Pilar isn’t out of the woods yet, but she is sure as heck living up to her registered name, Diamant (Diamond). Indestructible. Harder than hard. Tougher than tough. The Arya Stark of equines. What do we say to death? Not today.
We got to visit Pilar today and take her out into the indoors arena a little. She’s weak and tired and didn’t really care to do a lot but we could tell she was happy to just be out of that box. The braids in her hair are for the drip. It gets taped to them and inserted in the shaved area on her neck. They’re still flushing her stomach four times a day but she gets to have sugar water, filtered mash, and a few handfuls of actual food pellets a day now.
Never too tired to investigate.Tired. Happy, but tired.Not too tired to be a clown, though.Pretty it ain’t. Her neck is shaved like that on both sides, for the drips.This picture sucks but you can still see how they shaved her flanks in preparation for the big treatment two days ago.I’ve never seen a horse this thin outside of an abuse case.
She’s not safe yet. But for the first time in a week I dare to timidly hope. So on a final note I’m going to give you a happy picture.
Pilar and her best friend Cassie sharing hay before everything went to hell. This is not going to happen again: Her food intake is going to be very carefully controlled from now on.
Cleared out the pile of old and older pictures today. I did things with them. These are the things I did with them. Feel free to steal for your own nefarious uses.
Miv and Piv really do love that box. It’s the one we got them in. It is the best box.At least they’re kid cats.Our political manifesto.I liked that shirt. Too bad.
The cats are not the only animals in this household with a political manifesto.Our kittens have a sister and their sister has a grumpy little butt.
First test of my new camera! Pilar looks unimpressed.Desca and Dinah didn’t even notice.So unimpressed.Still need to find the exact right configuration for shooting animals in motion. Camera has trouble with the black pug! That’s Maja, sibling of our kittens, and the pugs Bertha and Bacon.Feisty lil thing she is.Again, not entirely satisfied with the blur on things in motion, such as little kitteh tails.Fan. Boi.Total fanboi.
Pilar is not a happy camper at the moment. She mis-stepped on her left front hoof a few weeks ago. That’s all fine now — so why did she still turn all pissy and prone to kill hapless ponies nearby when ridden? As it turns out, her momentary lameness has given her a sore shoulder. Right where the kneepad of the saddle rests.
She’ll be taking three weeks off from being ridden with a saddle now.
Come the darkness of winter and my inner strength wilts away in a mire of feeling unaccomplished and exhausted. Finding the light seems harder every year in those dark, cold months. I’ll be all right when the first snowdrops declare their rebellion on winter in March. Alas, we’re still in December.
It’s hard to stay warm outside this time of year. You can stay warm by walking around and doing things. That’s me already freezing my ass off right there because walking around is not an option. I spend less time just enjoying Pilar’s company while she does whatever she wants to do (it usually involves grazing).
The world always seems to go crazy in December. This year it’s even worse than usual, with the reality TV show that the Americans call politics, and the war in Syria, and heaven only knows what else. I try to keep up, but what I am seeing over and over is a steady and terrifying decline in the way we treat each other. It’s become the norm to attack people online if we don’t agree with them. You don’t need to provide facts to support your views. Just call the other guy a libtard, a trumpling, a fedora neckbeard, a feminazi (but probably not all four at once).
Whatever happened to cleaning up your own act before you get started on somebody else’s?
Why are global politics now resolved (or indeed, very much not resolved) on Twitter?
Why is racism and misogyny becoming more predominant instead of less? Didn’t we leave these outdated concepts behind in the ’70s and ’80s?
Why are people arguing over “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays” while the rest of the world burns?
