Pie Improves and a Few Good Friends

Pie has been doing very well - yesterday he was happy, alert and acting like a young horse should.  He had no mopey episodes as far as I know, and ate eagerly.  He whinnied to me when I got to the barn this morning - it was almost too dark to see, but he someone spotted me from a distance as I walked to the barn.  And there was some good news in his recent blood work - his previously elevated liver enzyme levels are now almost back to normal, which is a good sign.  Keeping fingers crossed . . .

I was thinking today about how fortunate I am to have a few good friends at the barn who have really helped me out, both when I was recovering from my accident in June and July and recently when I was going back and forth to the vet hospital while Pie was there.  I've gotten a lot of help from Charisma's owner with taking care of my horses and anything that needed doing - she volunteered to help out without my even asking.  Our p.m. barn lady has also been great about being willing to help me with things like hoof picking (for weeks) when I couldn't do that, and has kept an eagle eye on Pie for me as well.  Neither of them have been willing to accept any sort of pay back for the help they've given me, although I try to do things for them both when I can.

Charisma's owner has also been very helpful to me while I've been working on regaining my trail riding confidence.  She's glad to go on walking trail rides with Pie and me even though sometimes I'm sure she'd prefer to go faster.  Although I've been able to ride occasionally with other boarders if we're at the barn at the same time and they're willing to accommodate Pie's and my slow pace for at least a little while on their rides, Charisma's owner always tries to let me know when she's riding so that I can ride too if I'm free.  She makes me feel accepted for where I am in my riding journey - I never feel like I'm a burden to her or get in her way.  It's more than I'm entitled to expect, even from friends, but I'm thankful to have friends like these - they've made the hard times easier to deal with.