May 27, 2014

     You may ask, what in the world has Marty gotten into now? Well, it's Springtime and the first of my jelly making season starts with strawberries. For as long as I can remember, waiting and watching for the tiny red treats always stirred up my taste buds. Winter is over when I see strawberries flowering.

     All of those memories surfaced once again as we slowly cruised the back mountain roads looking for a farm that had adverised a you pick them. It is called Maranatha Farm and we did find it but at that time, I did not know it was an established Farm of many years of natural plantings. Their strawberries were posted on a local swap line and after thinking on it, I contacted Mary to get a flat of the red gems to make next winters jelly. It would be the perfect day to ride the mountain roads, enjoy the views and check out other hay fields and see who was cutting the first crop of the season.

     Slowly our hard road changed to gravel as we looked for two black mailboxes, our only landmark as we neared the farm. They were there and on the first try to find them too. Onward we ventured, found the pine tree lined driveway and my Fairyland tour began as I looked at a tall wire fence with two strands of wire on top. It looked like a fortress but a gate was open.  I found out later the fence was to keep the deer out of the gardens.

     At this point I was a little worried, we were greeted by a rather large guardian dog that bellowed one woof and then proceeded to walk to the parking area and we followed him not seeing a sign. Who wanted to look for a sign? My eyes were fixed on the massive greenhouse and all of the planted plots and paths leading me. Getting out of the truck was quick for me as I took in my first wiff of flowers blooming everywhere, fresh mulch and honeysuckle.

     My first thought was that the farm was a nursery and I soon learned differently as I glanced around for someone. In the distance was a flash of red, a person pushing a cart full of mulch, but a line of berry vines climbing neatly on wire had all of my attention. Healthy Raspberries, rows and rows of them in flower and small formed berries. As I followed them to the end of the row I found what I think was eggplants. It was then that I saw that everything was planted in deep mulch and compost and was amazing. Each plot of plants led me to yet another as I walked the pathways between each fruit or vegtable.

     There was a noise by the greenhouse and I headed for the path to get there and was once again side tracted by Sweet sugar peas that were over 6 feet tall climbing another arbor and they were in flower. At their base, a plot of kale and spinach. It was a green and white waterfall of peas into darker green and simply beautiful. Did I bring my camera? I forgot.  It was then I saw Mary walking toward me with my flat of strawberries.

      If there was a Mother of Plants, this was the Lady, I thought.

     "I'm in Heaven," was all I could say as she handed me the box and I watched her hand drop to pinch a spotted beetle and listened as she told me briefly of her farm. Somewhere in the conversation email address was mentioned and I rattled around in my purse for the pen. There was also an invitation to roam the gardens and enjoy it. This I fully intended to do. Everything was just so beautiful and I almost forgot to pay her for my strawberries.

     I did stroll some of the paths and found each nook and cranny had a special offering of flowers, herbs and fruit trees and a rustic bench adorned a few to sit and rest.

     Oh go ahead, ask if I saw a bug. I only saw the one she pinched off the plant but then again, I wasn't looking for bugs. Of course Pete wasn't enthused as he stood by the truck door so my trip through Fairyland Enchantment was cut short.

     All of the pictures are from Mary's pages to see more. I promise you will be enchanted as I was. 

Visit Maranatha Farm in Missouri

ELDERBERRIES

 Who would have thought to grow them like this?

 A Doorway to Faries.

Sage and Lemon grasses

 Visit Maranatha farm on facebook to see more pictures

and thank you all for visiting my blog spot. 

xoxox

Marty

Feb. 13th, 2012

Personal Fidnings and Understanding of Pythiosis in Animals.

WARNING, IF YOU ARE FAINT OF HEART AND HAVE NOT HAD AN ENCOUNTER WITH THIS DREADED MICRO-ORGANISM, I SUGGEST YOU DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING. I'M WRITING DOWN MY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS FLESH ROTTING CREATURE IN HOPES OF HELPING OTHERS UNDERSTAND IT SO THEY MAY HELP THEIR BELOVED ANIMALS THAT HAVE BEEN INFESTED WITH IT.

At this time, I need to state that I am not a Veternarian nor do I work in a research lab as an authority on this subject of Pythiosis. It is simply my experiance and what has worked for me and the animals I have treated.

Throughout this documentation, I'm in hopes of educating everyone on this deadly, flesh rotting MICRO-ORGANISM CALLED PYTHIOSIS. Individually they are called Pythium. I'm not going to use tecnical terms, or a language that people can not understand or remember.

The beginning of awareness starts with a sore on your animal that will not heal. You put on medications only to find in a few days that it is growing and very soon more sores appear and you call your Veternarian for an appointment. You get the appointed time, usually in a few days and in that time, more spreading and the beginnings of the look of infection dripping down from the sores. You start to panic and finally the day arrives and into the vet you go just to have him examine your pet, and give your the dreaded news. "I don't know what this is, let me take a blood test." Valuable time is wasted as you wait for the results that can take days. Meanwhile the organism is rapidly spreading. Swelling triples, hair falls out, blood is everywhere and stress sets in both you and the animal.

