Itchy spots, tiny snakes, and winter returns

The horses are shedding, and three of them are doing it normally.  Rufus, however, has several spots where he's losing his winter coat but doesn't have new coat underneath???  The spots don't seem to be particularly itchy or swollen.  Aren't cracked, scaly, red, bumpy, weepy or otherwise irritated.  He's just sort of... bald here and there.  A couple hand-sized patches on his chest, smaller spots on his back legs, around his sheath, and over his cheek bones.  I don't remember him shedding out like this previously, so something's definitely weird.  

Checked the vet books with thoughts of mange, worms, allergies, etc., thinking he might have picked something up from the cows or eaten something, but it doesn't really look like anything in there.  The closest possibility is ringworm, but he doesn't have the red circle or the itchies.  So.... I wormed them yesterday on schedule which should take care of it if it's worms.  Smeared the patches with povidine ointment, which can't hurt, and once it warms up I'm thinking a bath with tea tree shampoo and some betadine solution on those spots...

Didn't think to take pictures until I'd already smeared him with goop, unfortunately.

Yesterday was also baby snake day.  This little guy was parked right in front of the front door.  I almost stepped on him, and might have had it not been for the bright orange ring catching my eye.

As you can see, not very big.  And he wasn't very healthy, either.  I'm pretty sure after looking him up that he's a baby ringneck snake of the southern variety.

Orange spotted belly, so go with his ring neck band....  I scooped him up carefully on a stick since I wasn't sure at that point if he was the venomous type or not, and deposited him off in the grass.  But given how lethargic and unresponsive he was, I'm guessing he didn't make it.

The second baby snake was way down at the end of the driveway when I walked out to get the mail. 

The same size as snake no. 1, only 5-6" long, but no ring neck on this one and not round like a garter snake, either.  I couldn't see a rattle button, the eyes were roundish, but the head was sort of shovel-shaped... Unlike the poor little guy by the front door, this one was very lively, and I wasn't getting my hands anywhere near him just in case he was actually a rattlesnake.  Since I'd already brought the horses home, wasn't going to be driving anywhere, and he wasn't close to the house I gave him the benefit of the the doubt and left him alone, and by the time I got back with the mail he was gone. 

So the spring babies have started arriving, but they could have picked a better time for it.  It's 41' and dropping fast.  We have grey heavy clouds and a stiff north wind, and it's damp.  The ponies are staying at home today, much to their chagrin.  But it's supposed to get colder and stormier the later the day gets, so... they'll have to make do with the creekbed pasture and hay until spring comes back, or at least until the wind stops trying to take the tops out of the trees.  Weather guy says tonight it snows.

In other news from yesterday, my interview went okay.  I'm pretty sure I can handle the duties as described and the learning curve, and the atmosphere was positive and friendly.  The position has some growing room and seems like it would be interesting and challenging.  I think I have a decent shot, but you never know.  I should find out one way or the other by the end of the week.

Now streaming live...

Good thing I hadn't planned on riding today - a brisk and chilly north wind made the upper 30's, even with sun, feel pretty darn cold.  I took a bridle along, just in case I was wrong about the wind chill, thinking maybe I'd work with Thunder.  But my ears were protesting after only a few minutes out of the tree grove's shelter, so no-go on that.

Wormed both boys and hung out for a while.  According to the weight tape, both of them weigh what they did in December, give or take a pound or two.  Then headed over to J's and wormed Rufus.  For once even Sunny was fairly cooperative, but it's still good to have that chore out of the way for a while.  Vaccinations are due next month....

The Scottsdale Arabian show started yesterday, and it's streaming live on iEquine through Feb. 26th.  So far I've caught portions of junior rider performance classes, but age doesn't have much bearing at all on how impressive the riders are.  Wow.   Fun to see the horses all shined up and glossy, too - although comparing them to my furry yaks is sort of depressing!  Is anyone else watching?  Cheering for someone in particular?

