Thursday, November 13, 2014

Chrome's New Clothes!


Appydoesdressage from Musings From LogDog Acres sold me one of her old blankets for Chrome and check out the packing job!!  She stuffed, and I mean STUFFED, it into a flat rate box to save me money on shipping because she's awesome!  We were so hoping it would explode... I even filmed it... sadly nothing happened and in fact hubby had a heck of a time pulling it out of the box LOL!!!!

 Jackal thought it was for him.  Sorry boy!

 I still can't believe she managed to fit it in that box!  

Here is a video of me putting it on Chrome for the first time.  He hasn't had a blanket on since he was a weanling in 2009 (well he tried his weanling blanket on once a couple of years later, but barely counts), so I had to halter him, tie him up, hobble him and twitch him to get it on....


Just kidding LOL!  Also the cut out part is because he walked away to poop and then he came back to me.  I figured I would spare you having to watch that part.  :)

 Isn't he handsome???


I had the chest strap too tight, but I had it on the tightest setting, so no big deal.  I can loosen it for when he wears it longer than five minutes lol.  I love the colors.  The trim is the same blue as his halter.  :D  It's our favorite color!


As you'll see in the video and this picture the whole menagerie turned out to admire him.  Even the cat!  In the video you'll also see the goats harass my dog. It's hilarious!!!!  I have another video of the dog and goats that I'll share on my other blog tonight (don't have time to get it done before work so you have to wait).

Thanks again Appy!!!!!!  Chrome loves it (especially because it smells like your horses hehe)!  He is going to be so much more comfortable this winter and hopefully he won't lose weight in the spring like last year.  :)

19 comments:

  1. I am SO glad it fits!!! I am also SO disappointed that it didn't explode HA! Where there is a will, there is a way, it took about 5 minutes to stuff it into the box but am SO glad it fit. I hope it works better for Chrome that it did my App :)

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  2. Isn't appydoesdressage awesome? The blanket fits well, and I'm so happy to see that the goats can run all around Chrome and he can ignore them.

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    1. Yes she is!! Yes I'm very happy they are all getting along now. Did you see Jackal sniffing his legs? He used to attack dogs too. I think he's finally figured out they belong to me and he can't kill them hehe. They all nap in the sun together now. :-D

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  3. wow that blue looks GREAT on him!

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    1. Thank you!! I think so too! It's funny that the one blanket she had that fit him is blue. So perfect!

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  4. Love that blue!! And I'm sure Chrome will appreciate having a warm snuggly blankie come winter. :-)

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  5. Yeah that is some stuffing!!! Chrome looks Happy!!! Hey got any pointers on keep goats? I was thinking of getting a few too. Do you let them wander everywhere?? Do they always stay with the horses? Do they eat horse tails? Your little farm is so cute! Smiles!!

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    1. Goats are great! The main problem with them is fences. They are major escape artists, especially the small pygmies like what I have. They also love to rub against fences, which causes them to bow out so you have to put barbed wire (dangerous for horses) or electric wire at the bottom.

      They are herd animals so they will stay with the horses or any other herd animal you have (alpaca, sheep, etc.). Some people do have a problem with them eating tails. I don't because they are skittish of Chrome. If the horse doesn't care what they do, you might have a problem with tail eating.. I would think that would mainly be a problem if there is a lack of browse though. If there is plenty to eat I don't think it would be a problem.

      Goats are browsers, not grazers, so they will taste anything in their pen. Trees, grass, bushes, flowers, weeds, etc. They even eat dead leaves which is awesome lol. So you can't turn them loose in your yard if there is anything poisonous or anything you don't want eaten. They will also steal the horses' feed too, which makes feeding time difficult, unless the horse protects his feed like Chrome does. Goat are ruminants like cows, so they have four stomach and they chew cud. Make sure they can't get into your feed room because they are prone to bloat! My goat once got into the chicken house and ate all their feed and almost died from bloat.

      Goats need a shelter, preferably something the horses can't get into in case they need to get away from the horses or if the horses don't share. Mine stay in the barn with my horses, but they do have their own pen that only they can access just in case. They hate getting wet, so they must have shelter. Their small shelter is a great way to provide goat specific loose minerals that the horses can't get to.

      Regular maintenance on goats includes deworming and hoof trimming. Pelleted dewormers are the easiest. If you decide to try to syringe it to them like you do the horses, you have to do it a specific way. If you tilt their heads back that shuts off access to the rumen and goes straight to the stomach (that's how baby goats nurse) which misses a lot of the worms. The hoof trimming is pretty easy to do with some hoof shears. You just have to watch for pink tissue so you don't cut too deep and make them bleed. There should be youtube videos showing how to do that.

      Also if you get male goats, make sure they are castrated. Intact male goats stink horribly during rut!

      That's all I can think of off the top of my head. If you have any specific questions let me know. :D

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    2. Oh and beware of goats with horns! They can get their heads stuck in fences and I suppose they could also hurt the horse, although I've never had that happen, it's not impossible. There are goats without horns though, if you don't want to deal with that. :)

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    3. WOW description!! Thanks a ton! I can't thank you enough! So in the video where the goats are running around while you do the blanket for Chrome. Can they go through those fences? Or is there hot wire or something I don't see? Thanks!!

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    4. Yes they can go right through those round pen panels! My entire pasture is fenced in field fencing/hog wire. The panels are just a pen I had set up in case my horses needed separated. It's not even closed right now lol. If you have panel fences you will have to put up wire fencing to keep them from climbing right through it. :)

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    5. My pasture is fenced in this stuff. http://www.allfarmfenceanddecks.com/modules/xoopsgallery/cache/albums/album02/field_fence_with_wood_h_post.jpg

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  6. Yay for Chrome's new coat, he wears it well (obvs). Love that the whole motley crew turned out to inspect him ☺

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    1. Thank you! The whole crew turning up was so awesome. :D

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  7. The videos are fun. I love seeing Chromes personality. He's such a good horse. And I see the fresian coming out more this last year.

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    1. Cool!! Thanks! I'm glad the Friesian is showing up more, although I love him either way. :D

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