Yesterday afternoon Samson was left out for the first time by himself while I ran to town for water. He did great! He did try to follow me out of the driveway but when I came back he was back watching the horses like a good livestock guardian. He's such a good boy!! I'll keep leaving him out on short trips and we'll eventually work up to leaving him out all day. By then he'll be big enough to leave out at night, too. The coyotes are so thick I want to make sure he's plenty big before taking any chances.
When I got back yesterday I let Empress out to graze in the yard, where the grass is a little better. She's still slow moving so I wasn't worried--there is a perimeter fence around the place so she couldn't go anywhere if she wanted to. Well, for about 2 hours she stayed in the back yard, behind the barn and grazed, but then all of a sudden I look out my office window and I see her trucking along the front yard--a mare on a mission! I suddenly realized she was heading for the lean-to where the alfalfa is stored, so I ran (well, actually sort of limped/hopped LOL) out to head her off. Silly girl--she KNEW I came from that direction everyday to give her the alfalfa! So I ended up having to put her away and gave her a nice big flake to tied her over.
She is doing really well--will walk around and gaze most of the day, with some napping thrown in here and there. She's filling out fast now--those bones are disappearing, and she's always ravenous. She's up to 3 big flakes of alfalfa a day, plus her grain and supplements, plus beet pulp as a treat (she won't eat it regularly but will as a once in a while snack). Her front feet still seem to hurt her on the turns, or when she first gets up, so I doubled her MSM dosage and will see about getting her toes shortened and exaggerate her breakover to see if that helps. So far no cribbing, either (knock on wood). Her teeth are so good for a cribber, I can't help but think there's an underlying cause for her cribbing as she doesn't have the teeth of a chronic cribber. I am on the lookout for a regular (NOT miracle collar) cribbing collar. I have 2 of those miracle collars and they have never worked for me at all. TSC and Orshelen's didn't have any normal collars, so I will probably have to order one and keep it handy, just in case.
As far as the other horses, I got Fabian's papers in the mail today. Thankfully I caught them before they went out and APHA was really great about making sure they came out as a gelding. His registered name is indeed "A Fabulous Choice," so I was really happy that came through. He's finally gaining some muscle and I think will turn out to be a really nice horse in another year or two.
Bambi is just so pretty--I am in awe of her everyday. She isn't big enough to show right now, but man oh man, she is so PRETTY! She's put together so nicely and has that gorgeous head. I really think she's the most correct of all of Eddie's babies. I'm very happy with how she's turned out. Baby is coming along. She hasn't made any leaps or bounds but is steadily growing. She's still the smallest one, both in height and size, but she's a cute little thing.
Paula was moved to a new pen today so I can start getting JJ and Laramie on their show diets. I got them a show halter today off of ebay, too. I finally found one nice enough for futurities under $200! I didn't think I was ever going to find one even under $250, but I finally did. It should look nice on both Laramie and JJ. They'll go into training soon and hopefully in the barn under lights in a few weeks (good Lord willing). They are going to be a blast to show!
I can't close without a photo! This is from last week but I thought it was cute--Sophie thinks she's a big girl until one of the horses (Laramie) turns and asks her what she thinks she's doing! Then she runs out with an "oh crap!" look on her face!! LOL!
No comments:
Post a Comment