Saturday, May 5, 2012

Spring happened!



Spring is here and it’s unbelievably lush, almost as if I live in a jungle. Not to insult any real jungle bloggers out there, because of course there are no panthers here.


There was one wolf, recently, the first spotted in West Germany in 100 years, and a farmer shot it dead. When he turned himself in, he said he thought it was a stray dog. Which makes his story worse because there are no feral dogs in Germany; if you see a loose dog (you won’t), it is someone’s pet trying to find its way home.




It’s been perfect weather for me – in the 50s and 60s, a little rain, a little sun. Enough sun for a sunburn on my shoulders.


I’ve got the grill out and am fully into grilling our dinners. Still looking for corn on the cob (really, really rare here) and I found a “somewhat less seeds” tiny watermelon (volleyball sized) to scarf down, my favorite God-made food.


The cat has found out she can jump from a woodpile up into our hay loft, and she spends her time up there hiding from evil black neighbor cat (who messed up our kitchen), and peering into the birdhouses on that wall. Chickadees have babies in all 3 birdhouses this year simultaneously. I really hope the cat cannot figure out how to get them. She’s not very coordinated so I think they’re safe.



The pasture is off limits to the equines for the most part in May as hay is growing fast. Baasha and Bellis have done a very good job trimming the three grazing strips very short, but there’s still enough to keep them busy all day/night.







I have to tell you about Baasha’s coat, since I body clipped him completely in January. It worked – I have circumvented shedding season! Right now he has his Summer coat, and he usually is shedding horrendously these last few months through June. If I brush him, tiny quarter-inch long hairs come out, but not enough to be unpleasant for me. Springtime shedding is usually an awful time and I usually have to attack him with tools to make a dent in the amount of fluff he’s still wearing. This is really wonderful. Although some Winter days were stressful when I couldn’t be there to add or remove a blanket layer, this is exactly what I wanted. Practically no shedding season. He has a slick, shiny coat now that I cannot stop touching. And he has that smell of a grass kept horse, I love it.

(Update: This morning was 9C/48F and raining and he was shivering so he's back in a blanket.)

Bellis still has a thick coat that sheds when I groom it, but I don’t feel the need to try to shed her out – I’ll just see what happens with her. She doesn’t smell as good, she smells like a donkey, which is an odd smell. She still wants her ears rubbed but you can get pretty gross doing that favor for her.








She’s so fat I wonder if she’s gonna give birth, but I think it’s just a donkey thing. She doesn’t have a crest so I don’t have to worry that she’s being overfed.


Their behavior has mellowed out unless something changes our routine – for example if I lock Baasha in the stall for his evening mash, he’ll go nuts and won’t eat it. I have to lock Bellis up for him to eat, so he knows she cannot leave him. That’s really sad cuz poor Bellis doesn’t even get a mash.




But for the most part they are peaceful together and there is no more bickering. Baasha does not let her push him around, and he doesn’t push her around. He defends his food but since he takes so much longer to eat a bit of hay, I separate them a couple hours every evening. This also gives me a chance to work on clicker training Bellis and pick up her hooves. I also spray Baasha with our ultra-expensive German fly spray in hopes the gnats won’t tear him up.


It’s funny to see the influence she’s had on Baasha. Well first of all he’s getting a lot more exercise, (whew!), because they spend so much of their time at pasture and not just standing by the gate. (Although they do both spend some time standing at the gate which irritates me because I don’t want mud by the gate.) But they spend their days going up and down the hang, the pasture climbs, and moving around complicated obstacles. Sometimes they canter around together, but not often.





Bellis has taught him to eat the oak trees. I’ve put up a fence so the trees are protected, and my man cut down some low hanging branches that Bellis had stripped of bark, but whatever they can reach of those trees, they nibble on. Baasha, being taller, can reach more. But thankfully there is not much they can reach – they’re pretty tall trees. Baasha never touched those trees before the donkey arrived.


He spends more time grazing, simply because she does. She stripped two tiny ash trees that were expendable, and is halfway through a fence post (ugh). Good thing we have mostly tposts.

He also chews on our woodpile, which is basically an equine big toy now. They take down wood almost every day, but I don’t mind.

I discovered that I can get Bellis to move away fast if she knows I’m mad at her. She knows she’s not supposed to go in the storage area (Baasha’s old stall) but the other day she took one step inside. I ran over and yelled at her and she flew backwards and did a 180 fast!! I think she is starting to understand good vs. bad behavior from my body language. I found out that waving my hands at her or moving toward her quickly gets a big reaction. This is good – I didn’t think she could give a big reaction. She still moves in close to try to press against me and this is not allowed. Hopefully she'll get that eventually.


Today I'll switch grazing strips - I have to say, having my pasture sectioned is one of my favorite things of having my horse at home. It is such a salient activity, proving to myself that this is my pasture and I can decide where they graze. At a former dressage stable I worried, "I wonder if my horse will get turnout today" (among other worries about his care) but now, every day, every hour, I know. Although I am not riding, and that really hurts, I am really basking in having Baasha right here and every evening the first thing I do is change out of my work clothes and hang out with them.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I am beyond thrilled with how well things are with Baasha's new donkey. It seems she was just the right gift of companionship.

Now if you can just learn to love a bray. Lol

Lovely photos!

EvenSong said...

Baasha looks GREAT!!

And I don't think Bellis looks that fat, for a donkey.

Love all the pictures around your little pond--they look so sweet together.

Breathe commented about Bellis' bray, but you *didn't* mention it, so I'm hoping that' because it hasn't been much of a problem lately, as she has settled into your routine.

