Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[rural mouse]

Oh yes - that is Dotty!

Here you can see how Bernadette’s leg lets her down. And towards the end you can see it is now her right leg that is the issue. It all Started with her left leg, then both were fine, then right went bad, then got better, then left failed again and recovered, and now it is the right one again.

Stray thought, middle of the night, bear with me.

As a toddler, my sister had crossed eyes. The doctor had us patch the good eye so she had to use the weak eye to strengthen the muscles. After a couple of weeks the good eye crossed and the bad eye was straight. Then the patch got shifted to the other eye. It got to the point that the patch changed eyes every day. That's how they figured out the muscles between the eyes were too tight (took a couple of years) so they did surgery to tighten the outer edge muscles whilst loosening the inner edge muscles. After that, her eyes straightened out so both were straight (took some time on this part too). Not suggesting surgery, but is it possible she has something along those lines with an imbalance between the muscles connecting between the hips? Needing the support leg to shift from one side to the other like the eye patch did? Or almost an inversion of spraddle legs? middle of the night wake up stray thoughts go in odd directions...

 

[rural mouse]

I beg to differ, I found a very, very stale sausage bun in the market stuff (2weeks old, and not moldy but rock hard) you would think that the free rangers didn’t have two full feeders and had had a bunch of scratch already by the way the were attacking it, and me! Like little vicious dinosaurs. Pecking, biting, tearing… and “ow! That was my hand; ouch that too! Stop biting me!!!” It was a feeding frenzy akin to a school of piranha

Mine are like that re: sardines

 

[Scrambles83]

Why doesn't everyone catch her up on their own tribes. When we're you last here?

Missed you guys too. Sorry to hear about Lilly I will go back and read up, she was a beautiful old lady and will be missed
Ummm, I think feb, Betty was settled in nicely.

 

[ManueB]

Hello horsey people! I have a very, very long pony post I've dutifully kept for pony sundays. I will include some photos to make it less tedious and I suggest people who don't particularly like horses just skip it . I would like to tell you two stories of the three horses we have in our village ; I think both stories have a sort of lesson about humans relationship to animals (though I'm not sure just what it is exactly).

Story of Gribouille and Momma

About ten years ago, when I began coming on weekends with my partner to his father's family old house on top of the village, I was surprised to discover that on a vale across a small stream, two horses lived left completely to themselves. They were in a beautiful clearing next to an abandoned house that they used as shelter, with a small canal running through the clearing. This place is reached only on foot, it's about a 45 mn walk from the nearest place where you can get a car, going down to cross the stream and then up the forest a 400 m elevation gain. They stood there all year round, without any visible human care or intervention.

It took me several years to get the exact story of how these horses had landed there. They came from a riding center in a town 40 km away, and once they reached old age, were retired, or abandoned depending on how you view things, in that place with the agreement of that place's owner's family. I learned that they had been three but one died shortly after arriving of an infection nobody took care off. The black male was named Gribouille, he is now nearly 30 years old ; the brown mare with the white marking on her face we kept calling momma because no one knows her name anymore and she is 34 now.
These horses of course never get any medical care, or see a farrier. We have only one local vet and she doesn't even agree to come by car to our village, so there is no way to get her up there. Claude, a 75 yr old man who lives in the nearest place to where they are, comes up every day to give them stale bread. Since I moved here three years ago I have been bringing them a kilo of pellets once a week. And that's it. They have survived more than ten years like this. The mare is blind from one eye, she can't hear and she has so much arthritis she stumbles when she moves, Gribouille is in better shape. In winter 2020 there was so much snow, that I didn't go up there for a whole month, one needed snowshoe as there was 80 cm of fresh snow. I was sure the mare would be dead, but she survived. Claude, the man who feeds them stale bread, said he had managed to come three times a week using an ice ax and that his family had called him a lunatic.

I believe it is now only a matter of months when either him or I will find her dead. I can't make my mind up whether they had a beautiful end of life or a terrible one. Most riding club horses end up at the slaughter house.
Here are a few photos taken over the years :

Feeding pellets

My partner climbing up the pear tree to get them some while they wait impatiently.

