Poco Goes Home…

…and Molly returns.  Molly did great at her new home for the first seven weeks.  She got along with the other horses and Lee had the help of a trainer to work out the few quirks that she had.  Then all of sudden, things went very south.  Molly started beating up on the other horses, tried kicking Lee a time or two, and was constantly irritated and on edge.  Since Lee boards her on the farm where he lives and the horses she was trying to kill are owned by the owner of the property, Molly has been evicted.   When she got back here to the farm yesterday, she and Sassy hooked up right away and ran around the pastures terrorizing everyone else until Satin put her in her place.  Now things are back to normal and Molly is leader of most of the herd, once again.

Poco was adopted by the same people that have Chester, Tootsie, and Peppermint.  The poor girl has gone without love and affection for years, but now she’s going to be doted on and spoiled rotten!  After introducing herself to the other horses, the only thing she wanted to do was stand at the fence and be loved.  She and Chester hit it off right away, but Poco didn’t know what to think of little Tootsie and kept her at a distance.  Peppermint just wanted to kick Poco, but I think Poco thought it was a bit of a joke that this little tiny dog-sized creature was actually trying to kick her. 

 

Chester and Peppermint are good buddies, but only when Peppermint is in the mood.  Which isn’t very often.

 

Then there’s the rug rat, Tootsie.  Who is just as spoiled and ornery as ever! 

 

I made the mistake of sitting on the ground to get a better angle for pictures of her, forgetting that she likes to roll on your legs.  I was barely on the ground when she came over and climbed into my lap, then rolled her body down my legs.  Then she got up and came back to my lap to do it again. 

 

Please excuse my filthy feet.  I had to chase loose ponies over half the county this morning and didn’t have time to clean up before taking Poco.  You should have been here, I’m sure it would have been amusing.

Whenever something scares her, it’s not her mother she goes running to… it’s her Uncle Chester, who loves and protects her like she was his own.

  

Speaking of Chester, his adopters had to have their satellite dish moved today.  It used to sit on a pole out in their pasture, but one night when they were watching a movie they kept losing signal and couldn’t figure out why.  The next day they saw Chester scratching his butt on the satellite!  So now the dish is safe on the roof of the house and Chester will just have to find another way to scratch those hard to reach places.

 

I got to visit with another of the Fairmont horses yesterday at his new home.  Apollo is looking great and his adopter is madly in love with him.  He’s proven himself to be an incredible all-around horse and loves to trail ride.

So many happy endings in one post.  I wish they were all like this!

Stampede!!!

Well… a mini stampede anyway.

Every morning when I head over to the quarantine to feed everyone is usually already in the barn hiding from the bugs.  At dinner time everyone is usually out in the pasture enjoying the cooler weather and shade.  All I have to do is get their attention, then stand back out of the way!

 

 

 

 

 

The hearing is still set for Thursday, last I heard.  Please keep your fingers crossed and break out the rabbit’s foot!

 

 

Because if I have to give these guys back to the asshat that starved them…

 

… well, let’s just say I won’t be happy.

Riley and Tootsie Update

Riley is Trouble.  He’s turning into that rebel without a cause teenager type who just wants to get the other kids into trouble.  He’s rough and tumble when he plays, chews on people whenever he gets the chance, and is already starting to show stallion behavior.  Now he’s trying to corrupt Huey… and I think it’s working!

 

He’s also turning into quite the ladies man!  I caught him and Jubilee trying to groom each other this morning after breakfast.  So cute!

 

Come on Huey, let’s go find something chew on.  I’m bored!!

 

Tootsie is quite the little lady.  She’s gentle with everyone, doesn’t try to bite, and knows when to say NO to Riley.  Usually.

 

 

Now that Huey has come along, Tootsie spends more time with mom than with Riley.  Unless there are humans around, then she’s all about the people.  Pet me!  Love me!  I have enough teeth to eat cookies now!

 

She also LOVES having her belly rubbed. 

 

For my next trick, I’ll teach her how to bark.

Dilbert

When the Fairmont horses first arrived here, they were not friendly and they were incredibly furry.  So it was difficult with some to tell which gender they were.  For instance, this one never peed when I was around and we couldn’t get anywhere near it.  So we thought, with that belly, it must be a pregnant mare and named it Daphne.

 

It wasn’t long after I posted about Daphne that I was able to catch her and get a little fresh… and found that Daphne was actually a Dilbert and a gelding at that!  Woohoo!

Dilbert has been turned out with the mares and the other gelding, Casper, for a few weeks now and he’s a lot happier.  Chip and Dagwood were constantly chasing him around once the mares were gone and he was always looking for an escape. 

