Our Animals (pictures below)
May, 2010We have done rescue work with horses. Most have been geriatric cases who are either abandon or neglected and come in quite underweight. Older full-size horses will lose their back teeth bit by bit, making it impossible for them to chew hay enough to swallow it. So they will chew it up into a ball and then let it drop on the ground, and try for another mouthful. No matter how much hay their owners give them, it is impossible for them to eat it, so they can gradually starve to death. When we get them we put them on soaked beet pulp pellets, a special senior horse feed, and ground up alfalfa mixed with molasses (alf-mo). We have to be very careful to adjust the feed and make sure they only gain weight slowly or they could founder or have other problems.
However we have had other horses, too. Missy was one of our first and our only registered horse. She was a gorgeous paint quarter horse who had been ridden into the ground. She was in her early 20's and her arthritis was so bad that we only kept her about six months. At the point when she hurt too much to come in from the pasture for food, we made the horrid decision to put her down. She was a sweetie.
Cameo was our second horse, a starving Morgan, arriving the autumn of 2005. The vet didn't think she would live out the week -- she was about 300 pounds underweight due to missing back teeth and the inability to chew hay. She lived, and is the most affectionate horse we have ever had.
Snow Angel was a gray who had been a polo pony and had broken her hip. She limped but did quite well for awhile, despite a very uppity personality! Of course, when you looked at her, you realized there was probably a very good reason she didn't trust people. She was with us for a little over a year when she died of cancer.
Teddy and Papa, our two minis, came the winter of 2006. Our stalls were full (a three stall barn can only hold three horses!), so with our neighbor's permission, we expanded into his barn for a bit. However, we had to put Missy down soon after, so that left a stall for the minis to share. A year or so later we had a handyman build a couple of extra 'stalls' in the barn. One, for Teddy, is a dismantled half-bath, and the other, for Papa, is a sort of sandbox with sides arrangement in the corner of the barn. Both the right size for minis!
Star was only 16 when she came. But her front left knee had been badly injured and not cared for so that tendons were snapping across calcium spurs every time she walked. She was in a lot of pain. We held on to her for a year, trying everything we could to make her life better, but when she was in enough constant pain to be snapping at the other horses, we knew it was better for her to go.
Lacy came the summer of 2008. We were furious when we saw her (although we spoke nicely to the people who brought her...). She had four fused vertebrae in her back from being under saddle too much, and probably the wrong kind of saddle for her. She was also about 130 pounds underweight. We slowly brought her up to weight and she gradually began being more trusting. We were just starting to enjoy her by Christmas when, just before the year ended, she had a series of seizures and could no longer stand. Our dear Dr. Heidi came that evening, and, with everyone in tears, we put her down.
Cookie was the mare our vet asked us to take! She was in her twenties, deaf, and her eyesight was questionable. When she came she could not trot or gallop as she had some massive scar tissue on her left rear leg -- we think from a tangle with barbed wire. We wrapped her leg with lanolin giving it air about 12 hours in every 48 and gradually the scar tissue softened and a lot of it sloughed off. She began to trot and gallop again. She mostly lived in our neighbor's back field as the other horses would lunge at her and bite her. The autumn of 2009 the neighbor sold his property and the new people refused to let her graze their area or stay there at all. We had to confine her to a much smaller area, and she was clearly and obviously depressed.
Vern came in January of 2008. He was a quarter/Arab cross and gorgeous. About 30 or so, he had a tumor on his neck but was in no discomfort. He had been left out in pasture so the woman's goats could have the barn. So he was not only about 70 pounds underweight from missing back teeth, but had a fungus called 'rain rot' across a good part of his back.
December, 2009 -- We had to put Cookie, the deaf white horse, to sleep. She was no longer standing to sleep, but her legs would buckle as her knees gave way. She was leaning on the side of the stall to stay up. She was totally exhausted.
April, 2010 -- We had to put Vern down, finally. We knew his cancer had spread to his intestines and we were feeding him double so he could get the nourishment he needed. Then, when I went out to the pasture on a sunny day to just pat the animals for a bit, he lunged at me twice and would have bitten if I had been close enough. This from the guy who used to follow us around to be petted. So we knew the cancer had finally hit his brain, and, again with tears, Dr. Heidi came out to put him down.
