HELLO to Mrs. Rice's Class! And to all of the awesome students at Southside! I bet by now you are KNEE DEEP in horse history.  If you love horses as much as I do, it is a great month to be in school, huh?

All the "LADIES" here at Our Mims Retirement Haven are happy and healthy. The new Spring grass is doing wonders for them...even a bit TOO MUCH for horses like Missy White Oak and Trail Guide...they are F-A-T, FAT! Even Cruella is getting heavy! Cruella is 30 years old. She is 17 hands tall and weighs almost 1300 pounds!

Timeless Sue is our oldest horse. She is 33 years old this year. You should see her! She looks great. Keeping a horse looking good, no matter how old they are, isn't easy. A person has to keep the horse on the proper diet just for them. The horse needs dental work, farrier work and veternarian visits regularly. Just like you need to see the dentist, the doctor and eat well to stay healthy. Timeless Sue gets everything she needs, too.

I bet most of you know we have young horses here, too. They are not part of OMRH; They are used for riding. Most of them will get very sick if we let them eat all the grass they would like to so we have to keep them in a field called a DRY LOT. This is a pasture with little or no grass. Some horses are always in danger of getting an illness called LAMIMITIS. It is also called FOUNDER. The disease settles in their hooves making it very hard, if not impossible, to walk. Have you ever heard the old saying, "NO HOOF, NO HORSE?"  That means a horse has to be able to stand up and walk to be able to stay alive. We are very careful with our ponies and fat ladies.

I hope I have the honor of meeting with all of you. I very much want to hear who your favorite athletes are in the Oaks and the Derby!

Much love and admiration to Mrs. Rice!

Mrs. Mirabito

Jeanne will be back to the barn FULL TIME by the end of the week. No more picking on the volunteers, no more switching stalls, no more pasture changes either. We will have to stay where we belong, eat our own food and not chase the barn kitties.
Sigh, vacation is over. Its been fun, though.

Elmhurst has had everyone who has stepped foot in our pasture CONVINCED he is a brute. He kicks his walls (HARD) if he doesn't get his way...they all come running giving him extra hay and attention. Poor guy, has a REAL wake up call in store for him.

Timeless Sue, of course, has been an angel, except when she doesn't want to get caught. Lotka , too. But no one quite knows what to do when Lotka is being easy going. Its too creepy.

Bel's Starlet wouldn't THINK about being a problem. She has worked very hard keeping herself a muddy mess so the volunteers have enough to do.

The Princess Royale has played her role well, too, always and forever pretending she is about to fall over from her bad knee. Oh, but then after treats, she canters off with ease!

Trail Guide has been taking care of poor Hana Bride. Hana has a sinus infection and is on antibiotics. Whenever someone is sneaking up on Hana to give her medicine, Trail Guide promptly warns her just in time for Hana to get away.

Ms. Royal Flagship has been stuck so close to Elmhurst, you'd think they were joined at the hip so you KNOW what she has been doing.

 Cruella simply stands and concentrates of trying to shed out her long, wooly coat. MIND OVER MATTER! It is working.

Blue Viking tries endlessly to get into everyone else's stall. Silly girl, she gets fed more than anyone but she just has to see what is in all the other dishes,

Ms. Stalwart has had fun, too. She is very good at making sad faces in order to entice extra treats. And Missy White Oak sails in on her coat tails to reap the rewards.

Taba Dance? Oh, Taba Dance, you say...well only little Kaylee Brooke (4 years old) can catch her.

Yup, changes are in the air. Hopefully, things will get back to what ever it is Jeanne calls normal.

Happy 29th Birthday to Lotka!

We are celebrating with pedicures for everyone and stud Muffins BEFORE dinner!

Our Queen Zenyatta had a beautiful colt on Our Mims birthday!

It was Trail Guide's birthday, too!

We are so excited!

I'm alive! And I am home! It’s been tough for the past week but everything looks to be on the mend. Oh, I still have a way to go before I can even visit the barn but for now, I am just happy to be home.

Most of you know that I have a genetic condition called Neurofibromatosis. Over the last four years I have had increasing chronic pain. I've been on oral meds; switched from one kind to another, increasing dosage with less and less results. Typically, a fibro gone wild is simply removed but for some reason many, many of the little bastards that share my body have been causing trouble. Too many to remove all at once. Some impossible to remove without drastic physical problems.

Obviously, it was time to try something else so over a year ago I began a long search to find another way to cope and settled on a SPINAL CORD STIMULATOR.

This handy, dandy device is implanted...leads along the spinal cord and a control along the flank.

First I had to qualify. Two MRIs later I learned I was a candidate. Then we had to talk the insurance people into it. They denied me at first but after talking to a very helpful woman, she gave the ok.

The first phase is a trial run in which they implant the leads but the control device is left outside the body. In early January, my trial run went VERY WELL. In fact, before even half the number of days went by I was feeling GOOD...I slept through the night TWO NIGHTS in a row! TWO! I haven't slept through a night in well over four years.

I was so excited! My pain issues were to become a thing of the past!

The surgery was set for February 23rd. Everything went well. The surgeon was pleased. I stayed overnight in the hospital, came home the next day, a Friday. The surgeon left for vacation.

On Saturday morning, I woke up in a puddle of some type of liquid. That was NOT supposed to happen. The back of my head was POUNDING and the back of my neck felt like it was in a vise grip. We called the appropriate numbers and were sent to the ER. By the time we got there I was very ill. In fact, I was a good way to anaphylaxis shock but no one knew it yet. They thought I was leaking spinal fluid.

The on-call neurosurgeon came in and for the second time in 48 hours, I was on my way to the operating room. The plan was to see if they could find the source of the problem leak. In all likelihood, my stimulator was going to be removed.

