An inch closer (though further away)

I've been doing a horrible job updating but I'm going to blame that on the fact that I rarely get to see Cody and Axel.  So last we left it was in the fall of 2014.  When the pasture grass started getting thin we moved Cody and Axel to a family friend's place in exchange for hay for the winter.  He has several horses so the boys got to pal around with a real herd for quite a while actually.  I tried to ride a couple times but in usual Cody fashion, he didn't want to go anywhere and Axel's arthritis is getting so bad he was a trip hazard.  We brought the horses back into town for a long weekend to work on some volunteer wheat again and give some rides in the yard.  At one point the property that they were staying at changed hands so the horses all moved to another paddock/pasture out 4 miles from the farm for the winter/spring/part of this summer.  And now finally they boys are staying at a friend's place for a couple months.  I'm really trying to get them moved as close as possible to me so when we move out there I can handle the care of them. Axel is getting thin and I really want to get him some grain on a regular basis and see if he'll fatten up.  And I'd like to blanket him this winter if he's going to stay on the thin side but I'd need to be able to check on him regularly if I do that.  Plans are still rolling around in my head on how to accomplish that.

So until then, they are a tiny step closer even though they are a few miles further away from us right now.

Still Slacking

It's bee a very cold winter around here and we've had quite a bit of snow.  We worked with Booker a little, not as much as we wanted since it was so cold.  Mostly working on the things that the trainer suggested along with a little goofing around.  Then at the beginning of March we sent Booker to the trainer for the month.  She's going to work him several times a week and get him back into shape and work on the stopping issues and just getting him listening and using his body properly.  Along with the training Nancy gets to ride a couple lessons as well so if the weather would cooperate that would be useful.

As far as my boys are concerned I haven't seen too much of them as we haven't been to the farm very often this winter with all the crazy weather.  I know the brother and sister in law and sister in law's brother took the three out for a little bareback ride around the pasture a couple months ago.  Sounds like they had a good time and the boys all behaved themselves.  The most work they've done in ages!  I've visited a few times to make sure everyone was still on all fours.  The slow feed Cinch Chix net is doing it's job, Axel is looking good and not too fat and his swelling has gone down significantly.  I'm guessing had we not put out hay without the net this year he wouldn't be swollen at all.  Haji may have lost a bit of weight which unless we're force feeding him 24 hours a day that was to be expected with the cold weather despite him having a blanket on. Spring should be good to get some weight back on him.  And though Axel still wants to eat everyone's feed, I think the three are getting along pretty well thanks to the small area they are in for the winter.

Middle of a Deep Freeze

We're in the middle of a deep freeze around here.  As in -20F with a -40F windchill.  Needless to say I don't like being so far away from being able to check on the boys.  Luckily they have the red barn with plenty of room for all three of them to hang out.  The report is that they spend the day outside and are always inside overnight.  So I guess they got a little smarts in their old age.

We switched over to a bulk feed.  It's easier to get and cheaper.  Probably not ideal for old men horses but I think everyone has their teeth still (talking to you, Haji) so it should be okay.  It's definitely good fat content wise and everyone likes how it tastes.  Jeff says that he hasn't met a feed these horses don't like (he hasn't tried to give Haji beet pulp I guess).

So the bulk feed is around 15 cents/lb versus the bagged senior feed which is more like $3/lb.  And they have apparently figured out how to store 1000lbs of it at a time.  Not sure what they did about that, I have two rodent proof bins that hold 300lbs of senior feed, so that probably holds a bit more bulk feed but I doubt 1000lbs. Anyways, they are fed and from all reports seem to still be alive and standing.  Someone is going to have some instructions to go photograph the horses and check under Haji's blanket for me next time he goes to the farm (without me this weekend).

Moving Again

I've been really horrible about keeping up with this blog lately.  I think part of it is the distance between my horses and myself.  But anyways better late than never, right?