Bonding with Rufus

Post-worming & bot-fly removal for Sunny & the farm herd and Rufus and his group, T had to go do actual work for his Monday student-torture (a.k.a. bio-chem exam), but J wanted to ride and I was game. Rather than put another 8 gravel miles on Sunny's shoeless feet, I opted to borrow T's ride and take Rufus.

I figured, even though I wasn't practicing on Sunny, I'd still get a ride in, and Rufus needs the miles just as much, if not more! He had the whole rest of the weekend off, after all.

We've been discussing the possibility of switching Rufus from his mild grazing curb to something that will allow more precise communication. He can be a bit stiff through his shoulders, and since bending is on my list of things to practice anyway....

I could have gone with the full-cheek snaffle I use with Sunny, but Rufus is accustomed to, and comfortable with, a curb, and what I really wanted was something that would let me isolate sides of his body better than the curb. I opted for a Myler comfort snaffle with slotted D cheeks. With the reins snapped into the slots, the Myler snaffle still allows very mild curb action. The difference is that where a regular snaffle's jointed hinge would have a potentially harsh nutcracker effect, the middle "barrel" hinge in the comfort snaffle allows the cheeks to swivel independently when a rein is lifted or lowered, but not to collapse together like a scissors when picking them both up. That avoids the possibility of jabbing the point of the hinge into the roof of his mouth. (I do use it with a flat leather curb strap, but buckled on as I would for an O-ring snaffle, where the only purpose is to hold the cheek pieces. It isn't there to provide any stop, it just keeps the whole works from potentially sliding through the horse's mouth. )

It would be Rufus' first ride on newly sharp-shod feet, and as much as he hates the farrier's visits... Well, let's just say that getting him trimmed & reset absolutely regularly makes a huge difference, and we'll have to stay on top of the farrier to make sure the schedule doesn't get bumped later and later as it did this time.

The new shoes were an unqualified success. We jogged or loped the majority of the 8 miles, and not only did Rufus not break a sweat, but there was none of the slipping and tripping he'd been doing when the ground got even slightly uneven.

One of the biggest differences was in his lope departures. Instead of flinging himself up and forward, sliding and popping from lead to lead, he was lifting and settling nicely into a lovely, if forward, rocking chair gait. He favors the left lead and needs really clear cues to take the right. He also doesn't "slow" lope quite yet, but a gentle half-halt worked to slow him down for a few strides at a time.

Downward transitions? The horse can STOP. Unfortunately, the first time it wasn't because I asked, but because his companion slowed down. Ummm - ouch!

After that, I asked for verbal warning from my riding buddy, or called the halt myself. Using lots of leg and riding firmly through slowing down was much more successful. And definitely less painful, as it didn't involve a jarring meeting with the front of the saddle!

The bit? Worked fine. I liked it, and Rufus didn't seem to mind it. We had a couple of squiffy moments - pheasants flying up, etc., and I didn't have any issues settling him, so control wasn't an issue, but loosening his neck and shoulders will take more time than one day's riding, and obviously, T's going to have to give it a try and see how they pair of them get along with it.

Sunny's feet? I'm reluctant to shoe, since I'm not sure how much longer the weather's going to hold. He's by no means sore, and for arena and field work, he's fine. But gravel road miles are going to catch us in short order, and I'll need to make some sort of decision soon...

Warm weekend and worming accomplished

Small puddles on the sidewalks and sloppy country roads - yeah!

Not much sun to enjoy, but still the warmer temps and no wind makes a welcome change from the deep freeze. We got everybody wormed on Friday (except Rufus - I forgot the weight tape). They were, of course, thrilled.
They're all staying pretty much in line weight-wise with the notable exception being Sunny, who I think could gain weight on air. He's a tub.


Remember that children's picture book about the pigeon and the bus? Here it's cats that shouldn't drive tractors - lol!

