I have not fallen off the face of the plant!!!

Finally an update on what has been going on lately!!  This is sort of a catch up post and I will do follow up posts on individual topics as soon as I can...


I am so sorry that I left you all in suspense.  The big news from last fall is that my husband and I bought an old colonial farm house!!!  The farm house has been in my husband's family for decades and we just couldn't let it be sold to a stranger.  I have always loved the house and it just feels like Christmas inside.  Very homey.  My husbands grandfather completely restored the house way back.  The oldest part of the house was built in 1690ish.  Nope, that is not a typo, the house is over 300 years old.  It was supposedly the minute mens house in the revolutionary war (I am still trying to get confirmation on this, any history buffs out there?).  But we found a tax map from 1710 and the house is on it!!! It needs major renovations as it has been let go for the last 15 or 20 years, but it is livable and we will slowly start fixing it up.  We actually have already started, but not on anything fun yet.  Just structural stuff (which is very expensive with not a lot of reward - or maybe big reward that my house won't fall down, but you know what I mean...)


What I was dealing with last fall in all its craziness is closing on the farm house and finding renters for our old house.  It was really a hassle and there was about 4 days where I thought my husband, cat, dog, and myself were going to be homeless... It was very stressful.  It all ended up working out though.  More updates on the house later.


On to Liam...  Well this is sort of very hard for me to write.  Liam will most likely never be a riding horse again, but a very pretty pasture puff...


The short version... Early spring Liam came up lame on his left hind.  I decided to give him rest to see how it works out.  My reasoning behind this was 3 years ago Liam was lame on his right front.  I called the vet out immediately and spent thousands of dollars trying to diagnose the lameness.  One day about 8 weeks later Liam magically went sound and has been sound since.  I never got a diagnoses of what was wrong with that right front 3 years ago.  So this time around, I decided to wait it out and see what happens...  After about 3 weeks of lameness Liam had some swelling on the inside ankle of his left hind.  I called the vet and we discussed my options.  We both agreed that Liam probably just hit himself with the other foot and to watch the swelling and continue to rest him.  At about the 6 week mark, Liam was still lame and I finally gave up and had the vet out.  She was very concerned with the way he flexed and suspected that he tore his suspensory branch.  A few days later it was confirmed with ultrasound that he tore about 2/3 of his suspensory branch off of his sesamoid  bone. Big gulp...


Liam was immediately moved to a rehab barn from his current boarding situation.  After many consults with many vets, not a single one very optimistic, he had surgery this past week and was injected with stem cells. 


The exact diagnoses and it makes me cry a little: Severe medial suspensory branch avulsion.


Yes, actually on the report is the word Severe - it made me cry...


I am doing everything I can for Liam to hopefully get a pleasure riding horse.  I love him very much and he will ALWAYS have a home with me.


I will update in greater detail as soon as I can...