Last time the horses had just gotten their feet trimmed and I'm happy to report that a month later they still look like they were trimmed last week and no one was sore from it that I noticed.  The family hadn't plowed the wheat field and a lot of volunteer wheat was growing so we figured we'd turn the horses out there for a change of scenery and something to munch on.

Low and behold, a couple weeks out there and I'm pretty sure Haji gained weight.  And they weren't eating much grain at that point because no one wanted to come up to the barn to eat.  All the while they were still on their first bale of hay.  Of course out of that whole 11 acres or so, the horses chose to stand in the one little patch of brush which meant tons of burrs.

And by "horses" I mean Haji. Though the other boys had their fair share of burrs as well.

When they needed to plow the wheat field they moved the horses back to the front pasture where they nearly finished off the first round bale.  So that bale lasted them since the end of September!  Guess they weren't done with the grass yet after all.

I wasn't able to make it out to Canby after that so Jeff took on the chore of pulling all the t-posts and trailering the horses over to his brother's place.  There's a leak in the well so we can't leave the water on all the time which means we can't use an insulated/heated automatic waterer.  And since the hose will freeze we can't really get water at all at our place so we decided to move them for the winter.  The cattle pens are all full of cattle at the inlaws so Jeff's brother's place is the only place left but there's no fence.  So Jeff pulled the t-posts in the dark and hand pounded them into frozen ground til his hands hurt for a week. Don't worry, I got to hear all about it ;)  Not being there just compounded my worry about the horses and not being able to manage their care being so far away.  It was a rough night to say the least.

So when they moved they threw out some hay from the loft and then put out a new round bale without the net which they all but finish in a week.  When I finally got out to see them after Thanksgiving they were FAT, super fat.  Which for Haji is a good thing, scratch that, great thing.  And that's without a lot of care in feeding him several times a day.  So I'm hoping he'll keep that weight on this winter. At some point someone took off Haji's blanket when it was a little warmer so I threw that back on him though he's got a nice winter coat and would probably be fine, I like the thought that he doesn't have to use his energy to keep himself warm and it'll help keep that sticky hip of his nice and warm.

So we had ourselves some more chores this past weekend and luckily the weather cooperated wonderfully.  I wrapped up the wire fencing from our place (that is a super lame job BTW) while Jeff started cleaning out his brother's barn.  Sunday I was able to get some time while Daniel stayed with Grandma and I went out to help.  The barn was full of who knows how many years worth of manure.  But between Jeff hand shoveling (I helped a tiny bit) and Joe running the bobcat they got the barn looking pretty nice.

We tied off the sides of the barn so the horses will just have access to the middle portion. That way they don't mess up the sides where the bobcat can't get and make it easier to clean in the future.  Also leaves the sides for storing various random things we found in the barn.

I put the buckets on the fence inside the barn which should mean a person can enter the barn from the small door and fill buckets without having to cross any fencelines or even go in where the horses are. The buckets will be out of the snow and rain so they can stay hung up and they won't go wandering away when a horse decides to play.  I thought maybe a neighbor kid could even feed but Jeff thinks that's too dangerous.  Anyway it's a pretty nice set up at this point.  The buckets are a little closer than I had hoped so hopefully the boys can figure out how to eat in peace and not run Haji off.  When I feed them from their buckets on the ground Sunday morning they all stood nicely and ate and Haji was able to finish before Axel came looking for seconds.  So that was nice.  Oh!  I saw Haji pin his ears and move Cody off at one point over the weekend.  Yay Haji!

I think there might be a bit of mud in our future but we'll see.  There was a low spot where the paddock is set up but this fall they filled it with gravel so maybe it'll be okay.  They do have a cement apron on the barn as well as the barn aisle to stand in if the mud gets bad.  We'll just have to scrap the aisle of manure on occasion.  Maybe throw out some stray or something.  I don't think it'll be as mud free as I thought our place would be but I think it'll be okay.  They don't have a large paddock right now but when the ground freezes they don't do too much moving around anyways.

So we cleaned up the barn, cleaned up their paddock area and put out a new round bale with net and everyone looked pretty happy.  I'm a little concerned that Haji hasn't figured out the net yet, so I'm hoping he figures that out soon if that's the case.