Saturday I remembered the weight tape and the wormer, and Rufus took his medicine with minimal fuss. He's gained just over 100 lbs since we bought him. He's a little round now, but some of that will come off this spring when he's getting ridden again.
Speaking of round - there's enough burro there for two! Eeyore is definitely NOT going hungry.
J has new calves on the ground. New enough they still look like they're covered in crushed velvet. Very cute hopping around attempting to play king of the hill in the snowdrifts.

Not much else to report - and unexciting is just fine, thank you very much!

Deer and mud ponies

Somewhere around the 22nd of October the weather man reported that we'd had fourteen days of rain so far in the past month. The remainder of October didn't have much more to offer in the way of sunshine.

Hello, Mud Ponies!

On the last day of Octber - Happy Halloween! - Sunny was definitely in need of some serious de-mudding. Thankfully, he's not wind-tangle prone, or I'd be doing that, as well. But November appears to be starting out bright and sunny and surprisingly mild. I'm hoping for a ride this afternoon.

Last Sunday we did get everyone wormed, in spite of the distraction provided by some pheasant hunters walking the fenceline to the south. We could see and hear the blockers - the ones along the fence - quite well even from three pastures over, and the cows and sheep all headed up in our direction as far as their fences allowed.

They weren't the only things flushed out and scampering away.

These two deer, this year's fawns, from the look of them, have been hanging out in the tree grove closest to the barns.
They have a regular path worn down to the horses' salt block, and are comfortable enough with the sound of people to come down and browse about while we were carrying on a normal-voiced conversation.
We see them a fair amount out in the pasture as well.
Sometimes they run - the first one was already well over the fence and gone by the time I got my camera out - and sometimes they look at us all big-eared and wide-eyed and just trot off leisurely.

T, of course, is salivating waiting for hunting season....

Worming, but no farrier

The farrier was due at 9 a.m. yesterday morning, which was great, because not only were we supposed to be the first appointment of the day (better chance of an on time arrival), but it would still be cool.

We were there early. I wanted to get them all wormed.

It's been raining here for about the last week, and yesterday morning was crazily foggy - not a common sight here. We we drove up the horses, all but one lone sentinel standing guard duty, were lying down in a rough circle napping. Very cool. Unfortunately, I was driving and on the wrong side of the truck, so didn't manage a picture. Disappointing.

Worming went well.

But the farrier didn't show up. Again. And he wasn't answering his phone. After an hour and a half, we finally decided he was going to be a no-show. I told J to call me if he did happen to appear, but she said if he did she was telling him to go away, she'd wasted enough of her day (!)

I get it in principle - I'm not big on wasting my time, either. But the horses still need their feet trimmed. This is either the third or fourth time he's failed to appear. And it's getting a bit old.

I wouldn't mind so much if he'd call and at least say, "Hey, I'm not going to be able to make it." But so far that hasn't been the case. Running late is understandable, although a phone call to let us know how much longer he'll be would be greatly appreciated - and I know he carries a cell phone, because it fell out of his pocket last fall when he was here, and one of the horses stepped on it. We had a conversation about cell phone insurance.

So... I think I'll be trying someone different.

Weekend - rain & shots

Saturday it rained, so nothing much got accomplished. Today it looked like rain all morning and was blustery & on the chilly side. About 2 PM the sun popped out and it started to warm up and dry the puddles. Even so, the ground was still pretty greasy when we got to the farm.

T moved in a round bale, and we wormed them all but Sahara (I thought I had four Ivermectin left, so I only picked four up - turns out I only had three and one Strongid... drat!) and vaccinated Sunny and Amyra for West Nile. The vet clinic didn't have the 4-way I wanted, and the tractor supply store was out, so I have a raincheck in for that.

Amazingly, everyone was good. Shots were a complete non-issue for the two that got them - they both had their heads in their grain buckets, and I don't think the pricks even registered.

Sunny's never been a problem to give shots to, other than one memorable occasion right after I bought him. He was a long yearling, and the first thing on my agenda was to have him gelded. The day or so following he had some swelling - only on one side - which was a bit concerning, so I called to see what the vet wanted me to do.

"Hose him down with cold water, and give him some penicillin."