Once I was knocked out and they were able to get a better look at things, they discovered I was having an allergic reaction to the adhesive used to close up my two incisions. A very bad reaction that looked like a chemical burn.

They irrigated all the nasty glue away, did a spinal tap and admitted me.

I spent the rest of the day Saturday until last night getting IV antibiotics to ward off infection, IV fluids to flush out my system and being treated for some very bad skin issues.

My poor husband Pete was left to organize an instant long(er) term farm care team, notify my family of the complications and keep me from falling apart. Friends, Sadie, Anna and Giya jumped to the rescue. A new volunteer, Tracy, called just at the right moment and another volunteer from the past came by. Kathleen came and sat with me all day on Sunday so Pete could help the volunteers clean up the barn. At least I didn’t have to worry about the ladies! Between all those wonderful people and Pete, they were well cared for.

Meanwhile, the wounds were weeping to the point that I had to have the dressings changed every three hours. By that time, my bed and gown had to be changed, too as I was losing fluid almost faster than they could get it in me.

Talk about painful! Layers of skin came off with each dressing change. The drainage itself was causing my skin to break down. And every place that any tape that touched my skin set off a new reaction! I was still trying to recover from all that general anesthesia, too. The surgeon, bless his pea sized heart, shook his head and said, “I have never seen a reaction like this. Only one in every 15,000 people react at all. But NEVER like this!”

Kathleen just shook her head and told replied, “One in 15,000? Those odds just aren’t in Jeanne’s favor. You have no idea who you are dealing with”

No one could tell me how long I’d have to stay in the hospital, how long it would take my skin to heal or, given that the back of my neck and head still hurt quite a bit, if I was, indeed, leaking spinal fluid on top of it all.

We finally got the wounds under control…they weren’t getting worse and a new dressing was found that didn’t eat my skin. They pumped me full of antibiotics. And I am home!

I have a home health nurse coming daily, doctor appointments every other day and a ton of side effects from the whole ordeal and no idea how long I am to be laid up. I am still woozy in the head, sore all over but, on the bright side, my stimulator is working very well! On the down side, my skin has started to react to the new dressing and we will have to try something new.

I am constantly reminded of the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. After all, it is only a flesh wound and I’ve had worse…

We thought we'd like to try a recipe exchange with our blog friends:

Take a bale of Alfalfa/Orchard grass hay out on a frosty morning.
Separate flakes and place them at least ten feet apart.
Eat after the frost is all gone.

MMMMMMMM! Orchard grass is SO GOOD fresh, right after a frost!

I promise, promise, promise to update the blog more frequently..… AND also to mail halters to our friend Gail and locks of mane to Becky!

The ladies have started shedding their winter coats. One can not even walk by Bel without getting covered in white hair! The Princess leaves patches of white every where she rolls and poor Elmhusrt ends up with mouthfuls of hair every time he kisses a lady!

Someone told Ms. Royal Flagship that as long as she was Elmhurst's favorite girl she could be queen of the barn. Apparently, that someone didn't tell anyone else! Flagship has gotten herself into a bunch of trouble biting at the other ladies and chasing them from the barn. I think there may be legal action taken if she isn't careful. She is messing with the wrong crowd! Do you all remember when the ladies took Barhopper to court?

Lotka...oh, Lotka...she is in trouble with ME! Lotka wasn't eating well and kind of dragging around. I thought she might be sick so I enlisted Cassidy's help and tried to take Lotka's temperature. I barely got close with that thermometer. Lotka proved quite quickly she wasn't sick. She kicked me! Caught me on the outside of my right wrist and sent that thermometer SAILING! Luckily, we found the thing in the straw and I only have a nasty bruise, not a cast. BAD GIRL, LOTKA! She isn't a bit sorry either and checks my hands when ever I come into her stall.

James is back in the hospital. He had a chemo treatment scheduled but spiked a fever instead. His treatment had to be delayed, he has to stay at the hospital until the fever stays gone and he could get his treatment and recover from his chemo a bit. Poor kid. We miss his smiling face.

Hay is in short supply here in the Bluegrass. We struggle to find some that all the ladies like. Sue, Hana, Bel, Taba Dance and Trail Guide LOVE the pure alfalfa I found but Flagship, Cruella and Stalwart prefer alfalfa with orchard grass. It doesn't matter what they like though because, at this point, they have to eat whatever we can find!

Other than that, everyone is healthy and happy. I intend to keep them that way!

Bel is 25 year old today. She will get a massage, some extra grooming and lots of Stud Muffins!

Ups and downs... I'm talking about the weather! Its been crazy. Yesterday was 63 degrees, right now its 37 degrees with snow showers expected tonight and tomorrow. The ladies don't know if they should grow a winter coat or shed it out! So far, we have had a mild winter, so, I guess I shouldn't complain but I sense that the constant fluctuation in the temperatures isn't good for the ladies. They are all eating just fine but not a one seems to be thriving like they should be this time of year. Kentucky winters are not usually severe and typically make great horse weather. I have more trouble in the summer than in the winter...but this year is different.

Seems the wet weather pattern from last year has continued, though. 2011 was the rainiest year ever recorded in our area and it hasn't let up yet! I praise the TCA for our gravel EVERY DAY. I simply can't imagine how deep our mud would be if we hadn't received that grant.

The ladies and Elmhurst are happy with their schedule. They eat their breakfast by 6 am and go out for the day. By 4:30 they are ready to come in for dinner. If dinner is late, they get grumpy. At least some things can be counted on NOT to change on a daily basis.

Our friend, James, is responding VERY well to the chemo! His prognosis is good and he even got to leave the hospital! Thank you for all your prayers and keep it up!