Jacob and Marbles go home

Ok, so here’s the deal on Jacob… he was adopted by this family.   They wanted a “family” horse to ride, that wasn’t part of the breeding business and fell in love with Jacob immediately.  He took one look at the humongous stock trailer and jumped on faster than you can say “one lucky boy”!  Maverick is still pining away at the gate waiting for his gigantic buddy (they’re all gigantic to Mav) to return, but he’s getting three new buddies to play with tomorrow.

After Jacob left, it was time to get Marbles in the trailer and drive him four hours South to his new home.  Last weekend someone had filled out the pre-adoption application on the website and I gave her a call that night.  She was looking for a very young paint gelding that she could train for her toddler son.  With much trepidation, I sent her pictures of Maverick and Marbles, just knowing she’d pick Maverick since everyone loves him.

Nope!  She fell in love with Marbles and his white face, which meant I got to keep my Maverick for awhile longer!  Yippee!   Stephanie is a barrel racer who currently owns three quarter horses and has quite a bit of training experience.  It sounded like a good match, and her vet had nothing but positive things to say about the way she takes care of her animals.  Ok, twist my arm!

note:  I really should have made her twist my arm. That was one hell of a long drive.  And why is it, that every danged time I’m driving down I-77 with a horse trailer I hit a severe thunderstorm that makes the truck and trailer hydroplane???

Marbles, ever the gentleman, got on the trailer with very little fuss today, and a little help from Anne.  He was a PRO on the ride and never even broke a sweat.  When we got to Stephanie’s there was one little thing that bothered him…

Scooby. 

 

Scooby the dog REALLY wanted to be friends with Marbles.  To the point where he’d jump up on Marbles’ chest, or shove his head between Marbles’ back legs to get a sniff.  Pony was NOT amused, and gave Scooby a couple kicks to the head.  This didn’t dull Scooby’s adoration for the new pony, and he planted himself in front of Marbles to stare adoringly up at his new buddy.

 

 

Marbles may be used to dogs, but none that get quite that friendly!

I’m up early tomorrow to go pick up the three new horses.  Fortunately, I don’t have to go nearly as far this time and should be done with both trips and ready to meet Anastasia for meat bird butchering at my place by noon.  Now that I’ve put that in writing, I’m sure the unhandled mustang tomorrow will take three hours to load and I’ll limp home around 4, battered, bruised, and bloody.   Oh well, should be fun anyway! :)

Oh, shiny!

I love this time of year because everyone just glistens in the sun.  Sadie’s picture from yesterday made me want to go out and get  pictures of those that you last saw as furry fuzzy wuzzies.

My all time favorite – Maverick. Doing his all time favorite thing – eating.

 

Kenzie, posing for the camera and wondering if I might have possibly brought carrots with me.

 

Remember the shag carpet with legs that you named Marbles?  Not so shaggy anymore!

 

 

Marbles may also have a home soon!  Keep your fingers crossed for the little guy!

Leader of the pack

Frisky has always kept Maggie and Marbles close at hand.  When Kenzie joined the herd, she was readily accepted into Frisky’s little herd of youngsters.  Gentry hangs with them on occasion, as does Jewel, but mostly they just stick to themselves.

Now there seems to be a new leader of the midgets emerging.  Maggie has taken on the roll of adventurer and is always the first to check out something new.   Like my camera. 

“What the heck is that hanging around mom’s neck??”

 

"I dunno.  You think it’s food?”

 

 

“Nah, it ain’t food.  Let’s go find some shade to stand under.”

 

Maggie was one of the mares that got the abortion shot the yesterday when Doc was here.  Marbles has been losing his worm belly, but Maggie’s gut has just been getting bigger and her back muscles have started to sag.  Before she came here, she was turned out in the same pasture with dear old dad and she’s old enough to become pregnant.  She was a lot better about getting shots than either Marbles or Kenzie, but still wasn’t all that happy about being stuck with a needle.   Maybe if Doc brings lollipops next time they’ll be better behaved.

I’m SORRY

I feel I have to apologize right off the bat for this post.   Marbles was the only little stud muffin to get gelded today because Quill refused to have a halter put on him.   I played with him for an hour this morning and got him to the point where he’d even let me pick up his feet and clean them out.   I could get a lead rope around his neck, but as soon as he’d feel the resistance he’d go berserk.  I tried putting the halter in his food bucket then slowly slipping it over his ears, but that didn’t work either.  So in the end, Quill only got to watch as Marbles did the hard part.

And because this is an edumacational blog (yeah, right), I took lots of pictures so I could learn ya’ll somethin'.  

First, Doc had to get Marbles sedated, and he really doesn’t like shots.  He bounced around, drug me around a bit, but in the end Doc’s aim proved true and the happy juice was administered.  Then we covered his eyes and tied his back leg up to his halter.  This way that leg can’t kick out and nail Doc in the head.  Some vets just ask that a handler hold the leg,  but Doc said he’s had people do that before that get to yakking and not paying attention and let that leg fly anyway. 

 

Then a liberal application of iodine to cleanse the area…

 

 

Any male readers may want to go to another website right about now.

 

 

Colts can yank their danglies back up into their body so that they don’t dangle anymore and have to be pulled out by hand.   Once the sac is out, Doc slits the sac so he can squeeze out the testicle.

 

 

 

When everything is pulled out and exposed, Doc uses a special clamp to close off the blood vessels.  The clamp has to remain on for two minutes.

 

After two minutes, the same clamp also has a blade, which makes a clean cut to separate the testicle from the pony.

 

 

And then, well, there it is.  Rinse and repeat for dangly number two and congratulations, you have a bouncing baby gelding!