Sadly my hopes to see if Axel would not get swollen this winter are foiled.  They had a full round bale not in a net and he's swollen up again so I guess that experiment is off.  Oh well, I'd rather have fat happy horses in the end.  I'm also hoping this small area will make the three horses become better buddies in the end.  Maybe Haji will stick up for himself a bit more or something.

So after all my personal turmoil over the horses and their home and gaining or losing weight, I'm feeling good after this last weekend visit.  I'm thinking maybe the initial weight loss Haji had was a combination of not great hay, not getting grain quite enough, and the other horses running him around too much.  The hay is decent and the boys don't seem to run him around and he's getting regular grain so I think he'll do good this winter.  I think I can relax now.  Thanks so much to Jeff's brother for letting them live there this winter (I'm sure he doesn't mind the added bonus of us cleaning his barn either).

Back on the Ranch

Lots of photos in this post.  Back to the ranch after having been gone a couple weeks.  This time I was able to get a friend to come out and help with hooves.  Cody hadn't thrown his other shoe and it took the two of us and a lot of elbow grease to get the darn thing off.  It also took 3 hours to trim up all three horses but they are finally done and looking good.  A little shorter than my previous farrier but since we aren't riding and it's been hard to get someone out, this is probably for the best.  Now I just need to keep up on the rasping myself.

We were actually at the farm for 2 extra days so in that time I spent some time putting up the new barn door, painting it, and cleaning up the shed.  Haji spent some time laying down while I worked.  It was a little weird but I'm hoping he was just happy I was there and decided he needed to nap.

We also pulled up the fence from the side yard and fenced in the end of the wheat field so we could turn them out there for a while.  There's quite a bit of volunteer wheat growing out there and lots of space so it gives them something exciting to do for a while.  They must still have enough grass since the round bale is still not gone and it's been out there for over a month.  I was expecting some exciting running and bucking when I put them out in the wheat but I guess the old guys are getting old.  They did run, a little.  But that was about it.

Sadly to get to the field they have to wade through a pretty decent patch of burrs and nasty things.  Not that they hadn't already found enough burrs.  Haji was covered.  I finally went out with some old cutter thing and chopped down a path so they can hopefully avoid a few burrs.

And then I decided I would put Haji's blanket on as it's been getting pretty chilly and he needs all the help he can get saving energy for gaining weight.  I made sure to moderate his introduction to Cody and Axel with the blanket on.  Sometimes they freak out when they see a blanket for the first time of the year.  Axel came prancing up like he was trying to impress that new purple horse.  Then he realized it was Haji and things were back to normal.

Back in Town

I haven't been out to the farm in a few weeks now.  Last weekend Jeff and Daniel went without me and I went scrapbooking.  I guess the goats and the cattle went back to their regular homes and the fence needed to come down so Cody, Axel, and Haji needed to leave their summer vacation home and head back to town.  Jeff didn't think I'd approve of putting the horses in the stock trailer (actually that's not a problem, but whatever) so he and his nephew hand walked the three horses back to town.  Just a mile but juggling three horses between the two of them must have been entertaining to see.  The three don't exactly have the same pace.  In fact Haji, the oldest and shortest of them all, walks way faster than everyone else.

But they are back in their regular home and the round bale feeder has been set up.  No word yet on if they put out a round bale and if they got the slow feed net on it (hoping they don't put out the bale without it). I guess the inlaws can't quite figure out why I would put a net over the bale though I've explained how much it saves in waste alone, hopefully they'll take my word for it.

In bad news, it appears I've been dumped by my new farrier.  He cancelled our appointment a couple weeks ago and never called back to reschedule.  I've left him several messages with no response.  The neighbors don't need any work done so I'm on my own.  But it happens that someone I know that used to live in the cities now lives 30 minutes from Canby.  She trims her own horses.  So if I can learn to pull Cody's shoes, she's gonna hopefully come out next time I'm there and trim the boys for me.  Perhaps she can school me a bit and I can do it myself eventually.  And I'm hoping Cody stays sound without shoes.  I still have hoof boots he can wear for riding if he isn't sore in the pasture this year.

