A couple weeks ago, I took Chico for a brisk walk down the road.  I wanted to see if there was any sign of lameness since his injury last September.  That horrific cut on his right hind fetlock has healed very well, but it is still reorganizing inside.  The fetlock is a little larger, though radiographs of the joint and leg show no bony changes.

We walked about 2 miles.  And the whole time, I could not detect any  lameness.  He was steady and his footprints even landed exactly even on both sides.  I wanted to try walking him back into shape, by my schedule did not allow that.  Instead, he's been in the pasture this whole time.

Then yesterday, I decided to try riding him and see if he could stay sound.  I saddled him up for the first time since last summer.  He stood solid and calm.  I walked him from the ground to warm him up, then mounted.  He was strong and we started walking.  I couldn't detect any lameness in him.  He was a little all over the place, gawking at everything as we walked (not spooking, just had to look at everything).  That made it hard to evaluate him.  But then, when we turned back home, he was much straighter and walked more briskly.  I could not detect any abnormality associated with that leg.  He still did the same thing he's been doing for years, where occasionally he catched his toe on a hind leg in the sand on the side of the road and trips (never catches his toe when we are walking on trails on more uneven ground - I think it's laziness).  But even that didn't make him sore.  And he stayed comfortable and "normal" all the way home - it was a 3 mile ride.  I know that's not long, but we have to start slow!  We even trotted a little bit, and he really seemed normal.

So, I'm so excited that he might still have a long riding life ahead of him.  He is my favorite riding gelding afterall!

This is after we got back from our ride.  I trimmed him.

More Arctic chills

Our weather has been so strange this year.  We'll have days of bitter cold, often with high winds, then there will be 1 or 2 days where it suddenly jumps up 25 degrees into the mid-20s to low 30's.  This weekend was pretty horendous with very nasty blowing snow and highs in the single digits, though you wouldn't think it given how bright and sunny this picture is.  The horses choose to stand on the lee side of the hills in their pasture and soak up the sun on those cold days.  Catlow of course notices that I came out on the deck to take their picture...is it time for hay yet?

Thankfully, many of those 1 nice day here and there's have happened on the weekend when I have actually been home.  And I've taken full advantage.  If the weather is at all bearable (minimum 15 degrees, and not too windy), I've gone for a ride.  Usually I ride bareback in the winter, but I have ridden in a saddle a couple of times.

I've been alternating between Stormy, Cody, and Catlow.  I'm not even going to try to ride Chico until next summer and I know he should be fully healed from last Fall's injury.  Then I'll be able to more adequately assess his long-term soundness potential.  Chico's wound is looking pretty good, by the way.

 

 

 

His hair on that leg is all crimpy, I think because the winter hair was growing in while he was wearing a bandage.  It tends to collect snow and ice-balls more than his other legs. 

It also makes it hard to tell just how big that fetlock really is.  It is bigger than the other, but I think it looks even larger with the crimpy hair.

Since it was so windy and cold today, I didn't ride, and I pulled the horses' hay over to the lee side of a hill to feed.  Usually they are fed on top of the hill next to our house.  Out of the wind, the sun made this weather totally wonderful.

And my dogs like the cozy little leeside as well, digging up frozen horse turds and doing their best to chew them up.

 

 

So, I like horse butts.  I'm sure everyone does, right?  All my horses have very different, but equally nice butts!

 

 Stormy

 

Catlow

Cody

Chico

 

My dark horses' coats are getting that faded late winter look.  I can't wait till they shed out this spring.  I'm ready for winter to be finished.  Usually I really like winter, but I've been so busy, away from home, and last winter was so long.  I feel like the majority of the last year has been winter for me!

