Bath day

So yesterday we had our first triple digit day.  When I read the forecast Monday night, I filled a couple big tubs with water Tuesday morning.  Sure enough. 106' here (warmer in town) with 40 mph winds - blast furnace, anyone?  The horses were standing behind the barn swishing when I got home.  Nasty flies, even with the wind.

It was down to 99' at 7:30 - a good time and temp for baths.  Not soap and water baths, but sun-warmed water rinses with some tea tree wash I got back when Rufus was so itchy but never had the opportunity to use.  It's supposed to be good for skin, and since it doesn't require rinsing off, I figured it would be a good day to try it out.

Sunny was our first victim.  The directions said to mix approximately 2 ounces of wash in two gallons of (preferably warm) water.  I mixed a bucket - it didn't look like enough to wash a whole horse...  Maybe I should get him wet first? 

Initially he wasn't thrilled and sidled away from me, but when the wind hit him and cooled off the spot I'd just doused he stopped moving.  By the time I was ready to rinse him with the tea tree stuff, he was standing still just stomping the flies.  While I worked on his body, my mom used a stiff bristled brush to work it through his mane and tail.  That definitely felt good.

It was warm enough that he was drying off almost before I could do the second side.  While my mom finished up, I collected Thunder.  I was anticipating the same sort of sidling that Sunny had done, but other than one sideways glance at the bucket when I poured it across his back, Thunder appeared to enjoy his turn.  And once she realized I wasn't expecting to stick her feet in the bucket, Amyra stopped making her usual cranky face and looked almost unconcerned.  Or at least as unconcerned as she ever looks. 

But Rufus took the gold star - although giving it to him would have required waking him up, because he went to sleep.

Post-wash once they were dried off I fly-sprayed them and turned them back out in the orchard pasture where they could roll on grass and not dirt.  Dried off, they were really soft as if they'd been out in the rain, and they smelled a bit like herb tea.  Have to say, that was the easiest bath-time I've ever experienced.

No pictures, thank goodness!  Setting a new fashion trend in shorts and knee high rubber boots I definitely was not - lol!

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.