THE BEST LAID PLANS...........!!!

 JERSEY SHORE 1905

(Boy has Jersey Shore changed judging by TV)

The horses were suppose to move today, to 4 acres the owner found for them.  BUT, she called last this morning & said the man she lined up to haul the ones we aren't, hadn't showed up & hadn't called her.  Sooooooooooo...........we are kinda on hold to see if he checks in early enough this afternoon to be able to go ahead & move them today. 

Once the plans are made we'd just as soon follow thru if at all possible.  We can feed in the dark or if it's late enough, we can feed our guys  before we haul the horses.  But it will all depend on what happens on her end.  

Stay tuned...............!!!!

                                        

                    HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Yesterday Buster came in with a poked eye, & this morning Noelle was almost 3 legged lame on her left front.  Although she has become a little more friendly, we still aren't in her circle of friends.  So I put a halter on her & John was going to hold her while I checked out her shoulder to foot to see what I could find.  

We found out she has probably never had her foot lifted (she's 24 years old, no wonder her feet need attention)  & might not have ever had someone poking & prodding her leg either.  It only took a second to figure out she needed to be tied, & even then saying she was uncooperative is an understatement.  Every time I'd touch her shoulder or head down her leg towards the foot, you would have thought I was using a cattle prod, she really wasn't interested in being examined at all.  

I don't think it's the foot, so hopefully it isn't an abscess.  I thought she reacted when I squeezed at her "elbow" but John said it wasn't much more reaction than anywhere else, so maybe not.  I didn't find any swelling or heat, so we gave up & let her go.  John said "we need to desensitize her".  That means, Tish needs to desensitize her......John isn't really into training. 

Haven't heard from the horse's Mom, so I guess I'll give her a call & see if she'll be ready to move them by the middle of the week, like she said.  John & I are both fighting the coughing crud & it certainly would be nice if we had 6 less animals to take care of & clean up after. 

Let's see...........Cisco's eye is now OK, Daisy's eye has quit weeping (another poke), & this morning when Lucy came in, she was really moving slow.  I didn't put boots on her yesterday, so she was barefooted.  I checked her feet & they didn't feel warm, so I decided to try to pick her feet up & put her boots on.  John stood at her shoulder to bolster her in case she needed it, &  I tried to be as quick as I could, just in case she couldn't stand on one foot or the other.  We got them on without a problem & although she wasn't moving any faster, she did seem to be standing easier, so hopefully they are helping.  I wish there was some way to know if what I do helps or doesn't help. 

About an hour after everyone went out  of their pens, a friend was here & we were looking out the window.  All of a sudden a whole herd of donkeys went running like something was chasing them.  I looked & didn't see anything, never did figure out what set them off.  It's been a long time since I saw them run, which is always fun to watch.  They certainly don't do it because I want them to, that's for sure.........!!!  LOL

Haven't heard from the horse's Mom again, so don't know how their move is going or when it will be.  She said maybe by the middle of next week, so hopefully that will happen.  John is on another jeep tour today, so I'll do evening chores by myself.  The other day when I did them, the donkeys were actually pretty cooperative & not as impatient as I expected. 

IF IT ISN'T ONE THING, IT'S ANOTHER.......!!!

I checked Lucy's feet in her boots this morning & the right front felt warm.  So I took her boots off & decided to ice her feet.  One thing about Quilla & his rattle snake bite last September, I ended up with lots of IV bags for soaking feet........!!!  I decided since I was soaking one I might as well soak both of them.  I put the right one to soak first, & when I tried to raised the left one to put it in a bag, she wouldn't lift it.  I finally squeezed the tendon & she reached around & acted like she was going to bite me.  I called her a "drama" queen & squeezed again.   She tried to raise the left foot & went down on her left knee, poor girl.    She came right back up, but I felt bad about making her lose her balance like that.  So she wasn't able to stand on her right foot.  Needless to say we didn't soak the left front.  I checked her knee to make sure she didn't hurt it, & it seemed OK.  I was gone all day, so I'm anxious to see how she is doing when we round up for feeding.  

I hope she is just going thru a "spell" & it's just an attack of winter laminitis.  Nothing has changed with what she is eating & since all of our gang is on an Insulin Resistant diet, there isn't really much we can change in what she is eating.   

Cisco's eye seems to be OK today, & Pepper's armpit seems to be healing.  It's hard to tell, by now it's a gory mess, with ickies all over it.  I try to pull some off, but he seems to resent this treatment, so I try to keep "picking"  to a minimum.  

John went to the doctor today with his "pig" bite.  Yep! it's got infection underneath it, so he's on antibiotics.  Needless to say he was the hit of the doctor's office, guess they don't get that many pig bites in........!!! Ha!  The PA didn't know that pigs can be aggressive & will kill & eat people, guess she's a city girl.  One of my cousins father-in-law was killed by pigs & by the time they found him, there wasn't much left.  This pig wasn't being mean, she just didn't like seeing a stick in John's hand because of past experiences. 