It was, of course, a cold, blustery spring day. Sunny really hadn't been handled all that much at that point, and he wasn't real thrilled to be snubbed to a post away from his friends. He was even less thrilled when I turned the hose on him. But he was fairly good for that portion of the day's agenda.

The shot, however, he was having nothing to do with. After being squashed into the sucker bars repeatedly, stepped on, dropping the needle multiple times, both of us sliding around in the mud, I stood back, looked him over, and told him, "Fine! You win. Just see if I care when you drop dead!" I was just a touch annoyed....

Of course he was fine. Vaccinations (small gauge needle) were no problem. And when he stepped on a nail and developed an abscess as a three-year-old, by that point he'd decided penicillin shots, large needle & all, were no big deal - especially when accompanied by his morning grain ration - LOL!

Other than that, a quiet weekend

Weekend update

Wow - 57' on Saturday. Absolutely fantastic (except for the giant puddles). We weight-taped & wormed all the horses (AnthelcideEQ) and T got a new bale moved in. I didn't want to ride in the slippery mud, or get Sunny all warm after worming him. But it was a gorgeous day.

Today I worked on trying to make sure that the melted puddles wouldn't freeze into solid sheets of ice. Judicious application of melted clods of horse manure, which will at least provide some traction once things freeze again.

It wasn't nearly as nice Sunday - sunny still, but brisk, with a north wind that wouldn't quit. As I left the farm this was moving in...All in all, it was a relatively unexciting weekend.

Thanksgiving week

Well, looking at my track record this week, I can't say I've accomplished quite as much as I'd planned, but it's been a good week.

In order of completion:

1. Fruitcake! My father's one Christmas request every year. I bake it around Thanksgiving, and it ages for several weeks until completely "drunken" before it's ready for eating.
   
   
   Step 1 of fruitcake baking: soak all fruit thoroughly in secret ingredient at least overnight, if not longer.This much fruit makes a 2 batches - this year I did a dark, with coffee and blackberry jam, and a light with orange juice, mace and orange zest.
2. Worming horses: a solid dosing of Strongid to get rid of any nasty little parasites they might be harboring. Since T and I both had the afternoon completely free, it took only half an hour to weight tape and worm the lot of them. And had we been silly enough to allow only half an hour, it would have taken three!
3. Pies... This year we didn't travel for Thanksgiving - H had classes through Wednesday, and neither of us wanted to risk iffy weather and 25+ hours of driving for a four day trip - so we had friends over instead. This year's flavors? Traditional pumpkin, and H's favorite, lemon. I had to call my mom for both recipes, as she's usually the pie maker. Her pumpkin pie recipe is super easy to follow and turned out perfectly. The lemon (meringue-less and double the lemon, please!) was also a hit.
4. Crescent rolls - I love making bread, but probably shouldn't have added the whole wheat to this usually light & fluffy recipe. They're hearty, but substantial enough to have matched better with a thick potato or ham & bean soup. More notes in the cookbook for for next time.
5. Thursday was devoted to last minute cleaning, turkeys and various side dishes. We ate around 2 PM, and everyone rolled out around 9 PM, replete with turkey, pie and lots of good conversation. It was the first Thanksgiving we haven't traveled.
6. Black Friday - I've never done the mad shopping dash, and after Thursday's hosting, I was peopled out. T & H headed for Sioux Falls for basketball shoes and Christmas shopping. I curled up on the couch with a cat and a book.
7. The rest of the weekend? Laundry and all of the usual chores in preparation for Monday.

Summer lingers

It was in the high 70's here on Saturday, and absolutely gorgeous. Sunday has been breezier, hazy, and you can feel a storm building, but nothing's arrived just yet and it's almost dark. It's been a perfect weekend to do all manner of outdoor things. Like laundry....

Just kidding - lol!

Oh, lots of laundry did get done (I even hung some of it up a couple times over, since one clothesline dumped everything on the ground twice and I finally left it there sans clothes - I suspect the screw is stripped), but we had horse time, too.

