First kiss

It's that time of year when our trainer Ali goes to Iceland for a couple months to lead tourists through the wilderness on Icelandic horses. So happy for her! 

Left to our own devices I've been trying to get Mag better on the lunge line. I know, it's ridiculous that it's still a struggle but I was able to keep him calm on the line recently and that was wonderful. Ali always prioritizes calm above all else. 

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Mag has hives. He's allergic to almost every substance on the planet, and one bad bug encounter has his body geographically swollen. Why aren't there real allergy medicines for horses? 

Yesterday he rolled and several swollen hives erupted into bloody masses and I spent the evening washing them and then finally closing them with alu spray. Thank God he's good with water. I thank God for every single talent he has: ) 

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Our pasture is more lush than it's ever been in fall, even after that awful heat wave. I can hardly find the poop piles! They are eating 2 flakes of hay per day! Together! 

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Stalling Mag is a real problem, when I want to separate them to feed vitamins. He weaves terribly and I put on the classical music and sit in front of him and wait ...up to 2 hours, before he can finally take a bite of hay. His life of total freedom has really impinged on his ability to be contained even shortly. 

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J and I have been sick all week. That's normal for J, as a school teacher, when school starts, the kids bring all sorts of illness and we suffer. This time the both of us. I had the lawn mower out 3 days ago, desperately needing to mow, and I just couldn't find the strength to do it. Today I just couldn't clean up poop, I'll try again tomorrow. 

But when I gave Mag some bread tonight, checked his wounds, I hugged him from under his neck, massaging the top of his neck and saying, "Tomorrow I'll be better, I hope." 

He reached forward and put his lips on my neck and for the first time ever, kind of lipped me in a horsey kiss. 

I jumped back in alarm, don't bite me! But it wasn't stallion like, it wasn't the lack of hormone therapy (we stopped it in the hope that over Winter he'll be less studdy). 

He was just offering me a massage, like a normal horse. 

Sweetness! 

 

Certain halter/blanket clips that can hang up your horse

I'd heard that certain manufacturers make horse blankets/halters with snaps positioned incorrectly. That  horse can get hung up on a fence, for example. 

I never paid attention cuz I don't leave halters on during turnout unless they're leather (they should break on emergencies). But I've been leaving Bellis out with a leather halter and leather fly fringe because she doesn't have a fly mask.

I was wrong to think that was safe. (Photo below is the fly fringe I bought, which I've since posted on "Craigslist" lol.) 

 

I was in Seattle the last 11 days and on our last day got a Whatsapp from my friend who likes to drop by when we're gone to just hang out with my animals. 

She pulled up and instead of my animals running to her car neighing/braying in joy, there was nothing. 

Mag was standing at the gate silently. She went in and the donkey was standing in the stall facing the back of the stall, silently.

My friend thought Bellis was colicking. But Bellis had hung up her halter on the hay net. Because the cheek snap was turned 180 degrees the wrong direction, BY DESIGN, in the "catching onto things" direction. I had doubted it, but I doubt no more. (The last photo in this post has an image of the cheek snap.)

Poor Bellis was unable to move...and for how long? 

 

She rescued her and everything was fine, but today she called me, "How long do you think she stood like that?" 

I said, "How much poop was around her in the stall?" 

"None." 

"Less than 2 hours because she poops every 2 hours; both my animals poop a total of 24 times per day (12 poops per animal)." 

She laughed, "It sounds like your're a statistician when you say it like that."

I'm glad I paid attention, for her sake, she thought Bellis had been hung up all night.

 

As safe as I can be, it's never safe enough. Even a leather "breakaway" halter will not break if your animal does not panic or try to escape. If you have a calm animal like a donkey, they'll just stand there til the end of time patiently waiting and not employ the breaking feature of the halter. 

She said the halter was so tightly stuck it took her a while to free Bellis. 

Lesson learned.  

I ordered Bellis her own special donkey-friendly fly mask and she won't have to wear a halter in Summer with the fly fringe. 

Here's Bellis' supposedly safe turnout halter, in leather. I won't leave it on her again:

 

 

Outfitting a donkey for fly protection and life in Germany

I hate the flies that specifically seem to attack Bellis' legs. Leaving them sometimes bloody! This year I decided to do something about it. I bought leg-fly-wrap things. They're very soft and have a fine mesh. 