As many of you know, that have had the experiance of Pythiosis by now, you've been sent on a wild goose chase. With the first Vet visit to come to my farm to look at a rescue horse named Raz, I was left totally confused when this authority didn't know what was wrong with this horse. He had frowned, scratched his head and agreed that the horse was infected with something but, it was nothing he had ever seen. Raz's leg was infected from the inside of his rear leg at his crotch to his hoof. It was swollen and a ripped up mess of rot, blood, puss and deep weeping holes.

About all I thought of was that the infected flesh needed surgery to cut some of the dead flesh off. The vet examined for this and finally stood with a dark hard thing in his hand about the size of a marble that was elongated at both ends, had a rough surface and it didn't move in his hand. I asked if it could possibly be a dog tooth since Raz had hundreds of dog bites on his legs and body. It wasn't a dog tooth.

Dr. Allen Pritchard, bandaged Raz back up and we made a date for the surgery to remove the orange size lumps on the bulbs of his heels and the front of the hoof on the cornet band. Later I was to find out that this was the point of entry of the first Pythium that traveled up his leg.

While I waited for the surgery date to arrive, one week, Dr. Allen left with his finds, blood samples and a few cuttings of the infected area. He took deep tissue samples and all were sent to a lab that found nothing but infection. At that time, no lab knew what Pythiosis was so there was no way of testing for it unless by research which I couldn't find anywhere. There was no name of the infection, no diognosis and no treatments even at the Veternarian collages.

The day of the surgery arrived and before we began, Dr. Allen informed me that he had found something out about Raz's condition. It might have been a condition called Swamp Fever by the local farmers and cattlemen, had been around for years but there wasn't much you could do but shoot the animal. He and another vet advised me to put Raz down, it wouldn't get better but, he could cut the mass off and try anti-biotics to gain control over the infections, if I was willing to try to heal this horse.

At this point, I'd like you to kow that Pythiosis is not an infection, it is an infestation of a micro-organism ( a creature) that creates infection and rot to feed on and breed. It is NOT a fungas or bacteria. It uses an animal as a host moving along in the hosts body looking for a major organ that is the richest in blood production.

With the surgery done and all of my tears dried up, my research really began on Swamp Fever. Before the vet had arrived, my treatment was to hose the rotten mess off with a hard steady stream and try to keep the swelling down, I soaked his leg in a bucket of ice water every few hours. It was the only way I knew to get the swelling down quickly. The first miracle happend. Raz didn't kick my teeth in while I was doing this. His leg was so bad and it just had to hurt.

It was during those first soakings that I saw like little rock maggots in the globs of infection. They were white to grey and in clumps but they didn't move. To me they looked to be muddy type things and my first thoughts were that he had mud crack on his cornet band. Mud crack is a condition found in working field draft horses, I'd delt with that before and started the process of treatment that I knew worked on this type of condition. After a few days, nothing worked and Raz got worse and I got mad all over again about the hundreds of dog bites on the horses legs and posted my temper on a horse list online.

Bills mounted up on this horse,mostly in bandages as I vented the story and went after the man responsible. We won't go there, it's to upsetting.

As I learned Pythiosis, I typed my findings to the other horse people on various horse lists online and the word spread about the horse named Raz. We were all learning and what we were learning about seemed to be from an alien world and it was really scary. After the surgery, the vet told me how hopeless saving Raz would be but, hopeless wasn't an option to me and I continued to research as I worked on him. It was during my onlne seaching that I found Dr. L Mendoza, he had been doing research on Pythiosis and almost had the first vaccine ready. It was barely tested but to me, it was hope. I sent him and email with pictures and he replied. Through his reseach and his understainding of the organism, I learned about Pythiosis, what it was, how deady, it's life cycle and habitat. Knowing the cycle of the Pythium is the key to success and winning of the war.

Life Cycle of Pythium and how it survives.

It's Habitat: A Pythium is an organism that is around and in water. In the beginning, it's survival depended on a tropical type envirement, the swampy areas like the Everglades, rivers, ponds, run off streams and ditches that stayed wet or muddy moist. These conditions were everywhere in Florida around that area that I lived. They like slow or standing water, mud and bladed grasses and weeds near the water. They hey have been found in fish gills and are called Flukes. Flat black masses like a wart clump, stuck to the richest part of th blood sorce, the gills. Here they have water and a fresh supply of air when they need it. (NO, Pythium doesn't take oxygen from the blood!) As a young pythium swims in water, the older ones head for the shore using rain or dew to get to the mud and eventually to the grasses. Here they wait for a host to come by but, they need an entry point to get into the skin. A flea bite, a scratch or a sore toenail, a rash, cut and it can even get into the skin from a sticker or rash from fireweed. For Raz, the entry points were hundreds of dog bites. At the point of leaving the water to the shore, they still can not be seen with out a microscope.

After a Pythium gets under the skin it immediatly spits an enzime to start the rotting process around itself creating the sore that will not heal, feeds on the little rot it creates and starts to grow. In just a day, you can see the sore but not the organism. Then, it creats a wall around itself called a KUNKER and it grows inside of it. When it needs to move, it opens one end of the kunker like a trap door, spits the enzimes, shuts the door and waits for the rot to continue then feeds on it. Nothing can penetrate that Kunker. NOTHING. It can not be cut with a razor or smashed open with a rock. As the Pythium grows, the Kunker grows and borrows deeper into the tissue of the animal and the outside shell comes with spurs and hooks in new tissue.