I LOVE SUNSHINE...................!!!

 Philadelphia 1905

It's been pretty nice the last few days, except for the "stinkin" wind yesterday.  Today is really nice & no wind..........!!!!  As I like to say, "the reason people come to Arizona".......!!!

Lucy is back to wearing her boots, I waited until she would lift her foot for me to put them on.  Jenny isn't interested in having hers on.  She's walking pretty good for her, so I'll let her make the decision.  Pepper's wound seems to be healing, although it still looks nasty.  Cisco came in yesterday with one eye shut & weeping down his cheek.  SIGH!  He is one of our cactus eaters.  He eats it when no one else is, & I assume he poked his eye since I had to pull 2 spines out of his forehead. 

The horses are doing good, they've gotten into our routine & if it wasn't for all of the poo to pick up they would be pretty good "visitors".  Their Mom called this morning & she has found a 4 acre place for them to stay, that is closer to her so she can be more involved in taking care of them daily.  It needs some sprucing up, but hopefully by the middle of next week, they will be gone, & we can get back to normal........whatever that is......!!!!  (G)

John's doing a jeep tour today to I'll be doing chores by myself tonight.  I guess I'll start early & it will still be after dark when I get done.  It wouldn't be so bad, but the donkeys are use to the routine of two people feeding.  So once they are in their pens, if they see us come out of the feed room in a certain sequence they know when it's their turn.  With just one feeding, that sequence gets out of sync, & boy do they yell.  Chester is especially incensed, since his temporary pen is set up right in front of the feed room, & he "knows" the routine.  A few times we've "forgotten" to take his bucket out when we take Jack's.  If he even sees us head toward Jack he starts yelling, really loud & it doesn't take us long to figure out we need to go back & get his bucket. 

DOING A HAPPY DANCE.......!!!

John got the feed room water running last night & this morning we woke up to 17 degrees & the sun shining brightly.  So by 9am we were stripping & commenting on how much easier it is to do chores when it's not quite so cold.  

John may have to go to the doctor with his pig bite, it's got a hard spot underneath it, which probably means abscess.  Probably need to be drained & put him on antibotics.  He's already yelling & we haven't even called the doctor yet.......!!!!!  

Pepper's "owie" is still draining & looks nasty.  It actually looks like Chester's leg looked when they operated on it about 4 years ago.  It was a big open gaping wound, they didn't try to close it at all.  By the 3rd day it was covered with creamy colored foamy stuff.  I panicked, took a picture & e-mailed it to the clinic.  They said "that's the way it's suppose to look", & it did heal just fine, not even a scar you can see. 

So I'll watch Pepper for a day or two & see how it goes.  There isn't any swelling, & it looks pretty good, except for the foamy stuff.  

Both Jenny & Lucy are walking better today & their feet are cooler.  Winter laminitis is a problem with equines that have compromised feet, which both of them have.  Lucy has never been  x-rayed, but Courtney thinks the inside of her feet are probably a jumbled mess.  Jenny has been x-rayed & we know her feet bones are jumbled.  I've always thought Lucy was probably what they call a sinker, because she has absolutely no concavity to the bottom of her front feet.  They are as flat as they can be.  But don't know for sure, if her coffin bone is detached or not.  Sometimes, like lately she doesn't move very good or very fast.  Buster always waits for her, no matter how long it takes her to get where they are going.  I hope nothing happens to her for a long time, Buster would be absolutely destroyed without his Lucy girl............!!!!

STILL WHINING......!!!

This is a pretty little ice sculpture, sorta looks like the bucket behind it doesn't it?  It warmed up enough yesterday for John to pull quite a few of these out of the 18 gallon buckets.  I had a prettier one in the mare's pen, but during the night I guess the weanlings decided it needed to be destroyed.  So when I went out this morning with my camera, it was no more........!!! 

Pepper has managed to deglove one of his armpits on probably greasewood.  What that means is, the hide is torn & separated from the flesh.  It's like if you were skinning an animal, & tearing the hide off.  Really gross looking, although as a wound it doesn't bleed much.  He doesn't even act like it bothers him.  It's only about 2 inches long, I've been spraying it with Vetericyn, so hopefully it will heal OK.  At least this time of year we don't have to fight flies. It's in an impossible place to even see, let alone try to stitch, so I don't see any need to call the vet, although she might be able to stand on her head & shave the area, I'm not even going to try it. 

Yesterday Daisy came in with an eye closed & tears running down her face.  Like I said they have been eating prickly pear & I would imagine she got poked.  I doctored her a couple of times yesterday & today she is OK.  They just don't seem happy unless they have boo boos for me to doctor. 

WHERE'S THAT GLOBAL WARMING.........?????

 

OK, I guess it could be worse......!!!

