Another rural ride...

  It was 95 degrees at 9:30pm last evening, so we decided not to subject the horses to the usual local playday. Rising about 6am this morning. I didn't get much sleep last night, but we decided to go for a long ride while the temps were in the lower 80's. The horses were fed early, then brushed and fly sprayed, then tacked up, and stood waiting for our party to join us for the ride.

  Kela and Lorgia were going to accompany us on our leisurely adventure. We filled our cantle bags with water frozen over night and extra bottles of water to refill the containers as it melted. Added a couple of Clif Bars to the bag, my iphone and off we went. It was already hot by the time we left, but a cool breeze was blowing, so it was bearable for most of the ride.

All the horses were light on their feet and feeling good themselves. I know they appreciate getting out of the pasture for a change of scenery. Happy dog tailing us down the road again. He's such a hoot. He picks and chooses a path that's just right for him. lol Always following the shaded areas and the shadows of the horses. At times he jogs up just ahead of us and sits patiently as we ride by, picking up our trail. It's a little nerve racking when we get to a intersection. Not because of the horses, but watching the dog navigate just the right time to cross.

Happy is learning really fast and he's smart enough to watch how the horse respond to our cues. I would normally be afraid of a dog and traffic, but this dog was living on the streets before he followed us home. Seemingly picking up enough street smarts to notice cars whizzing by and staying back out of the way.

My lil' Minnie dog...

Checking out the camera quality. 

Handsome

Trying out the video on iPhone.

Got a new iPhone today. I'm checking out the departure for videos.

A girl and her horse...

Itchy Summer Pests

 Arg! My horse has been one problem after the other this summer. Her uncontrolable itching and scratching against anything she could rub up against. Bare places, scratches and open sores under her belly. Her coat looks like hell. I decided to go get some shampoo I used last summer, from Tractor Supply. It seemed to work well then. I applied the product for several days. One of those days, I went out to halter her. When I reached over the head to put it on, she reared backwards. I didn't think anything about it at first.

 She acts silly once in awhile. That's what makes her a typical nitwit mare. ha ha! So, I tried again and she was still pissy. Being the hard ass, I am at times when she gets stupid for no apparent reason, I yanked her ear down and haltered her anyway. Her nerves were jittery. She flared her nostrils and blew for a bit while I treated her for the summer itchy stuff. Cursing her, "to myself" for her idiotic behavior. Finally completing the task, I wrestled with her to get the halter off, then let her go in the pasture.

 The next day when I got the halter and tried to place it on her, she through a bigger fit. Now, this mare has an attitude at times, but she never gets pissy to halter or bridle her. Her normal routine is, to drop her head and nuzzle her nose into a halter or grab the bit in her mouth. So I started to re-evaluate the situation. I let her go without much of a fight on my part. Put my thinking cap on and because she had been shaking her head, I thought she might have a tick in her ear. I just couldn't see any other reason she might act goofy about her head.

 The next day, I caught her up with only the rope around her neck and she was fine. So, I figured the previous behavior was short lived and tried to halter her again. Yikes! It got worse. I let her calm down. When she got comfortable with me rubbing up and down her neck, and just by chance she dropped her head low enough for me to see that she had a huge knot between her ears. Immediately... I loaded her up for a trip to the vet.

 After we got there, I explained what had been happening. He opted to anesthetize her. He looked in her ears to make sure she didn't have any parasites. None! Checked out the knot on her head and confirmed her behavior was probably due to the large bump. I was relieved it wasn't anything more than a minor incident. Thankfully. Now, back to the itchy stuff. I explained the situation and what I had been doing about it. He recommended an allergy shot because he thought she might be allergic to midges. What? lol Any how, I agreed, because he guaranteed the results.

 We returned home and it seemed with-in a day or so, she had stopped scratching all together. The injection for the itching also relieved the inflamation to her head and she became normal again after only a day or two. Thankfully, her coat has grown back in. I still bath her regularly and fly spray her twice a day to keep the midges at bay.