A few things happen at this stage of new invading Pythium. The host animal produces from it's immune system to fight off the invasion and an animal with a strong and normal Immune system can handle the invasion, produce anti-bodies for infection quickly, the pythium dies or just leaves the host animal. Don't fool yourself in thinking your animal is so healthy it would never get Pythiosis, even the healtiest can go down with Pythiosis if the Immune system is not up to par.

Raz was a 1200 lb working cutting horse but the pythium picked him out of two horses that occupied the same space along with dogs tied to trees. That senerio drove me crazy for months. Why one and not the other? How did the Pythium know to pick him? Raz was infested near a drainage ditch for run off from storms in Florida. Mud was everywhere in that small area with plants he ate and walked in everyday.

After the entrance, spitting and rot, it eats. It gorges itself and when filled it needs the protective shell the Kunker, to go back into. This Kunker has a mouth and tight door to open and close, it opens to spit, retracts and waits. The outer shell forms spikes to grip tissue. Reminds me of the pictures of the old World War sea minds that when a ship hits them they go off. With the spikes it sticks in tissue and holds on then proceeds to make tunnels to travel in made of the same hard shell. In the tunnels are the enzimes for rotting and new Pythium it intents to release into rotten tissue, thus the rapid spreading. New Pythium hatch and the process and infestation continues as it breeds and makes food for the new ones. These connecting tunnels can not be broken, they are smaller then the Kunker itself, or the new young pythium will be released into the surrounding tissue. Now the original home base Pythium has to grow larger to breed, make rot and GET AIR. See the black holes below? Each is a Pythium surfacing for air.

The War Begins

How to slow this down so I could heal Raz? It was, after all a tropical micro-organism so I doubled the ice treatments. Susan at Saddleuptack.com sent me ice boots for hoof, fetlock, hock and ankle. Life got easier and the pythium slowed down but didn't stop. I had to get the Kunkers out and heal the holes and infections from rot to cut off the food supply. It was almost impossible since they were inter-twined with new tissue. The vet recommended a treatment that little was known of though his research. It was a spray on iodine type mixture called (PHYCO-FIXER) this is not the name of it but what it sounds like. It also had DMSO in it, a conductor to get the medications in and through the Kunker. It never did penetrate the Kunker but it did seem to have a bad taste to the thing. I sprayed it on his sores and the next day found a large Kunker had moved away from the area. It let go of the tissue and without thinking, I got the Hemastats, locked onto the kunker and pulled it out of the massive hole then watched all of the rot and greyish pussy stuff come out and run down his leg. I had gotten the kunker but broke the tunnel system letting hundreds of small pythium loose in the now rotten area and new tissue. A few days later I could see the small Pythium on the surface of the rotting tissue. Tiny soft maggot type things that were now growing and all of them were around the larger hole of the Kunker I had just taken out. Then I turned to the bandages and saw them stuck in the mesh. Straight ice went on that area immediatly and a good scrubbing.

Bandages are so expensive and my money was depleted so I did ask for help on the horse list, but not for money. I needed great amounts of 4x4 gause pads and vet wrap to hold everything snugly in place. It was during a crying jag that I got some old panty hose out of the house to fashion a tight outer covering over my 4x4 gause pads. It worked like a charm and then went to my horse list and asked for everyones old panty hose. Word spread and the UPS man got tired of vising my house everyday. Then Silky Panty hose company sent me a gross of them and I was set for life.

I replaced the 4x4 gause pads with old fashioned Kotex pads, they are covered with a thin mesh and had much more absorbency. After the first use, I discovered more pithum stuck in the mesh and by peeling off slowly the kunkers, complete with tunnels came out of the flesh in one piece. The major importance of bandages is to get the kunkers out so healing can take place without re-infestation. The next new thing was to put the panty hose right next to the infected skin and trap the kunkers and then change the bandages every 4 or 5 hours and BURN them.

It is not only important to medicate the area, the large Kunkers have to come out. Usually this is all done by a vet and surgery, more massive expense and frustrations.

WHAT MAKES THE LARGE BLOODY HOLES AND WHY?

The large kunker has a lot of work to do. They produce the enzimes to spit and create rot to feed themselves and the new ones. Produce to re-produce. What does a Kunker need? AIR. So eventually it has to come to the surface and in that process opens a tunnel to grab the air and retret quickly, spitting and spilling along the way. Remember the rot also has new pythium in it, this falls to the ground and waits for rain! The cycle is complete.

Now we have a hole, a big hole that has black stuff in it, blood, infection and it just gets bigger and then heals over quickly and you think it is over? Two things to consider, getting rid of the infections rotted flesh thus cutting off the food supply to the thing and getting the kunker out. You name the traditional medications, creams, powder, lime and salves and Raz got it. Nothing worked. His skin was so swollen it started to crack. As a thought I dumped Olive oil on him by the cup fulls, hoping to stop the stretching pain. This swollen stretching skin was the next area the Pythium were to invade and after a few massages above the hock area the skin shrank, the normal spreading really slowed down. The pythuim didn't like it and before the next day of treatment started, I needed stock in any Olive Oil Groves. As it dripped down his leg, in a few hours the infestation moved away from the oil drips.