Today :

Story of Siyou

This will be much shorter as I only met Siyou two weeks ago. Sometimes in april we had a discussion with a young guy who recently moved to live permanently in the village, his family's place, much like us. We said we were thinking of getting ponies and he replied that his girlfriend loved horses and also wanted one. We thought this was good news as it would make it easier, like I said in a previous post, to find a farrier, a vet, a good hay provider and so on.
Maybe a week later he texts my partner and says they have have been in touch with a horse rescue association, and have fallen in love with a horse, Siyou, and he's arriving in three days .

So the next day after Siyou's arrival I run up the mountain in the morning to see the horse and them. It turns out they have fallen for Ken (you know, Barbie's boyfriend) and brought him up in the wilderness ! Siyou is a beautiful 5 years old stallion with Arabian blood that was bred for endurance but didn't have the heart. He has never lived outside a stall and a paddock. He needs shoeing, he stumbles on rocky paths, and he has thrown himself on the green spring grass like crazy because he has never seen anything like it in his life! And now he is in a pasture 1300 meters high, between the highland cows pasture and the goats, where the wolves pack hang out in winter ... basically all I want to avoid when I'll get my ponies!
Luckily his new owner does know what she is doing. She had a farrier come, she is walking him an hour every morning and every evening to avoid colics, she got him a dewormer even though our local vet wouldn't sell it to her. It will turn out all right but I can't help thinking the rescue association was a bit light on this one. Of course they wanted him to avoid the slaughterhouse which was a possible outcome.
What happened to the original owners who bred a stallion and abandoned him so fast, I can't imagine.

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

 

[Ponypoor]

Hello horsey people! I have a very, very long pony post I've dutifully kept for pony sundays. I will include some photos to make it less tedious and I suggest people who don't particularly like horses just skip it . I would like to tell you two stories of the three horses we have in our village ; I think both stories have a sort of lesson about humans relationship to animals (though I'm not sure just what it is exactly).

Story of Gribouille and Momma

About ten years ago, when I began coming on weekends with my partner to his father's family old house on top of the village, I was surprised to discover that on a vale across a small stream, two horses lived left completely to themselves. They were in a beautiful clearing next to an abandoned house that they used as shelter, with a small canal running through the clearing. This place is reached only on foot, it's about a 45 mn walk from the nearest place where you can get a car, going down to cross the stream and then up the forest a 400 m elevation gain. They stood there all year round, without any visible human care or intervention.
View attachment 3118302

It took me several years to get the exact story of how these horses had landed there. They came from a riding center in a town 40 km away, and once they reached old age, were retired, or abandoned depending on how you view things, in that place with the agreement of that place's owner's family. I learned that they had been three but one died shortly after arriving of an infection nobody took care off. The black male was named Gribouille, he is now nearly 30 years old ; the brown mare with the white marking on her face we kept calling momma because no one knows her name anymore and she is 34 now.
These horses of course never get any medical care, or see a farrier. We have only one local vet and she doesn't even agree to come by car to our village, so there is no way to get her up there. Claude, a 75 yr old man who lives in the nearest place to where they are, comes up every day to give them stale bread. Since I moved here three years ago I have been bringing them a kilo of pellets once a week. And that's it. They have survived more than ten years like this. The mare is blind from one eye, she can't hear and she has so much arthritis she stumbles when she moves, Gribouille is in better shape. In winter 2020 there was so much snow, that I didn't go up there for a whole month, one needed snowshoe as there was 80 cm of fresh snow. I was sure the mare would be dead, but she survived. Claude, the man who feeds them stale bread, said he had managed to come three times a week using an ice ax and that his family had called him a lunatic.

