Heat and Sparks a Good Mix Maybe So

Another great day with Filly learning how to play. It appears that she's finally ready to play like a normal foal. She was running & bucking with Grey Girl in the late afternoon, not seeming to care that it was 100+ degrees. Her legs are working & she's going to use them. Long after GG stopped running, Filly kept running & doing body twists. She was having so much fun & it's so wonderful to watch her. She's also deciding it's time to venture out away from Mama. She's always been independent in that she never fretted, whinnied or ran to keep up with Mama. But she also never wandered off on her own. She always just slowly plodded along behind her mother. Now she's wandering from one end of the pasture to the other, not minding that Mama is far away. Now that Filly's legs are healing she's finding not only her confidence, but that life can be fun & exciting. She's able to play & have fun. She no longer has to be careful & place every step precisely. It's great to watch her explore, run, buck & play. At 2 1/2 months old, Filly is finally a happy foal & there's a new spark in her eye.

Runnin' and Playin' Around 7/27

What a wonderful sight in the early morning cool to see Filly running & playing with Grey Girl. The fillies were running & bucking, fishtailing & rearing, snorting & flagging their tails. The cool of the morning seemed to bring out the playfulness in the otherwise sedate Filly. She was even spied rearing up & across Mama's back. Mama is such a good, tolerant mother & she never even twitched an ear when her exuberant filly jumped on her. The frisky Filly even bucked & kicked at Mama. Grey Girl is as feisty a filly as they come, galloping & leaping through the air, showing Filly how to enjoy life. Mommy Dearest isn't a tolerant mother & GG has learned to not jump on or kick at her mother. This doesn't prevent her from zooming around MD, scattering the hay in defiance. It was so much fun watching the fillies play that CMK was late to work because the fillies were so captivating. From now on CMK has vowed to get up earlier to watch the fillies, not wanting to be late again because it's doubtful the boss will understand the joy of watching foals play.

John Deere Green on a Hot Summer Night 7/26

This weekend was a working weekend at the ranch. We know it's still summer, but there are so many things to do to prepare for the winter rains. Grandpa came with his tractor to clean the mare's & filly's pasture. Grey Girl wanted nothing to do with the green monster that was making all the dust. She & Mommy Dearest fled to the bottom of the pasture & watched wide-eyed from a distance. Filly on the other hoof was quite fascinated & kept trying to get close to check the tractor out. When the bucket or scraper moved, Filly would dash off with her tail in the air. She even kicked up her heels at it a few times. It was so cute to watch. Her curiosity was getting the best of her & she seemed to be making a game out of running away. It's so good to see her have a little spunk because she's a rather sedate, old soul filly.

CMK planted a big garden this year, complete with carrots. There was also corn but it was planted too close to the pasture fence & Mommy Dearest ate most of it before CMK put up higher fencing. While Grandpa was running the tractor, CMK noticed there were cucumbers growing through the fence into the pasture. The shock was that the cucumbers all had the ends, those sticking through the fence, bitten off. It looked like foal size teeth had been nibbling on them. What those fillies won't eat! Or better said is, what Filly won't eat. She loves carrots, apples, watermelon, & has even eaten a peach. One day she even ate zucchini squash! What a silly filly!

The forecast for the next week is heat, heat, & more heat. So far Mama is holding up. We'll sure be glad when summer is over so the worry about Mama over heating can end. With the garden on the fence line, at least there's a sprinkler spraying a mist & cooling things down a little. The sprinkler has also made a little green patch that the mares & fillies love. Sometimes the fillies can be seen laying in the green, nibbling as they nap. What a great life these fillies lead. Eat, sleep & be merry.

Hot Hot Hot..... And Only Gettin' Hotter

Another scorching day & horses are miserable in the heat. Mama is doing as well as can be expected with her health issues. She sweats in odd patterns & those areas lose hair, looking like a horse suffering rain rot. She has salt deposits across her body, indicating she's losing electrolytes. She gets 4oz of white salt twice daily to replenish these losses, as well as a salt block available at all times. She has hay in front of her 24/7 & she's holding her weight steady at 834 on the tape. Of course this is still over 100lbs underweight, but unbelievably better than the 585lbs she was a few short months ago.

Filly is so sad & depressed without her friend. She's forlorn & continues to whinny pitifully in search of Grey Girl, who never bothers to whinny back. We've noticed that Filly lays down a lot more now than she ever has. Sometimes she lays eating hay & other times she just lays & scratches her legs. Bet she's glad she can scratch them after all these weeks of being wrapped. It seems the heat & loss of her friend has sapped her energy. Her eye has totally cleared up & her legs look fantastic.