People donated to Raz and I inturn kept his information up to day on his web site with pictures then one day everyone's life shattered over the news of a small boy of 9 years old, swimming in his back yard pond with his cousins. 48 hours later he was gone. Pythium entered his ears and nose, went directly to his brain. This young boy lived a few blocks from where Raz came from. This child and my work became the war of my lifetime. Children could get this stuff too. To that date I was 1 month into helping this horse. It was August.

Vaccine

Raz recieved his first trial vaccine shot during his 3rd month of infestation. The vet and I waited and watched and saw nothng, no change. When it came time for his next shot a week later, I declined it because Raz was getting sick and refused to eat anything. My heart sank as I told Susan my thoughts of putting him down but she told me of a new product that she'd come across for her tack store and that she would send it to me for Raz. He was beginning to feel massive pain in his leg which put me in extreem danger of being kicked in the head during bandaging. This was a topical spray called Equine Elite Relief. Raz wouldn't feel pain on the surface as I poked, prodded and bandaged. It worked and when she sent it to me, Equine Elite Wash and Elite Wound Cream came also. I used it. Since Raz had his leg soaking in water, I poured the wash in the bucket and scrubbed. The shine on the remaining hair was immediate so I gave him a bath with it. Then I read the lable. It killed Micro-organisms!

Immune system, Immune system repeated over and over by the vet and my thinking so to Susan I went again and she sent me a bucket of Immune system daily suppliment for horses to give to Raz, I doubled the dose from that day forth to help him from the inside out and this is what really help the horse fight the infestation, his own system.

This is the final treatments that I use to this day when dealing with Pythiosis.

Blood test don't really work unless you are looking spcifically for a certain strand of Pythiosis. The blood tests taken on Raz to give me a dignosis did not work. 8 years ago, 4 strands were know, now I think they are teaching that there are probably over 20.

Biopsy did not work for me and by the time some results filtered in, Raz was healing. Biopsy takes to long.

Vaccines weren't avaliable except in testing state. I was NOT going to expirement on this horse. The shot he did recieve was ordered by the vet and given by the vet, he saw no imporvement either. I do advise when someone asks me to have their vet check into the vaccine but I do know of a few castrophys after use.

Ice worked, to keep the area super cold and the pythium slowed down.

Olive Oil worked in the beginning, Pythium don't like it and it slowed them down until the Elite products came to heal the infections.

Local wild aloe worked to keep the skin supple as pythium traveled but didn't do anything toward a cure.

Final bandage were Pampers, kotex and panty hose. Panty hose went on first, then bandages and panty hose again to keep tight and snug.

All soaking, bandages and topical applications were every 4 to 5 hours for 4 months. Sleep is when you can get it, your life revolves around the animal and sex is totally out of the question as is leaving the barn.

Equine Elite Wash, Relief and Wound Cream are the final. These product are the ONLY thing that has worked for me dealing with this micro-organism. They are for the healing part, closing the holes, cutting off air supplyu and it works very quickly. I don't know what is in it but it works for me in all that I do with animals.

Since Pythiosis is becoming known through the network of people dealing with it in their beloved pets, more confusion has been added, but Veternarians are pushing to have Veternarian Collages teach about it. Legislature is now being put forth for more study for humans forms of Pythiosis. This tropical micro-organism is no longer tropical, it has evolved. I can't begin to tell of the cases I've had or of the number of people that have contacted me when they feel so helpless. I've seen and helped in cases in Canada, Washington State, Md, Va and Vermont and that is Personally. Most of the gulf states are infested with it, Mexica and South america are saturated and it's moving northward, it's time for awareness.

One final thought for you, if you care to check. A little girl in Florida had her leg amputated not long ago because the Doctors had no clue what was going on or how to stop it. Please document all you are going through, keep everyone informed of what is happening to you and put the word out.

Links are at the bottom.

The Case of "Live Wire" a horse that had infestation of the Chest Cavity.

Dr. Gary Shelton in Florida tried his own version of cold on this horse. He was so infested in his chest cavity that there was little hope for him to survive. This vet, froze the inside and the outside with Liquid Nitrogen then cut in and litereally pulled handfuls of Kunkers out of the horse along with the rotted tissue that held the young Pithium (now frozen). Wire healed completly in 3 months so don't tell me surgery can't be performed on the iintestines of a dog, cat, cow, sheep or horse. It does take a dedicated Veternarian that has a true love of animals and no fear.

As always, these are my personal thoughts. I am not a Verernarian. I'm just Marty and if you are feeling down and depressed onver the war you lost with Pythiosis or frustrated with your own case now, please feel free to contact me via my email and we can hook up. I will ALWAYS answer questions to the best of my ability. Love to all, Marty xoxoxo

Saddleuptack.com Here you can find more links to actual cases.

The History of "Stormy" Many picture from the beginning to the healing and Kunkers. Excellent site, better still, Stormy made it.