 

Yesterday morning it was 11 degrees, which meant lots of ice to break & water to carry.  Each pen has a water bucket plus the 2 stock tanks outside the pens.  Since winter colic can be a problem if they don't drink enough it's important that they have access to water they can drink, & not have to "break" or "lick".  We got done with morning chores about 2pm.  The hairdryer method of melting ice works GREAT............IF..........you only have one or 2 buckets.  But not worth a darn for assembly line melting.  John had to just break ice on every bucket.  Of course some of them didn't make it thru the ice removal without cracking or splitting, so we have to go out today & get some more.  

Everyone has been getting extra hay to help them stay warm.  We've noticed some of them eat about the same amount they usually get.  The others eat theirs & then go on a "hay" hunt.  It's an amazing idea, but they are the same ones that don't ever lose weight.  Hmmmmmm!  

They are all also eating the prickly pear cactus' right now.  One patch about 4 foot across has almost completely disappeared.  We'd look out there & there would be 5 or 6 donkeys happily chomping away. 

I know anyone in cold country reading this is probably snearing at all the whining.  This is so unusual for SE Arizona, in fact Tucson broke a record for cold last night that had stood since the early 1900's.  So we are really not prepared, nor are the animals.  They act like we should fix it.

OBTW John just went out to start the "dance" for today.  It was 3 degrees when he got up this morning...........so I assume today will be a repeat of yesterday, only a little more-so.......!!! 

OK, WE'RE TIRED OF WINTER........!!!

THANKS FOR THE PICTURE, ROBIN

I know I'm being whiny considering what the rest of the country is going thru.  Got in touch with Kathy up at Longhopes in Colorado & below zero & wind chill aren't words I want to hear.  They have 5 barns & blankets for those that need it.  And until the weather gets better, they stay in the barns.............which means LOTS of clean-up.  She said they are going thru shavings like crazy.  I would imagine poo is piling up at a rapid rate also, I think they usually rake their pens rather than pick-up. 

We were 22 degrees this morning, but for the next couple of days it's not going to warm up much day or night.  John has upped everyone's hay, so they can hopefully keep a little warmer.

Jenny & Lucy are having trouble with their feet right now.  Both of them have warm front feet which means some foundering/laminitis going on .  Neither of them want their boots on, I guess they think maybe the boots are causing the problem.  So I can only assume the boots aren't making their feet feel better at this time, & will leave them off for a couple of days.  I can show Jenny the boots, & she just turns away. 

OJ the daddy kitty we had neutered is doing just fine.  We'll let him go probably Friday.  The kittens are having great fun running around in the backyard, & sitting in the windows.  We're trying to get them tamed down, but so far the only thing they will do is play with our fingers thru the screen door.   Unfortunately we haven't seen Hobo their mom for a couple of days.  I hope nothing has happened to her, because we are almost positive she has more kittens up in the hay barn, & there is no way to find them unless they make a noise.  Maybe she decided there was too many cats down here at the house.  

John is still recuperating from his pig bite, it's healing nicely although is still really black & blue.  Only one little open place left that keeps sticking to the gauze.  He says it isn't sore, but it sure looks like it should be......!!! (G)  

The horses have settled into a routine, which is good.  It's too bad we can't let the mares & weanlings out, so we wouldn't have so much poo to pick up.  But Sprite just isn't going to change her mind about the long ears.  

The stud colts kicked a hole in their water bucket last night so John had to haul more water than usual.  Of course everything was frozen this morning, but he has a faucet at the well house that is covered & he can fill the water cans there.  In the pens he just breaks the ice & later in the day we fill those buckets. 

THEY'RE GONE............!!

We hauled the pigs & goats yesterday as planned & it went pretty good.  When it was time to load the goats we let them out of the pen & shook the bucket with food in it.  But they were more interested in seeing everything on the property.  They went in the trailer a couple of times, but Shy the little nanny would hop in & hop right out & the boys would follow.  So we got them back in the pen, & put a lead on Shy.  Not exactly what she had planned, but we got her in the trailer, tied her & Pan & Charlie hopped right in & STAYED.......!!!!  Had an uneventful trip, unloaded them in the pens.  When we left Niki (John's favorite pig) was busy raising up on the panels.  I hope she will stay in them.  We thought maybe she was missing the woman, since she was raised on a bottle from the age of 4 days by her.  

In amongst all that, when I called the vet clinic yesterday morning, they said bring the tomcat in right away.  So John took him in, while I rounded up & fixed "donkey" breakfast.  When we went to get him out of the kitty condo to put him in a crate, he was purring & rubbing on the sides of the pen.  So John put on his gloves, picked him up & stuffed him in the crate.  He was a perfect gentleman, so he's either been a pet & got dumped, or is someone's pet.  If the latter, the next time he shows up at home, they might notice a difference in his walk., not quite so proud......!!!   We picked him up on the way home from delivering the pigs & goats.  The vet clinic said they didn't even have to gas him, dragged him out, & gave him a happy shot on the table. 

We still have the 6 horses, which makes picking up poo take a lot longer..........but it will be nice not to have to be fixing fence & chasing pigs.......!!!! LOL