Last night I put them on her and stepped back to take a look. And then the donkey did what donkeys never, ever do. She flipped out (like a horse!). She just took off running. Mag and I blinked in the wave of dust she left behind and quickly decided to chase her to see if she was serious enough to run through a fence. 

Thank God she ran out of juice and when we joined her, she was doing the high-stepping dance of a horse unfamiliar with something attached to its legs. But she's a donkey, she shouldn't be wasting energy for such situations. 

Fascinating. 

This morning I was happy to see her in a practically fly-free state, with her fly fringe (?) and wraps, and annoyed that Mag had gotten out of his fly mask.  

We had a long talk about it, as he rubbed his face against his legs every 10 seconds, whether flies are better or worse than wearing a mask. I put it on and I hope he agrees with me that it's better. 

And 10 minutes ago I ordered him a fly fringe (?) on Amazon so on bloody heat dome days like today he can have a little more air on his face. I told him I have to wear a bra no matter the weather but he doesn't seem to care.

Yeah we're having the hottest June in history and it's so humid my laundry won't dry. Going outside to do chores is actually dangerous. My husband overheated yesterday so badly he turned all red, and after a cooling shower he was still sweating so much, lying on the couch, I couldn't get him dry. 

But he's fine, and today came home with a farm implement that I know we do not need. After 17 years hoisting hay bales without one, he decided we needed a pitchfork. 

My first question was how did you get it home without damaging our brand new Yaris. He demonstrated. Very nice. 

My second question was why do we need one. I'm not convinced we do.

My third question was "You know American Gothic? Can I please take your picture?" (He did not know American Gothic and therefore did not have a stern look on his face, rather the opposite.)

My fourth question was, "Do you think either of us are strong enough to pitch a bale of hay up into our loft with it?" Ummmm...no. 

I told him when Germany goes to war, and since we own no guns, it will be a great asset to have, against the enemy: 

 Also, yesterday marked the day of the return of fireflies in Germany. We have not seen them for years. I was delighted, they are so magical. Just, "NOT SO CLOSE, YOU! BACK OFF!" Magical though!

 The hay is ready to be mown, but sadly we had to reschedule cuz a bit of rain is coming. Dangit. 

The circle of life. Sadly a deer chose to die in our paddock area and the rangers came to get it. They assured me it had died of old age, even showing me its teeth when I asked. Bellis was very upset about it, nudging it repeatedly, so sad! I was also very upset. The horse was like, "What is wrong with you two? It's the circle of life!" 

Waaaay back in May, when you could go outside comfortably. The Holunder/Elderberry trees were so prolific that two people came to us to harvest them. I love that, making use of our otherwise useless trees. I put this photo on Quiver and someone said, "Is your horse camera shy?" 

"Yes, yes in that moment he was avoiding the camera. Just like I do." 

Not sure how we'll survive this heat wave. I took my cool pack out of the freezer and put my feet on it, and it exploded and blue goo went everywhere. 

On Monday I had to work at a Red Cross blood drive and was worried that I might get in trouble for wearing sandals. Then I looked around and a lot of us had sandals on. But as I had suspected, our boss said, "You know, I have to tell you, you are not allowed to wear open toed shoes on duty here." 

And Elke snapped at him, "I know, a knife could fall and slice off a toe." I cracked up cuz I foresaw the situation. Our boss is kind and said, "No worries, just, I am supposed to mention it." 

I, being the American, went and got a piece of paper and made a sign, "384 days since the last knife falling on toes incident." (Sorry to admit my German was for crap on this sign.)

No one laughed, cuz this is Germany. I'm sure as soon as I went home they ripped it down. Oh well. I'll never give up my American ways, trying to make people laugh in official situations.  

 

Hey Germany, how bout some AC!
 

Does the anaphrodisiac work? ("Chaste berry" "Monchspfeffer")

We've been gone over Easter break (Europe's best amusement park! (Europa-Park) With HORSES!). Now that Mag has been on HRT, haha, I mean hormone control herbs, for quite a while, I think I see a difference. 

There is something different about his expression. I know it sounds unlikely (I'm more of a Paracelsus type: Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine in a world that pretty much just used herbs.) On our trip we visited Germany's pharmacy museum in Heidelberg, inside the actual castle, and learned a lot about medieval pharmaceuticals. Fascinating! 