EQUINE ELITE Products, are part of my system of healing. Go to the site, tell them Miss Marty sent you and your on your way. They know of me.

June, 2010

PYTHIOSIS ALERT

(Pith-e-o-sis)

It really doesn't bother me that I'm writing a warning article about one of the nastiest micro-organisms on the planet but, as my mind races, one lone lightning bug flashing his green light, is on the Persian rug at my feet. Bugs are easy to eliminate. One spray of the bug killer and they're dead. That's not the case with Pythiosis.

Science is making slow process with this dreaded organism but very few, just a handful of people even know of it's existance. Case studies can be found online but I must warn you, some are old studies and very scary. I'll have a few links here so you can go to a trusted and up to date site to help understand Pythiosis. Keep in touch with my blog for updates

In this article, I'm not going to give you all of the tecnical names of this Organism, nor am I going to give you words you can't understand in the medications and treatments of Pythiosis. Through my own personal encounters with Pythiosis, talking of it and understanding this problem, hopefully I'll make it easier for the lay person to understand.Some horse folks have encountered Pythiosis so this is a warning of the breeding season for Pythium. It is also to make those that need to be aware of the micro-organism and how to prevent it from entering you, your children and your pets. Please read on, it is not an epidemic but it is out there and simple measures can prevent infestation.

Just what is Pythiosis?

As far as I know there are a few strands of this micro-organism. Pythiosis is NOT a bacteria nor is it a fungus, it is an organism that can be seen in beginning stages through a microscope 1s.  In later stages, the Kunkers (houses) of the thing can be seen by your eyes.

This link is to a horse named Comet that battled and won over Pythiosis. The owners went through the war of getting their veternarian to test just for Pythiosis. Read their story and get some tecnical words here. There are some good pictures of the dammage but I must warn you, they are very graphic and not for the faint of heart.

http://www.freewebs.com/pythiosis/

In a future article, I'll be explaining what conditions are needed to house the Pythium, how it is carried into a body and what it is looking forto colonize.

What and where is the natural habitat of Pythiosis?

For years, researchers have found the organism in tropical, wet, swampy lands. The old farmers called it " Swamp Fever" Swamp Sores" "Summer Itch" and a host of other names.

Heavy infestations are found in rice fields around the world, along river banks in Africa, South America, Panama, Costa Rico, Mexico and now the United States, but as with all things, the territories of this dreaded organism has spread and in some cases evolved. Now it can be found throughout our Southern States and I have found horses, in the last 8 years, with infestations in non-tropical states. My personal experiences have been in Maryland, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Alaska,  Northern California, VA, WV and some in Canada.

Who and what are affected by Pythiosis?

There isn't an animal on this planet that Pythiosis will avoid. Fishermen, I'm sure you have heard of the Gill Fluke in fishes Gills. This is a strand of the dreaded thing. For years papers have been written on Sport dogs such as retrievers, hunting dogs and bird dogs with confusing sores that nothing would heal and eventually ate at the animal until it had to be put down. Personally, I have seen the infestation in cattle, goats, sheep, dogs, racoons and in the dealings of their loss, I learned Pythiosis.

Can people be infected by Pythiosis?

YES, especially children with their young immune system. There was a 9 year old boy that went swimming in a small pond in his back yard in Florida. 48 hours later, he was gone. A Pithium entered his ear and went directly to his brain. That case happened in MY neighborhood. Was the community alerted and educated about Pythiosis? NO and the area was saturated with it. A brief statement was on the news and then nothing more was ever heard again, and I was asked nicely to be quiet by Florida Officials. Ha, that didn't work!!

My own case history of Raz, an infected Quarter Horse rescue, was my beginning of learning Pythiosis. Raz had a hard journey but we won the war on Pythiosis. He was adopted and went back to work cutting cows in Florida.

This article is a reminder to all livestock and domestic animal owners that breeding season for Pythiosis is beginning in this hot summer month of June. You will not see a thing until a hard or uncurable leasion appears somewhere on the animal. A bump that oozes, sluffs and gets bigger by the hour.

There is one piece of knowledge I can give you. Pythiosis needs a small cut or scrape to enter the skin usually around the hooves, ankles and legs of an animal. Even a small scratch from a thorn or irritation from ants and fireweed is enough for the Pythium to get in and the same stands for humans. There was a lady in Seattle Washington that contacted me about her Pythiosis problem. She had them on her face and had about given up on life. Seems she vacationed on the gulf in Mexico and the doctors assumed it entered through blisters from her sunburn.

Now that you are freaked about all of this, let me assure you that research has been excellent and has evolved and thanks to Dr. L. Mendoza in Texas, there is now a good vaccine but it's for animals. This man is a true pioneer and is by far one of the only doctors to be truely dedicated to understand this micro-organism and the impact it has on animals and humans. He is working on the vaccine for humans and may have it by now, I have not heard yet. There is a vaccine for animals now, some work, some don't. It depends on the animal. Most Veternarians doen't have a clue what Pythiosis is so if you take your animal to a vet you have used for years. Tell him to check for Pythiosis or go to a vet that knows about it and do it quickly.