Grey Girl's eye is doing better. It's not weeping & it's not squinting. The blue, damaged area is smaller in size & less intense in color. She'll continue to get ointment in it for a few more days. It's still dilated so she isn't yet able to go back on pasture. When an eye is dilated it can be irreversibly damaged by the sun. No chances are being taken so Mommy Dearest & GG remain stallbound. They don't seem to mind as long as they have feed around the clock. Horses sure can eat a lot. And boy can they poop. So glad I'm not the one cleaning the stall.

Sunday morning was a mixed bag of good & bad. It was awesome to see Filly's legs doing so fantastic after her first 48 hours unwrapped. It looks like all the hard work & dedication has paid off. Even Filly's knees are looking better with the sponge like lumps & bumps dissolving. Her eye has also cleared up. While we'll never know what caused her eye to become so goopy, it appears being out of the night paddock has fixed the problem.

We wish we could say the same for poor Grey Girl's eye. Her left eye was 3/4 closed & weeping copiously when CMK fed breakfast. It looked like not only was something in the eye, but there was a definite blue area in the corner. Thankfully it's not in the field of vision. One person alone couldn't hold GG AND treat the eye so a call was made & DW came to the rescue once again. Grey Girl is an extremely strong filly, quite possibly in the ranks of a WWF wrestler foal style. CMK had to pin her into a corner, lean on her, & put a semi-choke hold on her so that DW could check out the eye. With tiny forceps a foxtail was removed. Once again CMK is relegated to twice daily stall cleanings. The knight in shining armor, DW, is once again scheduled to come help with the little spitfire nightly until the eye heals. Hopefully no one will ask "what's next"?

When Filly first realized her little friend was not coming back out to play she got mad, running, bucking, calling & even kicking at Mama. Oh what a little brat! Finally she lay down to take a nap. When she woke, she continued searching for Grey Girl but the anger was gone. Filly was moping & walking across the pasture in Eeyore fashion, crying the most pitiful little whinnies. Her sorrowful whinnies were enough to break anyone's heart. Who says horses don't have feelings? Anyone who thinks horses don't have feelings and emotions should come meet Filly. She's such an emotional & expressive filly with tons of personality, loving with all her heart. Hopefully Grey Girl will soon return to pasture so Filly will perk up. It's so sad seeing her depressed. Grey Girl on the other hand could care less, never answering Filly's pitiful whinnies. GG is happy to be with Mommy Dearest, munching on hay & napping in shavings. While CMK & DW don't agree with her, GG thinks she's quite the lucky filly.

Born to Be WILD

Last night Filly not only didn't get her wraps back on, she spent the night on pasture instead of in the night paddock. This morning not only did her legs look good, her eye was NOT goopy. She did so well through her first 24 hours of freedom. CMK kept a close watch on her throughout the day in case her legs tired or weakened & she needed to be brought in for her wraps. Nope, didn't happen. She spent all day on pasture. A sprinkler was on & she even stood close enough to get misted. Filly sure knows how to stay cool in this 100* plus heat.

MJ visited today & was over heard telling Filly that she could come live with MJ. Those are pretty darned near to being fighting words! Filly isn't going anywhere! MJ also admired Grey Girl, who is just the prettiest filly with a lot of elegance & refinement. She has such big, bright eyes & cute ears. GG really is hard to resist. Another friend stopped by to visit. Jim has been keeping an eye on the mares & fillies since they arrived at CMK's. He's always amazed that there's so much improvement in Mama & Filly every time he sees them. He thinks Filly is just fantastic & he loves her size & substance. Like most other visitors he's fallen under the spell of Grey Girl's very typey head. He thinks GG could have a future in the show ring, & he should know since he used to show "big time". ES also came to visit. We think he'd steal Filly if he thought he'd get away with it. She really is an impressive filly with her wonderful size & plenty of bone. She's a big filly & it's sometimes hard to remember she's only 2 months old. And of course her loving, pocket pony disposition is appreciated by all. Maybe CMK should put a lock on the pasture gate so the fillies don't disappear.

Wrap Free

Filly's wraps came off this morning for what's hoped to be the last time. Everyone please keep your hooves crossed she's ready to be splint/cast & wrap free. Her poor eye was so goopy that it was almost stuck shut. She was so good while her face was washed & all the goop cleaned away. CMK is convinced there's something in the night paddock that Filly is allergic to. It seems her eye is always bad in the morning & better in the evening after the day on pasture. When evening came & it was time for the mares & fillies to come in for their buckets of beet pulp, oats & supplements, CMK almost put the wraps on because of the fear that Filly's legs might not be ready for total freedom. Her legs looked really good so the wraps stayed packed away in the feed room. It will be long night waiting to see how Filly's legs do overnight.