Fivla came home (to slim down), Taktur was running up and down the fence and BeAnne went to tell him off.

Suddenly she wasn’t running.  She had collapsed.  Her left side didn’t work.

I was busy trying to put Fivla in the stable (away from her Lothario) while carrying BeAnne in my arms.  She just lay there.

OH called the vet surgery  – none at the surgery until 17:00 (it was 15:00) – so I called again and said I thought BeAnne had had a stroke and she needed to see a vet now.  We were told to come over immediately and a vet would attend.

Daisy drove me while I sat in the passenger seat with BeAnne lying in my arms.  All I could do was tell her I was there, I loved her and she must stay calm.

The vet examined BeAnne and her right side was now not functioning (which made me doubt that I had seen her left side give up, but later OH confirmed this too).

Her right front leg had no reflexes.  The other three legs worked.  She could not weight bear and she flopped over onto her side if we tried to stand her up.  At the moment, she is paralysed.

The vet weighed her, gave her an injection of ACP (Acepromazine) and then x-rayed her. BeAnne was a good girl.  She managed without an anaesthetic and I stayed at her head telling her how proud I was of her and that her mother loved her.  No wriggling, no distress.  Just total trust.

Diagnosis so far:
BeAnne has a spinal cord lesion at C7 (just between her shoulder blades).  There was no evidence on the x-ray of a tumour but this cannot be ruled out as x-rays shows bones far better than soft tissue.

Treatment:
The vet wanted BeAnne to have complete bed rest.  This is possible up to a point but BeAnne’s main aim in life is to be with me, wherever I go.  She suffers from separation anxiety (as do I from her) and will do anything to find me at the detriment of herself.

So the plan is that we are going to sedate her for the next few weeks.  She can wake up for food and to go outside (if she can weight bear, or I will use a towel sling to keep her upright) for a pee and poo and then she will have another pill (ACP) and go back to bed.  The vet has lent us a crate that is just the right size for her usual bed and it will keep her contained.

She will have steroids and sedation in pill form.

At the moment, BeAnne  is sleeping.  She managed a slight woof, when I came in from taking Fivla to her Fat Fighters Field (Daisy stayed with her).  We haven’t negotiated the pee’ing process yet but we will and if we don’t she has one of Lambie’s incontinence pads under her.  Everything is washable.  I don’t care.  I just want her to be comfortable and rested.

I will sleep on a mattress downstairs next to her crate so she knows I am near her.

There will be someone with her all the time – me or Daisy.  Daisy is her next best friend and a good substitute for me.

We will now start playing the waiting game.  If she doesn’t respond to bedrest and start to regain her legs, then she will be referred south for a CT or MRI scan and possible surgery.

The bit that I can’t get my head around is that our local hospital has a CT scanner but it is for humans only.  Words fail.

All your prayers please.  All your kind thoughts.  BeAnne needs them.  She is my little precious heaven.

Yesterday, after brushing and photographing phones (how we suffer), I wanted to do something I’ve been meaning to do for ages……

To sit in the field with Lambie’s father, Puzzah to take photos.  Puzzah has been sold so this will be my last chance.

Puzzah is an awesome dude – a registered Shetland flockbook ram.

He is also very tame so I had a chat too.

I wish we could have Puzzah but I think Lambie would be appalled at this idea and anyway Puzzah is sold and destined to make more little brothers and sisters for Lambie.

I am looking at both of them to see if there is a family resemblance.

Definitely the eyes.  They both have beautiful eyes.

And perhaps the Winning Smile, though Puzzah should practice this more and Lambie should tell him that the world would be his with a Winning Smile.

But, and now I have the answer, they both have the same platypus tail!

I always wondered where Lambie’s tail came from and even wondered if he was (said in a whisper) abnormal.

Suddenly, it all makes perfect sense!

I am glad that mystery is solved.

Recently Daisy has been visiting the Minions to check everyone is ok and to spend time with her Lyra.

Yesterday, she reported back that we should go and brush them as Silver, especially, had witches knots and mats in his mane.

So, armed with two good brushes, mane and tail conditioner spray, 6 carrots and headcollars, Flossie and I drove over to do our magic.

They all came trotting up, very pleased to see us.

If Storm could put his own headcollar on, he would – he luffs his yellow headcollar.

After much brushing, we achieved various visions of beauty.

Silver’s mane can now be bouffant.  No more mats and tats.

Tails were brushed and cut so they won’t drag in the impending winter mud.

I love this photo – Waffle and Delia together.  There are 20 years between them.

Delia was on good form.  She is happily fat and will winter out losing weight as nature intended. If she begins to find it difficult, we can put a rug on her but, at the moment, she has her own layers (*** cough *** spare tyres) to keep her warm.

Obviously, it wasn’t all brushing.  There was hugging…..

…. as well as the usual tickling and chatting.

So Flossie and I gave them a good check over and cut goobie bits out of ears.  Everyone was now beautiful again.

While we were doing all this, of course a certain little Tiddles was going through my pocketses!

Why am I not surprised!

Albie, lunchtime!

Camus, where is Albie?

What have you done with him?

Ta da!  The very definition of enchantment.

Little Albie loves his milk bucket.

And so do others….. the vultures endlessly circle overhead.

I am so proud of little Albie.  He is already showing huge Minion potential.

Albie practises his new talent on a very regular basis and we are fairly confident that Albie will be accepted immediately as One of Us when he eventually joins the herd.

Along with his wonderful derp face!

Once Albie has said he has had enough of his milk, we let the vultures in.

And then Camus does what Camus always does.

Puts his head in the bucket and rolls!

I have no idea why.

Just checking, cataloguing and backing up the photos from the weekend.

There are a few.

10,091 on the last count which is about average for a weekend horse event.

The best photo was taken today by Flossie.

Darling Lambie was pleased to have his Muzzah home.  ‘Ster had shot into the hill to see his friends leaving Lambie by himself.  (OH hadn’t let the boys out into the hill all weekend in case they didn’t come home – I had threatened death if Lambie went feral).

Yes, yes, yes, we saw llamas.  I have never seen one up close.  I am in ❤ (must not get one, must not get one.  Llamas would hate Shetland and Lambie would be hurt and sulk forever).  But they are very pretty!

This is me taking the photos.  I had an umbrella stuck down my shirt to stop sunburn and I appear to have acquired two Rosebay Willowherbs for legs!

So, this is the beginning of the great photo trawl – to weed out the best and to put it all up on a Facebook page for the participants as fast as I can.

We need these photos to remember what a brilliant weekend we all had.

Best fun ever.