Found this on my phone...
going to the feed store few months ago.
going to the feed store few months ago.
RiverOtter's pony and thread drift thread
- Thread starter RiverOtter
- Start date
Coming home from work.
- Thread starter
- #33
BESSIE IS IMPROVING!!!
She still can't stand unassisted, but she is eager, great appetite, and has discovered she can sit up just fine. Her hocks are still pretty sore and swollen - a combination of the original injury and being down, and she did get herself a couple of scrapes through this whole thing, but she is definitely getting better. The vet will be out to check her Monday (and do foal vax), but I'm betting she won't even need her by then. The vet, btw, is pretty unconcerned overall, which is always a good sign. She has a sprain, and while many cows would have either given up or not tolerated the handling and nursing, Bessie is great about letting us pull her through.
Yes, exactly! Sometimes, you just want to ride, not work the horse. And a lot of times the choice is either that or a slug. I've found that a lot of times overall health, especially hoof health, is ignored too. People will put up with anything, in exchange for skill. English folks put up with a lot of babying ~Oh, he needs the farrier every month, and a blanket when it rains or he'll get rainrot, and don't forget to wet his hay..~ and Western riders laugh at that, and then have horses that need to be roped and have a scotch hobble to be saddled and will buck for the first 5 minutes of the ride and start breaking down at 7 and need hock injections.
It doesn't have to be either or.
That's a big part of what drew me to Connemaras. Often, hill farms had ONE horse, and the same one would plow the fields, take a cart to market (bring it back home on their own with the owner sleeping off spending the money at the pub), go fox-hunting on Saturday, and show off going to church Sunday morning. They'd get handled by everyone in the family from oldest to youngest and they did it whether stallion, mare or gelding - no excuses.
Then I learned about the Spanish concept of brio: "Brío refers to a horse’s vigor, energy, exuberance, courage and liveliness; it automatically implies that these qualities are willingly placed in the service of the rider. Horses with true brio are willing workers." and I thought that this is exactly what all horses should have, and there's no reason to sacrifice anything else to get it.
Some people seem to take a weird sort of pride in having horses other people can't ride. Me? Want to ride = ok! If it is your first time ever, you can get on my horses. You'll be fine. We actually do a lot of that - I had one woman cry tears of joy because she had dreamed of riding a horse since she was a little girl, and she not only did, but she got to ride my fairy-tale "white stallion" and have her childhood dream come totally true, it was beautiful!!!
If you have a wall full of ribbons, you'll have fun! Go tearing around the mountain!
She still can't stand unassisted, but she is eager, great appetite, and has discovered she can sit up just fine. Her hocks are still pretty sore and swollen - a combination of the original injury and being down, and she did get herself a couple of scrapes through this whole thing, but she is definitely getting better. The vet will be out to check her Monday (and do foal vax), but I'm betting she won't even need her by then. The vet, btw, is pretty unconcerned overall, which is always a good sign. She has a sprain, and while many cows would have either given up or not tolerated the handling and nursing, Bessie is great about letting us pull her through.
Yes, exactly! Sometimes, you just want to ride, not work the horse. And a lot of times the choice is either that or a slug. I've found that a lot of times overall health, especially hoof health, is ignored too. People will put up with anything, in exchange for skill. English folks put up with a lot of babying ~Oh, he needs the farrier every month, and a blanket when it rains or he'll get rainrot, and don't forget to wet his hay..~ and Western riders laugh at that, and then have horses that need to be roped and have a scotch hobble to be saddled and will buck for the first 5 minutes of the ride and start breaking down at 7 and need hock injections.
It doesn't have to be either or.
That's a big part of what drew me to Connemaras. Often, hill farms had ONE horse, and the same one would plow the fields, take a cart to market (bring it back home on their own with the owner sleeping off spending the money at the pub), go fox-hunting on Saturday, and show off going to church Sunday morning. They'd get handled by everyone in the family from oldest to youngest and they did it whether stallion, mare or gelding - no excuses.
Then I learned about the Spanish concept of brio: "Brío refers to a horse’s vigor, energy, exuberance, courage and liveliness; it automatically implies that these qualities are willingly placed in the service of the rider. Horses with true brio are willing workers." and I thought that this is exactly what all horses should have, and there's no reason to sacrifice anything else to get it.