 

Chico and Cody

Stormy again

 

So, have I mentioned that I love Stormy?  I do.  When I bought her, I thought I was going to keep her till next year and then look into selling her.  I may still do that...but the longer I have her, the less likely that is looking.   I just love her.  And she loves me too.  I love my other horses too of course, but she is just a sweet little peppy mare.  She's the bottom of the pecking order in my herd, but she still has her own "personality".  My horses have taught her some really nice manners.  She is not nearly so pushy about food as she used to be.  And she is so fun to ride.  She hesitates occasionally about going out alone, and we might have a very brief second of discussion about it, but really, she does whatever I ask of her.  I want to try to get her a little more fine-tuned at this point.  She still doesn't know a whole lot about leg cues (other than squeeze to go faster), but she is slowly catching on.  I am getting to the point where I can feel her slightly responding when I ask her to step over one direction when riding.  The reason we haven't gotten far yet is mostly my fault.  I just haven't been working with her.  I jump on and we go out for a ride.  I try a little bit on the trail, but I think some of this sensitizing of her body needs to happen on the ground, because she just doesn't realize she is suppoesd to respond any other way than she currently knows.

 

 

 

Last weekend I rode her with my 1964 Simco saddle.  It is a really nice old saddle that I restored and it doesn't fit any of my other horses.  I've been having trouble finding a saddle to fit Stormy.  She is narrow, but short - backed, so Catlow's saddle fits her back well, but the rigging is not in the right place for Stormy.  As is, Catlow's saddle rides up over Stormy's withers, all because the rigging pulls it up there.  It's really annoying and makes me not want to ride down hills in it at all.  I actually was thinking (daydreaming) about trading Catlow's saddle in for the same brand and style but a more typical rigging.  But that is going to cost a lot.  Then it dawned on me that I need to try my super old almost antique saddle on her.  And it fits!  So I dont' have to look into anything new for her.  The only downside of this old saddle is that it is heavy.  And with Stormy being my smallest horse, it makes me feel bad for her!  But, I have to give the little mare some big credit. 

 

Two weeks ago, I rode Cody bareback and we cantered up the snowmobile trail, which starts out at a gentle incline, but then gets really steep to get up to the top of the ridge.  We cantered along, and when we got to the steep part, Cody was already tired, but I urged her a little and she dug right in to get us to the top.  Then we had to stand at the top for a good 5 minutes without moving while Cody huffed and puffed and caught her breath.  Now, this weekend, I did the same thing with Stormy.  But I was in my 40 lb saddle on a tiny little mare.  Stormy started out cantering much faster than Cody, and when we got to the steep part, just chugged right up to the stop.  She wanted to stop and rest for a second too, but she was not huffing and puffing like Cody was.  Both of them have had the same amount of activity these last several months.  Stormy just has some really nice drive that is fun to play with.  She can be really fast!

 

 

 

And I think Stormy's delicate face markings are so cute.

 

So, two more pictures and these are not of horses.  This is one of our cows. 

 

 

A few weeks ago, my husband noticed that she had some pretty nasty eye discharge.  We got her in the chute to look at her and saw that she had a big tumor of her third eyelid (likely a squamous cell carcinoma).  It was so large that we couldn't cut it out in its entirety and to leave any in was just asking for it to grow right back.  These tumors can be really invasive into the surrounding bone and are one of the more common reasons that carcasses are condemned and not allowed to be used for human consumption.  It's commonly called "cancer eye" and is usually seen in white-faced cows because of the carcinogenic affects of UV radiation on unpigmented skin.  This cow is a middle aged brood cow and is a valuable member of our herd.  With her "cancer eye", she is worthless and will be condemned if sold.  But by removing her whole eye along with the tumor, we can be pretty sure to get the whole cancerous growth and prevent it from recurring.  Now she will have a long comfortable life having more babies.  I'm proud to say that my first enucleation/eventeration went pretty well, and she is healing as expected!  She is a little more wary after all is said and done though.

 



Darkness

I've been missing my horses.  I've spent the last week at home, but I'm gone all day on my latest externship and I leave early and don't get back until after dark.  So it's been over a week since I've seen my horses in the daylight.  Without a barn with lights, it makes it hard to really check on them...but they are all there and upright for every feeding.

