News

The vet called Friday afternoon with the news.  Her white blood cell count was good but her red blood cell count was low signaling that she is anemic.  The vet said that he wasn't too worried about it.  He would come back in a month or so and take another blood sample to make sure the red blood cell count didn't drop anymore.  In the meantime, we were to "worm her real good" to make sure it wasn't because of worms.  I have the horses on a regular worming schedule but I re-wormed them all again on Saturday, just to be on the safe side.

Star has been feeling great since we started her on the Bute pills.  We were worried she wouldn't eat her grain with the bitter tasting Bute pills in it, but she cleans up her grain dish - every last bit!  The swelling is still there but has gone down and she's been trotting around in her turn out.  I have her with Melody in her turnout and I think I'm gonna leave it that way this winter.  We seem to have peace within each grouping, so why mess with it?

Gunner's swelling has gone down a little.  The vet said he should be back to normal within a week so I'm keeping an eye on it to make sure it does.

I've been doing more groundwork exercises with Melody whenever I lead her in or out of the turnout.  She's been introduced to the tarp.  I first had her walk on it - no big deal.  She sniffed it a little and then walked on and stood with no problem.  The next time she walked right onto it, no questions asked.  The next time, instead of walking on it, I rubbed her with it.  She was alert at first and then got bored.  I repeated all the tarp stuff with her for about a week and then moved onto laying it across her, over her head, neck, back and butt.  She did some dancing but nothing major.  Those lessons were repeated over the following week until she was bored with that too.  It doesn't take much for her to be ok with what we work on.  She's very trusting and has a good head on her.  She came in from turnout the other day with a mystery cut on her face.  I have NO IDEA where that could've come from.  It's healed up nicely now, though.  Being a light colored palomino Melody is absolutely filthy, and you can see every spec of dirt on her!  I can't stand it!!  Zoe is a buckskin and her cream color gets really light in the winter too but she keeps herself clean, but not Melody!  I think she finds the smelliest, muddiest spots in her turnout and rolls, and naps there!!  I'm looking forward to the warmer weather already so I can get her clean again!  Yuck!  I should try to snap a picture just so you can see how nasty her creamy coat is!  Oh well, nothing I can do about it.  We brush her the best we can but it doesn't get the deep down stuff...

With all that's been going on, not much progress with Zoe lately.  She's been itching for work so I did lunge her the other day.  She was happy about that!  We are going back to working on leadership exercises to help build a better working relationship before the riding happens again.  Not that it's a bad relationship but more that we haven't been working together for a while now and I want to start off with a trusting relationship.  Make sense?

Well, that's all for now!




Quote for the day:
"He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything."

-Thomas Carlyle

My Perfect Angel

Star was a dream!  After the disastrous time with Zoe, I thought with all the calling Star was doing for Zoe that she was going to be a pain too but she was amazing!  She moved out at a beautiful flowing trot, head in at shoulder height, stretching her back out.  Her canter was nice so I didn't make her do it too much - she is old ya know!  We did some nice W/T/C transitions up and down, in both directions and called it a day.  Zoe was calling, more like SCREAMING to her the ENTIRE time, my kids were jumping on the trampoline (which is fairly close to the round pen where we were working), Tyson and Gunner were making noises at her (their pasture is across the driveway from the round pen) and she acted like nothing was going on around her at all.

I gave her some big pets and loves and told her what a good girl she was but all she really cared about is the green grass...so I let her eat some of the yard...don't tell Hubby. ;-)

I took her to the turn out after a few minutes of grass (can't over do it!) and let her go.  She absolutely loves to roll so the first thing she did was find a spot to roll.  She rolled in several different spots!

Melody was all done with her breakfast so I took her out.... 


Until next time!


Quote for the day:
"All of our sweetest hours fly fastest."

-Virgil

Bath Time!

We finally had some decent weather and the time to give the horses a bath!  I wish I had a camera to take some before and after pictures cuz those girls were nasty!!!  You can really see the difference on Zoe because of her lighter color and Star's coat just glowed!  I had wanted to give their tails a make over too but I was running out of steam so only their manes got the attention.

On a whole, the first bath of the year went good.  Zoe dealt with the water being sprayed on her until I got to her back.  After that getting her to stand still so I could get her but and belly was virtually impossible to do by myself.  Hubby saw my struggle and came to my rescue.  He was able to hold her while I finished spraying.  Then middle daughter and I got to scrubbing!  Zoe got a little anxious at first because Star was running around in the field - not waiting patiently for her turn.  But Zoe relaxed eventually and really enjoyed the scrubbing.  All the winter fur was very itchy, I'm sure!  We got a good portion of winter hair off but she still has more to go!  After the final rinse, hubby took her to the yard and held her while she ate.  Can't turn her out while she's still wet because all that hard work of washing would've gone to waste - turning her into a big mud ball. 