Some people seem to take a weird sort of pride in having horses other people can't ride. Me? Want to ride = ok! If it is your first time ever, you can get on my horses. You'll be fine. We actually do a lot of that - I had one woman cry tears of joy because she had dreamed of riding a horse since she was a little girl, and she not only did, but she got to ride my fairy-tale "white stallion" and have her childhood dream come totally true, it was beautiful!!!
If you have a wall full of ribbons, you'll have fun! Go tearing around the mountain!
I'm so glad Bessie is doing well! When I hadn't seen any action on your thread I got a knot in my stomach thinking the worst! Such a relief!
LOL! My mother's horse of choice is Andalusian, so I get to see a lot of brio! Some have it more than others for sure!
Would you believe I've only ever ridden one Connemara in my life?! It was when I was a wee child, probably around 10 years old. The mare was gorgeous--rose gray! She had a mouth like iron though and I didn't enjoy riding her because I had little, weak bird arms LOL! Her owners were very heavy handed jumpers that found their balance on the horse's mouth, so it wasn't her fault at all.
They are pretty fantastic little ponies! Your description of them reminds me of how the warmbloods used to be. Farm horse during the week, show horse on the weekends.
LOL! My mother's horse of choice is Andalusian, so I get to see a lot of brio! Some have it more than others for sure!
Would you believe I've only ever ridden one Connemara in my life?! It was when I was a wee child, probably around 10 years old. The mare was gorgeous--rose gray! She had a mouth like iron though and I didn't enjoy riding her because I had little, weak bird arms LOL! Her owners were very heavy handed jumpers that found their balance on the horse's mouth, so it wasn't her fault at all.
They are pretty fantastic little ponies! Your description of them reminds me of how the warmbloods used to be. Farm horse during the week, show horse on the weekends.
- Thread starter
- #35
Good news and bad news
First, Bessie is fine! I mean, still very owie in the hocks and not getting up on her own, but the vet says she's doing as well as a down cow can, was very entertained by her antics when alfalfa cubes came out, did see her try to stand, and was impressed by her alertness and appetite/
The official diagnosis is still "yup, sprained it" and at this point it is officially "a management issue" meaning there's nothing the vet can really do for her, it's just up to us to nurse her through. If I can remember to bring a camera or cell out to the barn I'll get a picture of her in her sling
Foals got vaxxed and the 2 sale horses got coggins pulled.
And ... last night Penelope Pig, a 3yo mini sow, got what looked like a simple rectal prolapse. Prolapses aren't terribly uncommon in pigs and they are either a (relatively) easy fix or fatal. "At least the vet is already coming out tomorrow" I said to myself, as I put some prepH on what looked like a simple prolapse and got her comfy for the night. At the midnight check (which doesn't happen all the time, but if someone is sick or down or due, you'll find me wandering about at all hours) she was sleeping comfortably and it looked like it had gone down a bit. But this morning it was worse, and by the time the vet got here, her perineum was swollen and she was clearly in pain.
After a lifetime of being chased away from endless raids on the dog food, Penelope got a whole bowl to herself and was put down. I'm really going to miss her.
First, Bessie is fine! I mean, still very owie in the hocks and not getting up on her own, but the vet says she's doing as well as a down cow can, was very entertained by her antics when alfalfa cubes came out, did see her try to stand, and was impressed by her alertness and appetite/
The official diagnosis is still "yup, sprained it" and at this point it is officially "a management issue" meaning there's nothing the vet can really do for her, it's just up to us to nurse her through. If I can remember to bring a camera or cell out to the barn I'll get a picture of her in her sling
Foals got vaxxed and the 2 sale horses got coggins pulled.
And ... last night Penelope Pig, a 3yo mini sow, got what looked like a simple rectal prolapse. Prolapses aren't terribly uncommon in pigs and they are either a (relatively) easy fix or fatal. "At least the vet is already coming out tomorrow" I said to myself, as I put some prepH on what looked like a simple prolapse and got her comfy for the night. At the midnight check (which doesn't happen all the time, but if someone is sick or down or due, you'll find me wandering about at all hours) she was sleeping comfortably and it looked like it had gone down a bit. But this morning it was worse, and by the time the vet got here, her perineum was swollen and she was clearly in pain.
