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It's been a while since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd summarize they past few months, and try to post more regularly in the future.
Never had been easier to handle since he got home from the trainer. He leads without being pushy, he picks up his feet without a fight, and I can brush him all over without him being touchy. He's pretty dominant out in the pasture, but I can't really do much until the thaw comes and I can put up new paddocks.
Alex is growing like a weed! At a few months shy of two years he's about as tall as his dam, though a little butt high at the moment. He's such a sweetheart, and leads and stands for the farrier with no problems. I've got his Pinto and Half-Arab registration papers ready to go, I've just been holding off until he's gelded (which should be soon).
Willow's Pinto registration application will be mailed this week, hopefully there won't be a problem with the two choices of name I came up with.
Hope had a pasture incident the other day that had her bleeding profusely from a cut just above her coronet band. When I first saw it her hoof was bright red and I thought she had cut her heel bulb through to the coronet band. I washed and wrapped it and gave her a little Bute and kept her on stall rest for a couple of days. After I unwrapped it, I saw it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I wrapped it again for protection and turned her out. That night, I removed the bandage and let the wound air out. She's doing well, a little sore but healing well. I'm hoping I'll be able to send her out for training this year, along with Faith and Willow.
The older horses are doing well, Sparky especially. She's doing so much better than last year, you wouldn't believe that it was the same horse! She's put weight back on, is more aligned in the hips, isn't laying down all the time, and has a zest for life that was missing last winter though to July.
Jul is 37 this year, and is bright and cheerful and has good teeth. Gem is 31, and doesn't have good teeth like his dam, but eats well anyway and acts like he's a teenager. Tassel is also 31, and seems to be feeling her years, but has a bit of spunk every once in a while. Heather is 30 and energetic, I'm hoping to lose some weight and head off to do some light trail riding with her.
Bahim is 26 this year, and has his issues, mostly with his teeth. He choked in October, and freaked me out. The vet came out and tubed him, and there was so much senior feed that came out. She then floated his teeth, and stated he has no real grinding surface anymore, they're plate smooth, so I have to really watch out for choke. He refuses to eat softened pellets, so he gets Purina Senior which seems to crumble better in his mouth. I have his feed pan close to the ground as well, and that seems to have helped.
Rho is in good weight, though he still needs to be sedated to trim his feet. I just don't know what happened, he used to be really good about it.
Fiesta the Wonder Hinny is doing well, plump and sassy. His hooves have been under control for a while not, no more long feet and rocking back on his heels. It took a while to get to this point, and I'm glad we finally did. He also stands for trims with almost no fussing!
All the others are fine, plump and fluffy and content to eat hay and play tag in the pasture. Hopefully I'll keep up with blogging this year, so my posts aren't always so long!
The vet came out on Thursday to float Gem and Jul's teeth and to give Alex and Never their booster shots. Jul's teeth look incredible, just a little grining to get some of the points off and a rotting molar had to be pulled, but really good otherwise. Not bad for a 36 year old mare. Her son Gem wasn't as lucky, though. Dr Esser said that if I had to prioritize floatings in the future, to put him low on the list as he didn't have much to work with anymore. She did the best she could with him, though, and he seems to be dribbling less, so I call it a job well done.
Then it was on to booster shots. Alex was a little skittish, but he stood pretty well and took the shot like a trooper. I wish I could say the same for Never. *sigh* It took forever just to sedate him. Dr. Esser tried to inject directly into the vein so he would sedate quicker, but he was just not having it. CJ, the vet assistant, wrestled with him for about 10 minutes before the good doctor finally was able to inject in the muscle instead. Then we had to wait for 20 minutes. I was so embarrased, I wanted to hide.
After the wait, he was sleepy, but not so sleepy that he couldn't put up a fuss about the vaccinations. We took the opportunity to trim his feet while he was sedated, and while he was bratty and we still had to fight with him, we managed to get his front feet trimmed. His hind feet still look okay, and that's good because he kicked Ken when he checked the left hind!
Still, they're done and trainer will be picking him up on the 10th. Thank goodness. I just don't know what happened to him. He was so good before he was gelded, it's like his brains were in his balls or something. Everything he learned before seems to be gone.
I hope Jessica can help him to be an equine good citizen.
While yesterday wasn't the worst day ever, it did rank pretty high on the list of days where hardly anything went right.
