a vehicle for success in competition" 

Are you kidding me?!?!  Sure I'm sure there are some kids/parents who only see the ribbons but believe it or not people that own top notch horses still love them!  I don't think any one doubted that Eric Lamaze didn't love Hickstead, but some others might have only seen him for the big cheques that he could win.  


I groomed THE top pony in NA at one point.  I loved Skippy.  He was my buddy, as as a 'small' we made an interesting looking pair hanging out in the warm up ring (Me at 6'!).  He would often stretch his neck up and prop his chin on my shoulder and watch the other ponies rounds.  His little rider was scared to jump him but did her best because she knew if she wasn't trying to win her Mom would sell the pony (yeah the Mom was a real B*tch).  Sure the Mom saw him as a ticket to the win, but he still got the best of everything, and she did hire people to love him even if she didn't.  But those little girls did love him.  Just because someone pays a lot of money for a horse doesn't mean that they still don't love them as much as the kid with the $500 pony.

Update

So it's been a while but I have some updates. I saw my Rheumatologist on Tuesday and got some bad news, I knew it was coming, but it still wasn't great to hear it.  The drugs aren't working.  My hip pain isn't just the muscles, its the muscles complaining because the hip joint is getting worse.  I knew it was bad but I guess I was trying to blame it on the muscles.  I got sent down for x-rays and got twisted and pulled in all sorts of directions while they tried to get some good shots.  By the time we were done that I was hurting, I couldn't deny it at that point.  The stuff they were doing shouldn't have hurt me if it was just general muscle pain.

However the new drug cannot be given at home, it has to be given in a clinic with several nurses and a Doctor in attendance.  I'll be going back to the same clinic that I was at before with the Remicade, but its just so had to coordinate work and doing the IV's.  Especially if I wont be able to drive after the first couple of times (they load you up on gravel, and the drugs don't make you feel great) AND I have to get it done during work hours, AND I'll miss the next day of work, AND my parents will have to drive into the city the first couple of times to come and pick me up.

My best friend is wonderful and offered to have me stay at her place after words, but the first couple of times until I know what its going to do to me I would rather be home in my own bed when its over.  So that should be starting just at the first of July.  I have a meeting at work next week with my bosses to duscuss time off, and hopefully giving me access to the work files from home so I can do a bit of work even if I have to take several naps during the day.

This weekend I stayed at D and C's and barn/dog/cat sat for the weekend.  All of the critters were great, and it was SO nice to go out to the barn in the morning and feed breakfast in my PJ's!  Both Lucas and Chilly got worked a little bit, we got a delivery of steel for the new run-ins, and I had a nap with a cat cuddled up to me.  My allergy's were so bad it was awful, but it was nice to snuggle with animals for a whole weekend.

I added some pictures, I said I would take more this weekend and I even tried to get one of Chilly but she's still kind of scruffy so it will wait until she gets a hair cut!

Lucas eating breakfast outside on Saturday morning.

The cat is not on the couch, she is on me, and that doesn't count as being on the furniture.