Saturday, September 19, 2015

WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS WEEK?

I didn't realize it had been so long since I updated the blog.  You'd think I'd been staying busy doing lots of important stuff, but "I don't think so".......!!!  Just taking care of donkeys and watching John and our friend Larry dismantle, our son's Super Stock Car.  


This is what it looked like when John brought it home from Rod's in Tucson.  It still looks the same, well except they took the rear wheels off.  Inside is gutted and it is "retired" to the old hay barn.  All the stripped parts will be divided between Larry's new pro-stock camaro for next year, at Tucson Speedway, and our grandson's super stock, he will race at Central Arizona Raceway (dirt)  at Eloy, if he gets busy and rebuilds his car before Feb or whenever the season starts.  He has a little bit of "I'll do it later" attitude.  That isn't what gets race cars built.  Larry and John have done all they can for Larry's car, until it comes back from Rod's.  He's doing the roll cage and all the safety welding and then turn it over to Larry to finish.  

This car's claim to fame was it won the last main event at the dirt track, before they closed the track to everything except open wheel, sprint car races.  Rod won by being the last car on the track to blow the engine.....!!!  He had to be pushed to the front straight away to be presented his trophy.  Very weird race to say the least.  LOL

We are still fighting the battle of the beans with the donkeys.  They've been "trapped" on the 10 acres for quite sometime and have just about eaten everything edible.  We haven't heard any cows over in Burroland for awhile, so John went over to check and there are no new tracks and piles and piles of beans........SIGH!  There's no sense in leaving it open for the cows if the cows aren't going in, so our latest plan of attack is to let them over there for a couple of hours late in the afternoon before feeding.  

Getting them back over here is somewhat of a challenge, in fact they aren't the least bit interested in cooperating.  It's like trying to catch grasshoppers.  They do know why we're over there and they do know where they are suppose to go.  So if you are firm and scream loud enough they usually get the message.  John has found out that if he carries a halter they take him more seriously.  Boaz especially takes it as a suggestion to head for the pens, and takes off as fast as he can.  Last night when he came in he was still at warp speed when he got to the pens and was yelling at the top of his lungs for some reason.

Still keeping a covering on Falena's foot, where Tyler opened up an abscess.  He removed quite a bit of the side wall and got into the white line area, which could be a direct route to more trouble.  Keeping a covering on her foot is a lot of fun.  I tried using gorilla tape to make a boot, which works good, except the tape causes the hoof to sweat, which causes moisture, which softens the hoof.  So I've been trying to use some of the hoof wraps we used for Jenny after her hoof resection.  Unfortunately Jenny was a mammoth and Falena isn't.  I've figured out how to get them to fit pretty good, but they are only suppose to be used in stalls or for light exercise.  Needless to say our rocks and gravel are hard on them, and she obviously moves around a lot.  It only takes about 3 days for her to completely wear thru one.  So far she's worn out 3 and I'm about out of wraps.  I tried using a boot on her, but it rubbed on her fetlock.  I think I'll measure her hoof today and see if I can find a boot to actually fit her, since it will probably be at least a couple of trims before the gouge grows out enough to protect the white line.  

Everyone is doing pretty good, they are still getting in the cactus, so we pet faces at our own peril.  Cisco is particularly dangerous and he loves to rub his face on you.  The "fatties" are probably going to be on a diet thru out the winter this year.  Right now Buddy, Coquette, and Rosy the 3 worst ones are only getting 1 pound of hay twice a day.  That's 3 pounds less than they should be getting a day and none of them have lost an ounce.  Obviously they are self feeding very well.  We kept them in the pens for awhile at night, and Rosy started dismantling the shelters again.  She did that when she first came here and was coming down off her steady diet of,  all she could, eat alfalfa.  But she hasn't done it since those first few weeks. 

All three have cresty necks and the vet is having me try some Equine Metabolic Support by Standard Process.  Since the main ingredients are buckwheat powder, carrot powder and cinnamon I don't have high hopes for any change and haven't seen any so far. These 3 are perfect examples of "air ferns", they seem to glean every calorie out of whatever they eat and they will eat anything. 

 



2 comments:

ellie k said...

I did miss your blog and was going to ask if you were ok tonight and there you were. Do the fatties eat too much. Because they were deprived of food when they were younger or just like me and like to eat?

Tish said...

I don't think these 3 have been deprived, Buddy was born and raised in a indulgent home and all the animals there were very well fed. Rosy for at least 11 years was over fed alfalfa. Coquette came out of a defunct rescue and was overweight. She has had good training and probably was in an over indulgent home earlier in her life. So all three had been use to eating all the time if they chose to probably.

Buddy has been with us for about 15 years and has been on a diet about that long. He went out as an adoption for about 2 years with strict instructions on feeding him. When he came back he was heavier than I'd ever seen him and we've been fighting the battle of the bulge ever since. So I'd say they all just like to eat...........LOL