THE EXPERTS ARE ON THE PROBLEM

I went to my blog server and voiced my disapproval of not being able to download my pictures, without Google's nose in my business.  Seems like I'm not the only one, quite a few people jumped onto my message, and now the Forum moderator has asked us all for some information to try to figure out what is going on.  So we'll see, seems like it would be easier to go to Google and ask them what they are doing, but maybe I don't see the "big" picture.

It was 17 degrees here this morning, Doug's water is frozen until later in the day.  Of course all the water buckets have to have ice broken and netted out.  At least the heater is still floating in the Rubbermaid tank.  Although everyone has small bucket in their pens, we also have 2 other areas for water and they are both heated, so they have access to open water all the time when they are out of their pens.  

The reason I mentioned the heater floating in the Rubbermaid is a couple of days ago it wasn't.  It was sitting on top of the insulated box around all the faucets that go to the feed room, pens, etc.  None of us know how it got there, someone had to grab hold of it floating in the water, and hang onto it long enough to drag it out, when the electrical wire probably stopped it from going any further.  Over the years it's never been a problem before with the donkeys.  But, Saddik the new dog was not here before.........so he's getting the blame, unless we catch one of the donkeys dragging it out.  

Although they don't enjoy the cold weather, I'm pretty sure they are all enjoying, no fly masks, no polo wraps or socks on their legs and no doctoring.  I'm going out this morning and gathering up all the fly masks to decide which ones are salvageable which ones to throw away.  I think quite a few of them are still good, but I'll still have to get in touch with Colorful Equine to order a supply to start out next spring. 

We'll be taking Jake home to his herd Friday.  The little ones are big enough to take care of themselves and the other jenny hasn't had a baby, so we'll give it a try.  If she does have a baby, we could always go back and bring Jake back here, if we thought it was necessary.  He's really a nice donkey, gorgeous and very sweet and mellow.  I'm sure he will be glad to get home to his family.  The 8 donkeys adopted together by one couple, were a active herd, Jake was the herd jack, 5 jennies and 2 weanling jacks.  It's not often a little herd like that would get to stay together, so this is a special situation.  They now have 3 more little jacks to have gelded in the spring.  It would have been cheaper if Jake had thrown jennies instead of jacks........LOL  One of the jennies got her neck trapped in the fork of a tree this summer, probably broke it and couldn't walk, so had to be euthanized, unfortunately. 

Since we are in a cold snap, John has upped everyone's hay, which they seem to appreciate.  At least they aren't leaving any, like they were during mesquite bean season.  Except for the 3 fatties, Coquette, Rosie and Buddy Brat, the others all look pretty good, so I don't think a little bit of extra hay to help keep them warm, will be a problem.

MORE LIKE SPRING EVERY DAY

Not that we have much of a winter anyway, but the last few days, just feels different.  Guess it's all that fresh spring air.....!!!  Still no budding of the mesquite trees, but just about everything else is leafing out or blooming. Just noticed today the orioles are back at the hummingbird feeder in the back yard.  

So far there are a few flies out, but not enough to put on fly masks.  I already ordered my "stash" of masks awhile back.  Renee at Colorful Equine stays pretty busy during fly season, so I usually order in the winter.  It's not like I'm not going to need them........LOL  A few days ago, John took Doug out for a walk on Burroland, he hadn't been over there yet.  They came back with 4 fly masks, which I thought was a pretty good haul.  A few years ago we use to hunt diligently for a missing mask.  With the passage of time, we have opted looking in the "normal" places they lose them, and for a larger storage area for "masks in waiting".  Just makes life a little less demanding.  

 

This is a picture of Doug rounding up donkeys.  He has gone to the same school of donkey round-up, John did and has started carrying animal crackers with him at all times.  He did take my advice on letting them out at bedtime.  This week-end we went to the asphalt track for practice in the afternoon and then went right over to the dirt track, so John could pit for a couple of the late models that were racing.  