So while Zoe was drying, we got Star out.  She just wanted a bath so she could eat while we washed.  That would've been fine but she kept walking while we were trying to scrub and that gets annoying.  So we had to move out to the driveway so she had to just stand there.  Star had more winter hair left than Zoe did so we got TONS of hair out (and dirt!).  Oldest son was there to help with the scrubbing this time so I was able to just hold her while the kiddos did the work. :)  After the final rinse, middle daughter took Star to eat some grass while she dried. 

I gave Zoe and quick brush down and turned her out.  First thing she did was roll.  Dang horse.  So I went back out with a brush and tried to get the dirt off right away.  I got one side done before she just wanted to play.  Oh well.  Hubby came with some hay and she got to eating.

I took over with Star and just relaxed in the sunshine while Star ate.  What a beautiful day!  Once Star was dry, I brushed her quick and turned her out with Zoe.  Usually Star will roll ASAP but she didn't want to miss out on the hay so she ate instead of rolled....I may be on to something here...

After bath time was all done, hubby and I decided we need a wash stall so I can do the horse bathing by myself if need be.  So I guess we just added another project to our already too long list of projects!  I'm sure that by the end of summer, Zoe will do MUCH better.  We do a lot of baths throughout the summer so she will come to enjoy them on those hot days.  She showed a lot of curiosity with the water and almost tried to take a drink.  I remember Grace (APHA mare that we had to put down a year or so ago) used to enjoy drinking directly from the hose.  I miss that mare and her puppy dog attitude.  Some day maybe I will write a post about her.  Still hard to talk about her without tears.

Until next time!



Quote for the day:
"Peace begins with a smile."

-Mother Teresa

Clean Up

We finally had a nice weekend and what did I do?  Cleaned up my girls as best I could.  They were NASTY!

Star and Zoe need a bath in the worst way but it's still too cold for that.  We only hit 50 degrees on Saturday with sun but it was pretty windy.  Both girls were very well behaved for their thorough grooming.  They stood very still and stayed relaxed.  Star even stayed clean for a whole day!  Amazing, I know! 

Zoe had been getting pushy on the ground while leading her so we worked on that for a bit as well.  It didn't take long and she was back to listening to me.  We made several passes by her stall, stopping, backing, turning before she came back to me.  I think she was listening to the grain calling in her stall for a while there.

In hindsight, I wish I would've at least round penned the mares but I was exhausted at the end of the day.  So much work to do plus my children require my time too...can't give it all to the pretty ponies!

It's back to the 40's for us in Michigan now so baths won't be anytime soon.  We gave Zoe a bath last year and she did ok.  Being with us, she will be more than fine with baths soon.  When it gets hot, we like to hose the horses down to give them some relief.  Star has learned that baths are fun and thoroughly enjoys them - especially the part when she rolls in the nearest dirt patch afterwards!

Until next time!



Quote for the Day:
"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!"

-Audrey Hepburn

Good Ponies

Middle daughter had a friend over a couple weekends ago.  Her friend is a horse lover but doesn't have a horse.  Her mom told me she used to cry herself to sleep because she wanted a horse so badly.  Sounds vaguely familiar...

We took the mares out and the girls got busy brushing.  My two ponies were seriously muddy!  The snow was beginning to melt and Star LOVES to roll in the mud so she had mud crusted all over her.  The girls had a great time brushing and the horses enjoyed all the fussing too! 

Star stood like a good girl and closed her eyes while they were brushing.  Her tail even got a thorough comb through!  Zoe handled the fussing fairly well.  After a while, she got impatient and started swinging her butt around making it difficult to brush her.  At that point the girls were basically done with Zoe so I walked her around.  Once she wasn't fidgety I put her back out.  Star is my 'steady eddie' and nothing ever phases her so no worries with her. 

As soon as she was free (right after I let her go) she got busy - rolling in the mud.  The girls were NOT impressed.  I just had to laugh - it's just like Star to roll after getting all dolled up!

We all went inside for about an hour to get warmed up and then it was back out with the horses.  This time the girls each had a lead rope.  They led the horses around in the pasture for at least an hour.  Star and Zoe did so good for the little girls.  I was so proud of both my daughter and my horses.  When the friend's dad came to pick her up she didn't want to go!

Another good day with the ponies!

Until next time!



Quote for the Day:
"You change your life by changing your heart."

-Max Lucado