Better Picture?

Sisco and Dash

I got a little better picture of my brother-in-law's horses...as you can see, they were on their way to me so they could shove their noses in my face.  They are good boys!

Until next time!




Quote for the day:
"Choose your love, love your choice."

-Thomas S. Monson

Cast

We came out to the barn to do some work when we found Melody cast in her stall.  She was laying on her side right next to her stall wall, unable to get up.  She wasn't moving.

Hubby grabbed a hose (it was the first thing within reach at the moment) and wrapped it around her back feet and rolled her over, then let go of the hose and within a minute, she stood up.  She was calm but you could see a little scared.  Hubby went to put her halter on and she shied away.  He was patient and was able to get the halter on within a minute or two.

She wasn't done eating her hay but I thought it would be a good idea to turn her out anyways.  Usually when I turn her out, she can hardly stand waiting for me to let her go so she can run and play.  This time she just stood there.  I went to get what was left of her hay out of her stall and when I came back she had walked away.  I left her hay and made sure she had water.

I checked back on her a few minutes later and she had made her way over to the hay and was eating again.  She had me a little worried at first, but she was back to herself, thank goodness!

So now we are wondering if she's going to be a chronic caster (is that a real term?) or was this a one time deal?  Anyone out there have any experience with this?  I have to admit...this was our first horse to ever cast itself...  Any input would be appreciated!

Until next time!




Quote for the day:
"Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing."

-Oscar Wilde

New Arrivals

Last week my brother-in-law called from Arizona (his new home state as of December).  His friend agreed to take two of his horses for a few months until he could come back for the horses (probably in March).  The two horses that his friend ended up with was Sisco, Zoe's sire now a gelding (don't even get me started on that subject), and Dash, Zoe's only foal...a stallion.  Brother-in-law's friend agreed to take them but they would be turned out with his Longhorn cattle.  That was fine because both horses got along and have been exposed to cattle a lot (roping).  After a week of being with the cattle, Dash started beating up the cattle so the friend had to stall the two horses.  Then this past Sunday, the "friend" decided he was going on vacation and called brother-in-law to tell him that no one was going to be around to feed/water his horses so he better get some one to pick them up or come out twice a day to take care of them.  We got a call from brother-in-law on Tuesday night, informing us of the situation.  Seriously, the horses hadn't been fed or watered since Sunday night.  Hubby and I were NOT happy - with anyone in the situation!!  How could people let these horses be without food or water since Sunday night and then call us on Tuesday night (10 pm) to beg for help!!!  Why did all the parties involved wait that long to get this figured out?  This put us in a tight spot.  We don't have enough hay to feed anymore mouths through the rest of the winter nor do we have the room!  But we couldn't knowingly let those horses sit in stalls without food or water! 

Hubby's parents came over and helped us dig out our trailer and then stayed with the kids while we drove 1 hour away to pick up the horses.  Thankfully, the driveway was plowed so we didn't have to park in the road.  We got the horses out of their stalls, expecting to have our hands full but they were very calm, lethargic maybe.  We didn't expect to have any trouble loading them in the trailer because brother-in-law travels with his horses a lot but they apparently didn't like our trailer.  The interior lights weren't working so it was dark and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.  Eventually we were able to get them both on the trailer, just took some extra encouragement.  We went back to the barn and took the last two bales of hay (brother-in-law supplied the hay so it was his) and were on our way.  I'm glad we went that night not only because those horses were hungry and thirsty but also because we got several inches of snow that night and the roads were all country roads that rarely saw a plow.  That trip would've been so much worse if we would've waiting until the next day.

So the boys are in the front horse pasture now.  They have a nice lean-to but we don't have anymore stalls.  We put fresh water and hay out for them that night and went to bed.  It was now 2am.  We were tired and both had to work in the morning.

The boys have settled in nicely and definitely have perked up.  I tried to take pictures of them but they both kept putting their noses in my face.  This is the best picture I could get of them.  

Let's just say the brother-in-law owes us big time!

Sisco is the bucksin (actually a dunskin) and Dash is the Perlino (white)

Until next time!


Quote for the day:
"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."

-Ernest Hemmingway

It's been a while...

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I haven't been able to do any riding because with 3 feet of snow and temperatures in the single digits, I can't ride outside or get the trailer out to go anywhere!  So my riding/training with Zoe is at a stand still, unfortunately.

Nothing new to report with Tyson.  He lost a little weight with the frigid temperatures but the weight is already back on.  Ever since his major injury he's been a 'hard keeper' not to mention accident prone.  I think he gets bored so he gets into trouble...he's a character, let me tell ya!!

Star is sweet as always.  She's handling the winter very gracefully and enjoying her warm stall at night.  Have I ever mentioned how she starts her Harley at feeding time?  If not, keep reading...if so you can skip to the next paragraph...  Star makes noise, a nicker maybe, that sounds just like a Harley motorcycle starting up!  She kinda growls or grumbles with an eagerness to it.  Hard to explain but it makes me smile every time she does it!  The only time she does it is at feeding time - so stinkin' cute!

Melody has been the one that gets the most training done lately.  She had her first trim with the farrier so we had worked on picking all of her feet before hand.  She amazed me again with how quickly she caught on!  Hubby helped me with this task because he's so strong!  I didn't want to have her be able to take her foot away from me so Hubby helped out with her back feet.  She fought him BIG time the first time he picked her back foot up.  The second time wasn't near the struggle as the first and the third time she just picked it up and stood relaxed, like she's been doing this for years!  We went to the other side and the struggle for the other hind was 'half-assed' and then she just stood there like she was supposed to.  She picks her front feet up fine - has been since the second day we had her home!  When the farrier came, she did fine with her front feet and only fought her back foot a little, just to see what she could get away with, I think.  She did her other back foot just fine - no fight whatsoever!  We will keep working on leading and her feet but other than that, I don't like to baby the babies.  In my experience, foals who have been babied end up pushy and spoiled.  I want her to be respectful and attentive to my every move, not uninterested.  I know everyone has their own views on this but that's ok.  I just know what has worked for me and what hasn't.  I take her out and work with her on stuff about once a month or so, like yesterday I had to work on walking calmly through gates.  She developed a want to run through gates so that she can get to playing so that was a lesson needed right away.  But her next lesson with something new won't be for a couple weeks since we did the feet thing.  Does that make sense?  I address the issues right away that show themselves but teach her new things every 4 - 6 weeks and refresh the stuff already learned.  I hope that makes sense...

Until next time!


Quote for the day:
"Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get."

-Mark Twain