I believe it is now only a matter of months when either him or I will find her dead. I can't make my mind up whether they had a beautiful end of life or a terrible one. Most riding club horses end up at the slaughter house.
Here are a few photos taken over the years :

Feeding pellets
View attachment 3118308

View attachment 3118306
My partner climbing up the pear tree to get them some while they wait impatiently.
View attachment 3118303
View attachment 3118307
Today :View attachment 3118309

Story of Siyou

This will be much shorter as I only met Siyou two weeks ago. Sometimes in april we had a discussion with a young guy who recently moved to live permanently in the village, his family's place, much like us. We said we were thinking of getting ponies and he replied that his girlfriend loved horses and also wanted one. We thought this was good news as it would make it easier, like I said in a previous post, to find a farrier, a vet, a good hay provider and so on.
Maybe a week later he texts my partner and says they have have been in touch with a horse rescue association, and have fallen in love with a horse, Siyou, and he's arriving in three days .

So the next day after Siyou's arrival I run up the mountain in the morning to see the horse and them. It turns out they have fallen for Ken (you know, Barbie's boyfriend) and brought him up in the wilderness ! Siyou is a beautiful 5 years old stallion with Arabian blood that was bred for endurance but didn't have the heart. He has never lived outside a stall and a paddock. He needs shoeing, he stumbles on rocky paths, and he has thrown himself on the green spring grass like crazy because he has never seen anything like it in his life! And now he is in a pasture 1300 meters high, between the highland cows pasture and the goats, where the wolves pack hang out in winter ... basically all I want to avoid when I'll get my ponies!
Luckily his new owner does know what she is doing. She had a farrier come, she is walking him an hour every morning and every evening to avoid colics, she got him a dewormer even though our local vet wouldn't sell it to her. It will turn out all right but I can't help thinking the rescue association was a bit light on this one. Of course they wanted him to avoid the slaughterhouse which was a possible outcome.
What happened to the original owners who bred a stallion and abandoned him so fast, I can't imagine.

View attachment 3118323

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

All being said, the two old horses seem to be in good shape.

In the wild, elderly or sick horses will fall prey to wolves and bears, this would mean they won't suffer a cruel lingering death. From what you say there are wolves there.

As for the stallion, will they get him gelded? A stud horse is just a nuisance and a danger and liability to others and any other horses.

I have had stallions here and they are just annoying. And dangerous if you don't have experience. I always end up gelding my stallions and they end up making awesome geldings

Will this lady ride this horse? Sounds like he would be a good riding horse.

 

[Ponypoor]

Hello horsey people! I have a very, very long pony post I've dutifully kept for pony sundays. I will include some photos to make it less tedious and I suggest people who don't particularly like horses just skip it . I would like to tell you two stories of the three horses we have in our village ; I think both stories have a sort of lesson about humans relationship to animals (though I'm not sure just what it is exactly).

Story of Gribouille and Momma

About ten years ago, when I began coming on weekends with my partner to his father's family old house on top of the village, I was surprised to discover that on a vale across a small stream, two horses lived left completely to themselves. They were in a beautiful clearing next to an abandoned house that they used as shelter, with a small canal running through the clearing. This place is reached only on foot, it's about a 45 mn walk from the nearest place where you can get a car, going down to cross the stream and then up the forest a 400 m elevation gain. They stood there all year round, without any visible human care or intervention.
View attachment 3118302

It took me several years to get the exact story of how these horses had landed there. They came from a riding center in a town 40 km away, and once they reached old age, were retired, or abandoned depending on how you view things, in that place with the agreement of that place's owner's family. I learned that they had been three but one died shortly after arriving of an infection nobody took care off. The black male was named Gribouille, he is now nearly 30 years old ; the brown mare with the white marking on her face we kept calling momma because no one knows her name anymore and she is 34 now.
These horses of course never get any medical care, or see a farrier. We have only one local vet and she doesn't even agree to come by car to our village, so there is no way to get her up there. Claude, a 75 yr old man who lives in the nearest place to where they are, comes up every day to give them stale bread. Since I moved here three years ago I have been bringing them a kilo of pellets once a week. And that's it. They have survived more than ten years like this. The mare is blind from one eye, she can't hear and she has so much arthritis she stumbles when she moves, Gribouille is in better shape. In winter 2020 there was so much snow, that I didn't go up there for a whole month, one needed snowshoe as there was 80 cm of fresh snow. I was sure the mare would be dead, but she survived. Claude, the man who feeds them stale bread, said he had managed to come three times a week using an ice ax and that his family had called him a lunatic.

