Summer’s End

Blue & Rosie

As the summer draws to an end, thought I’d do a quick update.  This summer was brutally hot and humid and we didn’t get much work done with the horses.  It was too hot to work them and they were as miserable as we were.  I did get in a few rides on Rosie and Blue very early in the morning around 6:30, before the barn had to be cleaned.

Rosie has had a few hacks around the farm under saddle.  She’s a good girl, not really spooky at all.  When she does come upon something she’s not quite sure of, she simply plants her feet and refuses to move until she figures out that the gremlins won’t attack her.  A few gentle squeezes and she sighs and moves on.  After my horse Erik, I’ll take it!  Anything is better than a spin and bolt.

She’s really improving in her gaits, too.  Her trot is lovely when she brings her front end up and tracks up with her rear foot into her front footprints.  I didn’t know she had it in her, but I’m pleased she does.  Her canter isn’t bad, but it is still off-balance and her legs sort of do that egg-beater thing as she canters around.  We’re working on it and she’s coming along.  We found out that she’s a superstar at free longeing, too.  One piece at a time and plenty of time to get there because we’re in no hurry and want to take it slow with her.

Rosie -Free Longeing

Rosie was drawing a crowd of admirers

"Keep your head down Grady or we're next!"

Blue continues to be …well, Blue.  Instead of riding him, we thought we’d give him a break and longe him one day.  Well, Blue walked around twice, took himself into a trot once around, then took himself into a canter for once around and stopped and walked over to get his pets and basically say “I’m done!” When he was unhooked from the longe he took himself into the barn and stood by the tack room door.  He knows after work everyone gets a carrot and stud muffin with a peppermint.  You just can’t argue with an opinionated horse that’s smarter than you!

Blue after a grueling ten minutes of self - longeing

Grady " Um, you know you're drinking from the wrong side of the fence right?"

" So what's your point"

Quote for Today

It is difficult to explain ones love for horses, it cannot be explained, it is simply felt!

Long Overdue Update

"Ireland"

Where to start?  The first two weeks in October my daughter took a trip to Ireland, which left me solely in charge of the farm.  When she left, Grady had a bruise on his left front hoof that he was favoring but with a few days of Bute he was walking better. 

 

"Ireland"

 

"I can look even sadder if you need me too"

Then Blue decided to come up lame on his right front hoof.  He struggled to walk for two days. Bute didn’t help, and on the third day he just refused to leave his stall. Which was fine as he was allowed to leave his stall and wander around the barn areas if he felt like it.  He didn’t. We treated it like an abscess but after a week, nothing happened. We got worried so I had the farrier check him out. Apparently, the whole hoof was sore. Then he took to lying down in his stall and not getting up. Next the vet was called to come and check him out. We got x-rays just to rule out founder or a fracture. Luckily it was nothing so drastic. The general consensus was that he was working on a really big abscess.

I’ve got to say Blue is a real trooper…not!  As he lay in his stall moaning and grumbling he was brought hay to munch on, he’d pick up his head and take a few bites then lay back down until he was brought water to quench his thirst.  I honestly think that if he could have put his hoof to his forelock he would have said, “ Woe is me!”  Typical male behavior, such a drama queen. We had to soak his foot in a plastic bag while he was lying down and then wrap it in an Animalintex. Thank heavens his abscess finally blew about two days ago.  It was pretty disgusting and he’s feeling better now but still not quite there, so he’s still wandering around the barn and small paddock in his Soft-Ride boots. He may be able to go out with the herd soon.  He’s been missing them since they have refused to come in for the last four nights and he’s been alone in the barn.

 

"Ginger"

Around two weeks ago my Australian Shepherd Ginger started having seizures, three in twenty-four hours. I took her to a vet and she was diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy.  The vet put her on phenobarbital and for the last two weeks she’s had no seizures but she is a little zoned out.  She’s only two and a half years old.  So I’m hoping that her dosage can be cut down or she can come off it entirely eventually.  I’m still not convinced it’s epilepsy and not something she ate outside.  She’s always grazing on weeds or mushrooms or horse poop or who knows what else.  So I’ll wait and see what the vet says when I take her back in a few weeks. 

