Cooler morning...

   It's an awesome morning. At only 78 degrees. The tropical storm that was coming in from the gulf has been a disappointment. Who ever thought because of the extreme heat in Texas, we'd be praying for a large storm to move through. It's rained all around us, but none here. Weather man says there might be scattered showers in the afternoon. LOL I doubt it from the way it looks. There are some scattered clouds through-out the area. OMG! From the looks of this weekly forecast, there is no relief insight. Our pasture areas are completely dried up. In the 17 years we've been here, I've never seen the ground so dry. When we walk across it, the grass crunches under our feet. We've had to resort to feeding round bales of hay. We don't usually put those out until late December or January.

  All the grass behind our barn has burned up. The horses are steady eating what pops up over night. Small sprigs of Bermuda grasses seem to keep them occupied. Heck , I've even noticed the hay we put in the bale ring is dry also. We have one large tank of water and two small tanks we fill almost daily with fresh water. About 300 gallons in all. Thank God for city water, otherwise we might be hauling water.

  We saddled up at 7:30 am this morning for a jog around our area. We took off from the house to our usual romp through the I20 under-pass. We went on past there over to Ravenview and back-up Garden Grove, then back around towards Seagoville Road.  Traveling under I20, we stopped at the shell station for a break. Makayla went in and got her some Pistachio to snack on. Relieving our horses as well, we loosened their cinches so they could relax and get a bite of grass. It was still cool an hour and a half into our ride. Kicking back was bearable in the Texas sun.

Heading towards home, Happy found him a watering hole to cool off. You'd think because it's so hot, he'd stay home while we ride, but he loves to tag along. 

Stopping a few minutes so he could enjoy the swim, I took a few pictures.

Mouse

We saddled up Mouse again tonight. He's still the same today as he was the day we brought him. Quiet, laid back and in your pocket. Ron really likes him. The saddle we were trying to sell, we decided to keep it since it's fits him good. We rode for about an hour around the pasture. I still noticed Mouse has a limp when he's turned to the right. He doesn't see to favor it otherwise. Though much less than yesterday and hoping it gets better as time goes on. If he's not better by the end of the week, I'll carrying him to the vet and have him x-rayed to see if there's an underlying problem we didn't see when we purchased him. I have high hopes for this little guy. I feel he'll be the perfect trail mate to the other horses.

Farrier Day

   I had the farrier out to day, because Mouse lost a shoe some time late Sunday night or early Monday morning. I noticed it right off the bat on Monday morning. He had some skinned marks on his knee and leg, so I put vetricin on them and gave him his morning ration of feed. Late yesterday evening after our trip to the vet, I had gone out to feed, but before their evening grain, I got the grooming tools out and haltered him for a good brush down. As I was leading him off, he started to limp. I turned him back and forth in both directions and sure enough he had a limp. My first instinct was, it was because of losing the shoe. But, he hadn't limped before that. My next guess, was he might be sore from the injections given earlier in the day. I then proceeded to press on the area where he had the shots. He flinched when I applied pressure to the shoulder area, and his knees almost buckled under him. I applied some Icy Hot to the area, and didn't think anything else about it until today when the farrier came out. He was still limping. As we observed it more, we discussed the possibility of a pulled muscle. After all he had gotten that shoe caught in the fence. There was a place in the fence where he must have struggled a bit because it was loose. How ever the farrier blew it out of proportion and got us to thinking the guy we bought him from might have given him pain medicine to hide something worse. I immediately told him about the previous day or so, but he was adamant there was a hidden problem. ARG! I called the Vet later in the morning and told him the situation. He said the injections wouldn't have caused pain. He had given him a cortisone shot for allergies, so if there was any pain at all it would have taken care of it. He recommended if he wasn't getting any better in the next couple of days to bring him in and let him look at him. Enough said! I'll carry on with this later.

Jerzey

My lovely horse.

Worming and new name...

   We agreed our new project horse is going to be called Mouse. He's a short stout lil' guy, so the name fits well. Not to mention his longer than normal ears. lol Doc said he might have some Arabian in him. Though he was kidding, I said shush! cause' my Husband doesn't like Arabians. He has a small petite head. Baby doll small and really quite feminine looking. Any how. This evening, I went out to worm the horses. My  Granddaughter and I made it a team project. She wormed them and I took pictures of the event.

This was the product we used on Handsome and Jerzey. We used Zemectrin Gold on Mouse.

  Afterwards, we got the grooming tools out. Mouse's tail had a huge knot in it from being out to pasture. I sprayed some Show Sheen on it and brushed it til' it came out. That stuff works wonders.

Look at that knot, would you?