Doug let them out at the regular time and before we left I asked him if he wanted to do it John's way or my way.  John goes in the feed room, lovingly cuts up carrots for one and all, and goes from pen to pen, sharing, and petting as he goes along, not to mention animal crackers to a lot of them, that have turned getting extras into a life style.    Takes 30-45 minutes.  I go out start at one end, opening gates as I keep moving at almost a run.  Needless to say I leave a herd of disappointed, confused animals in my path.  By the time I get to the last one, I've got quite a crowd following me.  You can almost read their minds, "what's happening, did you get a carrot?  I didn't get a carrot, she almost ran over me, I was standing by the gate as usual.  She didn't even slow down, where's John?"  Takes me less than 10 minutes and that includes feeding the dogs.  Doug opted for my way.  Last night was the 1st night John had let them out in 2 nights, needless to say they were thrilled to have the real crew chief back in charge.  LOL

My practice went pretty good, I'm getting a little more comfortable although I'm still not up to speed, getting close though.  We race next week-end, that will be the 1st point race, so we should have just about everyone that plans on racing a hornet out there.  Some estimates think we will have over 20 cars.........that should be interesting, because last year they usually had around 10-12.  That means there might be a lot of drivers like me, maybe driven before, just not in this venue.  Or rookie drivers, should be an "interesting" evening.....!!!

 

HABRONEMA ARE ALIVE AND WELL........!!

This is the side of Boaz's mouth and what I am battling.  It's always amazing to me the equine people I talk to that have never even heard of habronema, let alone had to deal with the little "darlings".  Each one of those white spots is a larvae, pretty much dead at this stage from being slathered with Ivermectin.  Once you dig out the ones showing, there are usually others behind them.  There are 3 other places just out of sight, that are pretty much cleaned out and are healing.  But this one being where it is located is a real problem.  

He's really good about letting me dig around with blunt tweezers, unless I get too energetic.  Heard back from Renee at Colorful Equine.  We've got to coordinate what I want, but she's willing to make the masks.  

This morning I looked at Cisco's face right below his fly mask and it looked like a rubbed spot.  Sure enough, for the 1st time in years flies have gotten underneath his mask and obviously had some little hitchhikers. I saw at least 4 larvae right up under his eye even though John's been leaving his mask on 24/7.  I put Ivermectin on the area, so they should be dead by this afternoon and I can dig them out.  If they are alive, they must have teeth, claws or something, because they hang on and are almost impossible to get out.  When we rescued him about 14 years ago, both sides of his face were bloody to the bone from eye to mouth, really nasty.  He's such a gentle guy, but he will rub on you if he itches.  John said he had been rubbing his face on John's leg the last few days.  John didn't realize, Cisco was trying to tell him something.  When he rubs on me, or stands in front of me and hikes his back leg, I know he's got an itchy spot.  

Everyone else seems to be doing pretty good, although the flies are worse than usual.  It's really dry and although the weatherman keeps saying it "might" rain, we don't pay much attention to him.......!!!

IT'S GOING TO BE A LONG SUMMER, I'M AFRAID.........!!!!

IF YOU LIKE WIND, TODAY IS A GREAT DAY......!!!!

I think California is headed for New Mexico today.  I don't know how hard the wind is blowing, but it is really nasty, reminds me of Iceland.  The wind blew there constantly, which in the winter was really interesting.  Only place I ever was, that you could have a snowstorm and when you looked out the window, the snow was blowing straight up.  

I'm still fighting the good fight with Boaz's habronema in the corner of his mouth.  One good thing, almost all the ones I'm getting out now are huge, a large as a piece of rice.  So my assumption is, there isn't a lot of re-infestation, although the flies are hanging around.  I'm putting Invermectin on twice a day, so if they do drop some eggs, hopefully the eggs won't survive.  I've e-mailed Renee at Colorful Equine to see if she can make me a couple of long nosed crusader masks for him to wear.  Her usual long masks wouldn't cover where he has sores. 

I have noticed that Quilla's hair was starting to get matted in his arm pits and down his legs.  So has Coquette and BlackJack.  They all have fine fluffy hair and I've always had to watch BJ's arm pits, because if you don't get to them, they will wad up against the skin and can cause sores.  

I decided that Quilla probably needed to be body clipped, so I got out my toys this morning.  To show you how neglected these poor guys get, although I look them over on a daily basis, I obviously don't touch their bodies enough.  Usually as I walk by, if someone looks like they need a scratch, it's on the face or neck.  

Got all the stuff out, John brought the extension cord down from the garage for the clippers, got my animal crackers, tied up my victim and was ready to go.  Decided to brush some of the dirt out of his hair, to hopefully make my clipper blade last a little longer.  One swipe with the brush, I went to a curry comb and boy did the hair start flying, literally, remember the wind discussion in paragraph one?  You certainly didn't want to be downwind.....!!!! LOL  He just needs a good currying.  So I handed John a curry comb, he did one side I did the other.  Even all the mats came out, without a lot of drama.  

