Walking with Wildairo.

I was feeling very down yesterday afternoon. The best thing to cheer me up has always been horses. The sun had set behind the bluff and so it was a bit dark. Wildairo was out hanging about and I asked him if he wanted to go for a stroll.

He's pretty nervous of getting too far from the corrals but he tagged along for awhile.


When we got too far for his comfort he got a bit nervous.


He tried to turn me towards home.


I wouldn't turn because I'm a human and not some stupid little filly he can boss about.

So he ran away. Towards the safety of home.


But he couldn't help himself he had to keep coming back.


We found an old piece of ancient farm equipment and I gave it a good kick.


After awhile we walked too far and Wildairo galloped for home. I could hear his thundering hoof beats fade into the distance. By then I was all cheered up and as happy as a lark.


But then I got even happier!

I went to say hello to Echo. I opened his gate and he trotted out down the alley..into the little pen, and stood in the 'willing horse' position. I thought 'what the heck' and closed the wing gate on him to trap him. I had to push him over a bit with the gate and he didn't freak at all. I locked the gate closed! I had him all trapped by myself and it's what he wanted. Wow, the little guy is helping dopey me train him. He knows he's too scared in the big corral and can't control himself. He knows he feels secure in the squeeze chute! I put his lead rope on. Touched him all over. I twirled the lead rope getting closer to him but not touching him. He was really calm. Brad came along so I had him mess about with him as much as possible. Then I opened the gate and stood with Echo in the little pen. I threw the lead rope up and he stood calm. I had Brad keep walking away and towards him. Echo watched him like a hawk but controlled himself because he was in the little pen and felt safe.

So I guess we'll keep working Echo slowly in the little pen. I forgot how slow you have to go with Echo.

An outlaw Mustang.

Thanks everybody so much for your kind words and thoughts. Loosing and missing Foxsun is a great deal harder than I ever thought it would be. I want you to know it was such a comfort to know there are people who understand and care. I miss him so much. He was like a reliable friend you could always count on, never in a bad mood and always ready to help out or cheer you up.

To get myself out of the doldrums I did some mustang wrangling.

Echo went quietly into his little mustang trap to get his halter on.


Then I did something I'd never done before. I opened the gate of his squeeze chute and stood with my mustang secured to the end of my lead rope. Then right there in that little pen we had our first leading lesson and he was a champ. We had been doing a lot of practice without a halter so he was ready. After we done quiet a bit of walking about and changing direction I led him into the alley to go into the big corral. Well he came along really nice till he saw Brad standing at the end of the alley and he bolted. Zipped right off into the big corral where he went nuts. The most entertaining part was when he thought he had a snake chasing him and kept running backwards staring at the green lead rope which was attached to his halter.

I went and got him and led him around in the big corral. He followed very nicely.


We stopped for kisses and cuddles.


And words of reassurance.


But I'm afraid I have a bit of a problem with him. Even though Brad has been feeding him twice a day for over a year and has been very nice to him, he's scared to death to go near the part of the corral where Brad is standing. When I say scared I mean really scared. He bolts and I cannot hold him. I got a little rope burn and had to put gloves on. He's been coming up to us to eat carrots that Brad gives him but he will not take his eyes off him. I thought it would be better when he had a halter and lead rope on but he's worse.

Brad never managed to get a picture of him exploding so I recreated one.


(I made myself a good bit thinner but kept my trademark scruffy hair, lol). I cannot hang on to him when he does this. I end up behind him with him standing on his back legs. I could hold on to Wildairo because he'd face me and I'd jerk the rope, scold him and bring him back to me. Echo just spins and rears when he feels to rope. It's an all out effort to escape.

Here I re-catch him and you can see by the look on his face he doesn't trust me or my kind.


He's fine when it's just me and there's nothing at all to scare him. If he's scared like this in his own corral I can't imagine what would happen if I led him around the farm. I had plans to lead him behind Foxsun when I rode him around the corral and then to pony him in the big pasture once Echo was familiar with it all.

Echo learned his lesson when he hurt his head while trying to escape from the squeeze chute. Now he stands rock steady even when Brad was helping me get his halter on. He needs to be jerked hard or something when he bolts so he stops these shenanigans. I'm not sure how to do it. My lead rope is pretty long but I was thinking of a longer one like a lunge line. I know he'd learn a quick but hard lesson if I tied the rope to something secure. But he zips off so fast he would hurt himself.