Cameo is still fine, but slowing down. She misses the big size horses (minis don't qualify as real horses in her eyes). She's been my big baby all along and it's going to be really rough when we have to say good-bye to her. One more spring? One more summer? She's 36. that's over 100 in horse years. But when it's mealtime, she still gallops in from the pasture!
Charlie, the guinea pig, is slowing down and we think he may be losing his sight. Hard to tell with a guinea pig! The goats are doing great and are as affectionate as ever. Dogs are doing great, too. Bit of problem with the chickens. "Finally," the rooster, was really picking on one hen and she was cowering in the far corner of the pasture. So she is now bedded down in the main part of the barn, away from the others. As comptessa of the barn, now, she has earned the name Barnessa. She is gaining her health back well and becoming quite a character in her own right. A buff who went broody on us, setting seven eggs, was simply dead a few mornings ago. She may have been very old -- hard to tell with a chicken. It looked like she had simply laid down her head and her heart stopped.
We're turning a corner in our own lives, too, as finances, age and my arthritis are telling us our time with this much activity and work with the animals is drawing to a close. What a wonderful time it has been, though! We won't be filling up the stalls anymore, unless it's just one or two old minis who need a place. They take much, much less work. But still, we know that we are going to have to let go of this time in our lives graciously and be so very grateful that we have had this time at all.
Teddi, a dwarf mini. She has wobbly front legs, an undershot jaw, rounded ears, her head is too big and she is almost blind in one eye. Her personality? "I want what I want when I want it!" She is five. The vet did not expect her to live this long, but she seems to be doing very well. She is definitely at the bottom of the 'pecking order' though. Even Lucky, our small goat will butt her out of the way if he wants something. She's about six as of January. Papa, a true mini and no relation to Teddi. We are considering him to be officially 40 now (he was "37 or 38" for several years). He's a marvelous horse and very, very sweet. Cameo. She is officially 36 now. She is a very big Morgan and a love -- very affectionate. She arrived in the fall of 2005 and was several HUNDRED pounds underweight. The vet was not sure she would live. But she is gorgeous and doing fine, even at this age.
Our two adult goats, Prince Shar (a Nubian wether on the left) and Lucky, a 'Pygora' -- a pygmy/Angora mix. He is also a wether, and a character, but both are extremely affectionate and fun. Lucky looks so funny because we were trimming blackberries and throwing the old canes across the fence into the pasture for burning later. Lucky thought that was great and they got terribly tangled in his long hair -- so we took some scissors and cut what we could without making it too close, as the nights are still cold (spring 2009). He will get a regular shearing later!
A couple of new babies this September (2009), Joey and Jethro! Two young Nubian wethers we bought because we need more stomachs for all the yard trimmings! Besides, they are ADORABLE! Joey, in front, is 3 months old, and Jethro, in back is 2 months old. The older goats have taken them under their 'goat wings' and our little herd of wethers is so much fun to watch and pet! Jethro is incredibly vocal, and Joey more affectionate. Our laying hens. The white and gold ones are Buff Orphingtons and the black and the grayish one in the middle are Americanas (lay green eggs).
September 2009: One of our new spring chicks was actually hoped-for rooster. We named him "Finally!" He's a gorgeous buff and is doing as all roosters should in life.
Here is Dusty. His full name is Gold Dust because of his color. He is a Shepherd/Lab/Golden Retriever/Rottweiler mix. He was being trained as a wheelchair dog and was doing outstandingly -- until we realized that this dog gets carsick at the drop of a hat. But he's a wonderful pet and a lot of fun and now....all ours! Dusty is five years old now. He adores chasing balls, is often by our side, and will do what you want as soon as he knows what it is. The easiest dog we have ever had.
This is Shadow, a purebred standard poodle. He's about 18 months old here, two and a half as of December, 2009. He is a rescue dog -- no one wanted him and he would have been put down by the breeder. He's a riot -- loves jumping, playing, and being loved. He's smart, just like his breed is reputed for being, and it is fun to work with him.
Charlie Wiggles, our guinea pig. Terribly tame and spoiled.
He's old now -- he is almost 6.
The pretty young lady holding him is Anna, who used to live next door.
This is a fun picture of three of the dogs on the place now. The Rott in the foreground is named (brace yourself) Tiny. Shadow sits next to him and Dusty is standing in the back. Tiny belongs to the lovely lady who lives in our guest house and helps with Chris. All three dogs are great animals and obedient and fun.
