The Magical Pony School, Book One: Jane's Transformation

It's finally here!  The first book in my middle grade fiction series is up on Amazon as an e-book - you can see the cover and click over to Amazon from the sidebar to your right.

The product description is not up yet - that usually takes a little longer to go up, but I'll give it to you here.

Jane loves ponies and riding, and after a lesson one day in which she rides a circle and suddenly feels total harmony with her sometimes difficult pony, she goes home to discover that she has been invited to attend the Magical Pony School. The book opens as Jane and her fellow first-year students are getting ready for the Winter Solstice ceremony - a very special event at the Magical Pony School.

Things don't quite go as planned - and Jane soon finds herself on the adventure of a lifetime, where she encounters wild pigs, shapeshifting creatures, bugganes, dwarves, an odd bitter woman, and finally, a black mare with one eye and two donkey guardians who lead her to the most important part of her journey: saying goodbye to her father and letting go of the need to be perfect.

The Magical Pony School series is a good read-aloud for younger children, an "advanced" chapter book for early middle graders, a quick read for older middle graders or avid readers, and will appeal to both girls and boys - there is magic, adventure, and a fair amount of Celtic lore. For readers who ride, there is classical riding and a focus on partnership, not domination, over our equine friends.

This is also likely to be one of those books horsey moms and grandmoms will enjoy.

Fiona and the Waterhorse, book two in the series, should be out before summer.

If you read this and enjoy it, I encourage you to review it, talk about it, and spread the word!

nearly a week without a post? unprecedented!

Well, except for when I go on hiatus.

It's just been really busy here. Cody is completely recovered from his abscess. We had a ton of rain. The local weather station posted a story that our area is still in severe drought. I invite anyone needing water to come siphon off our excess.

Friday the wonderful H. came to massage Salina, with even better response this time. Although we were having light rain that morning, I put the geldings out of their stalls and opened up the arena so they could experience footing without mud. Within minutes the three of them were trotting and cantering around, including Cody. Keil Bay looked ready for at least a second level test. Meanwhile Salina nuzzled my hand with her lips and alternated between closing her eye and chewing as H worked. Rafer Johnson was highly indignant that while he earns the massage money, someone else gets the massage!

And this was writing group weekend. D. arrived and we hit the ground running. On Saturday we went into town and ended up discovering a steampunk gallery and coffee house that has been there for 9 months and I didn't even know it!  The young woman who owns and runs it turns out to be a home schooler who moved down here and is following her dream. And while I know not very much at all about the steampunk genre, I admit I was intrigued by the artwork and the toys and the ambiance.

Even with all the exploring we did on Saturday, the weekend was wildly productive. I finished my final edit on The Magical Pony School: Jane's Transformation. It's the first book in my middle grade series, and at any moment it will be available on Amazon!

I'll do a big announcement when it's live there, but for now, I'm just thrilled that this book is so close to being out in the world. A secret: although it's aimed at early middle grade, I suspect moms and grandmoms of middle graders and younger pony girls and boys might also enjoy the story.... :)

We're back in the 50s as we begin the week and once again I am in hopes of major drying out happening. Between grooming the mud and walking in it, I am just plain tired of soggy, wet earth. The donkeys have nowhere to take their dust baths, and I think even the most deeply-rooted trees have had their fill.

And that is all I can say because I swore after seeing some fellow bloggers' photos recently that I would never complain again!

I hope we all start the sweet shift to spring, soon.

finally - some progress!

We left the hoof alone yesterday - and I switched to my other homeopathic "abscess" remedy yesterday afternoon since the first one didn't seem to be acting. This morning things with Cody were holding steady, but by mid-day I noticed he was not moving as much as he had been. I picked the hoof and flushed it with hot epsom salt water, and gave him another dose of the new remedy. Within moments he began to act very strangely - licking the arena footing, pawing with the off hoof, and then simply refusing to move.

I got his halter and lead rope and brought him into the grassy barnyard, and although he really didn't want to move, he walked out with me. But then resumed the licking on the grass! He was also jerking his hoof up periodically, as though it was hurting him. And then he seemed a bit wobbly. I gave him water, and he took a long drink. I'm really not sure what was going on - I came inside and called husband and we talked it through while I watched Cody from the back deck. After only a few minutes he stopped the licking, dropped a nice, normal pile of manure, and turned himself to face me!

I went back out and did some chores, keeping an eye on him. He was not moving as much still but had stopped the odd licking and jerking and went back to eating hay. In retrospect, I think the remedy might have "kicked in" - I usually give 3 doses total and sometimes the action doesn't start with the first dose. I've had the human equivalent of an abscess before and was given this same remedy - within minutes of taking it, I could feel the infection drawing tighter and getting more painful, and with the second dose, the "abscess" burst. Cody is fairly sensitive to physical things - although laid back in many ways. I wonder if today's dose, the second, triggered a drawing action that just plain felt weird.

In any case, late this afternoon he asked to go out with his herd and since I was out mucking I decided to trust his judgment. He walked carefully to the back field and stood with his best buddies, relaxing and clearly feeling good about being with them again. I decided to go ahead and give the third dose before I had to leave to take son to his class. Only a few minutes after we left, my husband called to say that the abscess had opened and was draining, and that Cody was moving almost normally again.

Thank goodness!

cody update and a new friendship in the herd

When I went out to feed tubs this morning, Cody was playing tag over the fence with Keil Bay, and then with Little Man, so it was good to see that his spirits are still high.