It’s been a stressful few weeks but things are calming down now and getting back to normal.  Not to be a total bummer there is some good news.  The day after my daughter got back from her trip her new horse was delivered.  We had gone down to our friend’s to see him when she got him in and she rode him before she left. My daughter worked for our friend who is a horse dealer when she was in her teens and twenties. It’s the same woman I bought Rosie from.  So without further ado, here is the new addition to the farm.

 

" Handsome Hanz"

Hanz is a German Mecklenburg Warmblood, 16.2hh originally from Europe. He’s a very kind and smart horse.  She’s had a few rides on him since he arrived and Hanz seems unflappable.  He’s fitting in with the herd bit by bit. Sami is his best friend and for some reason Rosie has taken an immediate dislike to him and charges him occasionally.  She’s being kind of bitchy really.  Maybe once she gets over her heat and gets used to him and Blue is back in town she’ll change her attitude.  

"Hanz & Sami" (his new best friend)

Quote for Today

Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.

Bored Horses

This is a short post of pictures.  There's not much going on here due to the weather.  One day it's snowing like crazy and the temps are in the single digits or below zero at night and then two days later its in the 50's. Go figure.  The horses are bored with no grass and only hay baskets to eat from.The only excitement in their day is to either mill around aimlessly or push one another off a particularly tasty morsel from the salad bar. 

"Blue"

"Sami" ..."Treats pleasssse"

"Rosie & Blue"

"Sami & Grady"

"Rosie"

"Nikki & Ginger"

 Quote for Today

In Winter, Mother Nature dims the lights, sleeps late, hides from the world, and regenerates. Winter is the hangover of seasons. ~Terri Guillemets

It's A November Post

"Blue"

It’s hard to believe November is here and we are getting ready for the winter months ahead of us.  I think it’s also about time I gave a short update on what’s been happening here.  Don’t get excited there isn’t much to report.  Blue is doing much better with his hoof issue so I’m happy about that.  He was spotted cantering in the pasture the other day and so I will try and get him started in some limited work this weekend.  We will start with some walking and see how he does in the indoor.  The footing is much better there than in the outside arenas.  I’ll post how he does next week.

Yesterday was Halloween and instead of getting treats I seem to have been tricked…royally! I had just let the dogs in when we all heard this huge crash.  They started barking and I ran to the window to see what was going on.  A huge tree from my neighbor’s yard had toppled into my side yard and taken out the fence.  I’m relieved that the dogs weren’t still out because they play over there and they would have been squashed.  It was so odd because there was no wind or rain.  I guess it just couldn’t take the stress after the storms we had for the two days previous.  Mega amounts of rain and wind howling most of the day and all night must have undermined the roots. 

Here are some pictures:

The Tree

The "Inspectors"

" The Clean-Up Crew"

"There's enough sticks to go around, no need to carry one between you!"

All that hard work deserves a rest!

My Left Foot

                                                               

Blue and Nikita...I know he's a little chunky but we're working on slimming down

Summer is officially over, although you certainly can’t tell by the weather we’ve been having.  It feels like August with high 80’s and some 90 degree days with the added bonus of high humidity. I’m waiting for autumn to kick in with some cooler temps.  In the meantime I’ll update on what’s been happening around the farm this summer.

Blue hasn’t been doing as well as I would like.  It all started when the farrier couldn’t make it for an extended period of time to shoe him. His toes got longer than they normally would. He was lame and favoring his left front because he had developed a painful abscess so we pulled his front shoes.  When the farrier did come we suggested he leave the shoes off all around and just trim him.  We put him in boots to help cushion his foot.  Eventually, the abscess blew out but was quickly followed by another abscess in the same spot.  The hoof cracked and broke off in pieces from the abscesses so there was no way his hoof could hold a shoe anyway. 

This is Blue's hoof initially

"How about a treat, my foot hurts ya know"

Some improvement

For a while he was on limited turnout wearing boots.  He got to wander around up by the barn, with access to his stall with hay and a fan plus a small paddock to graze and the lawn around the barn to explore but he was missing his friends. 