And this weekend marks the last cram session for an exam that I hope I'll ever have to do.  I take my national board exam tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

And I'm going to post the transition collages I made for Chico and Catlow that show their progression since I adopted them as yearlings until now.  Can you believe they are 9 years old already!?

Together at last (2)!

 

Cody trots to catch up with Catlow, who moved down the valley to graze.

After separating Stormy out, Chico hurries to catch up with Cody and Catlow.

Stormy makes it back down to the others after I shoo her away, and Chico right away sets in to chase her.  She's not to happy about it...with a swish of her tail.

All the activity gets Catlow riled up too, so she launches into a gallop!  If Catlow is going to run, the whole herd will run!  I love the power in Catlow's launch!

They are all feeling a little sassy!  Well, Catlow and Cody are...I think Stormy is just trying to stay out of Chico's way!

 

 Catlow is really digging in!



Sassy!

My dogs think they should chase the horses as the horses run past and my poor cruciate ligament tear/repair dog, Jasper, trips himself up in the grass and goes head over heals!

Don't worry, Jasper is okay.  It just hurts to see him so debilitated.  I'm pretty sure catching Lyme disease set off his cranial cruciate ligament tears.

The horses get separated.  Stormy ran into the lower pasture and whinnies pitifully to her separated friends.

So they all head down to be together.

Once together, they are still riled up!  I love the tails in the air!

 

 Then they settle down, with Chico and Cody standing side by side, like they used to.  Stormy looks on like she'd really like to be next to her Cody.



I do think that Cody missed Chico.  She touches him affectionately here.

Stormy decides she's had enough of them for awhile and trots up to visit me again.  Sure, maybe she thinks I'll feed her, but she really does seem to be bonding to me!  Every time I come outside, she looks up and stares at me with this penetrating look.  None of my other horses do that!  Griffin used to always notice me and acknowledge me too.

Together at last!

This will be a two parter, just because I have lots of photos to share.

And because I know that it is probably hard to tell all my dark horses apart , especially since they all get darker when their winter coats come in, I'll describe them all quick before we get into it.  Catlow is the easy one...she is the sorrel with the big blaze face.  Then Stormy is the only other horse with any white - she is dark brown (seal brown) with a small crescent on her forehead, a snip, and a white right rear pastern.  Stormy has the darkest coat color and true black mane and tail.  Cody is very similar in color to Stormy except she is more of a smokey color (due to the cream gene on seal brown) and her mane and tail are very dark chocolate.  She is also bigger than Stormy and has no white.  And Chico is the simple bay with no white.  He is actually a little bit of a sooty bay, but compared to the others, he is quite light.

Chico's wound is really healing nicely.  It's hardly even thickened around the fetlock anymore.  It has a nice scab over the ever-shrinking granulation tissue.  I'm so pleased at the stage it's at.

 

So I decided to turn the horses back out together.  It's easier to manage them when they are together.  As it was, the two out in the big pasture weren't getting any mineral because the mineral feeder is in the barn.

 

I knew there would be drama, and of course there was, but not nearly as much as there was the first time I turned Chico out with them all.  That time he was also full of energy from being cooped up in the barn.  This time it was much less excitement, but still a lot to see in the herd interactions.

 

Stormy has this disgusting habit of peeing at horses when she is kicking at them.  I thinks it's a bit of submission thing, but she also tends to show extremely strong heats, especially to horses she hasn't been with.

 

Here she is kicking at Chico and peeing at him at the same time, as he threatens to kick her.

 

Chico tries to go down and chase after Stormy, again, but Cody (dark chocolate colored horse) steps in front of him and cuts him off, threatening to kick him.  Remember, Chico and Cody are usually best buds.

 

 

I love Cody's face in this and Chico's reaction.  She is clearly telling him to back off. 

 

And he does.  Cody is the boss mare afterall.  He behaves himself for a few minutes, following Cody apologetically.  This picture is good for showing the colors of the "dark" horses.  Stormy is furthest in the background here, then Cody (you can really see her smokiness), then Chico last.

