ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE

Looks like we'll be picking up Rocky tomorrow. This is a picture of him on the left, Dixie Doodle behind him, SuzyQ facing away & Falena, Rocky's mom on the right. He was a fuzzy little yearling when he left here, 3 years ago.

But things change, & his family asked if we could take him back. When we find homes for them, the option is always there for us to take them back, rather than having them go out into the unknown world.

Falena was a large standard, so I would imagine he is bigger than most of the standards.

All of our pens have someone in them, so John put up a temporary pen for him to eat in. We'll keep him in for a few days to see how he settles in. He's been in with a mare, so we'll have to see if he can stand up to a pushy bossy large standard gelding. If he can we'll probably put him in with Chili for awhile, at least until the mesquite bean season isn't in full swing.

Chili & Pepsi were running, bucking, kicking & spinning this afternoon for quite sometime. Of course Pepsi was loose on the 10 acres, so he could run off & disappear. That really upset Chili, when he'd run from one end of the pens to the other & somewhere in the chase, Pepsi had peeled off & went someplace else. He'd disappear like that & then come running back at top speed, which of course got Chili going again. I love to watch them run & play.

Last night at feeding time, John was leading Pepper to his pen, which in inside the Fat Farm. In the process of opening the gate & getting "slow poke" Pepper in, BlackJack took the opportunity to push thru the gate & head out for some mesquite bean snacking. BlackJack has a real feel for what he can get away with & what he can't. Seeing John busy with Pepper, looked like a golden opportunity & he took it.

As soon as I found out what was going on I took off after him. He decided that it was time to run & buck in between stops to grab beans. Of course there was no way I could keep him in sight, let alone keep up. I haven't seen him move that fast in ages. But I stayed in the race, hoping he would feel uneasy & guilty knowing I was going to show up sooner or later. "I DON'T THINK SO....!!! (G) At one time I lost him altogether & he had quite awhile to eat beans without interference. John was feeding while I was running around like an idiot, so when he got done he joined the fun. I finally found BJ, in the SW corner of the property, as far away from anything as he could get, eating beans of course. I told him the game was over, he took off running towards the pens. When he got to John, I swear he turned around, gave me a dirty look, & followed John all the way to the Fat Farm, walking in like a gentleman..............!!!!! Guess I know how I rate...........!!! (G)

This morning when John went over to feed the chickens, he came back too quickly. Seems a rattlesnake had tried to go thru the chicken wire & was too big to go forward or backward. We gathered up the tools to remove a snake from chicken wire, we've done it before, & were deciding who would be the snake holder vs. the wire cutter on the way to the pen. Got over there & somehow it had managed to get out by itself, much to the relief of the chickens. We looked around & finally found it stretched out behind the nest box. It's tongue was flicking out one end, & the rattles were sticking out the other, which makes it almost 4 feet long. I think we'll probably be a little more careful over there for awhile. As soon as it cleans out all the little mice I put over there out of the feed room, it will move on. YUCK!

PROBABLY WON'T DO "THAT" AGAIN..........!!

Yesterday afternoon, being the gracious humans we are, we thought it would be fun to let the donkeys out of their pens for an hour or so, right before feeding time. Of course they were all thrilled, their heads went down to the ground immediately as they went thru the gate as a herd, eating beans as fast as they could. I thought it might be a good idea to keep Chili in his pens, knowing his behavior in the past when we wanted him to go someplace, & he didn't want to. I figured an hour of freedom probably wouldn't be enough to warrant his cooperation. But John wanted to be "fair & equable" to "one & all", so out he went.

Not only was I right about Chili, you can't imagine how uncooperative the rest of them were also. We finally managed to corral most of them, by some frantic running thru the mesquite & accidently being in the right place at the right time, to make them think we were in charge & they had no option except to go where we wanted them to go............!!!! Finally we were down to one...................... anybody want to guess who? At one time John had Chili all the way to the gate into his pen, when he spun & took off as far from the pen as he could get. We tried funneling him to the pen, but finally decided we really needed another person to be effective. It was getting dark, the chickens still hadn't been fed & we aren't really getting any closer to getting Chili penned. Unfortunately with donkeys, once you start "herding" them it isn't good to stop & let them think they have won. John said he was going to try leading him in with his feed bucket. He is a big chow hound, but after all the chasing I figured he'd look at John like John wasn't very bright. John came out of the feed room with the bucket & Chili fell into line & followed him right in the pen................!!!! Don't know if he would have earlier, I do know he wouldn't follow a carrot.

