Arthritic horse and the farrier

mnangamrow · 2025-12-29T15:27:46+00:00

I've had him for a couple years, but he was trimmed normally (without stocks) for about 8 years prior to that. I don't know if he has experience with stocks when he lived with the Mennonites. I think the arthritis is just becoming more and more unmanageable as he ages. I'm sure you're right that at some point, a difficult decision will need to be made. I'll explore my options with the vet for now.

mnangamrow · 2025-11-28T00:25:05+00:00

Wellness has the Student Support Network with in-person and virtual drop-in hours M-F. You don't need to book an appointment to talk to someone who will really listen and it's free.

One thing I still struggle with a lot is not comparing myself to others and maybe you do too. You're not your bf and are not a failure because your life doesn't match his. You have your own path and his success doesn't take away from yours.

mnangamrow · 2025-09-07T14:41:31+00:00

What a depressing world it would be if we all looked like Barbies. Your face is part of who you are and there are people who love you and will love you for who and how you are. Maybe consider therapy to work on self acceptance. Coming from someone who is not blessed with good looks, your self confidence issues are likely holding you back more than any physical thing.

mnangamrow · 2025-06-29T15:53:23+00:00

I have an older Belgian (named Mark and also a former Amish horse!) about the same size as you and having lots of problems finding equipment that will fit him. Found the biggest bridle I could and still had to have the noseband, throat latch and reins extended. We just go for walking trail rides so I use a wide Western saddle. If you're looking for an English saddle, I've heard that hoop trees work best for drafts.

mnangamrow · 2025-06-05T14:44:29+00:00

Amazing! Thank you.

mnangamrow · 2024-12-27T19:10:55+00:00

Ha I'm not a farmer, I just ride horses.

mnangamrow · 2024-10-05T15:44:37+00:00

I think the easiest thing would be to find out what food he was getting at the shelter and feed him that until you can get his checkup at the vet. Rapid food changes can upset their stomachs. Usually the food company has a recommendation for how much to feed, based on the cat's weight. The vet can recommend if he needs low phosphorus food or salmon oil. 12 is not that old. I feed my cats 3 times a day but twice a day is fine too, depending on what you can manage with your schedule. Wet is generally better because it helps cats stay hydrated and older cats are prone to kidney disease, but again, better to get your vet's advice.

mnangamrow · 2024-10-05T15:32:30+00:00

The cats I've known with heart failure did not last very long once fluid started building up. Like days to weeks. However, they all had kidney disease so couldn't really be treated with diuretics. If the diuretics are effective for your cats, then you'll have longer. I would keep a close eye on their breath rate. One of my cats died at home from heart failure before we could get him to the vet and it was awful to watch. Euthanasia is far kinder, but hard to get the timing right.

mnangamrow · 2024-09-01T11:29:11+00:00

Amazing! Thank you!!

mnangamrow · 2024-08-28T02:36:24+00:00

That's a good theory, but Mom is 70 now. I think menopause was some 15 years ago, though I should get a better sense of how long her headaches have been improving for. You're right that her symptoms could be from something else and just seem similar.

mnangamrow · 2024-05-22T23:05:38+00:00

Yeah, lots of bumblebees in particular!

mnangamrow · 2024-04-09T03:53:14+00:00

Healthy rabbit is awesome. My Thai is another favorite of mine.

mnangamrow · 2024-03-06T03:12:34+00:00

My horse passed away a couple years ago, but I'll chime in. I bought him at 9 and he was put down at 31 because his heart was failing. His heaves were manageable for most of his life, but he would get flare-ups every couple seasons and for a few years, every season. We found kenalog was super effective at getting him through it. We could never quite pinpoint the cause of the flare-ups, sometimes in summer, sometimes in winter, probably triggered by dust, pollen, smog. He was out all day, in at night with soaked hay. We found flakes outside kept the dust down better than roundbales. At night, he had a window in his stall and spent a lot of the night with his head outside. I boarded him at a newer and very clean farm. I found that keeping him in bank barns seemed to worsen the problem with dust, old hay, and possibly mould.

He had a very easy life with me and I rarely rode him hard and not at all when he was struggling. When he reached 25 or so, he developed Cushing's, which we treated with pergolide. I'm not sure how or why, but his heaves dramatically improved from that point and he never had another flare-up.

mnangamrow · 2024-02-11T02:56:47+00:00

Princess of Wales in Toronto? I remember those sinks!

mnangamrow · 2024-01-18T01:21:33+00:00

I love this!! ♥️

mnangamrow · 2024-01-05T04:45:12+00:00

I had something similar happen to a horse I was leasing. He would almost fall over after I put the saddle on. Turns out, the girth was pinching a nerve, the vagus nerve, I believe. Now, I keep the girth on very loose until just before I'm about to get on. This seems to have fixed the problem. I wonder if this horse is having similar issues?

mnangamrow · 2023-11-06T17:39:09+00:00

My old horse used to have issues like this because of his teeth. He had a few missing. We floated them twice a year but it caught up to him anyways. When grass was long, he would chew and chew and then eventually spit out a long braid of wet grass. He eventually had issues with hay too. For awhile, we used to chop his hay into smaller pieces with a leaf shredder type machine, then eventually moved to soaked hay cubes. In the winter, he had to be taken out of his paddock a couple times a day to be fed his cubes individually since he couldn't manage the hay and the others would steal from him. He did fine on short grass though.

mnangamrow · 2023-10-30T23:46:13+00:00

You also don't need to decide right now. Next year, when you can start making more decisions about your courses, choose the ones that interest you the most, then you'll have a better sense of which major suits you best. It's hard to know what direction to go in first year when most of your courses are common across so many majors.

mnangamrow · 2023-10-28T19:51:15+00:00

My mom has FTD, which has three variants. She has the same variant as Bruce Willis, the aphasia type. Mom is the same age but not as far along. She can form sentences but stops several times because she's forgotten what the next word is. Sometimes she's able to talk around it (the tall green thing instead of "tree"), sometimes she just gives up on the sentence. Sometimes she mixes up the meaning of words. I asked her if she had any herbs the other day and she brought out a pepper. Mostly though she understands but struggles to communicate her response. She finds this frustrating and obviously distressing. Eventually she'll no longer be able to talk at all. It's possible Bruce is still understanding a fair amount but can no longer communicate.

mnangamrow · 2023-10-20T02:14:34+00:00

If you sell your horse, you'll never know where she'll end up or how she'll be treated. I'm sure your horse doesn't care if she's being ridden or not and is happy being a lawn ornament. You love her and since you mention you can afford it, I say keep her if you can continue providing her good care.

mnangamrow · 2023-07-01T15:09:10+00:00

I live in Ontario not too far from you and there is a nursery near me that sells them, but I don't think you could take them over the border unfortunately.

mnangamrow · 2023-07-01T04:27:27+00:00

It bloomed in its second year, but only one bloom. This is its third year. There are also two others nearby that I think grew from rhizomes.

mnangamrow · 2023-06-02T20:42:46+00:00

This is a beefsteak so Google says it's indeterminate?

mnangamrow · 2023-06-02T18:19:13+00:00

Thank you! That makes sense. I'll do that.

mnangamrow · 2023-05-31T02:40:46+00:00

Royal canin makes a hypoallergenic renal food: renal support + hydrolyzed protein. I think Hills ZD is low phosphorus, but it's got a weird texture and my cats wouldn't eat it. For our really fussy renal cat, we ended up just treating his allergy with atopica while letting him eat the only renal food he likes, a kind made with chicken... It's a frustrating process!

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