 

Now tell the truth, aren’t you glad I shared?  Don’t you feel enlightened now?  :)

Babies

Before you go voting on names for the colt and filly, let me shed a little light on their personalities for you. He’s a quaking in fear little teddy bear, and she’s a don’t look at me or I’ll kill you terror on hooves.

That about sums it up.

I was on call or work this weekend, and you all know what that means. I wasn’t able to escape the house for much barn time, but I did spend a little time with them last night at dinner. The colt let me walk up behind him and groom him all over and he actually ate for the first time since he’s come here. I actually think he didn’t have a clue what grain was. No matter how often we’d put the bucket in front of him before, he’d ignore it and pretend it wasn’t there.

While I was grooming the colt, Glenn was trying to make nice with the filly. She promptly pinned her ears back and went after him with teeth bared and front hooves striking. Okie dokie then! This is the second time she’s gotten defensive around us, so it looks like I’m going to have fun with this little girl!

I did work with her on Friday night and tried to teach her how to lead. She did pretty well with me and we’ll work on it more tonight. Hopefully we’ll be able to get her brother into the bachelor pad with Maverick tonight, too. Not that he’s shown any desires to make babies, but I’d rather he not have the chance!

What a let down!

You guys have really failed me this time. Only one person suggested names for the new youngsters! You can’t possibly expect me to come up with names on my own, can you??? Just remember that if you don’t come up with good names, then Glenn will want to name them. And we know what happens when he’s allowed to name animals. It’s not pretty!

So what’s the deal? Out of ideas? Forgot how to add a comment? Going on strike because I have so many horses?

Oh wait, that’s me.

Or did you just need better pictures? If that’s the case, then here you go. Now get those creative juices flowing!

The filly let Glenn scratch her neck yesterday. Progress!

She’s got a ways to go before we can trim those toes, though.

The colt is still standoffish, but at least he’s coming a little closer today. Today will be when we try to lasso him at dinner time and get him in the bachelor pad with Maverick. Wish us luck!

Indy and Prince both went to their new homes last night and both were incredibly good about it. They each got off the trailer and settled right into their new home without any nervousness. What good boys!

Two steps forward, three steps back

Indy and Prince both go to their new homes tonight, but as I mentioned earlier, their “replacements” are already here.

A family not far from where I got Ellie had bought a spotted draft stallion and several Paint mares a few years ago from the Krazy Kolor breeder down the road from me. Eventually they realized that stallions and mares turned out together produce offspring, and the neighbor’s weren’t particularly happy when the whole herd would escape and trample through their yards. I know exactly how those neighbors felt!

They tried selling the horses, but in this economy no one really wants an unbroke horse or a yearling that you can’t even get close to, even if the price tag is only 100 bucks. You’d even lose money if you bought them and hauled them up to Sugarcreek for the meat buyers.

Now, this family is very nice and their horses are well taken care of for the most part. The two untouchable youngsters are wormy and have long splitting hooves, but the older horses are all fat and healthy. The family just can’t afford to replace their fence and don’t have the knowledge or time to train any of them.

They originally wanted me to take all 10. Yikes! No way! Then they decided to keep two. Ok, that’s a little better. I told them I would take the youngsters and the stud, but only if they got him gelded first. Once they found out how much it cost to geld him, they changed their mind and wanted to keep him. But Doc is still going out on Thursday to geld him! Yippee!

Last night I brought home the 2yo filly and her yearling brother. Their mother is staying with the family and they didn’t realize until I pointed it out last night that she is pregnant yet again. The babies have never been handled, but getting them in the trailer wasn’t too difficult. We just closed off any avenue of escape in the barn and gently pushed them towards the trailer. Once they were on, I tried getting halters on them, but they didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I worked with them again once I got them home and did manage to get a halter on the filly. I didn’t have one small enough for the colt, so I went ahead and backed the trailer up to the pasture gate and let them out with the herd. I would have preferred putting them in the quarantine paddock, but I knew my electric tape fence wouldn’t hold them in and catching them once they were out would have been nearly impossible.

There was some running around, but overall they were assimilated rather easily into the herd. I think the herd is getting used to all these horses coming and going and now it’s just a quick matter of laying out the hierarchy for the newcomers. Being babies, the two quickly agreed to being on the bottom of the ladder and buddied up with Ellie who is the same size and less intimidating.

The colt isn’t gelded yet, of course. I would have loved putting him in the bachelor pad with Maverick if I could have only put a halter on him. But don’t worry, there won’t be any unexpected pregnancies on this farm! A couple of weeks ago a storm brought down a tree across the fence between the bachelor pad and the main herd, and Maverick got busy with the ladies all night until we realized what had happened the next morning. I spoke with Doc about it, and he suggested giving all the mares the “morning after” shot next month just to make sure. So even if the colt does manage to cover any horny mares, it won’t do them any good.

We’ll try to lasso him today or tomorrow and get him in with Maverick until Doc can come out and get him gelded. Maverick still hasn’t dropped the second nut, so I’m just going to have to bite the bullet soon and haul him to Ohio to be gelded. Doc doesn’t have the facilities yet for a surgery like that. I was trying to hang on until he did, but it doesn’t look like it will happen soon enough. At least he can geld the new colt out here in the pasture. Woohoo!

Glenn went to pick up Frisky this morning. She’s the only one of the 10 that is supposed to be broke to ride. She and the filly will also be getting the abortion shot since I know they were exposed to the stallion.

Wow, I really get to rambling sometimes, don’t I? Anyhow, without further adieu, say hello to Frisky.

And here are the youngsters in all their furry worminess. First one up is the colt:

Filly:

Sorry for the terrible pictures, “untouchable” also means very camera shy! And guess what? The youngsters have no names. You know the drill – get to it! :)