I took a profile shot. This is going to be the beginning of getting him into better shape. His coat is real dry, he has hair missing, and is desperately in need of loving care. When done, I rigged up the saddle with the new stuff. We fit it to the horse and Makayla rode him around for a few minutes until I noticed his shoulder looked sore. I felt around on it and he flinched. I walked him back and forth for a few minutes wondering why he was limping. As we were discussing possibilities, Makayla reminded us that he received 3 injections on the same side today. She's so dang smart. Very observant for a 12 year old. I have high hopes for her when she becomes of age.  It's getting late, so I'm off for bed...

Two days into our new project.

Floating Teeth

   I've been noticing the last couple of days he was doing something funny with is head. But, I was aware from looking at his mouth when we went out to try him, he needed his teeth floated. I figured this morning was as good a time as any, so I gave the office a call for an appointment. They set it up for us at 11:00am. Hitching the trailer, getting the horse caught up and loading him was a snap. What a nice easy horse to tend to. Such a pocket pony he is. He has a very pleasant personality. He doesn't know a darn thing about staying out of your space though. We'll work that our in time. ha! Every time we go out to the barn he thinks its feeding time. He's only been here a little over 48 hours, and he knows exactly where to go, to get food or snacks. He fits right in as though he's been here for years.

 We pointed him towards the high-side on the trailer and he bounced right in. Off we went to Terrell. He rode nice and quiet. Unloading him was easy. We let him stand tied until the Doc was ready. Quiet and patiently, I might add! When the doc was ready, we lead him to the stock and he walked in willingly. They prepped by giving him a shot of anesthesia for his dental work. Put a silly head sling on him so they could get him up where they could work on him. Then let him stand for a few minutes until the shot took effect.

Horse stock.

Dr Dan Turner

Rusty Rice Equine Tech

Getting on with his job.

Rusty applied the head sling.

Dr Dan fitting the device.

Flushing his mouth.

Say awwwww!

He shined the light in there wear I could see the problem areas.

Drilling teeth.

Poor guy is doped up.

  Doc finished up the job. He said because of the shape his teeth were in, bring him back in about 6 months. We had him give him a rabies shot. Doc recommended a allergy shot for his runny eyes. So he injected him with that also. We settled up the bill which was $150.00 minus the $20.00 credit we had with him. Still drowsy from the anesthetic, we walked him around for 15 minutes or so and loaded him up for home. When we got home we unloaded Mouse, took a nature stop, then went and gott something to eat at Braums. On the way home from there we stopped by Tractor supply and picked up a leather cinch, an off billet and a new felt girth to put on the saddle. I had taken off the ones on the new roping saddle we bought last year. Jerzey filled out so much, the saddle no longer with her correctly. It fits perfect on Mouse. Thats all for the time being...I'll be back later to fill in the rest of the day.

A horse with no name...

We haven't named the new horse yet. The previous owner called Rusty, but he only had him 2 weeks, so the name hasn't stuck on him. When we get to know him and his personality a little better, we will apply him with his new name.

We were fixing to head out this morning and he come to the gate to see us off.

Sunday ride...

  Early to rise and tacked up by 7am this morning. Makayla chose not to go to church today. Kela rode over to the house and off we went. All the horses were moving slower today and Happy dog dragging up the rear. We jointly decided to go in a different direction, so we headed over to the I20 area. There is a great passage under the bridges that go for about 3 miles round trip. There is a creek that winds around under the bridge for several miles and a nicely beaten path to follow. Plenty of water for the horses if they get thirsty and shade to get out of the sun. It takes about 45 minutes to ride over there from the house.

  All in all, about 1 and a half hours of riding time, depending on whether or not we ride steady or just mosey about. This morning was one of those breezy days that kept us cool, so the ride was short, but pleasant the entire way. In-between we had to stop for a educational view of Patrick getting to go in circles for acting as though he couldn't be alone when the other horses got ahead of him. lol Round and around he went. Up and down the side of the highway until he calmed down to a slow walk. Nothing like wet saddle blankets to make em' pay attention.

  Handsome was acting spry for a 17 year old. He jumps up and down, bounces all around. He can get quite cranky when he doesn't want to point in the direction she wants him to sometimes. Makayla just goes with the flow. I'm so proud of the way she handles him. He could use a few more wet saddle blankets too. The nice thing about him, is, he's not mean about it. He feels good and his actions reflect that. He's been the best first horse ever. It'll be two years next month since we got him. He's come a long way from there.

  Jerzey has a quiet demeanor most of the time. Always travels wit her head down. Sometimes I get to comfortable on her because she rides so quiet. However, I know better. Thankfully when she sees buggers, she doesn't get unruly. Slow to react and doesn't jump out of her tracks. It's nice to have a horse that you can lay back and enjoy the ride without having to expect a rodeo every time you hit the road. Traffic and city spooks are rare these days, but they all still have those days where they bounce like super balls.

  Reckon it's enough said this morning. So til' the next time...enjoy the pictures of our outing.

I20 and 635

Camera ham!

A mere shadow of my self.