Sunday, May 31, 2009

Meet Kachina


Apparently it is pronounced "Katsina" and can also be spelled this way as well, but I think I like the "ch" spelling...now I get to correct everyone on the proper pronunciation of her name!

Kachina lets me come pretty close to her and she never acts threatened. Today she stood in the barn and I walked back and forth in front of it, actually hoping that she'd come out so I could go in and get her hay. She decided that she would rather stand and watch me and sniff my camera offered to her than leave the barn. Eventually she did. I didn't want to get trapped in a small space with her in case she got nervous and panicky.


She has sores in her flanks with bare skin. It's hard to see them close up, but I think that these are spots being attacked by gnats. I'm going to look into hanging some strips of cloth soaked in fly repellent from the doorway to see if that might help keep the gnats away. I'm afraid they'll continue to eat her raw if I don't do something. She must have very thin skin because none of the others seem to be having a problem with them (aside from a few gnat bites on their bellies).


The swollen gland nearest her throatlatch started draining today while the other glands have slowed their drainage I hope that means that she's going to heal up soon. I don't want to see any more lumps! To take this picture, I actually stood pretty close to her rump (definitely within kicking range if she felt so inclined, but I wasn't worried because she wasn't worried and I wasn't pushing her at all - just trying to get a picture, but of course I was very alert). She doesn't seem like a kicker though. Or a striker, but I guess we'll see when I start working with her. I think that her personality is actually quite passive and not defensive or offensive.

3 comments:

Andrea -Mustang Saga said...

She looks so sweet! I like the name. When I lived in the Southwest even my Native friends pronounced it as it's spelled, with the "ch." I didn't know there was another pronunciation of it. I'll have to get used to that!

Kara said...

My Aunt told me that's how its pronounced (with the -ts-) and she was a social worker with a tribe in Arizona. I think maybe it's either way, which is good because I've been saying it with the -ch- for a while now and it'd take work to switch. I'll go either.

Anonymous said...

Lovely mare, and lovely name!