Poor Pangea. Up until this point, everything had been easy smooth sailing for her and her transition from Alberta to Texas. I mean, it REALLY is a dramatic climate change, so I guess some troubles aren't unexpected... I guess we can't have it completely easy ALL the time!
The weather has been absolutely beautiful here in north central Texas for the better part of four months, and spring has been fully in bloom since February. The grasses have grown tall and mature, and all our trails are overgrow and now brushing the horses' bellies when we ride off property. Every day has been hazy, humid, and fragrantly full of bluebonnets, all of which makes me feel very drowsy and smiley all day long.
The downside to all of these awesome things? Bugs.
Lots and lots of bugs.
(Also snakes. But not relevant at the moment, thank god.)
Poor Pangea is NOT having a good time with the bugs. Coming from Canada, all the little no-see-ums and other flying Texas nuisances that make snacks out of large four legged animals are completely different than what she is used to, and her immune system is reacting accordingly. The poor thing has had the better part of two weeks off following her chiro appointment due to an itchy funk, a bout of nasty hives, a fat fly eye, and a neverending steam of welts from bug bites:
A dose of Banamine, some Clear Eyes, and a flymask took care of the fat eye fairly immediately. As for the welts and hives and generally overreactive immune system, we tried a few things and found a combination that works. The funk is under control with some diligent medicated shampooing and daily applications of Listerine, and the hives and welts are under control with a full-cover fly sheet and a shot of Kenalog. It's not my style to just reach for a steroid first thing, but in this case we decided to temper her overreactive immune system before things got out of hand. In theory, her body will adjust and become accustomed to all the different bugs and their bites here, and will not have the same reaction in the future. (Let's hope it actually happens that way.) The Kenalog nailed the problem and all her hives and welts vanished overnight, thank god. Should this problem recur, I think I'll be looking into herbalist/acupuncturist support instead, just to see if something more holistic will do just as good of a job as a steroid. I'd rather not give steroids if I can help her a little more holistically and make her feel better that way instead. For good measure, she's still been wearing her bug sheet, which she does NOT approve of:
She and
Saga can be bug sheet mates until it gets too Texas hot for clothes. Trust me, when it is 110 here NOBODY wants to be wearing clothes!
The strangest development that has happened in the past week is that she has been dappling out in a completely bizarre way... I've never seen anything quite like it. It's like she's shedding into her lighter summer coat through her dapples... very weird looking. She's very dirty and dingy in these pictures so don't judge on the filth and lack of shine, she's actually very shiny when she is clean!
Weird, no? It's very pretty but... bizarre.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Now that the hives/welts/funk/fat eye stuff is all under control, she is going back to work on Monday. Can't wait to get up there and ride again after this very loooooooong two weeks of no saddle time.... assuming we don't get more tornados tonight and tomorrow like we are supposed to!