By sheer luck, I found a method of curing the horse Raz. He had so much swelling in his rear legs that my first thought was to put ice on him to get the swelling, that split his skin, down. This process I used was one of the early methods in treating Pythiosis. By getting the area cold, I actually put the organism into hybernation and the surgery, medications and treatments used, not to mention the bandages is what cured him. A few veternarians in Florida are now using a freezing method to attack this organism with surgery following.

To this day, people call and email me on the process I used to cure Raz and I always give them hope, strength and my knowledge to fight each battle against the war of Pythiosis. Summer months are breeding times for Pythiosis. It is laying and waiting for a host to walk by around mud banks and near stagnent water or a pond. Even a childs pool in the back yard and the mud around it can hide Pythium. Please treat all scratches and bug bites on children and for goodness sake, MAKE THEM WEAR SHOES.

Facebook is new to me but I'll be posting for the horse folks and as always, I'm here to help answer your questions and give support to those that need it when dealing with this thing.

Here is a site to see what Pythiosis looks like under the scope.  I am not sure which strand it is. http://biotechnology.kaiserpapers.info/pythiosis.html

If you decide to google Pythiosis, please keep in mind that some of the sites are years old and the processes have since been upgraded.

email me @ Marty49fl@hotmail.com

Thank you for the visit. MissMarty

I'll be putting up the story of Raz and Petra, along with the treatments, medications and proceeduresused to fix them.

EQUINE ELITE Relief, Wash and Wound Cream is a must to heal.

March 30th, 2010

Can you picture the Caveman sitting in his shelter around the new thing called Fire? Miserable times of cold were no longer in existance but keeping that fire going was a chore for the intellegent one of the tribe and was deligated to keep it going.

TheMighty Hunter of the Cave Clan also had to use his knowledge to figure out how to hunt, trap and kill food for his tribe, but I do believe in the very beginning, he just thought of himself. It was later that a new inspiration hit his early human brain. He needed help to get enough so he wouldn't have to work so hard to survive. I can see the wheels rolling now in this Neaderthal brain. Was he a tribeleader or was he really, a slick politician?

Ok, where did things change or did they? I watched the news this morning and saw teens that needed Plastic Surgery because they had problems on FaceBook and Cell phones with others that didn't like their looks and Bullied them. Who is supposed totake care of this problem?

Way back when, in my High School days, you so much as looked at someone like they wanted to fight or browbeat another person you were expelled for a time and if it got bad, you weren't allowed back. Seems now, the school tells the parents to call a Shrink, have a talk with their children, do whatever it take but don't put it off on them. Don't these School Officials know that Parents really put the trust of their kids in their hands each day? Or would you say, the Caveman of today, has deligated someone to take over as they go to work or do their own thing while the Children are in school? Would you say that a tribe has split in this generation? How did it just happen without the Parents even noticing the changes until it was to late?

I can tell you that as my son grew up, I was sad when he went off to his first school days andI personally taught himthe required skills needed to attend Kindergarten. He could tiehis own shoes, write his name, count and knew his address and this, was at four years old. What are the requirements today? Sometimes I think it's a BA in Science is what they are asking for. All in all, I took the daily freedom, while he learned and got into my on interests that lasted until he walked in thedoor each afternoon, then Mommyhood took over once again. We didn't have a name back then in the 1970's but there sure is one today, tis called "Stay atHome MOM." Even better, there is something called a "LatchKey" child. This one has a key and at 10 years old can go home to an empty house and wait for Mom to get home. With no direction at this tender age, what will they think of to get into and worse, what willthey thinkup and act on?

Could it be that this is one of the ancient practices, such as LatchKeythat has made our Children get out of hand, want to bully and worse for the victim toconjure up his/her own solution? Where in the world did a teen get the idea that a nose job would solve all of the problems with Bullies in School? AH DAH!

Is this called Vanity or Survival? It's hard to tell today whenwe have so many self centered Politicians in office that are trying to lead a bunch of Cavemen out to hunt so he can get more for himself,sit around a fire and give the kids acredit cardto get out of their hair. Oh, just go outside and Play, can't you see I'm conjuring!

Sure seems like a strange evolution to me!

March 9th, 2010

March Winds Bring in Thinking

Just what does one want to do during the winter months? Surely vacations aren't really planned unless it's to go to a tropical place for a short tromp through the palms.

Vacation, a word that isn't used on a farm since animals tend to tie you to the fencepost. Heck, even a trip to dinner and a movie is schedualed around them. You have to time the trip, so you can be back in time to feed up or lock in for the night. That is how it is here, and it's a way of life which I really thought was over for me.I wanted to quietly retire and live a life of peace and quiet. Ever have a DREAM like that? Ha Ha.

Like it or not, it comes down to responsiblity. If you have stock animals, depend on them for a small income, your STUCK, "down on the farm." You can go absolutly bonkers if you're not careful and I'm more then careful. Around here I just loose it, turn into a raving ancient female and take it all out on Pete. It was my idea to live on the mountain but, it's his faught! :)

Knowing all of this, winter is finding something to do and in my case, it's the computer with edits on my next book, naturally Facebook, Twitter and surfing the net for information are high on the daily list. Even all of this, at times is boring. Ok, cleaning and going from day to day with TV channels gets old too, so when that first sign of spring finally arrive, the new chore of gardens start and that's what I'm into now. Days are filled with dirty fingernails, sweat, cow and chicken manure and worse then all of that, grass stains on the best jeans I own. Heaven forbid if I was captured by the neighbor in baggy jeans looking like Maw Kettle.

