Fall Arrives

As fall arrives with 100 degree heat, the mares & fillies are doing well. It's sometimes hard to believe late spring & early summer were such trying times. The cool days of fall, as well as all the falling leaves & breezes, are going to be a much appreciated reprieve from the hot summer days.

Mama is having a little trouble with the heat, but she's holding up well. She still gets a few oily, sweaty patches but she's better able to regulate her body temperature & not suffer heat exhaustion. Her coat is glossy & her eyes are bright. She's never gained all the weight she needed (she's about a 4 on the Henneke scale), but she's as healthy as is possible for a horse with her medical problems. Mommy Dearest is her dear sweet self, a little mellow now that her filly is older, but still a bit of a grump.

It's amazing how fast Grey Girl is turning grey. She's just 3 months old and already she's quite grey. She's a stunning mover with plenty of action & stretch. It's so much fun to see her bounce around the pasture with her tail over her back.

Filly is quite the character & continues to blossom. She & Blondi like to chase the hay wagon & the other day she almost ran right up into the back of the wagon. The silly filly was trotting behind, bumping the wagon with her chest. She would have been in for a big surprise if her front feet had gotten in the wagon while her hind feet were still running. Nothing is safe from Filly. She's always getting into things & today she was caught with a bundle of hot tape in her mouth. She'd pulled it off the fence where it was hanging, waiting to be strung. As we watched she put her head through the middle of the bundle & then shook, causing the tape to fall. Filly's very good at amusing herself but poor CMK can't stay ahead her. There just aren't enough hours in the day to keep Filly out of trouble.

Filly's legs are doing wonderful. They're amazingly straight & getting stronger by the day. The puffiness in her knees is almost gone. She has nice feet which is a testament to her trimmer. Even though Filly is at times an old soul, she's so much fun to be around. She's has a quietly big personality that just shines. She's bold & assertive, allowing nothing to scare her. She's such a lovely filly & we're so very lucky to have her. She's definitely worth every long night & heartache to get her where she is today.
Filly makes sure she never misses a meal, even if it means sneaking into the hay barn. Out, out, out BRAT!

Another call for assistance

CMK has done it again. The heart has been opened to horses in need. A week ago 2 horses came to CMK from MN (Viking country). These horse are not thin. They are obese & the 48 hour trailer ride crashed them into founder episodes. X-rays have been taken & hoof care has been provided, including trims & casting on their sore feet. CMK's hay is too high in sugar for these horses so a low sugar hay is needed. If anyone would like to help defray vet costs & medication, or drop off a bale of low sugar grass hay, I'm sure it would be appreciated. These horse are also allowed to eat sugar free beet pulp. For anyone would like to follow their blog: http://www.thepainfuljourney-equinefounder.blogspot.com Thank you everyone for your continued support of someone who does private rescue on a single income.

What A Brat!

After working hard at fencing over the weekend, CMK came home yesterday to catch Filly on yet another wrong side of the fence. There was Filly walking around the empty pasture, quite pleased with herself I'm sure. There's only one section left in her pasture that's hot tape only & she's figured out that she can go through it. She plucks the tape with her teeth, pulling it off the insulators & grounding it out. Then she very carefully steps between the strands. She doesn't knock the strands down or get tangled in them. Blondi & Grey Girl just stand & watch but soon they'll learn Filly's bad habit. It now looks like this coming weekend will be spent putting up the remaining horse fence.

Filly is such a brat! While CMK was fixing the hot tape & trying to get it to give a stronger shock, Filly was pulling tools out of the wagon. Next she found the bucket of apples that were to be shared among all the horses. By the time CMK caught her, Filly had bitten chunks out of every one of those apples. It would have served her right if she'd gotten a worm!

Filly is such a bright light at the end of a hard day. She never fails to bring a smile to CMK's face. Even when she's being naughty she's too cute to scold.

Three Against One

Long weekends are always fun. There's one more day to work around the ranch & play with the fillies. Work & play is exactly what CMK did over the Labor Day weekend.

On Saturday Blondi got her 2nd WNV vaccination. Filly turned 4 months old on Sun so she got her first WNV vaccination. Both were so good for their shots. Thank you DW for stopping by & helping. It's so much easier to have 2 sets of hands when working with babies. It seems so long ago that it was May & Filly was born. All those days of doctoring, wrapping & splinting are fading memories. The emotion roller coaster sits idle & hopefully it won't be turned back on anytime soon. Filly has finally found her legs & she loves to use them, leading the fillies in their games. Grandpa enjoys seeing them running through his property, making laps around his house. He's mighty proud of "his" fillies, especially Filly.

