Devastation

 

 

This hasn’t really been on national news, or really any news. I just wanted to share this link on a story about the hell that western South Dakota is dealing with right now after an early winter storm. Hurricane winds mixed with record amounts of snow caused the death of around 75,000 cattle, sheep and horses. Some ranchers lost a small percentage of their livestock, while others lost upwards of 90 percent of their herd. These herds are not just “cows” to the ranchers. These herds are the result of blood sweat and tears. Hard work and years of careful breeding, management and care.  Cattle are not only the rancher’s income producers, they are like family.

Livestock had not yet grown their thick winter coats. They also were all still out on summer pasture because according to the calendar it wasn’t time to bring them home. I have seen comments posted on articles about this tragedy with people saying things like “they should have just brought them home, they knew the storm was coming!” Well that would have been a great idea, but do you realize how long it takes to bring the cows home? It isn’t a quick process. And it’s not like you can just load them up into a trailer. I’ve seen people ask “Why weren’t they in barns?” Again, while it sounds like a great idea, many animals that were in shelters were killed with the snow collapsed the roof on top of them. And getting barns big enough to hold a couple hundred cows comfortably just isn’t something that all ranchers have the luxury of having. People who are so far removed from farm and ranch life can talk all they want. Livestock are different than having dogs and cats. They are big, they aren’t trained and basically they do what they want. And unlike moving a dog or cat, you can’t just move 20 or 50, or 100, or 1000 cows easily and quickly.

The stories from ranchers contained in this article are not the stories you hear about when you hear people protesting the “plight of the modern farm animal”. The sad cows in tiny boxes portrayed in Chipolte’s new propaganda short film called “Scarecrow”. These animals are the pride and joy of the ranchers that raise them. They know everything about each heifer, bull or calf on that ranch. In the videos about "big ag" or "factory farming" you never hear these stories or see images of the big fat happy cows we have here, that live on acres and acres and acres of wide open prairie. You won't ever hear these stories about absolute heartbreak of real ranchers who some lost almost all of their lifetimes worth of work. The baby calves that were brought in and nursed back to health in their homes only to be lost to a unexpected early storm a few months later. You'll never hear the shaky voice of someone talking about losing their horses, and cows. But I am getting way, way, way off topic here. Check out this link and hopefully you won't be a crying mess like I was reading it...

The Perfect Storm – HELL STRIKES SOUTH DAKOTA!

 

 

And if you are curious you can check out this link but be warned.... It is very, very graphic and shows the devastation that is occurring out in the West.

 

Pictures of the aftermath.

 

When horse things derail my thought process...

So I was sitting there, at work, doing work. Mapping out fields, adding crops, applying products to fields, basically playing real life SimFarm only I can't have all the fields be strawberry fields even though everyone knows they make the most money. Well I could, but the farms record keeping wouldn't be real accurate... and I would have to spend all season picking strawberries and that wouldn't be as much fun as I would imagine. So when I added a field, something caught my eye.

Is that? Is that what I think it is?

Nah, couldn't be...could it?

It MUST be! A horse property with a cross country course, stadium jumping arena and a dressage area! Eventers!

Of course inquiring minds want to know and I did a quick investigation...these satellite images were from 2010. I searched the address and found that the place sold in 2012 but the listing sounds wonderful!

 

Wonderfully set up horse property boasts 110 acres, 32x50 barn with 7 box stalls, 16x30 barn and a 1 bdrm, 1 bath, 576 sq ft home. There are 2 fenced pastures with shelters and plenty of room to ride. The property also as 150'+ on Lake. Great spot for future development or a secluded getaway that offers land and lake. Buildings and fences are in great condition.

Unfortunately, a recent Google satellite image shows that the places hasn't been kept up as an awesome horse property. Sad. And boo on the "great spot for future development" part of the real estate listing! Who ever bought this failed. Big time. But who knows, maybe they are still using it as intended! I want these people as my friends if they are using it as it's supposed to be used! Maybe I need to road trip and check the potatoes to do a little investigating...