Chili has a lot of holes in his training, haltering & leading are two of them. He caught on to clicker training in about 5 minutes, when we found out he had never had a fly mask on. I keep saying I need to work with him, but it seems like I run out of time before I run out of things to do these days. And training gets lost in the process.

RIP... HEAVENLY PERFECT

The information below was e-mailed to me, & I thought it was worth sharing. So often we get into our little world & don't realize how much reality there is out there, we know nothing about.

Heavenly Perfect" is the horse that "North Americas Finest" owner /
trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer, ran knowing she was foundered in both
front feet and had fractures, bone chips and arthritis in her legs.
Ten days later he shipped her off to slaughter where rescuers found
her in a kill pen on her way to Mexico.The poor horse had to be
euthanised. We are calling for a Jockey Club Inquiry into why she was
run that way. Please, watch the video of Heavenly Perfects last race on
May 13, 2008, and then leave your comments
there;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thzyC6bqqas

and then please sign the petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/trainer-of-the-year-runs-horse-to-death

Technically, he didn't run her to death, but the outcome was the same. My personal opinion is the man should be banned for life from owning or training horses. Let him find a new line of work, maybe digging ditches by hand or cleaning toilets without a brush.

CHILI HATES ME............!!!

This is his opinion of me right now. You can see he is in the pens. You might notice there are no bones showing on him anywhere. He is very round & plump, look at those fat little cheeks, which means he doesn't need the added calories from mesquite beans. So in the pens he went. We can't put him in with the other 10 "prisoners" because when he gets bored, he gets obnoxious with the others. He is in the pen area where everyone goes out during the day & he can have access to all the pens. Still not good enough, this is a picture of the broom we "use" to use to clean rocks & dirt off Jack's stall mat before he eats. The mat keeps all the food he drops from lack of teeth, being on the ground & mixing with sand & gravel. Once he empties the feed bucket he enjoys cleaning up the fallout. I guess Chili took his frustrations out on the broom, because it wasn't in two pieces earlier in the day.

I'M REALLY TIRED OF THE MONSOON

Lucy & Pepper are still limping around. They have both been foundered in the past & I would imagine if you x-rayed their feet, they aren't normal inside. The monsoon has put them in a "Catch 22" situation. I'm sure they both also have arthritis, so need to move around as much as possible. Which they can't do if they are in the pens. At least they don't see a need to walk around, unless there is a reason........such as finding shade.............or something to eat, like mesquite beans, which is why they are in the pens. I have checked their legs & feet, but found nothing to make them limp. so I am assuming, no exercise & humidity is causing their "probable" arthritis to act up.

Jenny is also walking slower than normal. We are letting her out for a few hours during the day & so far she isn't getting any worse. The problem with the beans is, they aren't going anywhere. If they aren't eaten now, they will still be here, when the donkeys are turned loose. The only good thing is, they become unappetizing within days of falling from the trees & the donkeys won't eat them............at least they never have. Terry came out today to do some grooming & said we should have goats. She has 2 that are keeping her property very tidy. She says they stand on their back legs to reach some of the more hard to reach tidbits. If we had a goat proof fence, we might try it. We could put an ad in the paper, to borrow goats during the bean season...............!!!!

Georgette, Sugar's mom came out to visit & brought a neighbor today. She says Sugar is still as sweet as she was & that Jacque really likes her. He had been with horses for a few years & I'm sure appreciates one of his own kind, even if it is a bossy jenny. She's only about 2 years old, so he doesn't know what bossy is yet. Wait till she gets a little older...........!!!

I got back about 2:30 this morning from the San Diego area. Gulliver was in 30 days of quarentine before he could return to the U.S. from a shipwreck in December. The isolette he was kept in was 2 feet square. Since he was over 2 1/2 feet long from beak to end of tail feathers, it had to be a tramatic experience for him. He was so stressed the first day, he was in constant motion & it was very difficult to interact with him. Sybil didn't want to put him into a cage of any kind after his experience, so we kept him on our shoulders or arms constantly. We took him to the beach, to a Mexican restaurant & on Saturday there was a picnic held in his honor in a park. His behavior improved every day & he's really a sweet little guy. Unfortunately, being crammed into a too small box for 30 days just about drove him crazy.

It was really a fun trip, a type of "girl's road trip". I checked in with John once a day to see how things were going. He had no crisis' which was great. Of course today, both Jenny & old Pepper are favoring a front leg. I can't find anything wrong with either of them, so I'm not exactly sure what the problem is.

Everyone else seems to be doing just fine. Although I'm afraid Chili is going to be going into a pen for awhile. He is plumping up nicely right now with all the mesquite beans available.

