As planned, Dr. Wellington showed up early today, on what turned out to be a cold, but sunny morning. We had Raudi and Hrimmi tied up to the hitching post, ready to be examined. Dr. Wellington immediately put his stethoscope in his ears and checked Raudi’s heart rate. “44 beats per minute,” he said. He next checked her lungs. “Clear,” he said. He quickly put to rest my concerns about Raudi having COPD, or heaves, a chronic condition that’s a lot like asthma. Presumably, Tinni has it – but I now think he might just be allergic to various molds.

Dr. Wellington speculated that Raudi might have a dust allergy, perhaps picked up on the trailer ride home. He says that what she now has – an occasional cough – isn’t a major issue. I asked, and was told to keep riding. He didn’t mention this, but I’m going to feed her out of state hay for a while. This is what the princess should have.

As for Hrimmi – she’s had a problem with her right rear leg locking. This has happened maybe two or three times since we’ve been home. Coincidently, it locked up today when Dr. Wellington was here. I actually saw this as fortuitous because he was then able to see what the problem was, rather than just speculate about it. I was right – she has upward fixation of the patella. I presumed that this was what was going on because it happened to Siggi when he was her age. The veterinarian said that the solution is to get the horse out on varied terrain so that the muscles around the kneecap build up. Pete and I immediately agreed that this is something we can easily do.

And we did it. This afternoon we took Hrimmi out for a ride on our trail system. We weren’t out long, but long enough for her to get a few vigorous gallops and bucks in. This made me wish that I had a huge fenced in area for her to run around in. She’s actually luckier than Siggi was – we didn’t take him for trail rides because we didn’t yet have Tinni. And when, finally, we did have Tinni, it didn’t occur to us to take him out and let him run loose in the woods.

So off we went, out onto the trails. Had a wonderful time. I rode Tinni, Pete rode Signy, and Hrimmi and Jenna ran loose. I have my fingers crossed that the snow holds off for a few weeks more because the trails are frozen and therefore easily traversed. Snow will just put a crimp in the plans. Back to dealing with snowmobiles and snowplows.

I also took Raudi and Signy on the same trails, and as well a few others. I had an equally good time, Raudi coughed a few times, but it was not enough to make her feel uncomfortable. Dr. Wellington said that if her cough gets worse he’ll have a blood panel run and put her on medication.

I was relieved with what Dr. Wellington had to say on both counts. I am also glad that for now he’s our veterinarian. I don’t like the local alternatives.

Next: 228: 11/9/13: Weather or No