Horses at their vacation home

As usual I'm behind in my updates.  Last time I was out at the farm I went out to check on the boys.  If I didn't know better I'd say Haji was still gaining weight.  Must be some really decent grass out there.  The good news is that the boys were hanging together once again so that made me happy to see.

Haji joins the vacation

Saturday we went out to see the horses and take Daniel and cousin Chloe for a little ride around the driveway.  One thing is for sure, brother-in-law's pasture is too huge!  Took me forever to find Cody and then when I did find him he was across the creek.  Rather than walking all the way back to the dry spot I jumped on bareback and convinced him to take me through the creek back to the gate. It was slow going but he went in with out much fight.  The kids didn't ride long, it was hot and we had to be at a birthday party so it was just a few loops.  Plus Cody was soooooo slow.  He's clearly embracing this retirement thing.

So there was a little change of plans for the weekend.  Originally we were going to bring Cody and Axel back to town so that  they'd all be in one place when the farrier came on Thursday.  But the farrier doesn't have any other work in the area so he wanted to push it another week.  I think with all the dry weather their hooves aren't growing too fast so it should be fine.  Haji has been doing really well gaining weight and Cody and Axel have gotten some huge grass bellies from the pasture they are on, so I decided maybe Haji could use some company.  We'll keep a close eye on his weight but I thought he could use some more grazing and some companionship.  I decided it would take just as much if not more time to trailer him than it would to walk him the mile down the road.  So Haji and I went for a little walk to meet up with Cody and Axel.  Of the three horses, Haji, the oldest, walks the fastest, so it was a quick trip.  And as usual, Haji is a saint of a horse.

I'm thinking maybe Haji liked being on his own.  He wasn't too sure about Cody and Axel when they came running to see him. I hope they settle in quick when they figure out they know each other.  When I was there Haji hadn't seen the goats yet so I didn't get to see that interaction.  He did see the cows but didn't get too close yet.  There was a lot of running around with tail flagged like a proper Arabian.  He looked pretty impressive, boy can still move!

So the farrier will just come out a week late and go to where the horses are.  Hopefully we can figure something out as far as fetching them quickly so he doesn't have to go all over the place to find them in the pasture.  I'm hoping for some rain to help the grass grow in town so when we put them back in a few weeks they'll have a bit more grass and we can put off round bales for a while longer.

Vacationing

We're running out of grass at our place where the horses are.  So we're trying to squeak out a few more weeks without having to get a round bale out there.  I drove Cody and Axel down the street to stay at my brother-in-law's place for a couple weeks.  He's got a large property fenced in where he had 50 goats cleaning up the weeds.  He's also got his brother-in-law's 5 calves out there.  And now my two "big" horses.  Hehe.

The boys were a little on their toes when they got off the trailer and saw all the goats.  The goats weren't too interested in them though.  Cody visited with a calf nose to nose and Axel gave one his usual welcome of a nice kick (darn that Axel).  When they discovered they could move the goats pretty easily they started chasing them around a bit.  I'm waiting for the reports of napping horses and goats playing king of the mountain on them.  We had only been there for a few minutes and the boys had found the waterers and had a roll, so it looks like a good vacation home.  I went to check on them a couple hours later before we left and they were across the creek behind the grove standing in the wind.

So Haji is staying at our place alone for a couple weeks where he'll try and eat up the remaining grass and also have his meals in peace for a while.  Though I've been told the three are getting along well and they aren't chasing him away from his meals as much.  Haji might enjoy the vacation location, maybe he'll have to go join them at some point.

We'll have to move them back to town before the farrier is due so he doesn't have to run all over to trim my guys' feet.  I bought a round bale feeder this weekend and I just ordered a hay net from ChinchChix.com so I should be ready for round bales pretty quick here.