I believe it is now only a matter of months when either him or I will find her dead. I can't make my mind up whether they had a beautiful end of life or a terrible one. Most riding club horses end up at the slaughter house.
Here are a few photos taken over the years :

Feeding pellets
View attachment 3118308

View attachment 3118306
My partner climbing up the pear tree to get them some while they wait impatiently.
View attachment 3118303
View attachment 3118307
Today :View attachment 3118309

Story of Siyou

This will be much shorter as I only met Siyou two weeks ago. Sometimes in april we had a discussion with a young guy who recently moved to live permanently in the village, his family's place, much like us. We said we were thinking of getting ponies and he replied that his girlfriend loved horses and also wanted one. We thought this was good news as it would make it easier, like I said in a previous post, to find a farrier, a vet, a good hay provider and so on.
Maybe a week later he texts my partner and says they have have been in touch with a horse rescue association, and have fallen in love with a horse, Siyou, and he's arriving in three days .

So the next day after Siyou's arrival I run up the mountain in the morning to see the horse and them. It turns out they have fallen for Ken (you know, Barbie's boyfriend) and brought him up in the wilderness ! Siyou is a beautiful 5 years old stallion with Arabian blood that was bred for endurance but didn't have the heart. He has never lived outside a stall and a paddock. He needs shoeing, he stumbles on rocky paths, and he has thrown himself on the green spring grass like crazy because he has never seen anything like it in his life! And now he is in a pasture 1300 meters high, between the highland cows pasture and the goats, where the wolves pack hang out in winter ... basically all I want to avoid when I'll get my ponies!
Luckily his new owner does know what she is doing. She had a farrier come, she is walking him an hour every morning and every evening to avoid colics, she got him a dewormer even though our local vet wouldn't sell it to her. It will turn out all right but I can't help thinking the rescue association was a bit light on this one. Of course they wanted him to avoid the slaughterhouse which was a possible outcome.
What happened to the original owners who bred a stallion and abandoned him so fast, I can't imagine.

View attachment 3118323

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Absolutely beautiful and dramatic scenery very lovely

 

[Ponypoor]

Texas does get hotter than here, but hot, is hot, no matter where we are.

I need to get a fan on the hen house. That will help.

Also I am still thinking of enclosing one of the empty horse stalls with chicken mesh so they can be out in the main barn rather in an enclosed hen house.

 

[Ponypoor]

Any place you can just pick up the lactated ringers for that? It’s quite simple to do at home. We had to do this for my Whisper, it bought him about another Six months or so of decent quality of life. One thing I will give my Cat Vet (aside from my cats all absolutely loved him) is he at least didn’t treat me like an idiot and was willing to allow me to self administer most things, listened to what my observations were, and was generally just awesome, if only he would treat chickens and goats!

Oh yea jabe done this many times with my elderly cats, and so e baby sheep and goats.

But my reg Veterinarian was out it was a long weekend. I felt she wouldn't last till Tues and what with covid crap it was hard to get in to see her anyways....

My new horse vet would likely give me fluids and such she knows me now. But last year she was new to me. And my other horse vet is semi retired and was at his cottage jeez,!!!

I could have bougty a nice horse for what I spent! Or a lot of hay hahaha

 

[RoyalChick]

Hello horsey people! I have a very, very long pony post I've dutifully kept for pony sundays. I will include some photos to make it less tedious and I suggest people who don't particularly like horses just skip it . I would like to tell you two stories of the three horses we have in our village ; I think both stories have a sort of lesson about humans relationship to animals (though I'm not sure just what it is exactly).