Now to find you that riding horse!

Dan and Betty said...

Great pictures. You have a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing. Dan

AareneX said...

Baasha has never looked better--having a donkey friend (AND his own grazing strips) is definitely the best thing for him.

Your yard and garden are beautiful. We're in the *lush* stage here, too--everything is soft and bright green!

Reddunappy said...

They are beautiful!!!

We are finally getting Spring here too! Despite the drenching rain the last two days. It is supposed to be close to 80 again this week!
Typical Washington, 50 to 80 in one day!! Sheesh!

Germany at least has similar climate to Washington! the 50-60* is where we have been too.

Dom said...

Spring looks lovely over there <3

Paint Girl said...

What fantastic photos! It is so green and pretty there, like here. Your weather must be similar to mine?
I body clipped Brandy a couple years ago and it was great not having all the shedding hair. I wish I would have done it again this year now that I have the time. But now she is almost done shedding.
Sounds like there is a lot of entertainment going on with those 2. And must be so fun to watch them!

lytha said...

breathe, love a bray? do you love a bray? have you heard how loud they are? ok if i lived somewhere near nowhere, NM, i'd be ok with it, ehheehhe: ) but i worry every time, due to my neighbors. thankfully she has not brayed the last 4 days.

evensong, you are so sweet, thank you. i have to admit, i do not post photos here that show how fat she is, but when the vet was here yesterday she was looking for a baby - she said, "my goodness she's even bigger! is that a baby or just good eating?" i need to measure her again. and keep checking her udder. (udder?)

dan, thank you for that. i was so depressed this winter about the bleakness, i thought it would never happen.

aarene, well, i have to admit i don't post photos of baasha that look awkward, or that show all his ribs that you can easily see in the light. having a companion he can be an equal with is a dream come true, and i have to thank god about it! we are so blessed. she doesn't even challenge our fences, which would be a huge problem with hay growing. i miss home so much, and i hope to see you in august.

reddunappy - thank you - i love the rain though. every time it reminds me of seattle. of course today i would have loved to mow my grass and poison some nettles, but oh well.

dom, you are so far from seattle, and so far from me - could you get any further? i love hearing about your corner of the world.

pg, of course i remember that post of yours about clipping brandy. it inspired me! it is so wonderful, i'll never go back. thank you for visiting. i read every single post of yours and love it - i feel at home just looking at your photos. i don't comment and i'm sorry about that, but i read every one. by the way, again, i love your new flooring. and your mustang is unbelievably gorgeous and your training of her inspires me to buy something young!

Crystal said...

Wow sure looks luch and green over there! I love the chair in the greenhouse :)

So happy Bellis and Baasha are getting along so well.

I wish I could body clip my horse but it gets sooo cold and no inside to keep them, but she has been pretty well shed out for a few weeks, sure happens a lot earlier when you are riding them hard all winter.

allhorsestuff said...

Hi girlie,
Nice to see your relaxed leg in foreground,as you looked over your jungle habitat and white horse with cool Bellis donkey!
Oou I've missed much...will be back tracking to catch up on Germany and you all.

Love that Baasha looks so stunning...a little more curious too as Bellis has opened his eyes. That one shot of him precariously near the pond edge, he looked as if he had toppled some stones in!

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

Bellis doesn't look fat to me for a donkey. Also donkeys shed a lot later than horses and start getting their winter coats earlier. They don't spend nearly as much time in their summer coats as a horse. I'm sure you've realized how dry their coats are compared to a horse as well.

Some of the pictures were really beautiful, your home and farm are very pretty and of course Baasha and Bellis dress things up even more!

Funder said...

Baasha looks amazing! Not amazing for an old horse, just amazing, period.

I am glad Bellis has taught him how to be a proper German equine and eat wood. Now you're going to have to get him a wood stall toy, snicker!

HHmstead said...

Love the donkey photos! Looks like your Spring is at about the same stage as ours, even down to the gnats!
Looks like no yard "obstacles" are too difficult for your pair! :-)

Achieve1dream said...

Don't worry about Bellis not getting a mash while locked up. Donkeys don't eat anywhere near as much as horses (and shouldn't!). Once they are fat (which Bellis does not look fat to me) it's almost impossible to get them lean again. :)

Their ears do get nasty on the inside. I've often wondered if it would be okay to rub their ears with a wet wipe (like for cleaning babies when changing diapers), but I don't know if that would irritate their ears or get them too wet on the inside? Might be worth looking into though if I remember to later lol.

Oh and donkeys take FOREVER to shed out their coats lol. They look really great in their summer coats though. :D

Wood chewing is an irritating habit to break! Donkeys are by nature more browsers than horses are and Zep did teach Chrome to browse too. It can be a great thing because they get more variety, but it can be bad too, like leading to wood chewing (which I've been told can be bad for them, but I've never seen it cause problems personally, well except in damages to trees and fence posts). I've also been told that wood chewing can be a sign of mineral deficiencies, but I'm not sure if that's true or not. You could put out a free choice loose minerals (way better than blocks which are actually just salt and trace minerals) to make sure that's not a problem. I think it's more from a lack of roughage (which I don't think is a problem for yours), boredom or habit (if they've been in a position before where they lacked roughage or something to do). Dunno, might be worth doing some research on. I can't remember all of the things I read about it years ago (as far as why they chew wood and if it can cause problems/most of what I had read has probably changed so don't take any of this as hard facts without some follow up research please!).

I'm glad they are doing so great. They both are so beautiful!