After a lifetime of being chased away from endless raids on the dog food, Penelope got a whole bowl to herself and was put down. I'm really going to miss her.
I'm sorry for your loss of Penelope. 
So sorry for your loss.
- Thread starter
- #38
Thanks guys, it hit pretty hard. We raised her inside after her mother ate some of her sibs 
and she used to break into the house all the time. I once came in and discovered she had broken in and emptied the hamper AND garbage can and built a nest in front of the washer to have piglets. She was a character.
Penelope and her washer-piglets, outside
In other news, after DAYS of work, hacking at ice, I got the big doors to the hay barn open!! This is tremendously good news because it has a dirt floor with literally 2 feet of compacted old hay in one section, so plenty of cushion and drainage. We had bedded down the barn aisle where we had her as best we could, but it was still concrete underneath and Bessie scraped down to it like 3 times a day.
But then came the nerve-wracking part - I had to get the tractor into the barn aisle and lift Bessie, not to her feet, but off her feet, then carry 1500# of dangling cow into the other barn. It was not fun. And there was a very scary few minutes where I had to rock the tractor - complete with dangling cow - back and forth to get off a patch of ice.
But, not only is Bessie successfully moved, but when we were letting her put her weight on her feet, for the first time she decided that she had enough with this stand-dangling nonsense and started to buck! She went down pretty quick when she bucked the hooks off the bar, but that's more than she used her legs since this whole thing started, and I was very glad to see it.
We were a bit worried that maybe she hurt herself a bit, but as soon as it was over, she started mooing for her food - she put up with our nonsense, now make with the goods!!
and she used to break into the house all the time. I once came in and discovered she had broken in and emptied the hamper AND garbage can and built a nest in front of the washer to have piglets. She was a character.
Penelope and her washer-piglets, outside
In other news, after DAYS of work, hacking at ice, I got the big doors to the hay barn open!! This is tremendously good news because it has a dirt floor with literally 2 feet of compacted old hay in one section, so plenty of cushion and drainage. We had bedded down the barn aisle where we had her as best we could, but it was still concrete underneath and Bessie scraped down to it like 3 times a day.
But then came the nerve-wracking part - I had to get the tractor into the barn aisle and lift Bessie, not to her feet, but off her feet, then carry 1500# of dangling cow into the other barn. It was not fun. And there was a very scary few minutes where I had to rock the tractor - complete with dangling cow - back and forth to get off a patch of ice.
But, not only is Bessie successfully moved, but when we were letting her put her weight on her feet, for the first time she decided that she had enough with this stand-dangling nonsense and started to buck! She went down pretty quick when she bucked the hooks off the bar, but that's more than she used her legs since this whole thing started, and I was very glad to see it.
We were a bit worried that maybe she hurt herself a bit, but as soon as it was over, she started mooing for her food - she put up with our nonsense, now make with the goods!!
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #39
BESSIE STOOD!!!!!
- Thread starter
- #40
Guuh.
I'm so exhausted. Bracken, who's always been a hard keeper, has started losing weight. Why? Your guess is as good as mine, she has an awful tendency to drop weight over any combination of little things when she's not working.
And Val, one of my heifers, keeps going walkabout and trying to join the neighbor's dairy herd. I have all of TWO neighbors and she has to be a pest.
@Peaches Lee, did your Mom's Andalusians ever get to work cows? I have 2 with Andalusian blood and they're both delighted to chase cows for me. Sadly, one is near blind (a bout of lepto when she was young and she's been steadily losing sight since) and Gandalf is the other, but he's stuck indoors until he's gelded.
I'm so exhausted. Bracken, who's always been a hard keeper, has started losing weight. Why? Your guess is as good as mine, she has an awful tendency to drop weight over any combination of little things when she's not working.
And Val, one of my heifers, keeps going walkabout and trying to join the neighbor's dairy herd. I have all of TWO neighbors and she has to be a pest.
@Peaches Lee, did your Mom's Andalusians ever get to work cows? I have 2 with Andalusian blood and they're both delighted to chase cows for me. Sadly, one is near blind (a bout of lepto when she was young and she's been steadily losing sight since) and Gandalf is the other, but he's stuck indoors until he's gelded.
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