Shot, check. Ride, check.

Friday I trailered Sinwaan in to the vet to have his WNV vaccine. If you recall, we did not give it to him when he got his 5-way because last year he had a bad reaction and we were not sure what from. So this year he got them separately and my vet kindly only had me pay the exam fee once even though she saw us twice.

I checked in at the office and went back out, unloaded and started grooming Sinwaan. I felt a couple raindrops and there was a breeze but I wasn't too worried about it. I was just about done when a vet tech came out and asked me if I would like to take Sinwaan back into the sheltered area to wait to get out of the rain. I agreed and not two minutes after she left us the wind really picked up and the rain started hammering down. Talk about great timing! Sinwaan was quite uneasy in the covered area. Partly because it is full of scary things like stocks (for horses and cattle) and has a concrete floor that he slips around on with his shoes. He would much rather be out in a storm then in a shelter. We had some reminders about personal space and manners when standing around, he kept testing me and yanking his head out towards the dirt and rain.

We were early to our appointment so the wait didn't surprise me. Finally the tech came back out and we put Sinwaan in the stocks. After a slight initial hesitation he walked right in and gave us no trouble. When the vet came out I told her since I saw her last I had been riding him 16 miles a week. She said that is great and commented that he was looking better. I said "well he still has a dimple in his butt and looks fat" she said she could tell that he had lost some weight. (My girth says otherwise, but he is much fitter now) She got out the weight tape and measured him. She said he had dropped 100 lbs. I couldn't believe it! That is great news. It is motivational in helping me to continue with our new program.

Sinwaan also has two new lumps that I have just recently noticed. One is near the base of his left ear, and the other is on his right side, just behind where his girth goes. She looked at them and said she could biopsy them, but without doing that she couldn't tell me what they were. They could be cysts, or they could be melanomas. I decided to forego the biopsy today. I will keep a close eye on them and see if they get bigger, or if more appear. I know melanomas can be common on older grey horses. She said often they turn out to be benign and they just remove them.

He got his vaccine and we loaded up and left. As we were leaving the sun started shining and the rain let up. That was nice because I was hoping to work him a bit before leaving him at the barn. Thanks to the grass and weeds that have been growing in the round pen, it wasn't too slick to work him even with all the rain. I had him trot both directions 10 times each and then put him back out to pasture.

Cindy called to report that he wasn't interested in his 5 pm dinner feeding, but before bed she was able to coax him over to eat a handful of alfalfa and from that point he ate his hay.

* * *

Sunday, I woke up at 6 am (horrors) and headed out to the barn. The sun was shining (a rarity this week!) and it looked to be a perfect day. Of course when I got to the barn the wind picked up and I was questioning how wonderful this ride would be. I needn't have worried. Sinwaan was really mellow and perhaps a little stiff still from his shot, although I was happy to see no swelling this time, and his appetite was normal. I let him stop and eat grasses and alfalfa along the way on our ride this morning.  We did our usual 8 mile loop and he did not fight me for speed heading home, which was a nice change. We had the pleasure of seeing Jenee' as we rode past heading back as well. The wind was only bad at the beginning and end of our ride, we didn't notice it the majority of the time. Not our full 16 mi this week but the 14.5 we managed is pretty close, and I am happy with that, given the weather.