Chester is go back on antibiotics tomorrow. John doesn't "do" shots, so Chester's been off antibiotics for 6 days. He's walking pretty good, but looks like he's slipped a little. I don't know if it's just normal for him, or if there are pockets of infection that are raising their ugly heads.

John relented on keeping Tula in the pens while I was gone, which wasn't a big surprise to me. She only had to stay in one day. Not that she was very cooperative, but I guess John decided his time wasn't that important after all.

GONE, GONE, GONE...............

I am going to be headed for California in the morning & will be gone until early next week. I'm going with a friend that runs the largest exotic bird sanctuary in the U.S. If you would like to read about what it has taken to get Gulliver the blue & gold macaw back to his homeland, there is a link on the right side to the Oasis Sanctuary under Other Rescues & Sanctuaries. The bureaucrats didn't know when this all started that when dealing with Sybil, it would have saved them a lot of time & effort to just give in gracefully, rather than try to red tape her until she went away.............!!!!!! (G)

John will be holding down the fort & says he will be fine even with his broken arm. He should do OK , as long as there isn't some major crisis. He has decided to curtail Miss Tula's freedom for the duration, which she doesn't know about yet. Just a little cooperation on her part when it's time to go in the pen, probably would have went a long way to softening his heart. But after chasing her around in the rain this afternoon, he decided he doesn't want to do that while I'm gone.

I think the straw that broke the camel's back, was when he went out this morning & found the gate to the Fat Farm wide open, & 3 minis out eating beans as fast as they could. As he has said in the past, they are like herding pigs, & this morning they were determined not to go towards the pen, as they ran & tried to grab a bean here & there as we are jumping thru the mesquite, trying to directional guide them............... When they finally decided this wasn't working, they lined up like little soldiers & trotted into the pen. Thank goodness I had ran just about as far as I could run..........but I didn't want them to know it...........!!!

He fixed their gate this afternoon, so hopefully that won't happen again, but I think Tula ended up getting punished for their transgressions. It won't hurt her to stay in her pen for a few days, but thank goodness I won't be here to listen to her...........!!!

It's been hot & muggy here. The weather in San Diego right now is suppose to be in the 70's, wonder if I should take a sweater.............!!!!!! NOPE! I'm going to just go & enjoy it..............!!!

As if there aren't enough mesquite beans on the property, look what I found this morning......!!!! Looks like we're going to have a double crop this year.

No one seemed the worse for their "outing" yesterday, although they weren't too interested in supper. Of course today they are all staying in, except for Chili & Gus, who aren't fed in a pen. BlackJack is busy trying to destroy the gate, & the others are standing around encouraging him, I think.

This morning when it was time to round-up "HER MAJESTY" Miss Tula & her consort, Chester, although they didn't come in on their own, they did go straight to their pens, with me bringing up the rear. I guess she's figured out I won't give up & let her stay out. At least Chili didn't try to help this morning. Last night he was running with Tula & she doesn't particularly care for him. So not only was she trying to get away from me, she was trying to get away from him. Made for a long hot, sweaty, chase.

106 DEGREES TODAY..........with humidity.......!!!!

This morning "Miss" Stealthy & her friend Chester not only didn't come in for breakfast, when we went out to get them, couldn't find them. After everyone else was fed, I started walking the 10 acres, finally found them in the southwest corner that has a lot of mesquite trees, eating beans as fast as they could. It took probably 1/2 an hour or more to finally make Tula understand I wasn't going to go away, & she reluctantly went in her pen. Chester was so upset he kept kicking up his heels to show his displeasure as we went around & around the pen area.

I decided this afternoon to let the ones that have been in "prison" out for an hour or so before feeding time. Figured they couldn't eat too many beans in an hour or so. John went out about 3 hours before, came back in & said we wouldn't have to let them out, they had already taken care of the job.............!!!! I had all the gates clipped except the one that closes with a chain. Obviously someone, probably Justin or BlackJack bounced it enough to get the chain to come loose. They both are real good at opening the other type, unless we put a clip on them.

Tis the season for habronema. This is a picture I took last week of Belle's face, when I went out to see if I had any brillant ideas to help her. I had a fly mask I used on Cisco years ago that comes all the way down to the nostrils. They are using it to keep the flies from landing on the sores & reinfesting. Unfortunately once the habromena get a foothold, until the weather gets cool enough to take care of the fly population it's a problem. If you can keep the area from itching, so they don't scratch it really makes a difference.

I am fighting the good fight with Sha'ba this year. He has an area on his sheath, that has problems every year. It's impossible to cover up a sheath effectively, so we do our best. Every morning we have our "doctoring" session. He's really a good boy about it, even though I know it must be sore. He's never scraped it like Cisco did, thank goodness.