Hoof chips.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

Hoof chips. Actually, they're a little more than that, but the dogs treat them as snacks. f you click on it to enlarge it, though, you can see what it is we're dealing with, and why.

The two on the left are from Miika's forefeet, right and left respectively; the one on the right is from Miskwaki's. On the far left, the underside of the hoof; see all those striations? That's the damaged laminae, showing how it gets stretched and thinned and ridged as it grows out. That's where she was in October (the last time this was done). In the middle is the what the other side of the hoof looks like, the top side as it's growing out now (and they're both alike on each side). Clear white line, healthy new tissue, a lot less bruising and no abscesses, and none of that stretching and ridging of the laminae. It still has issues, as you can see when you compare it to Miskwaki's perfectly healthy one, on the right, but it's much, much better.

Unfortunately, that doesn't really correspond to her levels of discomfort, and given all the long years of damage done before she found her way to us, it's going to require a lot of years of patient work at this. Next appointment is March 3rd.

And so for now, of course, I have to be focused on trying to make sales again. Between the horse vet and farrier today and the cost of the two additional giant hay bales we got over the weekend (because Johnny had managed to find some good-quality hay at a decent price, and because it's becoming clearer by the day that we will likely have no planting season again this year), we're out more than $600 cash combined. If you want to help keep a couple of formerly badly abused and neglected rescue horses safe and healthy, the PayPal link is here.

Because this month has already set us back by a lot. And this is our most expensive month of the year anyway (followed very closely by July, and I'm not even counting April, which is tax month, in this). So while we had a far better holiday sales season than I could ever have hoped, we still have to keep the cycle going. This is our livelihood, after all, and there's a lot of expense ahead, medical and otherwise (and this has to be the year the drill the well because there's no other option at this point; "first thing," indeed). It's a twelve-hundred-year drought, and it's killing everything.

So, as always, it comes back to that: more sales. A lot more, because we have two years' worth of a shattered pandemic economy to make up for, by which I mean we need to gain more ground ourselves financially to be able to be sure of making it through the winter and the rest of the year. I've posted a ton of Wings's new work lately, and there will be more in the days and weeks to come. If I could sell one of the big works, like the belt, maybe I could get us on the drill list for the well that is the only thing that's going to keep this land alive. But I've got way too much to do and too few hours and other resources to do it. Which means that I'll be stepping back significantly in terms of my online presence, because there's just too much else to do, and I am no longer well enough to maintain the kind of pace I once did.

So, since we have to continue to make sales, links are here, and there's new work up today, with more to come this week:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are first and foremost, the ladders);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And if you've been contemplating a purchase? This would be a very, very good time to do it; I've got to cover all this staggering outlay somehow and get us through twelve whole months of a new year, plus put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring. And there's lots of fabulous new work, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.