Story of Gribouille and Momma

About ten years ago, when I began coming on weekends with my partner to his father's family old house on top of the village, I was surprised to discover that on a vale across a small stream, two horses lived left completely to themselves. They were in a beautiful clearing next to an abandoned house that they used as shelter, with a small canal running through the clearing. This place is reached only on foot, it's about a 45 mn walk from the nearest place where you can get a car, going down to cross the stream and then up the forest a 400 m elevation gain. They stood there all year round, without any visible human care or intervention.
View attachment 3118302

It took me several years to get the exact story of how these horses had landed there. They came from a riding center in a town 40 km away, and once they reached old age, were retired, or abandoned depending on how you view things, in that place with the agreement of that place's owner's family. I learned that they had been three but one died shortly after arriving of an infection nobody took care off. The black male was named Gribouille, he is now nearly 30 years old ; the brown mare with the white marking on her face we kept calling momma because no one knows her name anymore and she is 34 now.
These horses of course never get any medical care, or see a farrier. We have only one local vet and she doesn't even agree to come by car to our village, so there is no way to get her up there. Claude, a 75 yr old man who lives in the nearest place to where they are, comes up every day to give them stale bread. Since I moved here three years ago I have been bringing them a kilo of pellets once a week. And that's it. They have survived more than ten years like this. The mare is blind from one eye, she can't hear and she has so much arthritis she stumbles when she moves, Gribouille is in better shape. In winter 2020 there was so much snow, that I didn't go up there for a whole month, one needed snowshoe as there was 80 cm of fresh snow. I was sure the mare would be dead, but she survived. Claude, the man who feeds them stale bread, said he had managed to come three times a week using an ice ax and that his family had called him a lunatic.

I believe it is now only a matter of months when either him or I will find her dead. I can't make my mind up whether they had a beautiful end of life or a terrible one. Most riding club horses end up at the slaughter house.
Here are a few photos taken over the years :

Feeding pellets
View attachment 3118308

View attachment 3118306
My partner climbing up the pear tree to get them some while they wait impatiently.
View attachment 3118303
View attachment 3118307
Today :View attachment 3118309

Story of Siyou

This will be much shorter as I only met Siyou two weeks ago. Sometimes in april we had a discussion with a young guy who recently moved to live permanently in the village, his family's place, much like us. We said we were thinking of getting ponies and he replied that his girlfriend loved horses and also wanted one. We thought this was good news as it would make it easier, like I said in a previous post, to find a farrier, a vet, a good hay provider and so on.
Maybe a week later he texts my partner and says they have have been in touch with a horse rescue association, and have fallen in love with a horse, Siyou, and he's arriving in three days .

So the next day after Siyou's arrival I run up the mountain in the morning to see the horse and them. It turns out they have fallen for Ken (you know, Barbie's boyfriend) and brought him up in the wilderness ! Siyou is a beautiful 5 years old stallion with Arabian blood that was bred for endurance but didn't have the heart. He has never lived outside a stall and a paddock. He needs shoeing, he stumbles on rocky paths, and he has thrown himself on the green spring grass like crazy because he has never seen anything like it in his life! And now he is in a pasture 1300 meters high, between the highland cows pasture and the goats, where the wolves pack hang out in winter ... basically all I want to avoid when I'll get my ponies!
Luckily his new owner does know what she is doing. She had a farrier come, she is walking him an hour every morning and every evening to avoid colics, she got him a dewormer even though our local vet wouldn't sell it to her. It will turn out all right but I can't help thinking the rescue association was a bit light on this one. Of course they wanted him to avoid the slaughterhouse which was a possible outcome.
What happened to the original owners who bred a stallion and abandoned him so fast, I can't imagine.

View attachment 3118323

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Amazing. And I think on balance more lovely than not.

 

[Ponypoor]

I agree, it's the humidity that makes it bad here.

Same here, those humid still/no wind days... Hard on everyone.

Input fans in the horses stalls they stand there in the man made breeze