We are going to "try" to curry someone every morning, unless things get too crazy.  At least we can do BJ and Coquette and maybe work on those 3 for awhile since they all have a problem with mats.  We'll see how long this idea lasts........!!!

FLY MASKS ARE DISAPPREARING FAST.....!!!

I had to get in touch with Renee at Colorful Equine and place an order.  It wasn't too bad until Boaz and Wister came home.  Since then fly masks are getting torn up and disappearing at a rapid rate.  And the ones that aren't disappearing have holes in them usually right over an eye of course......!!!  I think the last I heard John said there are at least 7 masks out there somewhere.

He actually spent most of Sunday walking all over back and forth in a grid looking for masks.  Didn't find one mask, which was really disappointing.  But the good thing is, John got a lot of exercise...!!!  Not sure he would agree. 

John picked up Penny's feet yesterday morning and she was a perfect lady.  Except for not picking up quickly everything else went well.  She did pick up, but hasn't learned that when you grip the fetlock you want to pick up.  Molly learned that so well, when I was treating her thrush, that little foot literally flew up, which was rather surprising the first time or two.  

Courtney is suppose to come out Thursday to do some trimming.  Tomorrow morning Lysa is going to pick up Penny's feet.  If that goes well, I guess we'll see how she does with Courtney and real hoof trimming.  She really does seem to want to cooperate and since we've been very careful to try to make her feel safe and comfortable around us, I hope that will all transfer to whoever is working with her. 

God obviously has a sense of humor.  Over the last couple of days it has rained, tried to rain, threatened to rain, & the sun has shone.  Want to take bets when it rains?  If you're first guess is at chore time, BINGO.......!!!  Oh! it hasn't been a downpour, just enough drizzle to be irritating.  I'm not complaining, we need 4 inches of rain to reach our pathetic average of 11 inches a year.  But drizzles "ain't" going to make it happen.  My choice would be a steady downpour thru-out the night.  A couple of nights like that would really make the spring flowers happy. 

We finally put away the fly masks for the season, at least I hope we won't need them again.  They were pretty rough on them this year, the more boys we have, the more replacement fly masks we need.  There are still 2 or 3 out there somewhere, that John couldn't find.  I'll go ahead & get in touch with Renee at Colorful Equine even though it's winter.  I'm sure she stays busy once the flies show up in the spring.

Couldn't get the vet out here until the day after Christmas, so Jenny & I are back to soaking & working on proud flesh & popping antibiotics.  Don't know that the vet will have any better ideas, but we'll see.

When the vet comes out I'm going to run an idea past her & see what she thinks.  Cisco was at a roping school, & was loaned out to the students to take home & practice on, until he mentally shut down & would no longer react to anything around him.

He has never brayed, when he tries there isn't much noise unlike most of the others.  I am wondering if his throat was damaged, from being roped?  I'm sure they weren't real careful to make sure he didn't get injured.  We've had him about 12 years, he's about 20 years old & my thought is, he could have scar tissue that is changing size, shape, etc.  I don't know if that's possible, but I'm going to ask. 

 

 Moogee hasn't figured this move out yet, thank goodness

Well, I think Boaz & his partner in crime BlackJack are trying for a world record for losing fly masks.  It's become a daily occurrence for Boaz to come in without a mask.  John has spent a LOT of time looking for them.  I even went out this morning looking, hoping a different way of searching might turn at least one of them up............NOPE 

A nice couple that came to visit this summer, obviously thought some of the masks needed replacing, & sent 5 brand spanking new ones.  Two of the ones Boaz lost are those, & I refuse to put another new one on him.  This morning I went thru the masks I have laying on the sewing machine awaiting repairs from a hard summer & picked out the one easiest to fix.  Now it's out there too, & I guess I'll dig out another one tonight to put on him tomorrow.  I could get in touch with Renee at Colorful Equine, but if I can get thru this year with what I have, I'll order a supply of masks in the spring for next year. 

It wouldn't be so bad, but he is one that really needs a fly mask, because of habronema damage below his eyes.  When he comes in without a mask, his eyes are all watery.  You'd think by almost December the flies would be gone, especially after a couple of nights earlier this month of 19 degrees.  But there are still plenty of them flying around.

