Blessi's Poem is Published

Crepe and Penn Literary Magazine included my poem "If a Pony Penned a Poem."  Guess who was the inspiration?  You can read it on page 66 at the following link.

Blessi also asked me to remind everybody that a peanut is a poem to a pony.

https://fc609d0f-8595-4c23-b944-d27c474cd9b4.filesusr.com/ugd/5f16d4_925ed3e995cb4b37b435c82879f3b670.pdf

"Blessi's Mysterious Nose Blessi" Appears in Equus September 2018

My Icelandic horse Blessi really is my muse.  So far he has been mentioned in all three of my articles published by Equus magazine in the past year.  This month, "Blessi's mysterious nosebleed" is the EQ Case Report.  

"On the day before a holiday, a gelding's sudden nasal problem worries his owner as a veterinarian searches for the cause..."  

One day Blessi was discovered bleeding from both nostrils or exhibiting bilateral nasal epistaxis in medical terms.  Dr. Weeks, Blessi's vet from Gig Harbor, WA, became a medical Sherlock Holmes as he tried to make a diagnosis.  I learned lots of new words such as exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, guttoral pouch mycosis, aspergillus....We learned from where the bleeding was originating but not the cause.  Luckily, the nose bleed stopped by itself after two days with no other consequences. 

I  noticed that the cross section drawing of the horse's nasal cavity used in the article looks like it was inspired by Blessi--flaxen chestnut, mealy nose, limited forelock that Blessi has in comparison to other Icelandics but luxurious mane, thicker neck, wide jowls, slightly raven (roman) nose which is also not a breed characteristic...hum looks familiar to me.   How many owners have individual, color portraits of their horses' nasal cavities? 

Here's a link to a text version:
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/equus/20180821/281547996714562

Please check out Equus magazine.  This month's featured articles: 
- Dr. Bennett's article "Working horses of the West" was enthralling--a wonderful combination of history, romance of the West, artwork, and education about conformation. 
- Plus a friend and I were just discussing how best to trailer our horses so "Prevent shipping fever" was very timely.  
- And the article on "Surprising findings about saddle design" was revelatory.  Finding saddles to fit Icelandics is always a challenge so any good info is welcome.   

You really should invest in a subscription.

Equus Will be Publishing my article on Equine Epistaxis

Poor Blessi!

Several years ago, Blessi experienced a nose bleed or equine epistaxis.  He was dripping gouts of blood from both nostrils.  Even though there was no swelling and Blessi seemed to be experiencing no discomfort, I called the veterinarian.  He discussed several conditions that could be causing the bleeding such as a foreign body in the nasal passage, Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage, Guttural Pouch Fungal Infection, etc.

Dr. Weeks ran an endoscope up Blessi's nasal passage to find that he was bleeding from the sigmoid area.  You should have seen the expression on his face when Dr. Weeks ran a 16 inch endoscope up the nasal passage.  Blessi was surprised for the first few seconds but then settled down to see if there was a carrot reward involved in the process.

Best diagnosis was that Blessi had had some sort of stupid pasture accident and was bleeding internally due to blunt force trauma (not a horse kick since there was no swelling around the head).  The vet was not too worried and the bleeding slowed down and stopped in a few days with no further treatment.

I wrote up what I learned about equine epistaxis in a Case Study to help other horse owners.  Equus magazine informed me yesterday that they will be publishing my article in some future edition.

Sitting Pretty in Equus Magazine

The 2017 September edition of Equus Magazine published my article "Sitting Pretty" about my Icelandic horse Blessi and Mitttens, the cat who wanted to learn how to ride.  Here's a quote from my story:

"Mittens seemed to enjoy her lead line rides on Blessi around the stable grounds.  From her lofty perch, she was out of reach of the barn dogs, who were polite but tended to crowd cats on the ground.  No self-respecting cat enjoys the constant butt sniffing involved in canine socialization."