Finally, some pictures!

 

Apologies, but I haven’t had a lot of time to wander around taking pictures since being home.  Between running errands, trying to clean up the place, and getting horses groomed (probably for the first time all winter) and fed, I just haven’t had the time or energy to walk around with the camera.  However, today when Glenn and I got home from town, I found a scene that simply had to be captured.

 

An all male slumber party happening in the stud paddock.

The mud and filth on everyone just made me want to throw my brushes into the burn barrel and give up on the whole grooming thing.

 

But seriously, how cute are these two (dirt and all)?

 

The fact that Kincaid let me get so close for pictures while he was lying down was impressive enough.  He’s still skittish about certain things, and usually hops up if someone is within 50 feet of his snoozing spot.  Then to further impress me with his lackadaisical attitude, he did this.

 

The sun, it’s warm.  My belly, it’s full.  The hay, it’s comfy.  And I am simply too tired to care that you are that close.  I will smile for the camera, though.

 

I thought it was rude that all the larger horses laid down for a nap and left the littlest ones of the bunch to stand guard.

 

Or stuff his face, in Dagwood’s case.

Good night boys, have a fun sleeping in the hay.  Better you than me!

Unusually unusual

Today should not have gone near as well as it did. 

Mark your calendars, ya’ll.  I won’t say that very often.

Remember Jethro?  I get the feeling that he really wants to be an easy keeper, but no matter how much Safe Choice and free choice hay I give him, he still doesn’t have a very nice top line.  His spine sticks up just a wee bit and the top of his ribs can still be seen.  So my thought was that after spending a month locked in a 12x12 stall at the shelter and two and a half weeks stuck in a pen in my yard with Jed his muscles might just be atrophied.  His gut has shrunk a bit after two wormings, but is still more than adequate for his size and his butt has filled out nicely.  However, even though his pen is about three times the size of his stall, there still isn’t any room to run and play when the urge strikes.  Last week I wondered briefly if I could put him in with the Fairmont studs, but then thought better of it because strange stallions will almost always fight and I didn’t want anyone hurt.

Then yesterday I woke up to find Drunken Neighbor’s proud cut gelding standing in my driveway and whispering sweet nothings to Don Juan over the fence.  Don Juan was calm, accepting, and even looked like he wanted to play with the big gelding.  Hmmmm….  This set my little brain to whirring and I made the executive decision this morning to try putting Jethro in with the other stallions and see how it went. 

It was terrifying!  I doubted Jethro would make it out alive.  Don Juan was so aggressive and kept rearing and striking out at poor Jethro…

 

 

 

Um, yeah.  The two of them hit it off like old college chums running into each other in a gay bar.

 

 

Kincaid made nice with the “I’m a baby don’t hurt me” suckling motions and little Rusty just couldn’t get enough of Jethro.

 

 

 

Dagwood knows that the surest way to tell a stud from a mare is to sniff their hooves and chew on their lower legs. Huh?

When you’re still not sure, just pretend you’re a dog and take a long whiff right where it counts.

 

Jethro never panicked or became annoyed.  His ears were always up, he never lifted a leg to threaten a kick, and his teeth stayed hidden.

 

I had left Jethro’s halter on at first in case I needed to pull him out of there quickly.  But the introductions only lasted a few minutes and then everyone settled down together to eat some hay.  Right now everyone has squished themselves into the run-in shed to share in the shade.  So much for strange stallions always fighting!  It probably would not have gone so well if there had been mares in the area, but I guess a Lucille donkey in the yard doesn’t count.

 

Now, would someone please come up with something organic to kill all the burdock plants on the farm?  Please??

Random Pictures

There’s a lot of pain and wisdom in Lucille’s eyes.  Brannon thinks her feet may be back to normal and pain free in a year.  That’s a long time to have to be on bute just to be able to hobble around the yard. :(

 

That’s Shane’s head in the background.  The first horse is his new wife, Lacy.  I love this shot because of how their heads are lined up. 

 

I had to pick on Shane’s adopter for getting Lacy from someone else instead of coming to me, but I was just teasing him.  She is a very beautiful horse!

 

Shane and Apache introducing themselves.

 

 

Steel in his home.  He’s soooooo spoiled!

‘

A very dopey dobey.

 

Fraggle.  I love him.  Just don’t ask me what color he is because I still haven’t figured that one out. 

 

Things are happening fast around here this month and there are big changes coming up.  I’ll try and post as often as I can, but no guarantees.  October should slow down a bit and I’ll try to catch everyone up then.

The Fairmont Boys

I promised pictures of the stallions that I still had left over from the Fairmont seizure and I’m finally delivering.  Better late than never?

This is Chip, and I would like someone to supersize him for me.  Because I love him and he is the black stallion horse that I always wanted as a little girl, only trial size.  I would like the family pack sized version, please.

 

I think next spring I’ll find a pony-sized harness, fix up the pony cart that has been sitting up on the ridge since before we bought this place, and turn Chip into a cart pony. 

