Feeling happy today--Winston and Oak bear introduction as pasture mates went well--until I found Winny with 2 huge gashes in him. He's still on bute today post major dentistry, so I wasn't worried about him being too sore, but one of the gashes could use a few sutures...will see how it goes. Also getting into fly season so want to keep him wound free.
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| Oakley and his cow pony Winston |
They are both sleepy and full tonight---and getting an extra snack of long grasses that G scythed when he came home from work. I really don't know why anyone would take the time to drag out a lawn mower when a scythe is so incredibly efficient. Not to mention a great ab workout. I just found out it was invented in 500 BC!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythe
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| Making crop circles in the UK ; ) Apparently there are scythe competitions! |
Expecting that I'll lock Winston in his stall tonight, and Oak will hopefully stay in the aisle. Been waiting for severe thunderstorms to hit for hours now--but so far nothing but a bit of rain and rumbling in the distance. I don't want them out in that.
Drove our new truck today which was fun. Went to the feed mill to pick up some hay in anticipation of having hungry beasts hiding in the barn for two days needing food, but they were out!! After narrowly avoiding throwing a tanty I consoled myself with some new work gloves, and got two bales from the neighbours who are moving (Winston's family) That should tide us over for a few days.
The storm arrived around 11pm. We'd been watching the lightning get brighter and more frequent but it had calmed some, so I wasn't expecting it when all of a sudden the skies opened up. Got dressed quickly and went out to move Winston into the barn from his little side paddock which was already filling up with water. He was asleep, soaked and disoriented when I grabbed his halter and tried to move him. The noise of the rain on the metal barn roof was deafening. It was so dark out! Remember there are no street lights out here, and only a few houses. Winston seemed pleased to have a stall all to himself, and was only mildly curious about Oakley, who followed him into the barn all wild eyed and nervous. Winny got hay in a hay net and a fresh bucket of water, which he plays in and dabbles like a duck in (super cute). He just seems happy to me. Oak put his giant head down for me and I petted him and talked calmly to him. He's really been a needy bear lately, and I'm glad that he still takes comfort and direction from me, despite having a new herd mate. I wasn't sure how it would go, and I was expecting I might even get a little jealous (silly, I know).
Every few days I'm able to pick up my "Zen Mind, Zen Horse" book and read a few paragraphs, but I'm really not focused enough to get through it all at this point. I read about being a herd leader, and what that responsibility means. According to the author you earn that role, and you must provide not only leadership but comfort and guidance in many areas. You must assume that your role will be constantly challenged. So it seems quite similar to what I knew about canid psychology. I'm thinking that I must be doing a few things right to have Oak behaving as he has been. Just need to translate that to under saddle...
On the day Winston arrived we kept the two separated. The fence attaches to the edge of the barn, where Oak would stand to crane his giant neck around the corner when Winston would walk off for a bit of space. We didn't realize there was a tiny bit of the barn trim sticking out at the bottom of a 2x6 that was the joint between the fence and the barn. G and I were working on the new corn and wheat patch right beside the paddock when all of a sudden we noticed Oakley struggling in the corner, then there was a loud crack, and he was backing up and spinning around. All I could see was a red flap of something hanging from his front left hoof. PANIC SILENTLY THINKING HOOF WALL HAS RIPPED OFF AND I'M SEEING LAMINA.
G got to him first but was carrying a rake which spooked him a bit, I told him whoa and grabbed his halter and as soon as I had my hand on his neck and told him he was ok, he was ok. : ) There was a saucer-sized piece of sheet metal caught in the part of his shoe that hooks around the wall of the hoof--seriously! What a fluke that something the thickness of sheet metal would find the tiniest gap in the shoe to grab onto. The metal had a nail stuck in it, and I was afraid if he spooked again it might end up underneath his foot, so I worked that out of the metal while G went to get pliers since I'd lost my leatherman. G yanked the metal out and then I hammered the shoe back so hopefully it wouldn't happen again. G fixed the corner of the barn and we both walked away feeling like we'd done the best we could.
Just another reminder that when it comes to working with animals anything can happen. ANYTHING! And another reminder that I should always be carrying my multitool, since I'm normally by myself and would not have had the luxury of having G there to help. So glad I've been working on voice commands like 'wait' with Oak bear. He kept his foot perfectly still and let us work on him. What a smart bear!
We've only had Winston for four days and I'm already finding out funny personality quirks. He reminded me of a cheeky dog when he snapped off the top of a sapling we planted last year, dropped it when I chastised him, jumped out of my reach and went and found the next one and did it again--cheeky!!! Apparently we shouldn't have planted the corn patch next to the paddock because I was told he once tore into a corn patch too. So cheeky!!
Teach your horse to smile-training tutorial! JD you'd probably like this.
He's likely got some degree of Cushing's disease, but we'll have to wait a bit to adress that. The first thing was getting his locked jaw moving and fixing his teeth--and a complimentary TMJ adjustment.
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| yup-this is exactly what it looks like--don't worry, Winston was nicely gorked on a double dose of sedation and painkillers |
Every day I've been finding old scars from being low horse in his herd, and little skin issues that are what I would see in a Cushing's dog. He's not shedding out properly, which is one of the classic signs. He also was sweating like crazy the other day.
I can't wait to give him a bath and give his poor itchy skin some relief. I clipped up the wound he came with on his hip and treated it. Not too long later he decided to roll in the paddock with is hard scratchy dirt, and he opened it right up again. He rolled to ventral and started rocking in a funny way, so red flag went up there. The next day he did it again, and then I noticed he had some flies around his sheath. Next step in Winston re and re...clean his dirty sheath. Poor guy!! Apparently he'd had it done last year but it was so dirty and likely horribly uncomfortable.
Well, lots to do, and I've gotten through my mid afternoon desire to nap, so I'd better get on with things before I crash again...The blasted robins woke me up at 4:30 am this morning!!
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