You know that inward look horses get when they're processing or ill? He has it seemingly randomly. 

I don't know, I've only been home for a couple of days. But he has been more affectionate and appreciative of grooming. I gave him a full Spa day yesterday and he was quite content. 

Tomorrow the trainer comes again after a 3 week break. I'm not going to say anything, I am intrigued if there will be a difference in his behavior. 

Another Amazon Prime 2kg Monchspfeffer order arrives tomorrow.  I'm buying it in the seed (?) form because I don't know how shelf-stable the liquid is. If anyone has tips for me I'd appreciate some help. 

Today I put up the fence for our street-side paddock that is lush with grass, and my animals are enjoying immensely. LOL the moment I walked into the area with a wad of electric wire, Mag ran up and started nickering, "Hunger Hunger Hunger." 

Eventually Bellis found the rose bush and started snacking - I worrry about thorns but I ran my hands down the branches and only found 2, so maybe it's OK. She eats enough blackberry that she may be experienced and avoid esophagus injuries. 

 

Rare is it when Mag's mane is actually white! I never had this problem with Baasha, who kept a dark mane his entire life. Mag's is mostly brown from mud. He is eating from the garden sack that he is afraid of, and Bellis takes advantage of this by moving it and scaring him away, so she can eat without him. Donkeys have the simplest of priorities: food first. 

 

Bellis has a new halter and I never thought I'd buy a fancy stiched one. I used to hate stitching in leather halters, and now I've gone through menopause and I'm even buying the one with the fancy stitching design. Omy. It fits both my animals perfectly and they look like they could be famous horses from that place in England where it was designed. It came with an English flag tag, full of pride. 

Bellis discovering the rose bush, oh Bellis. Give a donkey and a horse a new area and the horse will be content to eat grass. The donkey, OTOH, will scan the place for any morsel of anything that might be nutritious in a way other than grass. Horses and donkeys are soooooo different from each other. And yet they can have babies!?

Wolves moving in to Germany

This week a woman was attacked by a wolf at Ikea in Hamburg. I read another story of a lady riding her horse being stalked for 20 minutes by a wolf. I'm used to coyotes and bears, but I've never encountered a wolf. 

I remember the time I rode by a wolf farm, captive wolves, in Maple Valley, and I was on foot with Baasha. They started howling and Baasha slowly crept behind me, using me as a human shield. LOL 

Last week Mag went nuts over something, I don't know what. He couldn't stand down his guard, he couldn't eat, wouldn't allow Bellis to eat. He just paced the north and south perimiters. The horses across the street were upset as well, but the horses next door were placid.

My donkey was also concerned, so it wasn't in his head.

I texted the hunter/ranger. What is going on? He said it's probably wild boars. 

We've had wild boars around many times so I doubt it because I've never seen such a reaction. 

I have no experience with wolves. I can only trust that my donkey is going to apply her protection skills, as she does with dogs. 

German farmers are hoping for permission to protect their livestock against the protected wolves. 

We'll see what happens. 

 

 

Mag's AMH results (cryptorchid test)

It's called an Anti Muellerian Hormone test. It tests for hormones at unusual levels. 

Mag "passed" his AMH test this week. Apparently his adrenal glands are producing testosterone, in levels above normal. So, no hidden testicles. 

I had no idea the adrenal glands could produce testosterone and I'm pretty good at my physiology! 

So the vet recommends a lifelong treatment of "Chaste-tree" or "Monk's pepper" which includes magnesium and tryptophan. 

Without input from people who have used such a thing, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to just continue to try to discourage the stud behavior as best I can. 

I'd appreciate help if anyone has experience in this area. 

(This is Mag's answer to being lunged - "This sucks, I'm outta here."  Note he's taken the wrong lead in an attempt to drag me across the arena. We've made a lot of progress but we're still not able to w/t/c.) 

Wacky product needs 'splainin

I'm reaching out again in hope that someone can tell me how this product is intended to be used. 

I was staring at the image a long time and read to the end, "Mastweg." I know that street, I rode Baasha there in Wuppertal. But what is this? 

Ingredient: Beeswax.

Please tell me it's not something a horse would be eating? 

I went to the website, still no clue.