The weather this week-end for the Open House is suppose to be sunny & in the 70's.  Last year it was cold & miserable, so Mae said she would bring hot apple cider this year.  I called her & told her as warm as it was going to be, hot cider probably wouldn't be as appreciated as it would have been last year.  

This afternoon John FINALLY got the concrete poured for the rubbermaid water trough to sit on.   Lysa & I have been after him for a year, & he kept saying he'd get to it.  I think we'd given up or maybe he was just waiting for us to quit harping about it.  When we went out for chores tonight, someone had gouged a couple of divets out of it.  Donkeys don't miss anything & if it can be messed up or even better, totally destroyed, that's what will happen.

I'm having a hard time adjusting my feed.  Jack ate over half of the mush I mixed up each feeding.  So far I'm mixing up too much every time, so I put what's left in the refrigerator till the next feeding.   I don't want to not have enough, but at the rate I'm going that's not going to be a problem.

Rusty seems lost, he just stands around usually around the pen area.  Boaz didn't have a shelter in his pen, so we moved Daisy to Jack's pen, down by her girlfriends, Frijolita & Tula.  John took the corral panels down between Daisy & Boaz, so now not only does he have a shelter, he also has the largest pen.  I hope we can find Rusty a mule buddy. 

WHAT A MORNING, WHAT A MORNING.......!!!!

This morning was bandage changing day.  We started right after chores & finally got a new bandage on around noon........!!!!

Actually for her she was relatively cooperative, although as usual she wouldn't hold the foot still, just about the time you would be doing something important, she'd jerk the foot away from you.  

Our biggest problem was we couldn't get the bandage of Elastikon, & duct tape the clinic put on, off........!!!  We gnawed at it with just about everything we had that might cut & wasn't getting thru at all.  I finally called the clinic, talked to the vet, & she said she'd never had a problem cutting thru a bandage like that, using sharp scissors or a sharp pocket knife.  OK...........!!!!  I shared this information with John which really made his day, since he was the one in charge of getting the bandage off.  He finally made some progress using an exacto knife, yippee......!!!  Got all the wrappings off & saw her foot for the first time.  There is a gaping hole in the front, & a hole about the size of my thumb in the bottom.  I had to pack gauze into the holes to help prevent proud flesh from getting started.  Then the "drill" is, cover with gauze pads, brown gauze to hold them in place, diaper, duct tape boot, elastikon, more duct tape & more elastikon.  I've never done this much wrapping before & as I said she isn't the most cooperative little miss, actually BIG miss.  

We had her on a sheet, but in the soft ground, that didn't work very well, especially with her not standing still, & actually pawing to show her displeasure.  John got the brilliant idea of taking her in the garage on the concrete floor, so that's what we finally did.  Found a good use for last year's race car, that's what we tied her to, figured she couldn't squirm much tied up.  Worked great for the front end, although the rear end, where I was trying to work was still moving just fine, thank you very much.........GRRRRR.....!!!!   I finally used the last of my Dormosedan although it takes 30 minutes or so to take effect.  I think I got her bandaged before it took effect.  Called the local vet & she didn't have any, so I picked up some ACE from her when we went into town. 

I got a bandage on, we went to town to vote & she was laying down when we came back, so I haven't had a chance to see how the bandage is holding up. I've got my fingers crossed, the main thing is to not get dirt into those open places, until the hoof wall & sole grow out to cover them.  I certainly hope since this is going to be a long term operation, that Jenny gets a little more pleasant about the whole situation.  I'd hate to have to sedate her every 4 to 5 days.

The good news is the Underwood Horse Medicine is working great on her bed sores.  Don't know if they'll heal since she's still laying down a few hours every day, but I think I can keep them under control hopefully. 

Everyone else seems to be doing good, thank heavens.  I'm still doctoring Boaz's proud flesh on his knee, & it is finally starting to get smaller. 

Today was the start of the fly mask season for some of them.  I only put masks on the ones that have immune problems which seems to make them "fly candy".  I tried to put Tucker's baby mask on him, but it doesn't fit anymore.  The flies aren't very bad yet, & I put in an order last night to Colorful Equine for some new ones.  I thought I had enough for the new season, but when I started looking them over last night, I wondered why I even bothered to keep some, they were really tacky.