Good morning world! I have not been as remiss at writing as it may appear, I have just been thwarted by the Manahoonies again. I sat down and wrote a long piece, then when I sent it to publish I was given a "Web site not responding" message, and the previous efforts of a half hour or so were GONE. Thin air. Not a trace. Nuthin'. Scott Peterson could have taken notes to how clean a get away it was. I on the other hand was pretty disheartened so I gave up and found something else to do. For a couple of days.
I am happy to report that the golf tourney last Monday was a success! My swing was more-or-less in the swing so I wasn't completely embarrassed, and our foursome came in 3rd overall. Of course, there were only three groups, so I guess you could say we didn't win. Oh, ok, we lost. But it was fun! Helped raise some money for the Palmdale High School Football program, won some neat things in the raffle, and had lots of food and met lots of nice folks.
I am now getting ready to leave for the weekend, up to Ventura to house sit for some friends, and work their motorcycle training site for them while they're out of town on a vacation to Canada. I'm still trying to figure out how it can be ME that's vacationing, and someone else stays behind and does my work for me. Time to buy another Lotto I guess.
Oh, I don't want to end this on a bad note, but I have a sad story: Some friends of mine came by last nite to report that their young, strong, range-raised BLM-rescue Mustang died yesterday of West Nile virus. It's out there, so beware. The sad thing is that they think it was complicated by the innoculation they gave it, that somehow Nugget already had the virus and was fighting it off naturally, and the shot elevated the exposure to a level he couldn't handle. So use lots of Off when you're out in the evenings, clear out your standing water, and ... I don't know what else. Hope for the best, I guess. Send your good thoughts to Larry and Jeri, they're feeling pretty low.
Friday, August 06, 2004
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dear sis...tell your friends that i'm very VERY sorry for their loss... damn it's hard ta lose a horse! BUT.......and this is a HUMONGOUS BUTT.....they need to know 'don't blame the vaccine' (or the vet) being as i know where ya are.. i'm guessin it coulda even been vince silverman doing the stickin... (ya met him yet sis? last i heard was he was STILL cute.. and i know he's a helluva good vet) anyhoo, afore yer buds go badmouthin vets n vaccines, they need to understand the process. the west nile vaccine is a KILLED vaccine... meanin that there are no bad bugs in it. the very worst thing it can do is cause a VERY SLIGHT allergic reaction (up to/including an abscess) at the injection site. it is not medically possible for the vaccine to have contributed to that poor horses demise, other then it being too late administered to be effective. In your neighborhood, with horses being cheek to jowl crowded... it's a mosquito feast buffet,and while the vets, the AQHA, and common knowledge all reccomend 2 doses given 3 weeks apart to insure immunity, the reality is its an insidious disease, and some horses may not get enough immunization from 2 doses... specially if they'd been exposed prior to the first shot. My beasts have had a third booster 2 weeks after the 2nd, and i still worry for them daily... it's in my neighborhood too. dogs and humans are also at some risk, but i worry mostly about the horses. ally, 1 out of 4 horses that contract it....DIE!!!!I know it's a hardship for lots to come up with the price of 3 shots per horse..specially if ya gotta pay barncall to the vet. my local doc charged me near wholesale and let me do them myself, and it still costed me almost 70bux per horse for 1 yr of protection (i hopahope i'm protectin em) although you're not directly involved by owning yerself... you might do the norco horseworld a big favor and pass these facts on....there's an awful lot of ignorance on the subject, and 1 horse-person such as yer bereaved buds could concievably convince a dozen other owners NOT to vaccinate, causing another 3 or 4 horse deaths. all this research is available thru any of the major horse organizations... and magazines and vet offices. losing a friend/companion/family member due to misinformation would be not just sad... but fuckin hard to live with. and thats how yer sis feels.... sorry fer the super-long post on yer comments... it was just too important to say to wait fer puter to get to e-mail. love you... now GO!!!
Thanks, sis! I'll pass on the scientific facts, I know they'll appreciate any and all explanations. The reason they're feeling so guilty is: 1) they gave the shot themselves, and 2) Nugget was dropped to his knees sick the day after they gave it to him, then never recovered. Coincidence? Probably. It doesn't help the guilties. I'll let them know you're behind 'em.
yup sis... give em my condolences... the poor damn horse already had it, and would have succumbed with or without the shot. wait a sec! nugget? that wasnt the paint horse that beFrank wrote about???? now i gotta go look in his archives...
anyhooo... go check my blog! whoa, it's gettin deep! love ya sis, get me away from this 'pute...SOON! Laughlin is callin us.....
Hello! I found my way here via Maggie (again, thank you Maggie) and caught my eye when you said you were going to Ventura. That's where I live!! Actually I'm near Victoria and 5th Street near the Channel Islands. Maybe next time you let me know and we'll have a cup of whatever you like, together. Maybe meet over at the harbor or something. I owned a horse for a while in Agoura. Loved it. Loved grooming my horse, brushing him, the smell, the shoveling, feeding, everything but, I hated riding. Weird huh? I had no desire to ride and was terrified the entire time I did. Anyway I'm sorry to hear about Nugget. This West Nile is getting scary. Especially sad to hear the innoculation might have worsened things but they shouldn't feel bad. They did what they thought best and there is no way they could have known. They would have felt terrible if they hadn't done it and something happened.
Today heard a story of a woman in Los Angeles beating cancer four times but today died of West Nile Virus from a bug bite a week ago at her grandsons birthday party. That really sucks, huh? Especially hard with animals. How do you, or even can you, protect them?
whoa! terri-sis! (sorry ally, me n terri use any and all forums to stay in touch..) anyways, ter, ally said she was jazzed you commented, and will catch ya next time shes up there... I can relate to the ex-horse a yers.. considering I got 3 here now and I dont hardly ride.. just play. thats a long overdue post, facin fears n injuries..but anyhow, make SURE ya understood my comment bout innoculatin..please dont help spread mis-information, this topic is too hot to talk even 1 person outta vaccinatin... love both ya ladies... see ya here next year! (it's gonna go.. i KNOW it!) we 3 will very probably get together fore then... see ya sis's!
peee esss sis... ya never answered whether ya'd met.. DOCTOR vince silverman... nordic blonde, icy-blue-eyed, aw shucks cool woman-chasin Norco vet. If not? best reccomendation... 'GET A HORSE!!!"
Excuse my UK ingnorance but... 'West Nile Virus'????
West Nile is a mosquito-bourne virus, mostly affecting birds and horses, although so far in our area 5 people have died of it. It strikes neurologically, causing encephilitis and/or meningitis, the victims mostly suffering from loss of coordination, strength and mobility. It's a pretty icky way to go. The horses that get it and recover, never recover from the neurological damage.
post pee ess, sis:
No, I've never come across the now-becoming-infamous Dr. Silverman, but I looked him up in the book and he's got a Riverside address, so I think he's still practicing near-by.
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