I also pulled her blanket and gave her a good grooming, once all of the mud dried. Got her legs mud free and dried out, hooves picked, mane and tail brushed, and a handful of carrots fed. Foxy was in heaven. Standing in the sun (in 35 degree weater with 20 mph winds, but still), being fed carrots while being pampered. Her eyes were half closed and her head was drooping and when I stopped she would casually lean towards the carrot bucket or offer her chin for some scratching. She is a goober.
She did have a few....uh....'moments' over there. Now, I can't expect her to stand in a single spot all day long, so activity does not mean craziness. Per se.
But she did have a good run down the hill and around the back part of the yard and back up the hill and she had tail flagging going on and was a bit crazy. I think she was just happy to be out of the mud and nastiness. Can't blame her! Unfortunately, the plan is to leave her over there until it starts raining again and then she will get tossed back into the mud. Otherwise, she will just ruin that side too. So in the rain she will have to stand in the ankle deep mud. And then when it stops raining and dries up a bit, she can go onto the dry side. We are supposed to have a few dry days, followed by a day of rain, and then a few dry days followed by at least a few days of rain.
Her weight looked slightly better when I pulled her blanket, so I will continue stuffing her full of warm mash three times a day plus all you can eat hay buffett. I did buy some Triple Crown Low Starch the other day and will start using it once I finish up the Triple Crown Complete. She is getting about 7.5 lbs of beet pulp, 6lbs of alfalfa and 4-5lbs of the Triple Crown complete a day, plus free choice timothy/orchard/etc hay (crappy quality). That has been built up to over the last week with daily increases. Once I get a bit more weight on her, I will slowly bump it down to whatever will hold her weight. If I continue keeping her at my house (that is up in the air at this point but not probable) I will be getting my next batch of hay elsewhere. Better hay should cut down what I have to feed. This last batch was just shitty. Some bales were okay but I did find a bale that was moldy and multiple bales with sticks, stickers and weeds galore. Grrrrrr.....of course she also gets her mare magic, electrolytes (she doesn't drink much), probiotics and a vitamin.
Fortunately, the "dry area" she is currently in also has some grass to graze on, so that will help as well.
Now I'm sure someone will wonder why the hell I did not move her out of the muck and into this nice dry area earlier? Well, as long as it was wet, she would have ruined this part of the yard within hours as well. We waited until afternoon today to move her as it stopped raining last night and was sunny and windy today (although cold) and dried it out pretty well.
Since it is soooo cold, Foxy has her mid weight blanket on (since her heavy weight does not fit damn it). I am tempted to add a jersey blanket as an under-rug, but it would have to stay on all day tomorrow as well, and it is supposed to be in the thirties. I don't want to cook her! She has worn this blanket into the upper teens before....but without the windchill. I am somewhat torn! I will be going out to check her in a bit (once I figure out a decent way to climb the damn fence, I am so not walking down the hill and around the dog pen and back up the hill and around the front to get to her....and then reversed to get back). This week I will add a gate to the tape up here. There is no good way to get over there and it is a pain in the butt to get to where she is now, short of diving through the tape (hahaha, OUCH) or climbing the porch railing in the back which has a drop off.....
She has lots of hay to
As far as the boarding issue, I am still looking for somewhere to board her locally. I would love to find a boarding place that is either pasture board or stall/pasture...where I provide all non-hay feed. Although I have no plans to do any sort of training with her during the winter, I may want to try to get her going again in the spring/summer. I say this every year! But her feet are looking great these days and she seems to be doing well running around in the yard....if I can find somewhere with a good deep arena, she may be sound enough to putt around on again. Or I may be able to finally get her in boots now that her hooves have improved. Yes, bitchy anon-commenter, I have considered adding boots, you ass. However, Foxy's hoof measurements were so out of whack they fell into the "if your horse's length exceeds the width by more than this much, boots will not work, sorry" range. Because she trotted sound with hoof nerve blocks and in soft pasture does greaaaat, I think she would do awesome in boots. And if I can get her working sound in boots in a soft arena? Horse soccer here I come! I really, really want to play some horse soccer! Maybe that will never happen, but hey....that is my goal. Horse soccer! Or even, uh....walk around the arena!
Foxy enjoys the activity of a boarding barn, she is totally bored here. I am on the lookout! I want to keep her nearby where I can visit and check on her, and then work with her once the weather improves. She seems to thrive on a schedule and having things to do and see. While I don't think she would ever be a safe trail horse, she would probably do great with an experienced horse in front and in back and on rides around the property she would be boarded at. In good weather. With no grain and after 4 hours of roundpenning/lunging. On calm and cool, quietex, triple doses of mare magic and also some "at-ease".
Ha ha ha ha. Or not! But you get the drift........
I just called my dad (who is visiting from Cali and midway through the drive from my sister's house to stay here tonight) and he is stopping at McDonalds for hot apple pies. One for him, one for me, one for Foxy! I'm totally not kidding.....
1 comment:
My gosh! You spoil that horse way, way, way too much. =)
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