I noticed when he came into the barn for breakfast that he seems even more tender on the hoof, but when he went out after breakfast, he headed straight for the firm (but with some give) footing of the arena, and while when moving he seems more tender, when he is standing he is very purposefully putting himself square and then easing his full weight down onto that heel.

I'm thinking he's getting to that point that Salina gets to when the abscess is close to blowing and there is a need to 'push' on it. I've seen Salina prop her near to blowing abscessed hoof on a tree root and then shift her weight onto it to increase the pressure. And of course she will soak her own hoof in the water buckets on the ground when she feels that's what she needs to get the thing out. 

With Cody today, it appears he is doing a similar thing by squaring up so his full weight goes down onto that heel - but he's definitely easing into that.

He was tossing his head when some herd play started up, and again, I'm heartened to see that even though he's dealing with this abscess, his spirit is still strong.

Which segues me to the second part of the post.

A week or two ago I began to notice that a new dynamic was forming in the herd. The relationships are fairly stable - they all get along well enough in terms of all turning out together. Keil Bay is the benevolent leader, Salina is the not always so benevolent boss mare, and the major play has always been between Keil and Cody, Keil and the pony, Cody and the pony, and Cody and Redford donkey, and of course between the two little donkeys.

Rafer has never really "played" with the big horses or the pony. Redford has been quite the playmate for Cody though, and the two of them frequently have a game going at some point in every day.

Over the last couple of weeks though, I've noticed that the pony has been playing with Redford. It's very interesting, as the size difference is of course not as dramatic as Cody and Redford. Because the Little Man is so much smaller than Cody, the play with Redford can get much more ... fast.

This morning he and Redford were trotting around together, then cantering, then at a dead gallop. And they were prancing, lifting tails, doing the side-to-side head thing, and just generally having a blast. The first clue that major play was in the air though was Salina, who headed in from the back field at a very big walk - she wisely gets herself out of the way when that kind of action starts up.

Rafer was standing in the arena with Cody, and when Cody started tossing his head Rafer joined in the play but inside the arena, running around the rail keeping his eye on the pony and Redford, but also being very careful not to bother Cody. It was very sweet.

It's so much fun seeing a new friendship blossom, especially right now when Redford's main playmate is not exactly able to run with him!

waiting on an abscess

At least we think that's what we're waiting on. We woke up Saturday morning to find Cody lame on the left front. No swelling or heat in the leg itself, some heat around the heel bulb area. He was as eager as ever for his breakfast tub, and went out with the herd for after-breakfast hay.

I walked the back field where they'd been turned out Friday night. There was no evidence of any accident or wildness on the part of the herd. The ground is still very soft and I knew I'd see it if they'd been running or doing anything overly strenuous.

 Fortunately, too, my daughter rode Cody on Friday and I was out there to watch - he looked fine, if anything, better than usual in movement. So it's clear the onset was sudden.

We brought him back in after an hour or so on Saturday morning to soak the hoof, mainly to get it really clean so we could see if there was anything to be seen - there isn't. The primary clues are that he does not want to put his weight back onto the heel, and that seems to be where the little bit of heat is.

He *will* put his full weight on it periodically, and when he does, it doesn't seem like the discomfort dramatically increases- there is an increase until the weight goes down and then it seems to ease. He also seems to enjoy the soaking - puts his weight down into the water.

We've done two wrappings with Animalintex and reconfigured the barn set-up so that at night and for some time each day he and Rafer Johnson share the barn aisle, one stall, and the big barnyard and arena. Salina and Redford are on their side with the neighboring stall and grass paddock, and Keil Bay and Apache Moon are in their regular place, but with three stalls instead of two and their paddock.

Mainly I didn't want Cody to get upset that the herd was out of sight - this way they all get turn-out as usual but they are always where he can be adjacent to them.

During the day they're turning out and he goes out with them for some portion of the day.

The hoof seems to get a bit more tender after the wrapping, so I think the drawing action is doing its job - but the abscess just isn't coming "out" yet.  I've given two different homeopathic remedies - should know today if the second one has had an effect.

The most interesting thing about this is that we've never really had an opportunity to experience Cody as a "patient." He's the youngest of the horses, and although he does have the PSSM issue, we've not had the occasion to treat him for more than the occasional very minor thing.

I'm not sure why I'm surprised at how good a patient he is being. When his hoof is being soaked, wrapped, examined, etc., he is cooperative and very interested in what's going on. He loves the smell of the VetWrap, wants to know exactly what it is we're soaking his hoof in, and he's the most enthusiastic homeopathic remedy taker I've ever seen. He almost seems to be enjoying the special time he's getting.

All that said, I am of course ready for this thing to either reabsorb or burst out so that Cody can get back to normal. If we don't see some positive movement in the next day or so we'll get the vet out.  But meanwhile, I'm taking the time to stop and notice how flexible my herd is. They've all cheerfully switched their routine around to accommodate Cody's needs, and Rafer is being especially good about staying with Cody (when he could easily go through the fence and join the others).

When an equine is sick, or off, time seems to pass differently. It feels like days and days since Saturday morning, but it's only Monday. I've been thinking about spring and all the pre-spring chores that need doing. I've been looking at seeds and sketching out plantings. And getting myself a few months ahead of where we actually are - the middle of winter.

As horses seem particularly gifted at doing, Cody has brought all of us back to the present, where we watch and treat and wait with him for his hoof to heal. And when it does, and the herd is back to the usual routine, I think we'll all be extra grateful for "normal" again. Whether it's cold or hot, too wet or too dry, there's no question that all of those things are infinitely tolerable when the herd is healthy. And we have the luxury to complain about something like the weather.