A lazy entry

I feel like such a blogging loser when I don't post for a week! I've been composing lots of entries in my head lately; as though that counts! Yesterday was a beautiful warm day at the barn, so I took a couple of photos. The horses just looked so content out in the sunshine. It was sort of bittersweet, since we are all going to be departing this barn for "greener pastures" at the end of the week. More on that later, sighhhhhh.

Dude, with Bestie in the background, hanging out in the afternoon sun.





Dude just can't help himself ... the minute I went back into the barn, he had to come see what I was doing.





Ben grazing along the fenceline. He too had to come over and check out what I was doing. Thought I had Jake in the photo ... my photography skills leave something to be desired :) . My hat's off to those professionals who do beautiful horse show/action shots. What a skill to have!

Looking for love

While Dude has been innocently enjoying his simple life as Mr. In and Out in his stall with paddock access, Bestie has been making eyes at Jake over the fence. She is in heat, big time. When I arrive at the barn after work, I sit in the car and watch her. It's quite the show.

For the first few days that she was in this particular field, Jake would rush the fence threateningly when she got turned out, and she would give it right back to him. Eyes rolling, teeth flashing, a bit of rearing, but no contact (between horses or fence). Just a lot of "Hey, this is MY fenceline!" and "Oh you think so? Think again, weenie gelding boy!" They'd do this periodically, whenever they'd find themselves within a few feet of each other in their respective paddocks.

However, now she's singing a different tune. And so is he. From my vantage point in the parking area in front of the barn, I'll watch her slowly mosey up to the fenceline whenever she spots Jake moving in her general direction. She'll coquettishly lift her tail and flip it around. To really send a message (no subtlety here), she'll pee right in front of him, while stealing little come hither glances at him. Jake's reaction? Nothing. Nada. Maybe, if she's lucky, all her efforts will get an eye roll her way as Jake concentrates on his main mission: nibbling on grass. "Geez, woman, can't you see I'm busy? There's GRASS to be eaten!" Today, as I brought Jake into the barn, she unleashed one of her crazed high-pitched whinnies in his direction. He didn't even bat an eye.

I'm thinking of telling her that she's starting to look ridiculous, and it's all a bit embarrassing to be throwing herself at him in this way. But I don't think she'll listen.

Hey, I'm in! But now I'm going out!

With the departure of Laura's horses for home, Dude has gotten direct access to an outdoor paddock from his stall. His stall has a split back door, which will be nice for ventilation in the summer, and through that door is another stall with an open doorway to the paddock. On Friday afternoon after the vet visit, I turned him out that way for the first time.

He went right outside as soon as I opened the door, tripping over the threshold of course. (Even after several days of this, he continues to trip over the threshold. Mr. Graceful.) April and Spot were outdoors in the adjoining paddock so all three had a little meet-and-greet with a lot of nose sniffing and very little squealing. Then they all started happily working their way down the fenceline, nibbling at grass shoots. Pretty anticlimactic after weeks of partial turnout.

I stayed outside with him for a bit, picking up piles of poop left by the departed horses. Then I went in to clean his stall. A few minutes later, Dude wandered back in, took a quick look around, then went back out. He must've done that a dozen times while I was there. Like he wanted to be sure he wasn't missing anything. A few times he peered out through Ben's window and whinnied as he spotted Bestie, who didn't even raise her head.

It's the understatement of the year to say that Dude's new arrangement is working out. He LOVES it! When I get there to the barn, he comes in to say hi, then goes back out. Then comes in again to see what I'm doing, then goes back out. I'm still hopeful that at some point with all these ins and outs he'll learn to pick up his feet, but given that we're at day five tomorrow ... I don't know :).

One other good thing about this new turnout: there are no cows on this side of the barn!

The only bummer is that Spot and April are moving on to new quarters next weekend. They're good neighbors, very "whatever" about pretty much everything and therefore positive influences on Dude. He'll get a new buddy next door when they leave.

Turn out turn out turn out

Took a couple photos this week. I mainly wanted to capture how beautiful Mount Mansfield looks with the snow still on it as the lower elevations green up. And also a "happy ponies" shot of Jake and Dude wandering around their fields. That one was taken the same day that Jake was sleeping flat out in the field when I arrived. He picked his head up, saw that I wasn't his mother, and flopped his head back down. Talk about relaxed!

Since Easter (which was The Day That Winter Briefly Returned), it has been absolutely gorgeous. I have been rushing from work to get Dude and Bestie out, so they've been able to be out a couple of hours each day in the sunshine. Usually I bring them in around 5 pm, which is when the dreaded cows start milling around across the road and Dude starts getting crazy. That's basically beeen my story this week: zoom from work, turn them out, muck their stalls and do their water, sit in the car and read a magazine, bring them in. Very exciting.

Tomorrow Dr. Emily returns for the last round of shots and spring cleaning: sheath and teeth. I've had Dude and Bestie on a half dose of bute since last night. That seemed to do the trick last time so I've got my fingers crossed.

The plan for tomorrow is to get to the barn early, which I have to, because I'm feeding, then turn everyone out, then bring Dude and Bestie in around 9:30 to get them cleaned up before the vet arrives. Hopefully, I'll be able to turn them back out for a bit after the sedation wears off. It's supposed to be in the 60s--whoo hoo!