Saturday we dragged H out of bed (before noon! horrors!) and out to the home football game. We lost by 27-28 in a double overtime heartbreaker after a hard fought game that saw neither team on the board at halftime. I'm not a huge football fan, but it's good to see the stands mostly full and see people standing up to cheer the boys on. (Our team plays on the high school's field - the 85,000 plus that turn out for Nebraska's Huskers? Well let's just say we don't see that type of turnout. Not even on a very good day!)

Afterwards T and I headed out to collect the critters, weight tape them and get some wormer shot down their gullets. A task I'm happy to report complete with minimal drama. I have a tendency to weight tape, and then either forget to write down the weight, or forget to adjust the wormer slide. (Lots of fun to discover the later when you've just successfully inserted the tube into the reluctantly opened mouth, only to discover the plunger won't actually depress... grrr!) T has a different technique than I generally use which involved standing sort of facing them but off to the side. It works for him, although personally, I'd rather stand a bit closer to their front shoulders out of possible pawing range....

Even Sahara, our chronic objecter, was only a mildly disgruntled. Were they perfect? No, but they weren't awful, either. I really do think the wormer itself makes a difference, and the applicator tube style, as well. This stuff - Iver-Care - didn't smell terrible, and none of them made nasty ICK faces at all. I made a note so hopefully I can get the same brand next time Ivermectin's up in the rotation.

Finished with that, it was sheath-cleaning time. Sunny was his usual pleasant self - of course, there was food involved! I do still click/treat for this, since it doesn't happen all that often, and I figure some positive reinforcement doesn't hurt. Since my hands were wet & slippery with soap, etc., I clicked & T stood at his head & treated.

Lots of gunk later - probably should have been checking more frequently this summer - he was done, and we used the same approach with Thunder.

Him I clicked a bit more frequently, but since the warm water & soap helped soften & loosen the crud enough that it washed off pretty easily, he didn't object at all. Good boy!

Sunday we'd planned to go riding, but then T started building shelves in the basement. Since I've been pushing for shelves so that I can reorganize down there, I couldn't really abandon him. So our ride turned into a somewhat abbreviated session with the youngsters. T led me around a bit on Thunder & Amyra, and then he sat on Amyra for the first time. The difference in weight had her bracing her feet and rearranging her balance a bit, but she was fine with it.

We mainly worked on whoa, and on walking ahead on leg pressure. Since they know whoa on the ground, it translated pretty well. Moving ahead is still new, but neither of them was anxious about the process. It probably helps that they've seen me pop up on Sunny so often out there.

Since they haven't been at all fussed by anything thus far, I wasn't nervous, so we had a nice positive circle of energy going rather than an escallating tension situation. (VERY BIG GRIN!!)

Amyra's still narrow, and she's hit another growth spurt that's left her hind end higher than her front end - again. I'm really glad we chose to wait until next year to do serious training with her. Thunder's probably big enough, but he could stand to fill out, too. He's gotten a LOT taller this summer, now he needs to catch up sideways a bit. They both still have that gangly look to them.

Looking back, Sunny was narrow as a three-year-old, too. I could easily have waited an extra year with him, but I was anxious to start riding, and everyone said three was fine to start an half-Arab. (Well, 7/8's, if you want to be technical about it, and since the 1/8th that was supposed to get him his spots didn't take, without papers you sure couldn't prove he's not a purebred by looking.)

Do I think it did any damage having him started then? No, probably not.... The trainer was a slight man, and he took his time. But Sunny worked hard. Not just arena work, but out across country, as well. Lots of wet saddle blankets. And there's a big difference between 3 & 4 size-wize.

Horses are started awfully early - TBs are racing at two, two-year-old futurities are standard in the QH world, and lots of other breeds are routinely ridden young. What do you think? Mentally & physically, what are the differences starting a young one vs. starting a slighly older horse? I know some of you have experence with this - is there an ideal age for your particular discipline or breed? Not what the industry says is best, but the age you'd choose if you were just starting one for you?