Everyone falls in love with Don Juan.  Granted, he’s very handsome, but he’s just not my type of horse.  He’s very narrow and I prefer to feel like there’s a full-dress Harley under me rather than a moped.  I’m sure once he’s gelded and evaluated under saddle, he’ll have a home in no time.

Dagwood… I love him!  He and Rusty are so affectionate and whenever I’m out there, the two of them are right next to me, one on either side, following my every move.  He’s the first to nicker at me when I come out the door in the morning, and was the first stud to make Riley welcome at weaning time.  Does he know he’s Riley’s father?  I wonder.

 

Little Rusty… this is as far away as I could get for a picture.  He’s like a fat leech with legs and fur.

 

Fraggle is much sleeker and shinier than when you last saw him.  He’s also a big sweetheart that’s always looking for attention and a head rub.

 

 

Last, but certainly not least, Kincaid.  He is quickly becoming the new Maverick!  Kincaid is showing a lot of the same intelligence and need to please that endeared Maverick to me.  He nickers at me every time he sees me and has the same sense of humor that I saw in Mav.  He’s still jumpy and shy around strangers, but is always looking for a scratch behind the ears when I’m alone.

   

 

Riley went to his foster home today.  His main job in life is to keep Huey company and I’m sure the two of them will get into all sorts of trouble once they’re together again!

Fraggle

Well, I didn’t exactly tackle him and beat him with a shedding blade, but it was still an adventure!  

Lucky for me, the run-in shed in his paddock has a gate on it.  He let himself in while I was filling up the trough, so I closed the gate on him and went to get a bucket of feed and a lead rope.  The way we initially caught him was to hook the lead rope to itself to make a loop, then hold the loop around the bucket of feed.  As he put his head in the bucket, I quickly slipped the loop over his neck.  There were a few seconds of struggle, but I talked to him in a low voice and kept my eyes on the ground.  Once I was able to approach him and rub his neck, I slipped the halter on. 

I put the bucket of feed on the ground for him and got to work on those fur balls.  He quickly figured out that it felt good to be groomed and didn’t put up a fuss until I got to those clumps on his belly.  They didn’t want to come out easily and it was hurting him when I pulled on them.  Since I wanted this to be a positive interaction, I let them stay. 

 

Remember how he looked before?

 

Introducing the new and improved Fraggle!

 

 

He still has a lot of shedding out to do, but at least he doesn’t look like a shag carpet anymore!  As reward for him being patient with me yanking on his hair, I took him out to the tall grass for twenty minutes of grazing.   He’s still very leery of me and any fast movement makes him jump away, but he’s getting better.

 

Sadly, like Dagwood and Rusty, Fraggle also has a cataract.   While many horses are just fine after losing sight in one eye, it’s still frustrating to see it happen to one so young.   And to happen to so many in one herd!  It makes me wonder if it’s a genetic defect (although I seriously doubt Fraggle is related to Dagwood or Rusty) or environmental.   We’ll probably never know!

Introducing…

I promised introductions to the new horses tonight, so here goes.   Anne and I made notes about gender and personality and named everyone on Sunday.   The horses really didn’t look as bad as I thought they would, but the sheriff said the owners had been feeding them alfalfa and letting most of them out to eat next door at the quarry since Monday.  He said they looked a lot better in just a week and were no longer eating their own manure.   Bonus.

We named this gelding Chester.  He’s the friendliest one of the bunch and is more than happy to stand around and be loved on.   He’s a little guy, only around 14h tall.  He’s missing a bunch of hair thanks to the lice and being chased and chewed on by the bigger stallion.

 

This Tennessee Walker mare is Dahlia.  The neighbors told me that they used to see her being ridden up and down the road, so I assume she’s broke.  But like most the others, she would prefer not to be caught.  I was able to catch her tonight while she was eating and get her wormed.  She wasn’t happy about it, but she didn’t fight me about it.

 

This is Don Juan, the Buckskin (Dun?) stallion.  Of course he was running with all of the mares, so let’s just hope Don Juan didn’t impregnate any of the mini mares!  He’s also got a lot of bald spots from lice, but his hair has started growing back already.  He’s getting friendlier by the day and I was able to get my hands on him to worm him tonight.

 

We named this little girl Sierra.  She’s also very shy, but once in awhile I can sneak up behind her and scratch her butt without her taking off.   She seems like a youngster, but I haven’t had a chance to check out her teeth yet.

 

This is one of the two yearling(?) colts that have obviously never been touched before.  They were both extremely difficult to catch and had no idea how to lead.  They are still very skittish and are terrified of us, even when we have food.  We named this one Fraggle.  I can’t tell you how much I just want to tackle him and take a shedding blade to him!

 

This is Apollo, the biggest surprise of all.  He’s a palomino AND he’s gelded!   Unbelievable!  He’s a long-legged boy who has been catchable since being rescued.  He loves a good scratching and was more than happy to be wormed with apple flavored ivermectin tonight.

 

That’s it for tonight, I’ll introduce you to more tomorrow!