It was fun to ride Soxy, she's just a steady old horse. She was kind of eager to move out, which is funny because she's so out of shape and gets winded so easily. But I'm glad she had fun.
Here are some of the sheep. They all cleared out when they saw us coming, so this was the best picture I could get.
Melissa's sweet Angus. Isn't he just the cutest dog?
He sings with her donkey, Peaches. And he's an excellent livestock guardian.
My sweet Angus. Isn't he just the cutest dog?
He sings with her donkey, Peaches. And he's an excellent livestock guardian.My sweet Angus. Isn't he just the cutest dog?
He was giving me puppy dog eyes because he wanted food and he knows he's not allowed to whine at me or I won't feed him. He is an excellent eater of food.They don't know that I think they're both the cutest. But they are.
Oh, and in other news... Tonka got his jaw clipped. He is very afraid of the clippers. His legs were shaking and he was kind of jumpy, but he stood still for me like a good boy and let me get the job done. That'll make it a lot easier to see what's going on when the abscess ruptures or I lance it. Will keep it cleaner too. Then I moved him in the dark, took him up to the front door to recruit help and put him out in the mustang pen all alone. I hate making him live by himself. Hauled him some water and gave him lots of hay and called it a night with him. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get a sample of the goo so the vet can culture it. I'd hate to have strangles on the place and not know it, go about my business and end up infecting other horses. So I'm going to cover my bases.
Today Cisco redeemed himself after his bad day last week. He had decided that instead of getting into the trailer he was going to spin and bolt. I couldn't stop him and he got away 3 times. Tried more often than that, but I'd found a way to anchor him with a long rope and stop him. He still kept trying though. So today when I got home I decided to try loading him with Soxy already in the trailer. He loaded very well. A little skeptical at first, he had to back out a couple times, but then he stood in there with me very nicely while I fawned over him and told him he was a good boy. Then I put him away.
That's my horsey day!
Today Cisco redeemed himself after his bad day last week. He had decided that instead of getting into the trailer he was going to spin and bolt. I couldn't stop him and he got away 3 times. Tried more often than that, but I'd found a way to anchor him with a long rope and stop him. He still kept trying though. So today when I got home I decided to try loading him with Soxy already in the trailer. He loaded very well. A little skeptical at first, he had to back out a couple times, but then he stood in there with me very nicely while I fawned over him and told him he was a good boy. Then I put him away.
That's my horsey day!
2 comments:
Hi Andrea,
Those pictures of you riding Tonka (where your grinning) you both look really good together. He's a lovely long necked beauty, isn't he?
I rememeber you riding him around at the Odessa adoption. I thought 'what a calm horse'. I had no idea at the time that all those horses people were riding were mustangs. I talked to the border control guy so I knew theirs were. If I'd have known you civilians were riding wild horses I'd have paid more attention.
Anyway, about the abscess, we've had many cows with cheat sticker abscess's. I had the vet drain one once that was the size of a football...in stank!!! If left untreated with a cow they do burst on their own. My sheep had one about the size of a tennis ball. I went out to drain it only to discover she's rubbed it on something and it had drained. I just flushed it out. I've never had a horse with one but then we were a 'one horse farm' for twenty years.. I remember Brad going on about the infection turning the jaw bone into Swiss cheese if it stays too long, so that's why I finally called the vet on that huge abscess. The smell from those thing's is enough to make make a persons eyes water to say the least.
Cheat grass stickers (seeds) have cost us many trips to the vets with the dogs. They get in their ears and paws.
PS Would you explain the bit about the dog and donkey singing together. It sounds like something fun.
Gosh, I thought Tonka was being bad at the adoption! He was having a little trouble standing still so much. But not bad for his first trip to an adoption!
I need to get better at striking up conversations with strangers at adoptions. Maybe I should get a shirt that says "Ask me about my mustangs." :)
Angus the Great Pyrenees and Peaches the donkey are both adorable, and when Peaches gets excited and starts "hee-hawing" Angus joins in with a kind of a yipping, whining song. It's really neat to see. Maybe someday I'll get a chance to get it on film.
Another neat thing about Peaches is that she used to be a guard donkey before the flock got big and the dogs took over the job. She wasn't the "chase and stomp" type of guard though. When she sensed danger she'd round up all of her sheep and take them into the barn. Smart girl!
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