Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Obb Stackels

Rijkens and I are back to work after we both had the flu.  And yes of course it was on the weekend of our first recognized show as a team so we had to scratch.  *sigh*  Disappointing for sure but there will be other shows.  Our next one is Windy Knoll Farm Spring 1 and 2 March 22-24.

Since I love the bullet list, here's one of what this has taught me:
  • The flu is a respecter of no one; not horses or even famous people.  Poor Edward Gal had to scratch at the masters in Florida because he had the flu.  Though this saddens me I'll also take any connection to Ed I can make, even if it's commiserating about how it sucks to get sick during a show.
  • Pfizer will pay your entire vet bill if your horse gets sick with something the horse has been vaccinated against with a Pfizer brand of vaccine.  Rijkens' several hundred dollar vet bill including farm call, exam, cultures, labs and antibiotics has been reimbursed.  Every little bit helps!
  • There are some newly mutated, nasty forms of flu virus out there.  The lab company in Kentucky could not differentiate the flu strain from Rijkens' nasal culture, and since they did determine it is an unusual strain have forwarded it on to a virus-research company to investigate and isolate which strain of flu it is.
  • For every day a horse has a fever, he needs a corresponding week of no forced exercise afterward.  Turn out is okay after all symptoms have stopped.  
  • Though I have no proof of this anecdotal observation, it was a huge coincidence that my trainer's horse had the flu-- two days later my trainer had the flu; my horse got the flu-- two days later I got the flu.  The scientists say that viruses don't typically jump species but I'm not entirely ruling out that it is a possibility for new mutations of flu to be shared by different species (and yes, it's happened before as in bird flu and swine flu so why not equine?).
  • The number one thing I've learned from this episode: when feeling like Cinderella left home from the ball, the sour grapes one indulges in from self pity taste even WORSE after a night of lower GI trauma.  It was a night of torture and I would have missed the show anyway even if Rijkens hadn't had to scratch, and then someone else would have had to get both my trailer and the horses home.  It all worked out in the end, and Rijkens and I are both well and back to work.

Rijkens sweating today after our schooling; we could have been eventing with the amount of sweat produced:
   
The Oldenburg mare Gentle Rain and my barn buddy Ceil at the HDS Winter Show:
 

The Trakehner mare Lola and my barn buddy Tiffany at the HDS Winter Show:

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