Gone but back, sun, grass, cows

A wide ranging entry! This week I had to go to a conference for a couple days, which was a bit nerve wracking as regards the ponies because Maddie was working and couldn't get up to the barn to make sure everything was ok. Everything did turn out just fine, but still, I thought about them quite a bit!

The night before I left was a little crazy because my car went into the shop for brake work, and the mechanics didn't get it done until after 6:00. That put me at the barn at about 7:00, and I got out of there about 8:30 after walking them both, picking out their stalls, and filling their water buckets. Yawn. But I got home in time to see most of the UConn women's game ... yay! ... to watch them win BIG! Go Huskies!

I went straight to the barn after the conference on Thursday and got there at about 5:00 in order to put Dude and Bestie outside for an hour. Thursday was a gorgeous sunny day, as was Friday, as was today!! Love it! When I went to bring Bestie in today, I walked around the field adjacent to hers, and there's quite a bit of grass coming up. I guess all those days of rain did pay off.

Yesterday I sat in the barn and watched Dude on patrol against the apparently very scary cows across the road. At least he no longer runs around like an idiot when he sees them. When they come around the corner of their barn he sort of does a circle in his field, an "I'm not very happy about this" circle. None of the other horses pay any attention. Then he stands stock still, fixedly staring at the cows, ears perked, until a) they go away or b) I go out to bring him in to the barn. Occasionally he'll do a few little "I'm really quite aggravated" circles.

I'd love to be inside his head ( speaking of scary :) ) to know what he's thinking. But I've decided after my many minutes of observation yesterday that it seems as though he feels he needs to keep an eye on those cows because no one else is, and if he didn't, well, what would happen if those cows suddenly decided to cross the road? All hell would break loose, that's what, so best to be on the lookout.

Twenty minutes in the life of Dude

Pouring, pouring, pouring rain today. The lawn is a soaking mess, no grazing. Gray weather, gray mood. Didn't see the point in turning them out for an hour after work to get wet, muddy and cold. So I took each of them separately up to the indoor arena to run around a bit. Here's a visit to the indoor from Dude's perspective:



First, a nice leisurely roll.





Then, a quick peek out the window to the barn aisle to see if anyone's coming.





A sniff of the thing the woman keeps holding up to her face. Is it edible?





And finally, a check of himself in the mirror. "Oh yeahhhh, I sure am a handsome guy."




My mood's better now!

The dreaded 5-way

Meant to write earlier in the week about the shot Dude and Bestie got on Monday. I always dread spring shots because they've reacted in the past, mainly to the 5-way combined Eastern/Western encephalitis/tetanus/flu/rhino. It was strange how their reactions suddenly developed about three years ago; they'd always been fine before that, but suddenly started swelling up in a localized area around the shot entry point for the 5-way and with West Nile for Dude. It would happen regardless of whether they got the shot in the neck or the pec.

After their first reaction we started pre-dosing them with bute before shot days and that seemed to help, sometimes. And we've done the intravenous bute too, which seems to help, sometimes! The whole thing is so very unpredictable.

This year I predosed them with bute for two days before, at a level of only a half dose twice a day. My reasoning was that I'd do a half dose because they seem a whole lot more relaxed at the new barn, and I knew I could get them out and walk them. And on the half dose, neither one reacted to the shot! I am totally perplexed but happy that there was no reaction.

They'll get the remainder of their shots in a couple weeks. In our early years with Dude we used to do them all in a bunch, but have been splitting them into two and sometimes three appointments for several years. Otherwise it seems like a lot to pump into their systems. I used the same reasoning when Maddie had to get shots for Nicaragua last year. The doctor looked at me like I was nuts, but hey, you gotta go with your gut sometimes!

April!

I can feel my spirits going up as we head from March to April. And the horses definitely have the smell of grass in their nostrils; it's so funny to watch them as I take them outside and they take great big inhalations of the air.

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, sunny and in the 60s. I left work a few minutes early so that I could get to the barn and let them have some outside time. Jodi had gotten there just before me, and was taking Dude out to put him in Ben's field while she rode. So I grabbed Bestie and put her in the drier of the front fields.

I don't know how many times Dude dropped and rolled ... probably four or five. He'd get up, shake, then start staking out his next roll spot. Needless to say, he was quite a mess when I brought him in. They got about one and a half hours outside.

Today I went to the barn early because the forecast called for torrential rain and heavy wind as the day progressed. I turned Bestie out, then took Dude out to graze on the lawn. It was an experiment to see how they'd do separated, since they have this annoying buddy/buddy thing going. They did fine. Only one whinny from Dude when he spotted Bestie in her field, and she didn't even look up.

He probably ate for about 40 minutes, then I brought him in so that I could do their stalls quick. I put him in Bestie's stall, which kept him busy munching her leftover hay, as well as being able to check out Red and Solstice when they would wander in from their paddock into their stalls right across the aisle.

Then I took him up to the indoor and let him loose. I thought he'd go nuts and run around, but it was a roll and stroll non-event. After rolling, he just walked around sniffing everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, then he visited all the mirrors and checked himself out. After about 10 minutes he came over to where I was sitting on the mounting block and started nosing me. I tried to get him to chase his Jolly Ball, but he wasn't interested. I kicked it around and he watched me with an "I don't get it" expression. It was a pretty low impact exercise session for him.

I left the barn around noon, and it never did really rain.

Tomorrow we've got a barn meeting at 10:30. I'm hoping the rain continues to hold off so they can get out. April showers...