Catch Up

Well, it has been a very busy week+ so I thought I'd try to catch everyone up to date. Friday, February 9th Bruce was here to trim the horses feet. Everyone is doing very well since Bruce started doing them all. Tapper still has a long way to go but she is actually starting to grow some heel and is moving a lot better! Scooby has made terrific progress! On the top left is what his foot looks like now, and below is what it looked like when he first came here 2 and 1/2 years ago!








It has been very cold, the horses have needed their blankets almost every day. Dolly has a new blanket, a lot warmer than her old one. This is her modeling it.








We had a big snow storm on Wednesday the 14th, we got between 18 and 20 inches of snow and it was very cold and windy. The horses stayed in that day but by the next day they were in a huge hurry to get OUT!!! It was still cold and windy so I put all their blankets on and out they went. The stalls were a mess of course and took a long time to clean. Plus I had to plow everything and shovel. Thank goodness Barb came over to help. She did water buckets, dropped hay, and did a ton of shoveling snow! Thank You Barb!





The horses had a good time running and playing in the snow as you can see! Abby and Josey are checking out the snow in the above photo and Ziegy and Pepper are playing in the photo on the left.







Friday was another long day. Sundance went down to roll in the morning and couldn't get up. I was right there and was able to get him up pretty quickly. In the afternoon I was in the house visiting with Amy T. and Michael while Amy's husband Paul was in the barn doing some electrical work. Paul came up to the house and said that Sundance was down in the run-in and couldn't get up. Amy and I went down to help him but it was obvious he had been down for quite some time and was exhausted. He could barely lift his head let alone his body even with our help. Amy got her husband to come help (Michael came to offer moral support) and I called Amy S. at work and she came right up. The 4 of us still had no luck getting Sundance up so Amy S. called work and got 2 of the guys (Archie and Joe, big strong guys) to come and help. They brought straps with them and were able to get the straps under Sundance but we still could not get him up. I got the tractor, and drove it into the barn. It does not fit through the back door but with a little scraping the bucket made it through into the run-in. The guys hooked the straps to the bucket and I lifted Sundance up while they steadied him and helped him get his legs under him. Once he seemed to have his feet they unhooked the straps and I backed the tractor out. Amy S. walked him for a few minutes, then I took over. Within 5 or 10 minutes he was hollering for Deja (Archie had put her in a stall so she'd be out of the way), and walking around like nothing had happened and like he hadn't been close to dying a few minutes before!!! He did come awfully close this time. He wouldn't have made it without all the help we had and I am tremendously grateful to everyone. I've been trying to come up with ways to keep him from trying to roll. The past 2 days I have put a double layer of shipping boots on his front legs, up high around the knee. He could still go down because they are soft and flexible but I'm hoping if he bends his knees it will feel funny and he will stop. I spent the weekend looking out the window every few minutes to make sure he was on his feet! I don't think he could survive another day like Friday. I know his time is limited, he turned 35 in January, but I'm hoping he's not quite ready to go yet...

Today is again cold and windy. The temperature is in the single digits and the wind is strong and gusty. The horses are out with blankets (this is Ceres on the left) but I will be bringing them in early. Tomorrow and the rest of the week it is supposed to be warmer - above freezing!!! That will be a welcome relief to all!!!