Dancing

Today my dance partners were so much fun, and all so different. Sawyer is the old guy learning new tricks.

He's super trustworthy and great at the basics, but I wanted to work on body control - moving his haunches and forequarters independently, eventually sidepassing and opening the gate correctly. I also wanted to work on lateral and vertical flexion and softness in a bit that is new to him. It's Tonka's old bit, which is a shanked curb bit like Sawyer is used to, but has swiveling shanks and mouthpiece so you can use it for lateral movements.

We made good basic progress, and will work on it more on other days. One thing I love about Sawyer is how much he loves to get the release and hear, "good boy." It's pretty sweet. He was distracted today - it's super windy! Any other horse I probably wouldn't have even ridden. But even distracted, he hunted for the release and we had a lovely quiet time playing give and take.

Besides the honor of carrying Tonka's bit, he also wore my sister's special handmade bridle that is now my special bridle. He doesn't know how priceless his head is. :)

Miss Juniper really wanted to come out and play, so we did. She loaded in the trailer like a pro. You'd never know how hard we hand to fight to have to learn that dance move.

She's still a little nervous in there but we just stand around and cuddle and it's not so bad.

Then we did some body control on the ground, and it's as if she's always known how to yield her fore-and hindquarters and back up nicely. Lateral flexion was just a bit hard at first today, though, thanks to Scout and Bella racing around in the wind. And she remembered how to circle around me, even though she was nervous about the sound of metal banging in the wind. It was rough, but it wasn't bad. We can dance without offending each other.

I picked her hooves when I put her away. She hates that, but she tolerates it. This time I think she hated it less. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe she's growing up?

Then Duncan wanted to be part of things. One thing led to another and I found him happily volunteering to be haltered. He was so happy to be the chosen one this time! Oh my gosh how we dance! The lightest touch, like he's reading my mind. I just put him through a quick imaginary "demo" because I actually placed an as for him today. :( He would be happy to have someone more devoted to him, who can train him further. We've done so much but I can't ride him. I just hope I can find the right someone. If I can't, he stays.

It's fun to think back on how things that are now second nature used to be so hard. Some things that are hard now are easy when I let my muscle memory take over. I don't know if that's normal or part of the brain injury. And of course some things that I can't do now, I'll be able to do someday in the future.  I just have to keep learning! Which is often hard for an old stick in the mud like me. But no matter what, when you have good dance partners, it's worth it.

Feeling Well!

I'm back in the saddle after being sick for at least 2 months. It's nice to be able to walk to the barn without tiring or coughing, and even saddle up and ride.

John and Scout even went with me one day!

We've just been riding at home but there's enough to look at here for now.

Sawyer likes to keep an eye on his buddies.

We toured all the ponds and rode along the creek.

Then he got to eat a little grass and some extra feed. He also got to enjoy a day in the sun without his blanket!

Next it was Juniper's turn. She's actually been wanting to be haltered lately. We went for a long wander. Not really a walk. That implies purpose. We just kinda wandered, looked around, snacked on some weeds. Well, she snacked. I'm not really into woody browse.

Llama-donkey. Llamburro.  Burrama.

The Peanut Pond. Maybe. I tried naming all the ponds today. I'm not very good at it. Other options for this one are Peace Pond or Owl Pond. I found myself naming them after their shapes which I don't really love. This one is peanut shaped.

Down by the creek we spooked up a bunch of pheasants.

She carried my coat and it blew up over her ears and head at one point. If she was a horse I'd have had a runaway at this stage of training.  But she's a donkey so she just thew her head up and the coat fell back and I fixed it.

 Next we pulled out the pack saddle for the first time. She did so well! I thought she'd hate it but she just thought it was weird.

We did everything in increments.

Baby blue is definitely her color.

I bought this cheap pack saddle used, and it was adjusted almost perfectly for her, even though it had been used on horses. Must have been small horses. We started by cinching it up and walking around a lot, then added the breastcollar.

