Blog Award

I got a blog award from Kate over at A Year With Horses! The rules are, link back to the person who gave you the award, tell 7 things about yourself, and then pass the award on to 15 other bloggers (pretty soon, with math like that, unless we do a lot of duplicating, every blog in the universe will have had the award!), especially blogs that are newer to you. If you're named below, please feel free to do this to whatever extent you wish, or not - it's your choice.

Seven Things About Me

1. I first discovered the Friesian breed in a book my mom bought me called The Encyclopedia of the Horse by Elwyn Hartley Edwards in around 1994 or 1995. Eventually, looking for more information, I joined an email list called Friesian-L, where I made a lot of friends and learned a lot about the breed. I've wanted a Friesian or Friesian cross for over ten years now. I finally got my Friesian cross Chrome in October 2009. :)

2. Reading is like my own personal comfort blanket. When I was a kid I would read during thunderstorms to stay calm (afraid of tornados - we had a lot). Even now as an adult I take a book with me everywhere I go! Literally if it's small enough it goes in my purse, if it's too big it goes in my car. Reading at night also helps me clear my mind so I can sleep.

3. I have a really bad sweet tooth! I prefer candy over cakes or pies. And I prefer fruit flavored (skittles, starburst) over chocolate. I really need to cut back on my sugar intake though lol.

4. I'm sensitive to caffeine because I don't ingest it on a daily basis. I can drink half a can of mountain dew and be hyper, usually I end up with the "giggles".

5. I stopped drinking soda when I was nine or ten years old. Now I mainly drink water, occasionally juice and on very, very rare occasions I will have soda. I don't drink alcoholic beverages either because they make me sick to my stomach after the first one, are full of empty calories and most don't taste very good anyway.

6. I was very, very shy as a kid, although most people who know me now would never have guessed. If people know what to say I'm still easily embarrassed and the most frustrating part is I blush easily and it's completely beyond my control. Apparently because I'm an easy target people seem to want to tease me endlessly. Losers. ;)

7. I love to write! I write mainly fantasy and sci fi, but I'll occasionally write realistic fiction. I'm very private (one reason I'll probably never publish) about my writing and the only two people on the entire planet that I've ever let read any of it is my twin sister and my husband. One of my biggest accomplishments was writing over fifty thousand words in fourteen days for NaNoWriMo.

Now I'm supposed to tag fifteen other bloggers, but I don't know that many bloggers and a lot of you have already done this, so if you want to give it a shot go ahead. Please leave me a comment so I can go to your blog and read what you wrote. :) Thanks Kate!

Donkey Day! 2-27-2010

Sorry I don't have any current pictures, but this one is cute!! As you probably know Chrome and Zeppelin are now living together twenty four, seven. They get along so well and love playing together. This morning I sat looking out my window and watched Zeppelin learning to play with the Jolly Ball. It's been hanging in Chrome's pen, but now that the pens are open Zep has started playing with it. He doesn't know to bite it yet, but he likes to walk beside it and let it roll along his side, or to push his neck against it until it goes over, swings out and comes back to hit him. It's really funny. I'll try to get a video sometime.

The other bit of news is that I walked to within about twenty feet of Zeppelin when he was laying down and he didn't get up! I was very surprised because normally he's quick to get to his feet. It think he's finally getting used to us. I can't wait until he's tame enough to let us approach him anytime. He now accepts nicker maker treats from my hand. :) That's all for today.

Rearranging . . .

Wow, I actually feel like I got a lot done today. My husband was off today . . . or well he worked last night and just stayed up instead of going to bed and I only worked three hours today so we worked outside. We got all of the hay into the hay barn, instead of the horse trailer. I guess Chrome would have had to eat his way onto the trailer if we had to take him to the vet for some reason haha. Then I took apart their pen from in front of the barn and stretched it across the narrow side of the pasture, creating a paddock on the high ground part of the pasture. That way they're still close where I can keep an eye on them and they're on high ground where it won't be so muddy. We rotate them through the other paddocks on pretty days to graze.

So now Chrome and Zeppelin are living together twenty four seven instead of in their separate pens. They played hard running, bucking, rearing, biting, kicking, then settled in to munch on some hay. I set up a small pen around Chrome's side of the barn so I can lock him in when I feed since he eats slower than Zep, but they'll spend the rest of their time in the paddock.