Survival is FIND SOMETHING TO DO and I did it by reading about 20 Historicalromance novels, actually got into a few Vampire books too, historical of course and followed the lives of some of my Twitter friends. It was through one of those Twitter Folks that I had to reach deep inside to my old artistic self and drag out skills for painting and reviving a craft which is turning an Old Rocking Horse into a Carousel Horse. There's no way I can tell you just how many I have done in the past years but they have always gone over great, people simply love Carousel Fantasy Horses. At one point, I dearly loved them also until I worked my fingers to the bone on the last one. Most of my creations were donated to the 4-H so they could raffle it off or to a Church and even some private charities. They simply made money for them. If I hadn't found that outlet, my house would now have a flock of these things in it. :)

Somehow as I was learning this new Social Media on Twitter, I ran across Scott Baio, you know him from Happy Days. A teenager we followed as he grew and I personally watched him until the show ended. Poofffff, he was gone from my life in front of theTV and basically forgotten. To my amazement, here he was again, history to the present and I wanted to know what he was doing with his life, clicked on his website and boom, there it was, he was into his and his wifes charity and it was plastered all over his pages. It wasn't just his charity that got my attention,it was the tragedy and heartbrake he and his wife had to endure over information given to them when their little girl was born. Parents that craved more answers and didn't get them.

All in all, things finally came down to knowing about infant deaths that could be tested for certain problems but, it wasn't offered. Through his foundation, he and his wife are bringing the test to everyones attention and have the Charity for testing or whatever is necessary for the new infants born in our world.

Well if it's one thing I'm in favor of, it's the Infants, the children of the future. What a thought, it's a very small way for me to GIVE BACK so, this Carousel horse is for the Children. I have no clue as to how they will use it in a fundraiser but at least it is something and hopefully he will make a few $$ for what ever they need to further his charity and get information out threre for a new young parents.

So, what did I do this winter? I sat and read his plight with the chairty. My heart cried when I found out all of the Tragedy to infants that could be avoided and I painted the old junkie rocking horse that lived in the barn loft, for them.

If you have forgotten how to feel for the infants, or if you are all hung up on world events, please stop, take a few minutes to remember all of our babies. It's our job as adults to take care of them any way we can, somewhere, somehow everyones DNA is connected and it's called HUMAN.

Visit the www.baileybaioangelfoundation.com It will make you think real good so, open your heart.

Come watch Horsie evolve too at www.martyrightmyerbooks.com/horsie Keep up now, I'm almost finished.

September 4th, 2009

This past year for me has been, shall we say new, confusing and extremely exciting. Therewere and are stilla lot of firsts this year starting with the publishing of my first two books.

"I Did as I Was Told" & "Close the Door We Live in a Barn."

Traffic really started pouring into my inbox the second the first book hit the market. Do you honestly think I was ready for those floodgates to open and jam up all of the waterworks?

At first all of the mail was advice. I was bombarded with it. Granted it was all helpful but in the long run someone was always pushing to sell me something. Oh, I really hated to say no and their pitch sounded like a good way to promote the books how to sell them, but I did say no, thank heavens. Now I find some people reading my books are looking for advice, low and behold, I'm selling something, my books.

Before I go much further, I need to tell you that I'm self published. This means that I not only had to write the books, I had to scrape the money together to get it in book form through a company that self publishes for authors. (Put the finished product in your hands.) Next was pricing my Nobel Prize winning Masterpiece so folks could afford to buy them.

I'm not one to send out 100's of query letters in a brief hope that a publisher would pick up my work and pay me top money. Things have to happen immediately for me, they always have. If a publisher would ask for my work tomorrow, it would be some mighty hard work for me since I'd have to research a little more on an agent, lawyer and try to figure out all of the percentages they'd want from the sales of an inexpensive book. What would you do?

In my early stages of writing the first book, I went by the rules of the industry and hired a Literary Agency to get advice on the process of getting published. All I can advise is that you don't search for one of those companies but get a referal instead. All of them sounded just heavenly and assured me that I didn't have a thing to worry about; they would take care of selling my book for me to a publisher, after they felt it was completed their way. To make it an even more glorious deal, I didn't have to pay them a dime, until they sold the book. Oh I got their advice and the first tidbit was that my work had to be critiqued and that cost money, not by them but by an independent that just happened to work for their office.

Don't be fooled by a critique like I did. All I got was, "Don't worry about spelling, we'll do that later," and they didn't put my writing down with corporate impatience, like the agency did,but I'll be danged if I wasn't charge for that one sentence. I fired that Agency and went through the confused depression that almost made me quit writing, but I learned.

Soon all of my thoughts and hard desires to write that first book all surfaced as the memories flooded to the surface, then something happened. An organization started to come alive as penciled letters covered page after page but what to do with it all?Strange but one of the memories was of sitting in the Marriage Counselors office with my defiant X husband trying to work out our marriage problems in 1977.