Eventually we got all the straps in place, even the britchen, and walked around a bit. I am so proud of her! She did great and she didn't act like a spoiled princess at all. :)

I've decided she must have lost the baby sometime earlier in her pregnancy when it wasn't viable and coyotes took it. Now that I think that, she'll probably drop a baby.  But at this point it's doubtful. I'm totally OK with that. We can move on with plans for the future.

Fun with Photos

I really like using the Photo Lab app to make my furry friends look like art. :)

Bella Peace

I sure do love my Bella, but you wouldn't know it from the miniscule amount of time I spend with her. Farrier visits every 6-8 weeks, deworming every now and then, the occasional belly rub. I had definitely let her mane get into a terrible tangled mess again. I didn't take a picture until I'd already untwirled and untwisted and mostly untangled it.

It was nice to get her away from the always invasive Scout and spend a little one-on-one time.

We decided to hide from the wind in a tight spot in one of the grain bins.

We must've been in there for at least an hour. It was nice and quiet and warm.

She didn't mind, it was an all-you-can-eat buffet.

If Scout doesn't eat her braids her mane ought to stay nice for a little while.

False Alarm

Maybe she had a belly ache.

I stalled her with a nice bed and checked on her every few hours even though by bedtime I was pretty sure nothing was happening. Can't be too careful when it's cold. It was in the low 20s with a cutting damp breeze. Yuck.

I'm starting to think maybe it would he worth my while to run that pregnancy test again. If she did slip the foal I could just move on with my life. And if she didn't, I could be more careful. Or maybe she'll give us a baby today and I can stop wondering. ;)

Happy New Year!

Signs of Foaling? I'm Crazy?

Today I spent quality time in daylight with Juniper for the first time in what seems like forever. So it's hard to say if there has been a sudden change or not, but she looks skinny and kind of poorly in the hind end. Which could be a sign that foaling is coming. When the baby moves into the birth canal the belly gets smaller, looking like mom isn't pregnant all the sudden. Also, to prepare for birth the muscles of the hind end relax, which gives a sunken look around the croup. Before Scout was born I could actually feel him moving up under the muscles on either side of Bella's tail. I felt for that today with Juniper, but it's hard to say... What I felt may well have been her own muscle movement. Her vulva is slightly darker with a bit of discharge. Still able to clamp her tail but it may he slightly weaker. No bag at all. No change in behavior or eating habits.

It could all be in my head but I'm a little excited. On my Only Donkeys group on Facebook a donkey who was rescued 14 months ago just had the cutest baby, and bagged up just the day before. So Juniper is definitely not beyond the possible range of giving birth.

Right now daytime temps are above freezing and it's not terrible at night, so I guess this is an okay time to foal, if she has to do it in winter.

Oh! And she's shedding! Spring will eventually come. :)

Pneu NO nia

I've been sick for so long I finally went to the doctor.  I thought they'd tell me to go home, I have a cold. Not so.  I don't know what I have but it's not pneumonia. They gave me some treatments at the doctor, then I brought home $120 worth of prescriptions (after insurance paid their part) and a list of OTC stuff to take too. My lungs and sinuses and ears are full of shit and I'm not taking in enough oxygen. The doctor didn't give me a word for it and that drives me nuts. Is it bronchitis? I don't know.  Phlegmcrud sleepy-yuck, maybe.

BUT on the good side I will definitely not be contagious for Christmas so I can spend it with my sister, who has already started cancer treatment and can not be exposed to germs.  Happy dance for sister time!

No sign of baby donkey coming. She tells me no secrets, no matter how nicely I ask.

Poor Winston

He got a boo-boo. And of course it happened when our clinic wasn't open and my boss lady had a million appointments of her own to take care of. Luckily I know every vet in a 100 mile radius. Or so it sometimes seems anyway. :)

He was quietly cuddling with me on the couch and suddenly started frantically wiping eye boogers off his face and rubbing his eye. Weird place to have a crisis. He would not leave it alone so we had to cone him, poor guy. I couldn't see a puncture. So the way he wouldn't open his eye made me pretty sure there was something still in there even after I flushed it and put ointment in there, hoping it would float out.