Chrome is doing great. I'm keeping him thin enough to where I can see his ribs when he's moving around, but not so thin that he loses weight off his topline or anything like that. I'm not gonna starve the boy, I just need to slow his growth down. He's getting free choice hay. I haven't felt any heat or fluid in his joints, although after how hard they played today he might have some heat in them tomorrow. All in all things are going well for the time being. Let's keep our fingers crossed it stays that way. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Chrome Vs. Umbrella

Okay, sorry it took me an extra day to get the pictures edited. It's another one of those things I never catch up on. It seems like when I dedicate a day to catch up on editing pictures I get behind on reading blogs. When I try to catch up on reading blogs I fall behind on posting. When I catch up on posting I get behind on house work. How do I juggle it all?!

So anyway here are the pictures Zeppelin promised you. Chrome was approaching the umbrella while I was holding it as you saw in the What is dat?! post, but I wasn't able to give him a scratch to reassure him so I took the umbrella to his barn and put it on the ground so he could check it out. Here are the pictures.

"Whoa mom, whatcha got there?"

"There's a horse eating monster in my barn!"

I love the big, arched neck he gets when he's unsure of something.

Brave enough to reach out and give it a touch.

Visibly more relaxed.

And finally chewing on it. The ultimate sign of acceptance. :D

More chewing. Mouthy colt. :D

Last picture. I love his silhouette.

Belated Donkey Day - 2-21-10

Hey friends! My human has been under a lot of stress with Chrome's scare and with her job so I let her have my Saturday to give an update on Chrome, but I'm back today. Better late than never. Unfortunately my human didn't edit the pictures I was planning to use for my post, so instead I'll show you these from the snow storm. She was using an umbrella to keep the snow off of her camera. Chrome and I had never seen an umbrella before, but I was brave and decided to check it out. If Mom gets off her sorry butt and edits pictures maybe she can show you the pictures of Chrome looking at the umbrella tomorrow. Anyway, here they are.

I don't look impressed do I? I think I look downright handsome all covered in snow though. I'm glad it gone finally because us donkeys don't have coats built to withstand snow. We're from the desert you know!

Zep signing off!

Update

There's no more heat in Chrome's legs, so that's good. No swelling either. I cut back how much Safechoice he's getting and started him on a vitamin/mineral supplement called Grow Colt, because he's not eating the minimum Safechoice required to meet his mineral needs. It suggests feeding about seven pounds and he's getting about three or four. I guess he inherited the Friesian 'gets fat on air' gene lol. I have to keep the weight off of him to keep the stress off of his joints, but he gets free choice hay so he's not hungry. I'm also going to set it up to where I don't have to keep him in the small pen at night. I don't trust my neighbors, so I'll set up a double fence to where he couldn't reach someone if they stopped. I would post no touching, feeding, trespassing signs, etc, but it only seems to provoke the teenagers to do it anyway. Sigh.

I'm going to give Chrome two weeks on the new diet/supplement and if he still seems uncomfortable or if there is anymore heat in his legs I'll get the x-rays done, but I kind of need to rearrange the budget because I don't have a spare three hundred dollars laying around lol. I'll keep everyone updated. Keep sending him those positive thoughts.

Monthly Progress Report - 2-19-10

Date: 2-19-10
Age: 9 months
Height: 13.1½hh (53.5in/136cm)
Height Gain: 1¼ inch
Weight: Approx 562lbs
Weight Gain: 32lbs

Progress: Chrome has grown one and a quarter inches this past month! That is way too much, too fast. I thought I was feeding conservatively, but I'm going to cut back on his feed a little more and add a vitamin/mineral supplement to prevent mineral imbalances. He's been shifting his weight between his rear legs which leads me to believe there is a bit of discomfort in them. I've also noticed heat in the rear fetlock joints after his rowdy play sessions, so I'm concerned about OCD lesions or other orthapedic problems. We're speaking to our vet about getting radiographs/x-rays of his fetlock joints, but it's going to be so expensive! I'll keep everyone updated, but please keep your fingers crossed that it isn't OCD, because that's a $3000 surgery! I'm also restricting his exercise so he can't stress his joints anymore than he already has. I'll walk him daily, but he can run and buck and play with Zeppelin right now. :( Please keep Chrome in your thoughts. Other than that he's doing fantastic. He isn't showing any signs of lameness other than the restless shifting.