When I swung the end of the lead rope just a few inches he took off. So it's not just the sight of Brad that does it. I can't even attempt to desensitize him while he's this spooky. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

The end of an era.

I really miss him. I keep expecting him to nicker when he hears me open the door, but he's not there. He'll never be here again.


Even though he was eating so much better he didn't put on any weight. Friday we had a long talk with the vet about his treatment. The vet had been very concerned about the edema and had told us not to get our hopes up. But because he was eating good we decided to give it a few more days before doing something else.

Then came the morning he didn't come over to the house to eat his grain. I called for him and he poked his head out of the shop. (It's nice and warm in there). I never saw him walk to our house but Brad saw him as he walked over and said he looked weak. The edema had got very bad and I realized we had to do something different, but it was too late. I also had to admit to myself that even though he was eating pretty well, he was loosing weight not gaining any. He ate some grain and like always took a nap by the honeysuckle. After a while he sat down under the birch tree and never got up again. He never even tried. He was tired and weak. Bobby cried inconsolably and had to be shut in the basement. Funny how animals know something is wrong even though Fox was just sitting with us eating apples and nibbling grain.

When Brad went inside to call the vet to put him to sleep, I was laying with Fox on the lawn and he started to go on his own. His pulse was very weak and I knew he was going into that other place. I went inside to tell Brad maybe he should tell the vet not to come because Foxsun may not be here when he arrived. (The vet is 50 miles away and because it wasn't an emergency it might have been a few hours before he arrived). Brad said he never got through anyway because the line was busy.

It was the last full day of summer and it was a beautiful day. So warm and still. Not a leaf stirred in the trees. Not a cloud in the sky. Birds were singing. And I lay with my horse telling him he was a good boy and I loved him. I kissed his nose and stroked his face. I rubbed his legs and sprayed the flies.

I was inside the house getting a cup of tea when Foxsun left us. I looked out of the window and noticed how still and empty his body looked. His ears were motionless. I covered him with blankets and asked Brad to bury our boy under the apple tree.



Foxsun was gently laid to rest in one of his favorite places under the apple tree. Funny thing... after he was buried I looked out at Dandylyons standing under the cottonwoods and my eyes played tricks on me because in the dappled sunlight I thought I saw the familiar sight of Foxsun standing by her side.


I got in my little pool and swam. There was ice on the water buckets that morning and so the water was very very cold. I swam around on the bottom to maybe drown my sorrows and numb my sad thoughts. I watched Brad remove all Fox's blankets and grain buckets etc off the lawn. After I walked along our dusty farm road, which are still covered in Foxsun's hoof prints, to the corrals to see the mustangs. We initially got our first one, Wildairo, to keep Foxsun company when his elderly cow wife died. I never guest she'd outlive him. Within a short while little Echo had me smiling and laughing as he applied for the newly opened position of most endearing lovable horse on the farm.... and a new era begins.

Indulge me one last time.

First time I saw Foxsun.


Foxsun as a youth.


Foxsun and Dandylyons.


Apple Pi Foxsun Bay was a Morgan horse born in Moorcroft, Wyoming on April 24th 1986. His mother was the sweet Foxy Triton and his dad was the beautiful dependable cow horse, Sunup Phaon.

Foxsun.

Foxsun
April 24 1986 - September 21 2009

Foxsun still has the dreaded lurgy.

Foxsun's kidneys seem to be working OK according to an urinalysis we did earlier this week. The vet also told me that he got a call from the lab that ran the pigeon fever titre to tell him there had been a mix up. It turns out Foxsun tested positive for pigeon fever antibodies. It wasn't high, 64 I believe, but it was enough to show that Foxsun maybe walling off internal pigeon fever abscesses. Foxsun has been showing some improvement so we are continuing the massive doses of antibiotics.

The odd thing is all the edema he has. The edema comes and goes on his belly. I believe it's called ventral edema. His hind legs are also swollen. During the last week he has been having edema in his chest... some days worse than others. The latest development was puffy swelling in his throat latch area. I think this is edema also because it comes and goes. Because of all the grazing he has been doing lately the edema maybe from having his head down a lot. I hope he doesn't have something going on with his heart.

Foxsun has become very skinny and I was hoping he'd start to put on weight now that he's eating more but if he is I can't see it. If I don't see an improvement soon as far as his weight goes, I'll ask the vet if we can switch to another antibiotic.