 

 

Now instead of running from something, he just runs because he can.  :)

Tiny Feet

When Brannon was out last week to trim horses it was too rainy and muddy to get up to my barn, so we went over to the quarantine farm and did some of the minis.  Peppermint was the only one of the six that gave us much trouble, but Tootsie more than made up for it!

At one point he said “it’s official, this is the smallest foot I’ve ever worked on”.

 

 

 

 

She was very interested in climbing all over his hoof stand, so he helped her out.

 

 

Her back toes look tons better now and her pasterns are a good bit straighter. 

 

Nothing like training them young! lol

 

Speaking of training… go check out today’s three posts on the Training the Unwanted blog.  You won’t want to miss Maverick’s first ride!!

Babies

 

I just thought I’d provide a little afternoon cuteness on this beautiful Spring Monday.

 

 

 

Nope, still no Shortcake foal, but her bag is starting to fill again.  Maybe this time she’ll follow through with it!

Jubilation

 

Main Entry: ju·bi·la·tion

Pronunciation: \ˌjü-bə-ˈlā-shən\

Function: noun

Date: 14th century

1 : an act of rejoicing : the state of being jubilant
2 : an expression of great joy

3 : See Riley

 

That picture was taken when he was just a few hours old.  The following video was taken this evening.  It takes him a bit to wind up for his run.  Which is what he does on and off the whole hour and a half that he’s turned out.  Run.  Buck.  Jump on mom.  I can’t wait until he and Tootsie are allowed to play together.  That will be some show!

 

 

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you Tootsie fans.

 

If I had that kind of energy I could get my chores done in half the time and maybe have some time to ride!

More Updates on the Fairmont Horses

Anne’s daughter, Emily, came over and took some pictures of everyone on Saturday and you know how I like to share. 

Don Juan is very much bald at this point but his hair is beginning to grow back and he feels as soft as velvet right now.   He’s upset about being apart from his women, but he’ll just have to get over it. 

 

Once I started grooming Chester the hair came out in great greasy gobs.  The poor guy was such a mess from the lice that he scratched himself bloody in places.  His hair is just now starting to grow back and he’d stand still for hours if someone would just rub and scratch him.

 

Sierra has done a complete 180 degree turn since yesterday.  It’s like someone just flipped a switch on her and now she seeks out attention and loves to just stand there and be petted.  She’s gained a lot of weight since being separated from Don Juan and is looking great.  I had thought she was a younger horse but I got a look at her teeth tonight and she looks to be around 15. 

 

Matilda is also learning to trust and spent a good 15 minutes being petted and adored by teeny boppers tonight.  At first her eyes were wide and she was as tense as a board, but after the first twenty or so cookies she began to relax, lower her head, and willingly get closer to people for more cookies. 

 

Peppermint and Tootsie… because how could I not include those two?  Peppermint is slowly gaining weight on Equine Senior feed and is now producing more milk for the munchkin.  Tootsie is growing up fast and has become quite the character!  She’s so small that she loses mom easily when coming or going out of the barn.  She just sees a set of legs and follows them… even if they belong to humans or the big horses!  She loves people and will often stray from mom to play with the humans. 

 

Shortcake has still not foaled and she’s not producing milk at all.  However, Blondie’s bag was HUGE today so she may foal before Shortcake.

And this… this is how you tell your Ivermectin is working as it should.  See all those little red things in there?  Those would be worms. 

  

For days after worming everyone with the first dose of Ivermectin, the “land mines” were FULL of bot larvae and threadworms.   I wormed a second time yesterday and I've only seen a few worms so far.  I’ll worm again in a month with Safeguard, as Doc suggested.

Tootsie Roll

I have so much to show you.  Like the starving donkey that arrived back on the 11th and Willow’s foal that was born on the 13th.  But I’m tired.   A nice hot shower even sounds like too much effort right now. 

 

But since I know you’re wondering, I’ll tell you what Doc said about Tootsie tonight.  He thins the legs will straighten with trimming and exercise, but she has a little conjunctivitis in the left eye, which could mean cataracts down the road.  Since both Rusty and Dagwood have a small cataract, we can make a fairly safe assumption that one of those boys is the father.

 

 

Otherwise, she and Peppermint got a clean bill of health today.  He also examined Blondie and Shortcake.  Blondie should foal within the next three weeks and Shortcake will probably foal by the weekend.  That poor girl looks so uncomfortable!!

 

 

Peppermint and Tootsie had a grand time being hand-grazed in the tall grass today.   They both laid down for a long nap when they got back to their stall.  Little Tootsie is way too cute for words!