Here stands, nosey...

  Handsome is a real nice character. He doesn't let to much shake him up. Standing around, while working in the stalls and the grounds around the pasture, he looks on, as though he's over seeing our project. I can't say enough good about this horse. Having bought him two years ago last month. He's been the perfect first horse for Makayla. I can't say he's bombproof, because I don't think any horse is, but he's as near bombproof as a horse gets. I guess the only real concern I have a times is, he pulls back on the lead rope sometimes when startled by something. I do suspect he might have a vision problem in one eye. And it only happens on the one side rarely. He's nearly 18 years old, so it's about time for the old age to set in.

Procrastination at its best...

   I've been procrastinating again. So, what's new, eh? ha ha! It's been along week at the work front. Long hours and in dire need of a vacation. The weather is getting better as days go by. It was in the 50's last night. Winter coming around the corner, I've noticed the horses coats are changing. They almost look fluffy in the early morning hours. They've become darker and have a shine to them again. The hot summer really took a toll on all the critters around the place.

   Since it's been quite cooler, Ronnie decided to use his energy playing with the new "old" tractor. It sure comes in handy for cleaning out the open stalls. It's something we had normally done by hand. I can't believe it took less than fifteen minutes to accomplish what would have taken us a couple of hours to do by hand. We've been looking in to getting a load of sandy loam for the stalls. Ronnie leveled and graded the excercise pen shortly after we got the tractor so it will drain better after a heavy rain. Luckily it did rain one night last week and no water stood any where. Oh yea!

The new "old tractor"!

   Now we're cookin'. We bought us an old 51 Ford Tractor. It sure isn't much to look at, but it's really cool. In the purchase price, we received a brush-hog, blade and gin pole. It's going to help us old folks move stuff around a lot better this winter. With this sandy ground moving under our feet when it gets wet and cold, there will be no more waiting until it gets dry to move the horse trailor and round bales. : ) Not forgetting to mention, we'll able to mow the larger lot behind the house. Of course, there wasn't much mowing to do because of the drought conditions this summer.

I took a schooling lesson on how this thing works. He started out showing me where to check the fluids and how it operates. First checking the...

1. Oil
2. Transmission fluid
3. Water level.
4. Gas

   Next he showed me where the clutch and pedals were. The stick shift, how to shift, where the key was, then the starter button. It fired up immediately when I pushed it. Yay! Then I got to take it for a test ride. I thought to my self as I was riding up the drive-way, this thing is slow as hell. Then, Ron said there was a faster gear if, I wanted to go faster. Now, we're truckin'. lol

Good lord! I'm certainly not dressed for taking pictures. I could have prepared my self. ha ha ha!

We are an unsightly mess this morning, but we do clean up pretty well. lol I'm positive the animals around the place don't care what we look like, as long as a feed bucket's in our hands.

Cooler Temperatures

  It was beautiful today for the first time in over seventy days of 100+ temperatures. The horses are roaming about with a skip in their steps. The dogs were racing around the backyard and the birds were singing a different song. Kela and I agreed on a time to tack up for a ride the night before. It was around 8:00 am. She had come to feed her horse earlier and I had already saddled, ready and waiting on her to arrive. Jerzey was feeling full of her self. I lunged her for a short time to take the edge off. I don't normally do this if we ride often, but since it had been more than three weeks since our last ride, I thought it was necessary.

   Kela had not made the cross over, so I rode over to her house. It's just across the street. She keeps her horses at her Moms. We rode off down the road and today, even Oreo was feeling the cool temps. She is normally low keyed and doesn't find much to bugger about. Today, however, she was sporting her new found freedom. We headed out by way of Haymarket. We took the underpass and went up I20 until we come to the Kleberg Road area. On the other side of Hwy 175, we followed it until we went back under it and picked up Riley Crest to Garden Grove.

   We rode down Garden Grove where it met Riley Crest again and took the I20 green to Seagoville Road. I'm not sure how many miles it is, but I'm guessing, all in all, about 15 miles round trip back to the house. It was a really nice day. Sunny and not to hot most of the day. The horses were feeling tired by the time we got back to the house. Jerzey had been laboring a bit and showing favor on her left hip. I walked several distances through-out the ride time. I definatley needed the walk. I get stiff in the saddle to long. I'm going to make it a point to bring tennis shoes next time. I have saddle bags I can put them in. Doh! I really need to lose weight for several reasons. Not only to make my horse more comfortable on long rides, but to feel better my self. It's always been a struggle for me to find the time for my self. You'd think, I'd be the most important thing on my daily list, however I find so many other
things to do but me.