 



long battle

It has been an excruciatingly long battle to get George to not look like a poster child for neglected and abused animals. But I am happy to say that his ribs are almost non existent. I struggled for months and months with him but I think I figured it out. He was treated for ulcers, and he gets about 100 pounds of beet pulp twice a day, 75 pounds of Safechoice once a day, and then 64 ounces of cool calories 100. Totally kidding about those measurements, but it certainly feels like that's how much I give him.
So now that he has put on weight, it's time to put on muscle. I think when he muscles up a bit he will look great. I still am taken back sometimes at how pretty he really is. I always thought Piney was cute and probably the most adorable horse I'd ever seen in my life. But George is super elegant and classy looking. EVEN when he's covered in mud (98% of the time). I look at him and think "holy crap that is a fancy horse in my pasture!" I was going to give him a bath this weekend, but Saturday it rained all. day. long. And Sunday was super cold and our pasture was muddy so yeah that didn't happen. This week is supposed to be hot still, so I might try to bathe him after work one day. He loved baths so I am hoping that he still does. My hubby sprayed him with a hose and he loved that so I am guessing that bathing won't be a problem. But I will need nice pictures of him to enter in Niamh's awesome contest she has going on!!

This weekend we were invited to our vet's employee appreciation dinner because we are their best clients and they wanted to thank us for paying all of their salaries. Kidding! My husband was invited because of his work. It was a lot of fun despite the rain. It is always fun to visit with our vets on a more upbeat ocasion rather than the usual reasons we go in to see them. I also got to meet a few of the vets that I haven't really worked with and I must say they are a funny bunch of folks. They had a pig roast for the meal and I asked if it was a client of theirs. It was so weird seeing one of our vets cutting open the pig, it was like watching a strange, weird, bizzaro surgery.
In addition to socializing we got to meet a few of the host's goats. I want this one.... he is for sale.

missed it by that much...

Fancy pants George has had a more exciting life than I could ever hope to have. He's probably seen some pretty cool things and no doubt has been treated way better than most horses could dream of being treated. He's probably been treated better than most people could dream of being treated come to think of it. I love having the ties to his past. They are always happy to hear stories about him now, and love giving me insights to why he is the way he is. Or that his strange behavior isn't really something new...he's done it forever.
If you didn't already know, George is a multiple stakes winner. Which, isn't super impressive considering basically every racetrack has a stakes race. But he did compete in some big races with pretty big purses against some pretty big horses. Graded 1, 2, and 3 stakes races. Which for me is so cool. I've only seen that caliber of racing on TV. It doesn't even compare to the stakes races they had at the North Dakota Horse Park that I worked at a few racing seasons. I loved that track...but it was kind of a cow track. BUT I really hope they have more than ONE weekend of racing next season...One weekend...come on! That's almost not even worth going to.

But I love me some race replays. And I love that I was able to find some of George's bigger races on the YouTube. Here is that crabby sharkhorse that lives in my pasture, in the 2007 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes race which was a Grade 1 stakes race. He was ridden by Corey Nakatani (who I've actually heard of). The purse for this race was $600,000. He finished in 4th, so he only won $30,000. I wish I came 4th in a race and walked away with that type of money...

 

 

And here he is again this time in the United Nations Stakes race, which was another Grade 1. Here he also came in 4th but this time won $42,500....pssshhht pocket change. The purse was $750,000... I can't even imagine...

 



 

Seeing him in these races, competing at this level of racing, kind of makes me realize...Hey, you know what, it's completely fine if we can't ever compete at a high level of equine competition. If we only make it to one dressage show and completely bomb an intro level test because he accidentally on purpose kills the judge, that is fine. I would be perfectly happy to just ride up and down the dirt road by our house for as long as he is able to carry me. He has run his races. He has been a warrior. He did what he was bred to do. Run fast, and win money. It is my job as his forever owner to take care of him for the rest of his life. We don't have the fanciest barn for him to live in. I don't have expensive tack. He isn't surrounded by million dollar horses. But I love him and I want to make sure that he is happy for the rest of his life. If he wants to be lame for the rest of his life (I really prefer he isn't) that is fine. If he wants to be a crackpot with a weirdo personality...that is great! The more like me the merrier! I am going to make sure he is as comfortable as I can make him until his very last breath. He is my horse and I plan to love him, and his quirks for the rest of our lives. He will have a special place in my heart. And I hope, that even though horses don't necessarily love the same as humans do that there is somewhere in his heart, he holds some sort of fondness for me... and not just because I feed him peppermints and bring him his dinner every night.



