Bellis is doing grand, just perfect. I love having a donkey.
Mag is still sensitive on rough ground, so I'm not willing to take him out. Today I wanted to put sunscreen on Mag's slightly burnt nose, and when he saw the halter, he left.
I encouraged him to go with a slap of the line, and then gave Bellis a massage and a few tidbits to eat. Mag watched from his safe space between the pasture and the barn. Slowly, one hoof at a time, he made his way back to us, and I held out the halter again, "Wanna be caught? Your choice." He sighed, "OK" and I put it on. He immediately left the area, to safety. I ignored him and groomed Bellis as her lip waggled back and forth.
He looked at the path to the pasture longingly, but understood that the donkey was going nowhere, she was blissing out. After 20 minutes, one hoof at a time, he made his way back to us, looking away as if "I'm not approaching."
When I moved to massage Bellis in a way that my back was to him, he made much more progress, until he was standing right over us. Closer and closer until his muzzle touched my arm. If I can extrapolate, I think he was saying, "I'm a good horse, I'm here, I'm good now. Do something nice for me too." I let him wait a bit, put some sunscreen on him, and then released him, throwing a handful of grain pellets onto the stall flooring, for them to search for over time, while hopefully the sunscreen soaks in.
I realized later, the reason he walked away from the halter was that lately it meant a syringe of Bute, and yesterday it meant a tube of Pyrantel. So the halter has not been such a great thing lately. He's never been hard to catch, so I shouldn't worry. He'll be fine.
Oh, he also has something that might be scratches on his front fetlocks. I used up all my Desitin on them, which really helped, but I am not sure if it's scratches or photosensivity. He has no open sores, only rough spots and redness. I believe it's from the days he spent wearing wet bandages that rubbed on his ankles. That can't be good.
He needs his soles and his ankles to dry out, finally, but the weather is alternatingly hot/humid, or raining.
We have been geocaching every day as my man is still on Summer break, and I wish I were riding, but I must be patient. Two huge warmbloods passed me today as I sat on a bench and the lead rider said, "They're nice, no worries" to me. I could see that, they were half asleep.
We still want to take a trip up north to Denmark, hopefully that will work out. Just a few days, and maybe S can swing by and feed our cat. The horse/donkey need nothing - they have a field of "after-grass" (golf-course neon, even green after mowing) and there is a spring that is flowing through the middle.
Here are a few photos from my session teaching Mag to be tied to a tree. I was worried the entire time, but he seems to be safe to tie in strange places. It's only our front yard, but he never tried to pull back. I've learned to appreciate this about Mag, that even when stressed, he doesn't pull back when tied.
It's his "Hi there human" face. He can turn a complete circle under this branch, and, lo, behold, he did a few hurried times; he is simply being high-tied. (Similar to the set up you can add on to your horse trailer to park and camp and allow your horse to move in a complete circle and even lie down.Which, if you do not have, a tree is perfect against your trailer as a high line.)
Horses like to be able to turn a complete circle overnight. It's our problem to ensure the hay and water is still within reach when they turn. A line between a horse trailer and a tree is perfect, because you can use the trailer as a stop point for hay and water, but the horse can still circle and wander around away from your trailer.
And I wonder when I'll ever horse camp again.
I should eventually buy a new leather halter, since Mara broke the ring at the bottom. But I keep using Bellis' halter on Mag - for safety, it will break in emergency.
The lighting was perfect under the walnut tree. I will do this again. In the background you can see how hazy it is, that is the horrible humidity we're dealing with. Even if it's not very hot, it's so humid you can't do much outside.
I hope that he'll be sound soon.
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8 comments:
glad to see you've found a way to use "downtime" to your advantage.
and, funny how Mag didn't remind me of Natasha AT ALL in these pictures. Wassup wit dat? :-)
He looks good. I've never tried high tying before but I see how it can be useful.
Oh my, he's so beautiful. Yeah, I can certainly see why he might not have wanted haltered. Sure hope he's less owie soon. We've got the opposite weather, while we've been humid we've barely had any rain. Had a storm blow thru yesterday that finally gave us rain. Grace is even eating her day hay as the pasture grass is brown and crunchy.
gahhh spell check! not Natasha, obvs. BAASHA!!!!
Aarene, I find it incredible, too, how little he resembles Baasha in these photos. The ears are wrong, the neck is wrong, the hip, the muzzle, the only thing that might be similar is the eye itself. So if I take a pic of mostly the eye, I feel like I'm looking at Baasha. Backing up, not at all. Now I feel like I have a handle on what Egyptian Arabians look like compared with the Polish. If only Mag's tree-trunk legs would help his lameness at the moment. I called the vet today and he said, "Put your horse on a mattress, protect his feet from everything. Give him more Bute." Ok then. Except, I have no mattress.
Teresa, well, if you want to camp!
Camryn, The fact I have an empty hay loft is not a good feeling. As time marches on....but our field is gonna be producing lushly for another few months. This is a very wet, humid, hot land. I just wish I could offer hay when they come in to escape the horseflies. J said the hay farmer might have hay for us soon. Hm! I know where you are no, isn't it odd to have to feed hay in Summer?
Yes very odd to use my hay this time of year. I've always hung a bag like you for when they need to escape the flies or a storm. In the past it rarely got eaten.
Love the photos, he is such a handsome boy. How is he doing? I hope you are seeing improvement. And is Bellis all better? Have a wonderful weekend!
K.
kbryan, Thank you for asking! Bellis is doing great, she's a little pushy for rubs lately, and treats, cuz the apple trees are shedding apples and she knows I can push them under the fence toward her mouth: ) Thank you for reading and I'll write about our weekend in Denmark soon!
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