The vet didn't find anything other than a slight abrasion on the cornea, probably from all the frantic rubbing he'd been doing. But I've had them not find anything before and had a grass seed float out days later, so I knew it could still be hiding. 

Yesterday at work Deb wiped an eye booger off his face with something small and hard in it and he was suddenly miraculously holding his eye open again and not trying to rub at his eye. Thank goodness! It can't stand when they're in pain and I can't help them. 

A Fun Time was Had by All

 It's not too terribly cold and the fog is making for some gorgeous frost in the mornings.

Feeding time is everyone's favorite. Bella and Scout have one pasture all to themselves:

Sawyer gets separated twice a day for his good grub. They all know the drill so it goes pretty smoothly. Juniper and Duncan stay out while I shut the doors, and Sawyer paces like a hungry dragon while I mix up his supplements.

Juniper will happily leave her food for some good lovin'.

Huckleberry stands perfectly still for ages when hunting mice. It's crazy how much noise they make when you sit still and listen.

In the afternoon it warmed up enough for Sawyer to take a break from his blanket. This is what happens when I try to take his picture to show you how nice he looks:

Because why would I want anything other than an ass in my face?

This is the best I could get. He has gained a lot of weight. His back is nicely covered.

Here I wanted to take a picture of my pasture parade - Duncan first, then Sayer, then Juniper, but as soon as I stopped of course Juniper got out of line, Duncan didn't ground tie, and Sawyer was just kind of not sure what was going on. Still, not a bad picture of Duncan's glossy curls!

Duncan came out with me and played. A fair amount of work with the flag moving on and above his back while he was moving, and then circling around me as I stood above him on my mounting table in the field. We kept it mostly relaxed but for him it was uncomfortable. I made sure he didn't shut down, he was tense at times but still blinking and he appeared to be thinking.

Juniper wanted to come out and graze, but instead we did a tiny bit of lunging practice and then loaded in the trailer. You wouldn't have known it had been 10 months since she last loaded. She looked around and loaded right up. Then she got to graze.

Scout came out too. He was so happy to be chosen for once, he practically shoved his head in the halter. Then he was kind of a turd, rooting and pushing and generally needing a reminder about manners. He really thought he needed to eat grass. But he remembered his manners pretty quick.

Bella didn't come out to play but she doesn't mind. She's entirely happy being left to her own devices, and she remembers her manners without tuneups. She's been lame this past week but she's feeling better now. I'm pretty sure she kicked/stepped on her heel bulb. Either that or it was an abscess but there was no heat in the hoof. Either way, she's walking well now.

I sure do love these guys. Not sure what I'd do without them!

Holding Hands

Who held your hand when you were little and afraid? Who hid with you under tables, saw the same boogeymen, made forts out of toilet paper, sang Christmas carols and hung tinsel together? Who can reminisce about catching salamanders, sliding down mud slides, sitting on the roof and staring at the stars, all the little moments of growing up? Then having families, horses, still roaming the wilderness, still staring at the stars.

If you have a close sibling you know what I'm talking about. You live the same life out of different eyes. You have different strengths and you stick together. Nobody else will ever know the story the way you two do.

My sister has cancer again. It is a metastasis of the old breast cancer, this time in her bones. Whoa Nelly are we in for a rough ride.

Quiet

Not much going on here in terms of action. The horses are happy & the donkey is the same.

Speaking of myself for one moment. I can't remember what I've written about, but I was able to try Botox injections for my headaches. It's working! I've had a cold and coughed myself up some headaches, but in general they're mild and not near as many. Even my tight neck and shoulders are happier. Now if only this cold would go away! It's been a week and a half now of coughing. But it is getting better.

