Please go check out Maverick’s second ride over on Training the Unwanted. He is the awesomest pony in the world. Period. End of story. No doubt about it.
I know that “awesomest” is not a word. But it should be. I have broke out a lot of horses over the years, and have had some really easy ones. But none of them could compare to the Mav!
I know, I know… I haven’t done a random lunch post in forever. But I had some things to show and tell you that don’t fit together and I am lacking the necessary creativity to come up with a clever title. Or even a somewhat decent title.
First of all, the hearing that was scheduled today for the guy that starved the Fairmont horses was for a different set of animal cruelty charges from back in January! Add that to the arrest for animal cruelty last November, when he was caught dragging a Clydesdale down the road with his truck, and this guy has been busy! The hearing for the latest charges from April is set for June 17th at 1:00 pm. At least we only have a few more weeks to wait!
There are two places on my porch where the chickens enjoy laying their eggs: 1) in the left over beet pulp that I haven’t had to feed in months, and 2) in the opened bag of Pro Mix potting soil. Since all my adult girls are going crazy with the egg laying right now, the supply doesn’t always match the demand and I end up with two hens trying desperately to lay an egg in the same place.
If I could figure out which rooster is tearing up my girls so badly, he’d be in the freezer in no time!
I found a new use for my rabbit hutch. A friend had some ducklings that one of her hens had hatched and raised, and she needed to find a home for them.
Besides the fact that “mom” doesn’t swim, they’re still a little young to go into the pond. The rabbit hutch is a temporary holding facility until the other new chickens are out of the outhouse coop. You see, this so-called friend, also gave me 13 young chickens (because I obviously do not have enough chickens already). They had been hatched and raised at her place and were “mutts”. There are 7 hens and 6 roosters – the roosters will end up in the freezer once Glenn comes home next week to do the dirty work!
There was another duckling, half the size of the others and crippled on one leg. His foot was folded and turned in. The poor little guy would fall over on his back and get stuck there. He’d lay there until I came around to pick him up and turn him back over. I felt so bad for him! When they first came to my place, I had put them in the old Silkie hutch in the coop. But the crippled duckling kept getting out somehow, and wandering around the coop trying to figure out how to get back to mom. Last night was when I went out to the coop to move them to the porch, but I couldn’t find the poor little guy. I guess he escaped the hutch again and this time was found by a cat before I could get to him. I looked everywhere and listened for his chirping, but couldn’t find him.
R.I.P little crippled duckling.
**edited to correct my many misspellings. One day, I will learn to proofread before hitting the Publish button!
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.
Riley’s persistence has paid off and Baby Huey is already playing. They’re not running around much since it’s been really hot here this week, but they do enjoy a good game of bite face.
Sometimes Huey just gets a little confused as to which end has the face.
Back in February I asked for help identifying a farm in Prichard, WV that supposedly had way too many dogs and horses – all of them starving.
I had nothing whatsoever to do with the rescue of those horses, but I sure am ecstatic about it!!! It’s about time! I certainly hope this guy gets the full penalty under the, very inadequate, West Virginia laws. More importantly, I hope his “business” of holding horses for slaughter is shut down permanently!!
Months ago I placed an order with Ideal Poultry for a bunch of different varieties of pullets that I didn’t already have. They arrived a week or so ago and I’ve got them in the brooder in the side room. Two were DOA at the post office and three more died within the first 24 hours. I wasn’t too upset about this since I ordered 25 Cornish cross and 27 mixed variety pullets.
About a week before my order came in, I noticed one of the hens that hatched here last year was broody and sitting on about a dozen eggs in the coop. They haven’t hatched yet, but should be getting pretty close.
This morning when I went to feed Lucille, imagine my surprise when I saw this:
I had no idea this hen was even broody. I still don’t know where she was hiding the eggs, but I now have five more little chicks running around. I thought about catching them and bringing them inside to keep them safe from cats, dogs, and whatever else, but then I saw the hen successfully chase off a Lucky kitten…
…and thought that maybe she’d be able to protect them without my help. When I got back from the quarantine farm a few hours later, all five chicks were still alive and well.
Anyone want some eggs? :)
This was Opie back on 4/12. Am I the only one that thinks he resembled a miniature wooly mammoth? Trust me, that wasn’t fat, it was fur. Tons of fur. He was also afraid of humans and couldn’t be touched.
It only took a handful of cookies to get a halter on him, and about five more minutes to teach him to lead. Now he thinks all humans are made of cookies and likes to “taste” humans whenever the opportunity arises. Some humans don’t appreciate this, but I happen to like the little bruises his teeth leave behind when my back is turned. Honest.
Yesterday was bath day and little Opie was first on the list. He did really well! He was afraid of the water at first, but quickly figured out that the cold water felt good in yesterday’s heat.
He just wasn’t crazy about having his belly cleaned.
The first thing he did after his bath was roll in the dirt. Of course. But he was still pretty clean today when I handed the shedding blade to a volunteer and told her to have at it.
He handled the torture really well and just stood there looking cute and begging for muzzle kisses the whole time.
He’s got a lot of shedding left to do, but at least he’s finally starting to resemble a horse!
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. :)
With the Fairmont hearing coming up soon, I wanted to show you some more comparisons of what the horses looked like when they were seized and what they look like now. You’ve seen the big horses, so I thought we’d concentrate on the ponies and minis today. The first picture in each pair was taken on 4/13, the second picture of the pair was taken 5/25.
Note the backbone and skinny butt on Peppermint.
She’s fatter now than she was right before having Tootsie. No wonder I didn’t see it coming!
Blondie was one of the healthier minis. She wasn’t that thin and her coat wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the others.
But she still looks a heck of a lot better now. What a pretty girl!
We all know what poor Shortcake looked like six weeks ago. Shaggy, so thin her back and hip bones jutted out, and an overall poor appearance.
Her coat is now a gorgeous strawberry color and she’s got a nice layer of fat and muscle on her top line. She’s also fatter after popping out baby Huey than she was when she was seized.
Poor Frankie. She was so misunderstood. We thought she might be a Cremello because she appeared to be white with slightly darker points and blue eyes.
So much for Cremello. Where’d those spots come from? At least we got the blue eyes right!
Michelle is coming out later today to help me bathe some of the little misfits that won’t shed out. I’ll get pictures of the others after we’re done. Should be fun!
I took these pictures yesterday evening at dinner time. I let Shortcake and little Huey out to pasture while everyone else was locked in the barn inhaling their dinner. Shortcake didn’t want to be caught to be brought back in, so I think tonight I’ll let her back out with the rest of the mares.
How cute will it be when Baby Huey is allowed to play with Tootsie and Riley???? I can’t wait!