Ron and Maykayla got home at 2:00 pm after having gone to Pecan Gap. He bought another toy! hahaha He picked up a hay dolly. dollie? Any who, it's blue and homemade from the looks of it, but it'll get the job done. Makayla helped get it off the flatbed and onto the ground. She's such a big help to us. She can do almost anything Ron can do. She's almost as bossy as he is too.

You'd think this was the reason we bought round rolls of hay. She loves playing on them. What kid doesn't like climbing on stuff.

The weather and riding don't mix...

   I thought I'd go for a ride this afternoon. While saddling up, Jerzey gets spooked by the barn door. The wind is crazy today. There are many objects being tossed about by the wind. She quickly regained her composure and stood quietly. It always makes me nervous to ride during a real windy day and this was no exception. I just couldn't help it. I've been grounded long enough. It's been such a friggin' hot summer, none of us have gotten to much done in the way of horse backing.

   I'm not sure how long it has been since we last rode. I have it blogged somewhere here. Oh well, back to the subject at hand. After tacking up, Jerzey and I headed out towards the back pasture. Mouse, "like a puppy" was on our heels. You have to watch him closely. He walks so quietly, I don't really notice him following on occasion, when all the sudden; I'm trying to keep him from following us through an open gate. What a pest! As usual, I caught him before he made a bee-line through the open gate and shooed him off. haha!

Yesterday, the silly shit was following and darted through the gate as I was going back to the house. I tried to close the gate before he went through and he got caught on the post and skinned his side. Having to keep my appointment with nature before I watered the yard, I just let him alone. I didn't care if he was in the yard, really. After taking care of business, I let Jerzey in and they grazed on the grass in the back yard.

    

   This is such a nice mare. Hardly any trouble at all. The ocassional baulk or jump, but nothing major. "famous last words of a fool' I know, but she is lovely none the less. I like her mane pulled. I got tired of looking at that scraggly thing yesterday and finely broke down and did it. Her mane is so thin, it just didn't look good long.

  

The weather is breaks...

   Finally, after nearly 70 days of triple digit heat, it's starting to cool down. Though it will still be above 95 today, it feels like the cool front the weatherman predicted is moving through. The dust is horrible with the wind blowing. There is still no rain in sight yet. Tomorrow is going to be a high of 85 degrees! Yeeehaw! I can do my own prediction and say " the weather is going to be just right for trail riding".




   We puttered around the barn this morning early. Makayla was off to church by 8:30 am and it felt good to get some things done we'd been putting off till it got cooler. The horses are looking better. I haltered them up, groomed them all and cleaned their hooves. We then decided to make it easier to feed in the evening so we don't have to rotate them, Taking the panel off then back part of the rear stall and putting it on the front. Now, Hoover can come up and rest in a stall during the day.

Jerzey is always nosey as hell. If we're doing something, she's right there with us.

   Yesterday, Ron and Makayla went down to Pecan Gap. Makayla's, Great Grand Father has a bunch of cows and he put up tons of hay for the winter. He has access to a whole lot of fields where they were baling off of this year. The north east area of Texas wasn't quit as dry as our area. They picked up  three bales of bermuda, prairie grass and other mixed forage for the horses to eat on. When I took my first glance at the hay, I said "there not going to eat that mess". It didn't take Jerzey a few minutes to prove me wrong. As she was eating it, I could see that the inside was beautiful. It has a little trash in it, but they won't eat what they don't want. The bales are nearly twice as big as the first round rolls we bought. Surprisingly, yesterday, Jerzey was eating dead leaves that had fallen from the trees. So, I guess a little trash in the hay isn't going to hurt them. lol

 

   I took this video of Mouse doing the screwy thing he does with his head. I'm not sure how he aquired this habit. Most likely, from being stalled somewhere in his previous life. I've noticed any time we've bought horses that were shown in halter or western pleasure venues, or stalled to long of a period, they've always brought with them, some silly shit habit. This is one I haven't seen before. It appears to be brought on from needing his teeth floated long before we bought him. I had checked his teeth the day we looked at him and notice he was in need of dental work. At that time, I thought, no big deal. Still don't.