Meanwhile Foxsun is having the time of his life although I gave him bute yesterday because he was stiff and a bit sluggish. It perked him right up. It was the first time for almost two weeks he'd had any bute. He hangs around me enjoying watching me do stuff. He followed me over to the mustangs last night and insisted on following me in to Echo's corral. Even though he can go the other side of the fence and eat all he wants from the bales of hay he marched right up to Echo, who was enjoying his dinner, and tucked in right next to him.


Fox is 14.3 so I think Echo must be 14.0 or 14.1 at the most. Echo was OK with it but after awhile Foxsun, who's used to bossing cows around, went snake face.


Echo, being a tough little mustang, thought a fight was starting and spun around to show Fox his business end. Foxsun spun around and showed Echo his puny business end which made Echo back off and come over to me for a carrot. Even though I was impressed with Foxsun's determination to eat Echo's hay I called him to me and we left Echo to enjoy the rest of his dinner.

Foxsun is still wearing his little blanket at night. The feed stores don't have the fall and winter horse fashions in yet so I'll have to order him one online.

I leave grain outside the back door and he comes over in the mornings to eat it. Last night, when I was locking up to go to bed, he gave me a bit of a fright by looking at me through the glass of the back door. This morning he found another place to keep an eye on me.


And I found another way to give him treats.



Right now his favorite food is oats. I also have bowls of sweet cob and senior ration in case he gets a taste for those. I try to keep the bowls full. I can't put chopped apple or carrots in his senior feed to get him to eat it because he knocks the bowl over to get at the treats and makes a mess.

Here's a picture of Fox when he was 10 years old. As you can see he's a very sturdy Morgan horse.

Bittersweet.

This is 2 year old Foxsun and a very pregnant me in 1988.


I would take William over to visit Foxsun from the very beginning.


Soon Foxsun became our only horse and remained so for 20 years.

Keegan and his baby brother.


The year William started Kindergarten Keegan graduated from high school and left home to start his career in the air force. And so William became our only child at home.

With our faithful dog Paddington.


William has always loved ducks....


... and cats.


William never was keen riding horses very much....


...but he found sheep closer to the ground and nice and woolly....

and so he just followed behind on dear Chloe.

And so William grew.









Explored our farm....


..and helped with chores.


Paddington became deaf and almost blind.



He met some good people, including two Washington State Governors and both of our US Senators. He even made a commercial with Senator Cantwell. Here he is with Gov. Lowery.


With two of his classmates, Lexi and Sarah.


He went to the Central Washington University for two years and then earned a place to study at the University of Plymouth in England........


He earned money working at CWU's theater department as a carpenter and paid for and arranged this all by himself!


and so on Sunday he left us and flew to London.


I LOVE YOU SO MUCH WILLIAM.

(He's wearing his winter coat so he doesn't have to pack it. Half my boy's luggage was his beloved bass)!

The same day William left was the day Foxsun tried very hard to come into the house. I think he wants his room!


And I'm tempted to let him have it!

A horse and his dog.

The young vet is figuring out what is ailing Foxsun. We are going to conduct further tests but so far all things are pointing to our boys kidneys failing. It makes sense now; his weight loss, edema, his not wanting to eat high protein feed. We're hoping it's something with his kidneys that can be fixed such as a walled off abscess interfering with his kidney function. A titer for pigeon fever antibodies was negative.

Foxsun has been doing well all week. He's alert and very happy. He still has the run of the place and he's back to exploring all over. Bobby sticks to him like glue and its very comical. He walks about with her head buried in his tail and she flops down, sometimes under him when he nods off.

This was taken through the back door. The white thing behind Fox is one of my mixing bowls with grain in it. I leave little bowls all over trying to get him to eat.




You can see Foxsun's edema on his under carriage.




I don't like the way she's licking her chops. lol.


Tommy Two Tone meets Foxsun.


Busted tasting the ornamental grasses and trying to look innocent.


I was trying to get the bottom of a chair clean where the pets had rubbed up against it when they come into the house. I had a brilliant idea and so William and I took it through the French doors outside and I blasted the skirt with the hose and it dried looking brand new. Foxsun likes to be in on all the action now.


Foxsun wears this little blanket on these cooler evenings.


He's careful not to rub it off on anything. He sleeps over by the farm buildings on these cooler nights but here he is bright and early one morning outside our house still wearing his jim jams.


I'm going to buy him a proper horse coat this weekend for the colder weather.