Sunday was a work day with fencing needing to be done. Once the fence was rolled out on the ground, here came Filly & Blondi to help. Filly thought she'd keep the fence from rolling back into a ball by standing on it. The only problem was that CMK was trying to lift it up against the posts. Shooing & shishing had no effect as Filly did her job, holding that fence in place. Blondi grew tired of being a fence weight so she & Grey Girl proceeded to pull the tools out of the wagon. Pliers went over there, fence clips went over there, & the staples went all over the ground. A job that should have taken an hour stretched into almost 3 hours. With employees like Blondi, Filly, & Grey Girl, CMK doesn't need any more help! Once the fence was standing & being clipped, CMK became the object of play. All 3 fillies had fun trying to pull CMK's hair & clothes. As soon as one was shooed away, another would attack. Three against one really isn't fair. Three against one might not be fair, but it sure is fun! These 3 fillies sure have brightened up the ranch. But it's a good thing the next long weekend isn't for a while. Working among 3 fillies is tiring & it takes a long time to recuperate.

Come Back Here With My Food

We thought it time to show everyone pictures of the mommies & fillies. Boy have the little ones grown. Filly will be 4 months old on 9/6, Grey Girl is 2 1/2 months & Blondi is 6 1/2 months. The fillies are always very helpful & try to get into the middle of everything. They're so cute & they bring so much joy to all who meet them. Mama is holding her own, probably as well as can be expected with her health issues. Mommy Dearest has settled down some, but can still be caught chasing Blondi away with teeth bared. And Filly is just doing fabulously after her very hard start. Thank you everyone for keeping an

eye on us & thank you for your continued support.

Who's The Alpha Mare?

It was a good weekend at the ranch. A lot of time was spent playing with the fillies. They're all so personable you get mauled for attention. They follow you around the pasture like you're the Pied Piper of Fillydom. Blondi & Filly are so good about being haltered, even in pasture. Grey Girl needs a little more work but she's so sweet & curious it won't be long before she can be haltered in pasture as well.

Sunday morning was trim day for Filly. In preparation for the trimmer, the mares & fillies were run into a smaller pasture that is next to CMK's garden. When watering the garden the pasture also gets watered so there's a nice patch of grass. Boy did those mares & fillies enjoy the nice, green grass. When it was time for Filly's trim, they were called to the gate with Filly last to arrive. She's such a princess that the mommies & babies just parted to let her pass through to the front. What a good girl she was for her trim. She behaves better than most adult horses. Trimmer said her feet are getting better & looking good. Woohoooooo...

Filly has really become quite the bossy baby. She was caught pinning her ears at Blondi on Sat. Not only did she pin her ears flat, but she bared her teeth & in slow motion she reach over & bit Blondi on the withers. Did she learn this from Mommy & Baby Dearest? Oh what an ugly faceshe was making. When the first bite didn't move Blondi enough, Filly then bit her in the butt. OUCH! Blondi had to jump out of the way. Filly is becoming quite the little alpha mare.

The Elusive Hay Wagon

Gosh, it's about time for an update. CMK was out of town for a few days, attending some meetings. C & C stepped in to help around the ranch, keeping the horses fed & watered. Thanks for your help C & C. Grandpa also did his part in keeping the ranch going. He went over the hill & made sure the garden was watered daily; he filled the old shepherd's mud holes to keep her cool; & he fed the little girls (the shepherd & her 2 GWP companions) their daily treat of biscuits. It seems Grandpa is always coming to the rescue. CMK was so surprised to find that while gone, Grey Girl had almost completely shed her foal bay coat & is now GREY. She's going to be a Cinderella white horse before she's very old. It's amazing to see an almost 3 month old who's already white grey. GG is as cute as they come with her bright, wide eyes & inquisitive nature. The weather has been a somewhat cooler & she can be seen flying around the pasture with her tail curled over her back. Filly has grown. She'll soon be 4 months old & is almost as tall as Mama. She's growing like the proverbial weed. She's such a little old soul & has that worldly look in her eyes. It's refreshing to see her run & play with GG & Blondi because at those times she's a baby. She & Blondi are so funny at feeding time because they chase the hay wagon & snatch bites of hay on the run. Filly pins her ears as she runs, mad that the wagon won't stop so she can eat. Sometimes CMK joins in the silly game & drives the hay wagon all over the pasture just so the fillies will chase the wagon. We're sure the neighbors wonder what's going on with all the laughter as they see horses flying in circles after the elusive hay wagon. Blondi has now been weaned. It was a smooth weaning with her mother just across the fenceline. Neither seemed to mind & both settled into their separate lives. A very quite mare was put in with the mommies & fillies so that Blondi will have an adult of her own. Eventually this mare will become the nanny for all as they are weaned. This weekend will be a working weekend because a creep feeder needs to be made so the fillies can be fed without the mares gobbling all the feed. Weanlings need a lot more feed once they can no longer nurse. A lot of time was spent scratching & playing with the fillies on Mon. They mauled CMK for attention. Being away from the ranch sure makes CMK appreciate being home.