Staples are a Cat's Best Friend
He's fine. It's just a cut. Silly cat tried to slice himself open on something. So I'm relieved on that front, but now I'm frantically scouring the room trying to figure out what he cut himself on!He did have to have stitches—staples, rather. So he spent the day in the kitty hospital and B picked him up for me because I had to move my horses today. The barn manager gave me an ultimatum about my mare last week: shoe her, move her, or else.
Since it goes against my principles as a former student of AANHCP Natural Hoof Care (I almost became a trimmer) to put shoes on a horse (because AANHCP trimmers take an oath never to nail a shoe to a horse's foot ever again and are promoters of the Iron-Free Hoof movement), that left me with Move Her or Else. I dunno 'bout you, but I don't think I wanna know what "else" is. So I chose "move".
But I did it stealth. Less confrontation that way. No, we didn't swoop in under cover of darkness or anything like that. I just didn't tell anyone I was moving until AFTER we were already gone. The day after the ultimatum was issued, The Universe heeded my call and brought me a fantastic barn. Small, private, run by a young couple who are so into natural horsemanship (and holistic care) that the girl, who has trained her own horses and competes (for fun), said "teach me!!! Promise me you'll teach me Parelli."
Well, technically I'm not authorized to teach, but I can certainly share all my study materials and equipment with her and be an enabler. ;-)
And so, today we arrived at the barn on the hottest day so far this year (95 whoppin' humid degrees), loaded up my tack, my feed, and my accessories, then loaded the horses (who went in like a dream, I might add) and bailed. The place was deserted when we arrived and nobody came in or anything the whole time.
What surprises me is looking at the flip side—how easy would it have been for anybody to drive on in and just pick a horse and leave? Luckily it never happened (while I was there). The old barn is on a busy road in a major tourist area. The new barn is off the beaten path.
I scrawled a note on the bulletin board in ink:
Cheerios & Shaveya have relocated. Bye, y'all!
No, I'm not telling them where we went. They wanted me out, they got their wish. (But I got mine, too. And the holistic vet will probably come out next week. Yay!)
I'm so happy. SO relieved to be out of the old and into the new. SO relieved my poor blue cat is basically OK.
What a Monday. Time to go eat, shower and sleep now.
Thanks for the support! Sammy Blue says... well, not much. He's kinda feelin icky. :-) He gets a private room in the little bathroom tonight.
Labels: breaking news, cats, horses, injuries, positive thinking
posted by Jeanne @ 8:09 PM
4 Comments:
How weird!! I'm glad he's OK, but WEIRD!! Have you figured out what he got hurt on???
Pardon my ignorance, but why do people put shoes on horses in the first place, and what difference does it make to the bard dude if your horse has shoes or not?
Glad your kitty is OK! Good for you for taking care of your horses your way!
There's no short answer to your question, Stick. One viewpoint is that shoes protect the hooves and correct problems.
The other viewpoint is the polar opposite and it is based on considerable research focusing on the wild horse hoof (their hooves can crush rocks and they never get the "syndromes" domestic horses do). This is the Natural Hoof Care (NHC) philosophy, which I have embraced. It doesn't just look at the hoof as the source of lameness; it also considers the horse's environment, lifestyle, nutrition and whole body as the origin of lameness.
My horse is on a special diet and a consistent trim schedule. When it is followed to the letter, it works—her lameness diminishes. When "adjustments" are made, or it is removed, she regresses. I have long suspected but only recently gained evidence that the current BMs were promoting their own agenda rather than following my wishes.
Of course, this is because they are both shoeing farriers, and the male counterpart has 20 years of experience (as he often reminded me), so they know better than someone who has only had horses for 6 years and has just begun to study NHC. >:-/
Yikes! Glad to hear that the kittycat is fine, if a cutter. Therapy needed? ;)
Sounds like the new barn is a better home.
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