First, Ken's paycheck didn't come for the second week in a row, so I had to borrow money from a neighbor so I could run to Greenwood to pay my electric bill. After that I went to Marshfield, and on the way the muffler fell off the truck. *sigh* I went to Menards to pick up boards for fence, as lumber was on sale, and couldn't find any good 10 foot lengths so I decided to skip it for now.
I'm on my way to a pretty lovely headache by this point, but I had one more stop to make before I went home. The mall parking lot was crowded for a change, and when I went in I found out why. There was a home improvement 'show' going on, as well as a furniture disbursal sale. I went to Radio Shack to pick up an accessory for my new cell phone and had to wait 20 minutes for their computers to work again. The only good part of the trip to the mall was the 'petting zoo', a small gathering of cages and tubs that contained bunnies, kitties, and brightly colored chicks and ducklings.
Yep, someone decided that green, pink, blue and orange infant poultry was cool. I think they used food coloring, so it didn't hurt them, but it was sort of disturbing, kinda like Peeps come to life.
I finally get home at 4pm, and by now my head is really starting to ache. I turn Never out in the pen, make something to eat, take an Aleve, and try to get some work done. That's about when Ken shows up with his entourage in tow. Now, I like his girlfriend Mia (I think she deserves better, but it's her choice), but her 2 yr old son Cooper is a little hellion that she has trouble reining in. I take Ken to trim some hooves, and all the while Cooper is having fun shrieking at the horses and running around like a maniac with Mia yelling at him to behave.
Ken finishes up and goes to play with Cooper on the swings while Mia and I chat for a bit. They leave after a while, and I decide to take Never for a walk. He's been good, following at a touch and trusting that I won't take him someplace bad.
We walked toward the back of the property, then up to the apple tree. We did a couple of wide circles, then walked down to the pond. All was going well until we startled a pair of ducks, and then all hell broke loose. Never blew up and tried to head for home. I had a tenuous grip on the lead, as the ducks had startled me too, but I held on until I tripped and my glasses flew off my face. Never bolted for the barn, and I was on my hands and knees in a hayfield looking for my glasses. I gave up after a couple of minutes and hiked back to see where my scared gelding ended up. When I got into the yard I yelled for my sister, then saw Never hanging out by the mare pasture gate, quivering and snorting at his lead rope and trying to crawl through the gate. I caught him and quieted him down, then took him to his stall and gave him hay and treats laced with Rescue Remedy. That was when I took stock of my own injuries. No bruises or bumps, but I did lose a full layer of skin off of two fingertips due to rope burn.
My sister doctored my wounds, then we went to look for my glasses. The phrase 'needle in a haystack' come to mind, but trust me, 'glasses in a hayfield' is a much more difficult task, especially when you need them to see any sort of detail. Surprisingly, though, after about a half an hour of crawling around on my hands and knees I found them!
So today is another day, and everything seems a little better. My fingertips are sore, which makes it hard to type, but Never is leading well and doesn't seem to have any injuries from his run. I put him in the pen again, and went to make my own breakfast. While I'm filling a pot with water, I look out the window and see him trot around then stand at attention, looking at something. Then he takes off around the pen, full of snort and blow, then stands alert again. It took me a few minutes before I realized what he was looking at. I had pulled the Halloween yard 'balloons' and other stuff out of the shed so I could organize, and the breeze was moving the brim of a witches hat, which I guess is the scariest thing ever for a 4 yr old Arabian gelding. I put them away, and he calmed down a little.
So now I'm going to go change the dressing on my wounds, and then work on a couple of ideas that I've had. Later this afternoon I'm going to take Never for another walk, but I think I'll go scare the ducks off the pond first!
Never had re-injured himself about a week and a half ago, but after being on stall rest and bute he seems to be recovering. I have to be careful that he doesn't injure himself again, though. I turned him out in the round pen yesterday, and realized that he had way too much energy and high spirits to be turned out by himself. All of the bucking and kicking and sunfishing that he did would have put a prize bronco to shame! Needless to say I regretted turning him out, even though he didn't seem to have hurt himself again. So today I hand walked him for 15 minutes and let him graze a bit, then we had a nice grooming session.
He really loves the rubber curry with the longer teeth, especially on the really itchy spots like his shoulder and back. He was okay with the hard brush, and while he didn't mind me combing out his mane, he really didn't like me playing with his tail. I discovered that if I scratch the top of his rump with the comb, he'll calm down and let me comb his tail. He also likes having the base of the tail and the tailbone scratched as well.