Sawyer is still gaining weight well. He sure does love his food! I've committed to blanketing him over the winter once it really gets cold, to help him utilize his calories. It's still so warm I haven't really had to keep his blanket on much. I did ask for a heavyweight blanket for Christmas, for when it's really cold. Now we'll be all set. :)

The other day I ponied Duncan around a bit. I think that will be really good for him, having a rider above him and getting out and doing things. Sawyer thought it was great! He was ready to take off on an adventure with his buddy in tow. Duncan wasn't so ready to expand his horizons. We mainly stuck close and worked on obstacles and maneuvers to make sure we know what we're doing, and then did a little short journey out away from the comfort zone and back.

I've been doing a little hoof trimming without causing myself harm to my neck. I'm so excited to see if I can start doing more now that my muscles aren't in a riot all the time. Juniper still doesn't love having her hooves handled, but for treats she will stand for it. She's never bad but she makes it clear she'd like to leave.

I've had to trim Sawyer because we were in between farrier appointments and he needed it. He has such very soft hooves. I have him on a good hoof supplement, but of course they have to grow a new hoof before you see results. I tried my easyboots on him yesterday. He thought that was a little weird. The fit wasn't great. I think I need pads to put inside, for his comfort and to improve fit.

Well, that's about all the excitement around here. Not a lot, but it's enough. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, and I wish you all enough!

I take it back

The Juniper baby decided to make his or her presence known again last night, kicking up such a tempestuous storm it rocked the whole mama. I guess I've just been visiting at nap time lately.

I don't know if you've all heard of the old way of checking whether a baby is a boy or a girl by hanging a pendulum, usually a wedding ring on a string, over the pregnant belly, and seeing which way it swings. Straight line is a boy, circle is a girl. I've been convinced that it's a girl, but the pendulum (my Tonka ring) swung in a straight line. So... Well, considering this isn't science, we still don't know. :)

Threequines

The weather has definitely changed on us, and the time has changed as well and my afternoons are dark.  Also, my headaches have been a lot worse. So my time is more limited. But such is the cycle of life! Spring will come again. The prospect of winter isn't bothering me much this year (so far). Maybe it was the long, beautiful autumn that made it easier to bear. Maybe it's the drugs. One of them is a lovely little anti depressant. :)

One thing that is bothering me is the prospect of having to give up my wonderful Duncan. He should go to someone who is going to train and ride him. Yes. But. Every time I actually spend time with him I fall in love with him all over again. I have no business riding a green horse though. Even so, I can't bring myself to advertise him.

He just makes me smile. He tries hard, but sometimes he would rather not, mostly in a cute way.  Like standing ground tied. I think he knows what I want but he'd rather follow me.

Sawyer is slowly gaining weight. He gets to see the dentist tomorrow. And it just so happens that Tonka's blanket fits him so I may decide to blanket him this winter. I did blanket him for several days through our first snowy cold snap and he didn't seem to mind too much.

(Shh, don't tell my husband, but I wonder if he might have Cushings. Look at his weak topline and big belly. He also drinks a lot, has a voracious appetite, and flat feet. I think I'm going to start him on chaste tree berry.)

He got a bloody nose yesterday when I took his donkey away for a walk. I'm not sure why. He wasn't running around but he was a little excited and whinnying a bit. I'll have the vet peek up there tomorrow.

Juniper is cute as a bug in a rug. Is that a saying? No. Well, anyway. She is a sweetie.

She sure doesn't look too pregnant does she? Today is the one year anniversary of the day I met her. No bag, no baby movement recently. I have no idea what's going on. But they have been known to go 14 months so I'll keep my eyes open for a while yet. And honestly, I hope she doesn't have a baby.

I wanted to get her to pose pretty in front of the tall yellow grass but a donkey will do what a donkey will do. She must get in the middle and eat it.

She looks a little different than she did a year ago: