Wesman

Yesterday morning my baby Wesman passed away.

When I went out to the barn in the morning to feed around 6:30 he was sweating profusely and quaking in his stall.

By 8:00 the vets were out and Wesman had begun to ooze a foamy orange-yellow liquid from his mouth and nose.

Originally thinking it was choke we sent a tube down to his stomach to try to dislodge the blockage at which point we noticed the discoloration in his gums and tongue. He had gone into a state of shock.

Immediately after removing the tube, Wesman started to convulse. He tripped and stumbled his way out of the barn before collapsing about 15 feet from the door.

The vet tech and I held his head upright as Wesman tried to drain the fluid from his body. A few short moments later, he was gone.

The vet returned to do a post as he stated he had never seen something like this before-It had come on so quickly that he wanted to further investigate. The best he could come up with was sudden arrhythmia that caused the left side of his heart to stop and his lungs to flood with fluid.

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGGGITY JIG

All the horses got picked up from Will's a few days ago for Ocala and unfortunately Wesman and I did not go with them. School starts soon so Wes and I are home! It's bittersweet.
Billy and Houdini have been living the good life since Wesman's been in Virginia. They have had a very peaceful and relaxing winter thus far...

That was of course until wonderful Fairway Horse Transport came and picked up Wesman and brought him home a couple days ago. Billy was enthusiastic about seeing him again...

Merry Christmas!

The c-ville airport is a lot smaller than I imagined... I'm currently sitting at gate 5 out of a total of 5 gates waiting for my flight. I'm Hilton Head bound for Christmas and I'm super excited!
For once I have Internet access somewhere other than an obscure location in town- and much has happend since baby Wesman came to Virginia!
Little Wes has taken to Will's methods well. He's getting much better on the flat and its been so cold we haven't had to chance to do much jumping. The ring freezes and its terrible! BUT we did get some jumping in last weekend!!!
So every few weeks Will and his dad take a trailer full of horses up to Middleburg to ride with Joe Fargis and after Fair Hill Will said he would pay for me to have a lesson with him as a thank you for all the efforts that weekend. I've been waiting a while for this to actually happen and lucky for me, Wesman got here just in time for the lesson! Saturday I woke up extra early to get everything in the barn perfect before leaving for the majority of the day.
I had been up to Joe's barn once before and it is gorgeous!
Will rode first with his Dad and then I got Wesman and Obo ready for the second lesson... Wes and Obo certainly were playful! The two of them thought it was really funny to go around jumps instead of over them this particular day... But in hindsight I think it was a good thing Wesman was bad... It really helped us make some progress with our issues together. It was awesome! I hope I get a chance to go back before I have to go to school.

Wesman's here!!!

Well, plans to sell Wesman are put on hold for now because he pulled into the farm here in Virginia around 3am! It's so exciting seeing him, I thought for sure when I left Mass. I was saying goodbye forever.

Nothing against the crew back home, and by crew I mean Mom and Dad, but little Wesman was a hot mess when he pulled in! At 3 in the morning, however, I opted to put him in a small turnout for the night and deal with him at a normal hour.

After a bath and an full body clip of epic proportions Wesman started to blend in with the other horses... sort of. We went for a hack to show off the new look, though no one really knew it was a new look. He was being particularly adorable, which was great. For now, everyone seems to like him...

I missed the little guy.

FAIR HILL!!

Friday after we finished everything at the two barns I met up with Ali and her friend to make the voyage up to Maryland for Fair Hill! (Up to Maryland still feels weird!) We got in really late so we spent the night at Ali's parents house. King size bed = awesome. The next morning we woke up super early, of course, and drove over to the show grounds.
Once we parked we found Andrea, who gave us our super awesome wrist bands that let us go ANYWHERE, and we were off to the barns!
I spent most of the day in the barns. I iced many legs and went for many hand walks. The MOST exciting part, at least for me, was being a part of the crew in the box after cross country. It was pure organized chaos and it was awesome! Then of course, it was back to icing legs. My hands were very cold most of the day.
When my hands were near normal temperature it was time for dinner. My first ever competitor party! Also very exciting! I'm sure no one else thought it was half as awesome as I did, but the fact that I was sitting in a cramped, over heated tent without nearly enough food was overwhelming-- one of the highlights to my weekend. Strange.
A few last minute things in the barn and then off to the van for some sleep.
We were the first in the barns Sunday morning, the lady who checks for your wristband wasn't even at the gate yet... I took the boys out for some early morning grazing before returning to my life calling: icing!
True to the lifestyle we are apparently living here we spent the majority of our time in the warm-up ring with the best company. We chatted for some time with Boyd Martin and Phillip Dutton. David came by for a bit before Marcia Kulak took over the warm-up ring coaching anyone who would listen...which was pretty much everyone!
My amazing zooming abilities while video taping the rounds at Maryland made this my job again come Sunday... However, I missed the last jump... and they pulled a rail... so I don't think I will be taping anytime soon.
But, overall the weekend was awesome! All three horses were in the top ten, everyone was happy.
And just like the way up to Maryland, I slept the whole way home...

Virginia is a very interesting place... at least when you roll with Will Coleman.
I'm all settled into my new residence... though I do not have television, Internet... and my cell phone works in very few locations. I'm getting much better at driving the car too! I can almost not stall out on flat ground!
But seriously, its CRAZY here! One of the first days I was here we went to the movies... Bonnie Mosser just happened to be there too. Needless to say I freaked out. It was awesome.

Maryland H.T. is this weekend and I hope I get to tag along! Heidi White stopped by one day and dropped off a horse, Noodle, for Will to try. He's hoping to take him to Fair Hill for the CCI**... This place is crazy awesome!

In other news, after the epic fail weekend in September, we decided to we should sell Wesman. He stayed home when I left for Will's hoping he would sell... Reports from home are saying that we may have movement on his sale!

AHHH!!!

I did finally get the courage up to call Will Coleman...and apparently a phone call from David O'Connor is all you need to be hired.
I'M LEAVING TOMORROW?!?!!!?!??!?!!!
I have nothing packed. I have no arrangements to get Wes down to Virginia....
I'm freaking out to say the least.