Here are some pictures of Sassy at a brighter time - helping out with our engagement photos. As many of you know, another vet came out Wednesday to run some tests on Sassy. While the scans were non-diagnostic, Sassy appears to be suffering from laminitis. Her condition worsened significantly on Monday but thankfully she appears to have stabilized and today was a tiny bit better. I was told Wednesday that she may only have a 10% chance of recovering at this point, but that’s enough for me. This condition often is associated with sugar in the diet so I have overhauled Sassy's feed. She is now getting special herbal tonics from Australia and medicine for Cushing's disease. We are still waiting for the results of a blood test taken Wednesday as well. Sassy is in pain but she is still eating and drinking, perky as ever, and trying to break out of the new stall we built to keep her resting. The last week has been a total whirlwind as I try to nurse her back to health while working and parenting. If we can get Sassy to hold up her leg long enough, we will attempt a special shoe. Sassy was born when I was 11-years old and has given 29 years of carrying my weight and now I am returning the favor. Some of you have asked about donating to help with Sassy's medical bills so I set up a GoFundMe. Please know, however, that if you're supporting me here you're helping too. I am so grateful for each of you - this has been a tough year but we will endure and persevere together. https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-sassy-get-back-on-her-hooves?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
This was so fun to watch. We had lots of rain overnight and the rodeo arena was soaked today. Most of the kids loved it, though a few weren’t a huge fan of being covered in mud. Thankfully there are many hoses at the rodeo grounds!
I used to be one of those people who thought goats will eat anything. But actually, it’s chickens who are the true garbage disposals. Now, when we cook something, I am regularly researching if chickens can eat the waste that we would normally throw away. In this case, we were peeling shrimp, and the light bulb went off. Maybe they would eat the shells? Turns out, not only will they eat the shells, but the shrimp shells are quite good for chickens! In fact, they are full of calcium to help the chickens lay eggs with hard shells.