 

But that doesn't last long.  He's back to chasing Stormy again.

 

He tries to keep her on the outside of his herd, while Cody looks on with a watchful eye.  Catlow couldn't care less what was happening.  She was just happy to be out in the big pasture grazing (she was the one in with Chico in the little pasture).

 

Chico succeeds in isolating Stormy and she looks at me hoping I might save her.

 

Chico takes off at a strong trot to catch up with Cody and Catlow.  You can see his leg really doesn't hinder him much at all!  I'm so excited that I might actually have my riding gelding back when he's all healed up from this.  I don't think this ruined him!

 

 He's catching air here.  Someone said that he probably is okay because mustangs are tougher than other horses.  I sort of had to giggle at that because really, Chico was just one lucky horse.  Lucky that he happened to miss all those important tendons, joints, and everything else down there!  And I like to think he had good care.  Without all the bandaging, he certainly wouldn't have had this good of a cosmetic effect, and it may have scarred bad enough to hinder motion in his fetlock.

 

After Chico isolated Stormy, she came right over to hang out with me.  She just stood next to me and walked beside me in the pasture as though I was leading her.  I finally shoo'd her away telling her to go interact with the others, and as she left, she stopped and looked back at me with this expression "Do I really have to?"

 

I'm really becoming quite attached to the newest member of my herd.

Still healing, and a LOT of wine!

The healing on Chico's leg is still going slowly, but this weekend, for the first time, I can't detect the cleft in the granulation tissue!  And the seepage from the wound is suddenly remarkably less.  I'm taking that as a great sign that we are finally closing up, but he still has a ways to go.  Starting last weekend, I've been taking the bandage off during the day and on at night.  During the week, that was spotty, as my Dad had to change his bandage, so I just had him change it everyother day and not worry about off in the a.m., on in the p.m.  But I started that back up this weekend.  His leg still swells up just a bit when it is not bandaged.  With a bandage on, it stays much less swollen.  So, we are trying to get the best of both worlds (air to the wound and decreased swelling) with our current methods.  I just don't want Chico's leg to heal up all thick after all the work we've put into it.  Chico has also been out in the small pasture (no longer cooped up in the barn) for the last couple weeks.

Chico is such a good boy though all this.  When he sees me enter the pasture, he comes over to greet me immediately and stands stock still while I check out his bandage and remove it.  To put it back on, I always take him out and tie him near all my supplies.  He seems to enjoy all the attention.  Nothing has been a bad experience for him.  He comes right up to me for scratches and love.  I think a lot of that has to do with being separated from the rest of the herd.  He's with Catlow now, but he REALLY wants to be with his best bud, Cody.  He's lonely for the whole herd.

And I must show the pictures from my wine exploits.  I got into wine-making over the summer.  So far I've done Black Raspberry, Peach, Peach/Blueberry, Elderberry, Grape, Grape/Apple, Crabapple, Cranberry/Elderberry.  They are in 1 gallon carboys (each gallon makes 5 wine bottles full), but some I have between 2 and 4 gallons of.  I think that's about all I'll tackle for this year.  The wines need to finish fermenting and aging.  My first ones are supposed to be ready to drink around Christmas.  I've been sampling them along the way during the whole process and I really like most of them (in the beginning they didn't taste the greatest but they did change as the fermentation proceeded).  Some have required some tweaking, but I won't go into it...I could spend a whole separate blog writing about wine-making!  All I'll say is it is so fun, and I'm so glad I got into it.  The most fun part is I get to harvest wild fruit (most of what I've picked grows wild around our land), and tweak it all to the tastes that I like.  I don't like my wine sweet, like most fruit wines are made, so I get to make it just the way I like it.

Some of the wines in this picture are cloudy because they are really young and still actively fermenting.  From left to right: Black Raspberry (the deepest darkest color I've made so far), Elderberry, Grape, Grape/Apple, and Crabapple.

 

 

Not all the wines I've made are in this picture.  Some have been bottled and but away in my cold room.