The day after being deshod.

Why can't we just buy a horse that doesn't have issues from the start? OK, so, I know these animals are in need of great care too. Mouse arrived on the place seemingly sound. How ever, after almost a month, he is still lame on his front feet. We had him deshod yesterday, because I had several suspicions.

Firstly,

1. He walks in a boxy diagram. Always turning on the forehand and never picks up his front feet or crosses over unless he's forced to, and only if he's in-hand. When he moves forward or covers ground in a straight line, he never shows signs of lameness. And he only shows stress turning, to the right.
2. He shows signs of thrush.
3. Frog is extremely soft and spongy.
4. Sole is harder, but chalky.
5. Has a hint of wall separation.
6. The frog area has a foul smell.

Having let him settle in, and now, which I think has been is long enough for him to show signs of getting better, it's time to start an aggressive approach to finding out the problem. I made a vet appointment for next Saturday. We went to Tractor Supply today. I picked up a couple of products to combat the thrush. Having had the shoes removed, it'll be easier to care for the problem areas.

Hoof pick with plastic bristols, Small wire brush, Hoofles Thrush medicine and Hoof Heal Protectant.

The first view is of the dirty foot.

Second: is after cleaning and drying the area.

Third: after applying the thrush medicine and painting on the hoof protection.

When the job was done from underneath, I applied a protective moisture coating around the coronary band and heel bulb. I'll repeat this twice a day until I take him to the vet next week.

Farrier Visit

Now we're getting some where. I had the shoes removed today. As I suspected the last time they were shod, Jerzey had been quicked on her right and left hind and her left front. Geeezus. But, of course, because she showed no signs of it when I finally got the farrier to come back out to check on his work, "almost two weeks later", she wasn't limping at all. My suspicions are, she got use to the pain, so he didn't do any thing about it at the time. That's when I felt a tad annoyed about the whole thing. I started reevaluating the way he does business and began my search for an other farrier.

The guy I had out today was very informative and explained thoroughly,  why and how they got to this point. When he pulled the shoes, where they had been pressure quicked, a small amount of blood surfaced from each hole. I just felt sick. All the time I was complaining in the past about my horse just wasn't right, came together. I hope my husband doesn't dismiss my concern from now on. Atleast I was persistant enough to get to the bottom of their issues. From now on I'll do my homework before I get some one else to do a job that could potentially be a dangerous situation given it enough time to evolve.

Jerzey: This is the left front after deshod. The foot has contracted heels and her heel wasn't growing out as fast as her toes. Explanation being, the wall had overshot the iron and wasn't spread enough to allow the foot to expand. He only trimmed the toes and did a mustang roll on the toe. He didn't do any rasping of the foot due to lack of growth from the previous job. She was pretty level on this foot.

Jerzey: left front. This foot has a quarter crack on the outside. Explanation, she was weight bearing on her outside because her foot was longer on the inside. The outside wall had separated horizontally and eventually broke off from the time before last. This foot was growing strangely. It always had a hump in it. The farrier from before use to rasp off the wall to compensate. This guy trimmed off the excess from the inside and leveled the foot lightly. Trimmed off the toe and did a mustang roll as well. Not to much, he said" because she didn't have enough growth. He didn't want to do to much this time.

Jerzey: left hind. Ok, so now here's the real big issue I had from the time before. Like I suspected. She had pressure quicks. The nail on the high side brought blood when he pulled the shoe. Though for sometime now, she had shown no signs of it being bothersome other than she dragged both hind feet and she couldn't roll over on her hocks when I was riding her. She was giving from time to time and showing resistance when I asked her to make sharp turns. This foot was also unbalanced. He did the same to this foot. Trimmed the toe and did a mustang roll. 

Jerzey: right hind. The other culprit. The high nail on the outside wall was in the quick! arg! I just can't believe this mare didn't act silly when I rode her more than she should. She obviously has a very high pain tolerance and I really need to stay tuned in better than I have been. How ever if she doesn't complain, how can I? I'm going to listen to my gut instincts from now on and forget that people tell me I'm worrisome.