" Hey guys I'm over here"

When his foot seemed to not be bothering him too much we let him reunite with his buddies wearing his boots, which he promptly lost.  Luckily, we had another set so he wore those for a while until he lost them too.  I did search for them but couldn’t find them. Every time I spotted something black lying in the grass I’d drive over to it only to have my hopes dashed discovering it was a pile of manure.  So somewhere on forty acres are two sets of boots waiting to be found!  Blue loved his boots, some mornings he would refuse to leave his stall until his boots were put on. You’d think he would have taken better care of them. 

Blue showing off his new "kicks"

I had to buy another pair and this pair stayed on for the duration.  He’s not wearing boots and he’s not lame anymore, his hoof and sole are hardening and growing although he’s still walking slowly.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but Blue is sort of a big woosie when it comes to injuries.

This is where we are as of now, so much better but a ways to go yet

Needless to say I haven’t been able to ride all summer and that’s okay because I don’t get along with heat and humidity very well.  Blue should be able to be ridden for a limited time at the walk when he’s ready. So fingers crossed we will be able to enjoy some cool autumn weather in the saddle soon.

Quote for Today
Give a horse what he needs and he will give you his heart in return.

Summer Vacation?

"Blue" loving his new muzzle...not so much!

There is nothing new happening here on the farm.  So I haven’t much to report on.  The horses are all doing well and have worked it out as a herd without a leader.  No one has emerged to take over Mellon’s role as far as I can tell.  They all seem to know how to take care of themselves at this stage of their lives.  I’ve noticed that they stay closer together instead of spreading out too far from each other, though I'm not sure if that means anything.  

I most likely won’t be posting much for the rest of the month.  My two granddaughter’s will be staying with me for a while and I’m looking forward to that. There is always so much more to do in summer around the farm too.  I really despise weeds, they seem to be taking over the arenas so there is lots of dragging to be done.  Then there are flowers still to be planted and a thousand other maintenance jobs.  The work never ends.

"Nikita" settled right in to the routine

"Ginger" my co-pilot

Ginger and Nikita are getting along much better and have fun romping and playing most of the day.  They keep each other busy but it does seem like there's more than just two of them.  Especially, when they're underfoot all day and I'm constantly stepping over them or around them.  It's worked out for the best having another pooch in the house.

Stay cool and enjoy your rides.  I’ll be back when I can.

Until next time

I really like this quote. I may just have to follow the old boys thinking on this one!

Quote for Today
“There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it.”
― Andrew Jackson

The Harmany Muzzle

"Sami" The Perfect Model"

" Does this make me look silly, are the guys going to make fun of me"

"Are you kidding me...what is this contraption anyway!"

We recently purchased the Harmany Muzzle to prevent Blue and Sami from ingesting too much grass while grazing.  They are the two horses here who need it most.  We attached them to their halters today to see how they would do with them and put them in the small grass paddock by the barn so we can keep an eye on them.  The one concern we had was that they wouldn’t fit into the automatic waterers but Blue tested his out first thing and it does fit in the bowl easily and doesn’t get caught on the bottom of the rim which sort of sticks out a little.

" We really need to talk about this"

I think we still have to make adjustments with the fit so it will be a learning curve.  The muzzles can be shaped by heating them with hot water.  We decided to try these particular muzzles because they seem more lightweight and more adjustable to give a more custom fit as needed.  Another plus is they can be cleaned at the end of the day by rinsing them off under water.  So we’ll see how it goes and I’ll let you know what we think of them after a few weeks.  I’m interested to see how they hold up.  Blue is notorious for trashing grazing muzzles.  I can only hope he’s met his match with this one.

Here is part of the ad for Harmany Muzzles:

"The Harmany Muzzle is designed to be open and airy, allowing better ventilation for the horse while still slowing his forage intake. Instead of nylon webbing which can absorb moisture and then mold or mildew, the Harmany muzzle is a medical-grade plastic containing kevlar fibers: the plastic will not splinter or snap to produce sharp edges (though horses can eventually chew through it like a conventional muzzle — Dr. Harman is looking into solutions for that problem.) At the end of the day, the entire muzzle can be hosed down or washed with soap and water and easily dried: no more worries about your horse breathing in mold!"  If you want to check it out for yourself here’s the website: http://www.harmanymuzzle.com/


Until next time

Quote for Today

Love means attention, which means looking after the things we love. We call this stable management.