"What would you like to accomplish in your life?" She had asked me.

"Write a book." I answered as my X laughed outrageously in his chair.

I did write and I wrote from the heart. "I Did as I was told," was born 33 years later and it seems, it has turned out to be a life's explanation of all elements and aspects of Trust, Love ,Family or lack of one plus absolute survival, my way.

It's as the book says, "I will always welcome you with open arms in this space called life."

Check back for updates and more of the story. You can also find me on Twitter:

MissMarty49

OR Facebook Marty Rightmyer 

Email me.

September 5^th 2009

It's true, doing a blog is very much like a journal of your thoughts and I do find myself pondering on what subject matter to write about. Of course these thoughts pop up when I'm bored with daily chores or when I'm concentrating on a Story or Saga. It's when I find myself racing off to the computer to put all thoughts down that I realize, what might be termed an addiction, is being born.

With the new learned blogging I'm able to define my books just a tad more since they have a point. By the end of this addition, "I Did as I was Told" will become more understood by everyone. Not just for the story it tells but for the evolution that might have happened to our young children in today's society.

This morning, I watched a few cartoons. Not because I made a point to do that, but couldn't find the stupid flicker to change the channel. This particular cartoon really grabbed my interest since it was called Horse land and aimed at tweenies, 10 to 12 years old.

As per cartoon fantasy, the little horses were beautiful with long flowing manes and tails and about six girls were taking a lesson with their male instructor. Fascinating, I thought and continued to watch as he gave them direction and telling them some very complicate instructions for a leg yield.

Now that might not sound particularly interesting to you but to me, being a retired Dressage instructor, it was incredible that on a children's cartoon show, such intricate, pinpoint and RIGHT instruction was being given and I was astonished. I questioned the kids show. Would other children that didn't have a pony or horse understand this cartoon? Yes, I was hooked on this cartoon, but then the story line changed. Talk about a horse show came up amongst the little girl riders and about what they would wear to that horseshow. Eventually their talk went into designer riding pants and how they should match plus, who they would call on their cell phones to order a custom jacket to match their breeches.

All concentration was gone with their lesson which ended with others telling them that the clothes they wore didn't matter, it was their skills that would win the classes and get them a ribbon. Those tidbits of lines were quickly squashed in the script as both girls laughed and talked on their cell phones while they rode their horses around in the riding ring and then they were ANGRY because their Credit Card was maxed out!Now mind you, these were cartoon kids between 10 and 12 years old.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to look spectacular to the judge; she'll notice us because of our riding outfits more then the riding."

And off they went to the barn. THIS WAS A BLOOMING CARTOON.

To make matters worse and really get my damper up, was the commercial that followed.

Little Tweenies coloring on shirts with dolls and they colored their clothes also so they matched, nothing wrong with that, I thought but then, it was quite evident the competition between those tweenies on who had the best doll and most sparkles.

Everything in the room around them was geared to commercialism and not one thing,that I could see, suggested anything to do with real life. Their talk was flippant like the old "valley girl" image and of course they were spotless and designer outfitted.

Would someone tell me just how these children are supposed to grow up in a world they have to cook, clean and have the ability to raise children in and SURVIVE?

Remember when young girls got the Susie Homemaker Oven for Christmas and took pride in making a mess cooking their little cake for Daddy? Today, young tweenies look under the tree for designer everything and that latest addition of iPod,  better be there. It's not their fought either, total blame is put on the industries targeting tweenies, be they girls or boys to make them want and want and want. They get and get and get because their parents learned "keeping up" and the rage of evolution continues with our children paying the price, without knowing a thing is happening to them. Now that is below the belt in Humanology.

Designer children and families evolved long before most of the in-debt families realize today. The little girl Rose, in "I Did as I was Told," wasto be a design for someone. She was to keep an elderly farm woman company since her children were grown and had sense enough to move far away from her. It just so happened, that it was fashionable in the late 1950 to take in a foster child and get paid each month by the welfare system. This middle aged Farmers Wife would have her companion and her own mini slave to do her everyday chores.

Many farm women became the saviors of "Needy Children" took them into their home and absolutely ruled them with their method of growing up. The old saying of Monkey see Monkey do, is deeper then you think.

Rose learned how to be exactly like her foster mother in all aspects of taking care of the house, cooking, garden and barn work,but when it came to expressing herself, it wasn't allowed.

"Children should be seen and not heard." Now I know you have heard that one.

"Don't do as I do, do as I say!"

And the best one: "As long as you live under my roof, you'll do as I say."

There is a commercial on the TV. I know you've seen it. "There ROLL-OVER MINUTES," the mother tells her teen boy from the front seat of the car.

Oh how I want to smack her face off. With just one look, what did she teach that boy as she stares him down and even worse, what did she impression him to do with his own children when his time comes to be daddy?

Rose is just one little girl that went through her young life in hard labor with no love, but she grew and all of the skills to survive were drumed into her very soul.

Learning how to live is just one part of life. Teaching is another part and if you can't or don't know how to change things, it's time to start learning yourself. It's never too late.