This message is from: Paula Chmura <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Thanks everyone for the good wishes. Galianna was doing much better today and was able to be turned out and even nibbled some grass. She is still a bit akward with that as the slice went through her muzzle completely and she obviously still has some pain in that area and she can't use it the way horses normally do to graze (you know how sensitive their lips are when they graze). Good news is that her teeth are looking really good - the slice went through her lips/muzzle into her gums and I was really afraid that it had damaged the roots of her teeth. But so far, so good. She is really looking amazingly better. She still has some swelling, mostly up on that straight bone under the eye (I'm not sure what that's called) which is not near her cut so I'm not sure why that area was so swollen. She has no animosity at all towards humans about the accident. She is still her normal sweet, huggy self. She is a bit depressed acting, meaning she is usually a very spunky mare and she is quiter than usual.
We are in Pensacola, Florida. And in fact the farm is located right next to one of the Navy flight training centers - specifically where they train all of the helicopter pilots. We joke that our horses are literally bomb proof from having the constant helicopter flight and landings over them all day and night and the guys jumping and parachuting out of the helicopters all the time. There are literally probably 5-6 helicopters over the farm all day long and often helicopters at night. I did stop by the base and mention the issue to the security there. They said they would keep an eye out for anything. They actually knew which two horses were mine from flying over them all the time - I guess the two fjords do stand out in a crowd :) On a more positive note, there was a show at the barn where I board last weekend and while I was the photographer and couldn't ride myself, Mr. Frodo had a big suprise and was called upon to participate Midway through the morning one of the trainers at the barn approached me and said that one of her students had an injury to his horse that morning and didn't have a horse to ride. He is a smaller man so she asked me if he could possibly ride Frodo so he could still participate in the show. It was just a couple of Intro level classes so I said why not. I didn't think about it until we went to tack him up but I didn't have his dressage bridle with me at the show and only had his trail riding bit which is a kimberwicke (mullen mouth) but since it was just a schooling show the judge let him go ahead since we couldn't find another 6" bit and we took off the curb chain. The gentleman hadn't been riding very long and Frodo was a complete champ with him! He ended up scoring a 61% and a 64% finishing 4th and 2nd respectively in large classes. The rider was thrilled as he has never scored above the mid fifties before. The judge had kind words to say about my grand old man but did comment that "it looked like he had been drinking too much beer!" Frodo wasn't terribly clean for his rides and his mane could have been done better if I had known he was going to be shown, but here are some pictures to share - http://web.sendtoprint.net/proofbook/login.asp use the keyword frodo It was neat to get some riding pictures of the old boy as I never seem to get any as I am always behind the camera and nobody else usually rides him. He is truly worth his weight in gold Paula, Frodo and Galianna Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
