She LOVES kisses, and she is incredibly level-headed, so no worries at all. It just took a little while to get her loaded (in the two-horse, no less), so when we got home it was dark. She settled in very well, though, and prefers the bermuda grass in her pen to the alfalfa mix I fed her. Silly girl!
I checked on her several times tonight, worried that she'd go through a fence or something since she didn't get to settle in in the daylight, but thankfully she calmly inspected the perimeter and knows her boundaries. She really is so very level-headed, especially for a filly that has never once been away from home!
One time I stepped out the back door to find a very not-so-cute face!
Ugh!!! Everytime I see one of these I think "EPM! EPM!" In case you're not a horse-person, possum droppings contain spores which, when injested by a horse, can cause lesions on their spine and make a horse develop neurological disorders. So, possums are very UNwelcome around here.
I don't have a shotgun and I didn't want to chance that Sophie would get hurt fighting with it, so I took an apple-picker, picked on the possum until he played dead, then picked him up and took him clear out front, across the highway and out into the field far away from home. If I would have had the truck unhooked I would have taken him a lot further! Hopefully he'll just stay on the far side of the highway.
I'll have get the barrel feeders done as the only thing attacting this guy would be the grain that my messy horses spill out of the buckets while eating. I sure miss my dog, Stupid. She made sure there wasn't a critter like this around for miles.
The funny thing is my grandma has a shotgun. She found a possum eating her cats' food one Sunday morning on her way out to church. So, in her church clothes she hit it over the head with a shovel, then went inside, got her shotgun, came out and shot it. After she put it in a plastic sack she put the shotgun away, brushed off her Sunday dress and went to church.
So everytime I see a possum, my first thought is EPM! My second thought is if my 80+ year old grandmother can take care of them, surely I can. I'm working up to it, though. Right now I'm hoping that a sufficient taunting and expulsion across the highway will suffice.
Only time will tell....
6 comments:
Mothballs will keep those and other unwelcome barn guests away.
I had no idea what bad varmints possums were. Never even seen one. We're just plagued with coyotes.
Glad you got it gone. I know where there's some good dogs in need of homes but they are all the way in Texas. Nothing like a good dog, though.
Sydney, aren't mothballs poisonous? I have a couple of barn kitties and my dogs, too, that I wouldn't want getting into them. I'm curious, though, if I could make them work--anything to repel these things!
CCC, you're lucky, but those coyotes of yours are sure brave, so not sure I'd trade LOL. We have coyotes around here, but they're not nearly that big and they keep hidden pretty well. I just hear them every night, so I know they're around.
I'd love to get another outside dog. Especially like the great pyrenees I had, but I live right on the highway. We have no idea why Stupid never got hit, but she just somehow knew to stay off it. Dad had people dump dogs here all the time and they all got hit, except for her.
Ick... possum! Cutie pie horse though:)
EPM is exactly what I think when I see a possum, too! I can't keep an outside dog where my horses are (not my property!), but I know there is a possum living nearby. It had been stealing cat food. I can get some live traps from my friend, but I don't have a shotgun myself.
I worry about the possums, raccoons, and coyotes around here. I've seen/heard all of them recently.
Oh, and your new filly has an adorable face. I do love the freckles :-)
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