P.S I wish I had his racing saddle cloths with his name on them...how cool would that be to have?! I wonder what happened to them...

My little pony.

I realized that I don't often talk about our Shetland pony, Princess Rainbow Sparkles Dolly. I realized I don't talk about her much because he was a bit of a pill. If you wanted to interact with her you basically had to corner her, and then tackle her. She had a halter with a catch rope on it when we got her and I learned why. She just didn't like being caught. Once you did actually catch her she was great. Super easy to handle, groom, worm, vaccinate etc. But it was the catching part that just exhausted me.
For whatever reason, a reason that I'm not even sure of, she has become a little lover. Last night when I got home from work I heard her nickering to me when I got out of my car. So I went into her pen, and usually she will tense up and then bolt the other way. She came over to me, and then started nuzzling my hands. I walked across her pen, and she followed, I ran across her pen, and she trotted after me. I stopped, she stopped. She couldn't get enough of me. It was pretty cute.
The way she is acting, is exactly what I wanted in a pony. A sweet little creature that follows me around like a puppy. Instead of the nightmareish creature that we had a month ago. This is the kind of pony that you can catch and then put little humans on. One that will follow me around with out a halter and lead rope. Oh I just love that little critter.

Always on a Friday after 5.

I got home yesterday and went to check on the ponies. Pistol was being super snugly which was kind of strange. I am glad he was snugly because I noticed his breathing was weird. He kept putting his nose right by my ears. I noticed that his nostrils were flared and he was taking rapid short breaths. First I thought he was choking. I tried giving them all dry beet pulp before and he got a little choke-y so I never did it again. I've been a freak about making sure his beet pulp is soaking wet. 

I called the vet that was obviously closed because it was after hours and they had the number of the emergency vet on call. I called up left a message and waited. Ok the meantime I was busy on my iPhone googling all types of things as I waited for my call back. Then a lightbulb went off...he sounded heave-y...quick google search and discussion with the vet when he called and we were headed to the clinic to pick up our prescription for Pistol. 

Be have banamine to administer orally and tri hist granules to mix in his feed. The fun thing...pistol gets SUPER headshy when it comes to anything going in his mouth. Yay. I have been tricking him to get it in his mouth. But seriously it hasn't been fun. I am hoping that he gets this under control and we can manage it.this horse is seriously worth his weight in gold. I hate seeing him all wheezy.

George isn't limping around anymore...but he has become an ASS! Like a serious ass. He won't let me soak his foot. The thought makes him super cranky. He has even come at me, teeth bared ears pinned. Ever since we have been treating him for ulcers he has just gotten a nasty streak in him. I am thinking he has always been like that which is why he was so famous at his previous barns. He also won't stand it if you try to call him out on his bad behavior. He is like the hulk "you won't like me when I'm angry!" I think I may be calling in some reinforcements to come help us through his attitude...I think I liked him better when he was filled with ulcers! 

And then this happened this morning. Pistol finished his breakfast and then on his own put his foot in the feed pan and continued to stand there for about 10 minutes. I hope George has been takin notes from old Pistol.

In other news doesn't look like I will have a horse ready for the schooling show in 2 weeks....

Vet visit.

As I mentioned before, George was super lame when I came home from work. So I made an appointment at the vet for 4:30 Wednesday afternoon. My ‘vet’ appointment was at 1:00 the same day and I am happy to announce that my head is fine! There is just a little bit of pinching going on by the base of my brain. I gotta say though looking at pictures of the inside of your head…so weird. Like really weird. But we didn’t see any white spots on my brain which was excellent news.

 

We did see this though. So weird.

 

 

Anyways when we got home it was flippin hot out. I was so excited to load George into the trailer in this heat. Trailering is my favorite thing ever! Yeah. Right.  We got everything else ready and then I went and grabbed gimpy George. Now keep in mind I had one job this summer. Get George to load in the trailer. Well apparently I forgot that I had a job and George never got his schooling on trailer loading etiquette. But we bribed him and he got into the trailer and we were off to the clinic.