Goals: My goal for this month is to get professional advice on his diet and exercise and to have his joints x-rayed. Also going to spend as much time with him and pray this isn't serious.

Wordless Wednesday - What is dat?!

Short Walk

Sorry no pictures, but I did take Chrome for another walk. My husband went but we only took Jackal because we were both tired. I haven't been sleeping well for a week or more because my husband is on night shift right now and a neighbor's dog has been coming into our yard at night disturbing my dogs and my sleep. Chrome gave Jackal a couple of ugly faces (like he wanted to chase or bite him?), but ignored him the rest of the time. They're so used to each other that they really could care less.

Chrome did great on his walk. I took him a different direction that he's never been. We went by a pasture with close to a dozen horses in it and he did great. He had his tail and head up, doing his show off prancing trot, but he listened to me when I told him to settle down. We only had to circle a few times when he would push into me or surge ahead. He did really well. I need to get a video sometime (waiting for better weather and day shift schedule for hubby) so you all can see how he does and give suggestions for anything I might not be seeing or I might be doing wrong.

We also passed a couple of crazy, barking dogs. He barely looked at them. We had one truck drive by and he barely glanced at it. He's getting a lot more confident and comfortable on our walks. He still gets excited, but when we start going more often he'll calm down some. I haven't done any clicker training (bad me) or anything because of the weather and my disturbed sleep schedule. I promise when I can feel my fingers again I'll start working on it. :) Later!

Zeppelin Plays Back!

I got some more video footage of Chrome and Zep playing together! And this time Zeppelin really gave Chrome what for. :) Enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday

Airs Above The Ground

Okay, so I was thinking about Chrome's constant goofing off and as I was looking through some of my most recent pictures I thought of something. Maybe he's not goofing off, maybe he's training! Training to join the Spanish Riding School where he can perform the Airs Above the Ground. Look at these pictures and decide for yourself.

First we have the Levade. Here is what it should look like:

Here are Chrome's attempts:

Next is the Croupade. Here is what it looks like:

Here are Chrome's attempts:


His closest attempt:

I think this was a fantastic attempt. He'll just need to learn to tuck his legs. :) So cute!!!!!!!

And then . . .







at other times I think he's just fooling around . . . or maybe inventing his own moves?

This last picture is so cool. The boy can get some air!!!

So what do you guys think? Is he goofing off or is he training?

Promised Video

Here is the video that Zep promised I would show you. The one of him being tortured by his evil little brother Chrome. :) It's really cute.



I love how at the end the neighbor's horse sees Zeppelin and spooks. :)

Donkey Day!

Hehaaaaaw! Hey guys! Zeppelin here. I just wanted to share a few things with you. There are a few things about my new home that are of a little concern to me. First of all this white stuff that falls from the sky! What is that? I originated in the desert pups and no white stuff ever fell on my ancestors. Can someone explain this cold, wet, uncomfortable thing to me?

Another thing is the chickens. They are driving me crazy! They're constantly coming into my barn, getting under my feet and laying eggs in my hay!! The nerve of them!


And the last, most important, thing of all is my new brother. I mean he's great and everything, but he's kind of a pest! I have to give him ugly ears and a lot of kick threats to get him to leave me alone sometimes. Other times he's fun to run and play with and we love playing bitey face.

Out in the white stuff the other day he was kind of being a pest though, chasing me and biting me and slamming his body into me. I know he was just wanting to play, but I was trying to figure out this white stuff so I gave him a kick and he left me alone. Mom said she would post a video of it tomorrow. :) You better check back because I need all the sympathy I can get. Maybe I should get a spiked halter so I can head butt him. :D

Led Zeppelin

Pictures From Chrome's Eight Month Birthday

Some random pictures from January 19th. Enjoy!

Between Chrome and Jackal that poor Light Brahma is terrified!

I really like this pose.

Nice, energetic trot.

Lazy, but cute trot.

Silly colt loves to buck.

Probably looking for the neighbor's horse.

Below are a couple that were blurry, bad quality so I messed around with them in my photo editing program and came up with this.

Siiiiiiick!

I have a horrible head cold so posts may be sporadic for a while. Just wanted to warn you all so you didn't think I'd fallen off the face of the Earth. :D

Wordless Wednesday - Chicken Chaser