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August 12, 2018: Late Night Dispatch

Night time – people tend to fear it, or why else would they tend to have lighting at all? We cannot then seen predators, this is a holdback from times when we really had something to fear.

Right now, at this late hour (and I know I am thinking this way because it is dark), I am very worried about Ryder. Her abscess, which was shrinking, has suddenly grown – it was marble sized and it is now egg sized again. And it has grown larger in the past few hours.

I hope that it does not grow any more until tomorrow, when I can deal. I will first talk with Pete and find out if he had given her the full course of antibiotics before he left, or if there were more rounds to give. And I will find out if North Star Animal Hospital is open tomorrow. If not, and if this thing gets bigger, I may have to take her to Far Country.

I am having to be pro-active, and this is just fine. I can do this. The plan tomorrow is to go to Anchorage and pick up Sean, Eva’s sweetheart. But first, I must get Ryder taken care of.

I do wonder what is causing this abscess. I suspect that the veterinarian will lance it and clean it out and stitch it up. And she will again be put on antibiotics. It must not be a tumor or it would not have shrunk when she was on the first round of drugs. I wonder if it might be a bad tooth, which would then require that it also be removed.

She’s a relatively young dog, so of course this is not an old age issue.

I am feeling fearful, and though I have lately been erring on the side of being positive, this is quite difficult at this late hour.

I do need to get to sleep. She’s on the bed, and it is very late, so she is just going to have to hang in there for a few hours.

It was a good day, and I think that Eva and Jacki are having a good time. I am working hard at appearing to not be too worried about this. I do not want to mar their vacation.

I got Jacki on Hrimmi and Eva on Raudi today. I will write more about this tomorrow. Suffice to say that it was a very successful outing. Jacki expressed some concern about riding Hrimmi so we took Raudi and Hrimmi (saddled up) into the playground before going out on the road. This was Jacki’s suggestion, and it was brilliant. I am going to do this more often. Going over, around, and through obstacles before going out on the road was a great idea because by the time we got to the road, both horses were fairly focused.

Eva on Raudi – a beautiful sight – Raudi acted like a seasoned lesson horse. After Eva rode her I rode her – and as I told Eva after, her work with Raudi – sidepassing, backing, and doing circles, made it easier for me to get and keep Raudi’s attention when I rode her.

Next: 224. 8/13/18: Consider if you Will . . .

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