When we got to the clinic we were only about 45 minutes early.  I checked us in and they said we could bring him into the examining room and cool him off. George wasn’t sure about going into the strange building. But then again George is very cautious about a lot of things. We got him in and he was a good boy. He did want to play with the fire extinguisher though…I put the kabosh on that little idea though.  He spent the rest of his time waiting calmly.

 

The vet we had an appointment with is one that we have used a few times for the horse beasts. He’s got a similar sense of humor as mine. When he came up I said “you know what I was thinking? I haven’t had a big vet bill in a long time, so we brought one in for you today”.  We laughed. Then it was down to work. He did his hoof testing and found that there were some hot spots by the toe. But he wanted to run a few x-rays just to be sure. He was a little concerned with George’s ankles too.

This is when George flipped his switch and became a jerk. “X-rays? Oh no. I don’t do x-rays! Radiation poisoning my friends is not my idea of a good time!” They would put his foot down on a block and then he would snatch it up and then prance around. So after a few tries they gave him some “Be good George” drugs and then he settled down and was fine for his x-rays. I think there were 6 images taken, all different angles of his foot.

 

Good news is. There were no fractures anywhere. His ankles did NOT have any arthritis anywhere and his joints were nice and clean. But the bad news is that George and I’s dream of competing at Rolex have been crushed. George and I’s dream of jumping was actually pretty much crushed. By the sounds of it we will be stuck on the ground. The x-rays showed that he had some considerable damage to his suspensory. The vet said for a 10 year old ex-racehorse, that raced until he was 9 that isn’t uncommon to see. George will never be a sport horse. He is going to be my trail buddy and even that might be limited to light trail riding.

Anyways the vet was able to find the abscess and then dig it out. Bright red blood came gushing out which means that it was fresh. George is a bit of a drama queen so from now on I’ll be able to tell when he’s got an abscess. They suggested soaking it a few times a day for 1-2 weeks.

Yeah that didn’t go as smoothly as I’d imagined in my head. I’ve watched horses have their feet soaked many times. The handler just lifts their foot and sets it in the shallow feed pan with water and then wait the appropriate amount of time and then lift the foot out and done. With Pistol’s abcess last year, same thing I would put his feed out and then soak his foot and he was great. (come to think of it, he was a saint for his xrays last year too!) George, well George is not like a regular horse and I am learning that. I got his foot bath ready last night and then mixed up his supper and lifted his foot up and placed it in the dish, and he panicked. He was quite certain that I was trying to drown him in the 3 inches of water. So we tried it again. And again. And again. He spilled it about 4 times. So I made a plea for help on Facebook and got some pretty great ideas to try!

This was about the 19th time I put his foot back into the water...

I have to say though; I did get upset with him. And I ended up taking out my frustration on the feed pan. I hurled it across the barn and almost took out a cat. George stood there looking at me like “U mad?” Obviously getting mad at a horse rarely does anything good. If you get upset with George he will have a meltdown.  It’s not fun when he gets upset. I was just frustrated and that poor feed pan took a beating.

I feel like such a terrible horse person when I can’t get a horse to do something. I feel that I am doing everything wrong and have no business with horses and some days I feel as if I need to just give up. But like the lyrics I posted yesterday “If it can’t make your cry, make you mad or get you high” Which is exactly what horses do. There isn’t one true horse person out there that hasn’t gotten mad, or cried over a horse. And that high that comes from horses is just the best. It can come from an amazing ride, or just that ‘a-ha!’ moment during a lesson. It’s there and I think we are always chasing after it. And horses have absolutely broken my heart. Many times, over and over again. I love those expensive, time consuming, monsters that live in my back yard. If I wasn’t a horse person my life would be so much easier! And I could have a really nice house in town, and I would have more free time. But I honestly feel bad for people that aren’t horse people. Their lives aren’t as complete.

And one more thing. Here is a picture of George yesterday. He looks about 10 times better than he did a week ago. It has been a constant struggle this summer trying to get him to put and keep weight on. We’ve been treating him for ulcers and I bumped up his feed rations. I’ve also started giving him Cool Calories 100 and I really think that was what was missing before. I know, I know he doesn’t look fantastic, but this is an improvement for him! The vet scored him as a 4 on the body scale with 5 being ideal. He is still thin, but hopefully he will continue to put weight on!