He's still not comfortable having his feet picked up, but I was able to pick up his front feet and pick them out without a major fight. He danced a bit, but with some work and some consistency I think he'll get the idea. His back feet are going to be a trial, as he dances away and kicks out if you try to pick them up. I'm going to have to work with him more and do more brushing and touching of his tail and hind legs so he gets used to having someone back there.
I'm going to extend his handwalking session by 5 minutes each day, and follow it with a grooming/desensitizing session. I think the exercise and attention will be good for both of us.
We've finally gotten to the point where both Willow and Alex will pick up their front feet with no problem. The issue now is keeping them up. Alex is better about it, he stands and doesn't hop around but he does like to try and pull his foot away while Ken is working. He's still iffy about relaxing and letting Ken hold his hind feet, but he did well enough the other day that we got them trimmed. Now he has four lovely trimmed feet!
Willow is another story. Like her son, she picks up her feet like a pro. She just doesn't like to keep them up and will dance and hop around until she's up against a wall. Then she demands a treat and and sniffs Ken - back and forth - until Ken puts her foot down. The good news though is that both fronts are trimmed and balanced and can now grow out properly and the toe crack is healing nicely. We're still working on getting her to pick up her hind feet, but we're getting closer.
We haven't been working much with Never because he's been really anxious about his feet, and tense and anxious in general. I think part of the reason is because he wants to get out and play after being in all night, so maybe I'll start doing some work with him in the evening. I can't wait for the snow and ice to melt so I can get him working in the round pen and work off some of his energy. He still thinks a little like a stallion, no mating urges but he still flirts, but I'm hoping that will fade with time and focused work.
We've hit a lovely heat wave, 30's and 40's with a little rain. I figure most of the snow will be gone by the end of the week. YAY!
I haven't updated my photo business site yet, but the farm site is up and running! Check out the Duchess Hill Farm website here. There are no pics yet and I'm not sure about the color scheme (the green is a little bright for my tastes) but there are lots of links on the links page and the most of the individual horse pages have links to their pedigrees. It should only take a day to get pics up and arranged. Hopefully I can kick myself in the butt and do it this weekend.
After enjoying an almost warm week (highs in the 20's), we're back to single digits and less. It's currently bright, sunny, and 2 degrees with a wind chill of -12. Needless to day, Sparky stayed in with Gem for company. I hope to find a turnout sheet/lightweight blanket for her so she can go outside without getting too chilled and thus lose more weight. I wish I could afford a chiropractor for her, to align her hips, but all I can really do at this point is to keep her comfortable until Spring.
I've been doing some training this week, mostly with standing quietly and picking up feet. Alex was so good that Ken was actually able to trim his front hooves! We're still working on the hind feet, but he's getting better. He's a bit of a 'cookie monster' at the moment, but I'm going to cut back as he does better.
Ken was able to trim Willow's front hooves today. Her near front hoof has a long toe crack that fortunately is starting to grow out. She stood pretty well while Ken trimmed and rasped it, but she got antsy with the far front hoof and barely let him finish trimming.
Never is going to take more work. He picks up his near front hoof pretty well, but he won't relax and let Ken hold it for trimming. He's worse with his far front, he keeps pulling it out of Ken's hands. As for his hinds, right now we're just getting him used to being touched on his hips, legs and hooves. He's very sensitive and nervous about anyone doing anything back there, but with time I think he'll get better. I'm really hoping to get some more ground work done with him this Spring so I can take him in some halter/in hand classes this summer. I'm also hoping to introduce him to a saddle before Autumn.
Since it's so cold out, and there's nothing on TV this evening, I think I'm going to update my website for (shameless plug) Duchess Hill Photography, work on a blog to go with it (I know, yet another photo blog...), and maybe I'll finally get at least the home page for the farm site up and running. I should also get some more stuff on my Cafe Press site (another shameless plug!), but I'm going to need to find some more pics suitable for cards and such. Snow shots would be nice, but it's so freaking cold out and I don't have a back up camera if something goes wrong. I've also been thinking about possible quotes, phrases and logos for more marketable t-shirts and such, but I've been having the darnedest case of 'writers block'. If anyone has ideas or suggestions... *S*
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