Dang it! *Pouts*

Chrome has rain rot. :( I think it's because we used his brushes on Zeppelin. I didn't notice any on donkey, but his hair is longer than Chrome's so he very well could be hiding it (now to figure out how to treat wild donkey lol). Of course it really shouldn't be a surprise since Faran has taught Chrome how nice the pond feels when it's so hot outside and most of the time they look like this . . .

I've been meaning to bathe him for a week now and just haven't found the time, but the rain rot pushed him to top priority. I feel bad because I noticed tiny bumps a couple of days ago, but I thought it was bug bites because there were no scabs or tufts of hair. It's on all four legs and up the shoulder and hip, mostly in his sweat spots. I took some pictures after I rinsed him off (which makes it look way worse than it is), then bathed him, combed out his mane and tail, took him for a walk and let him graze until he dried. Then I applied MTG. I was a little conservative with it because I'm afraid the sun might burn him tomorrow since the base of MTG is mineral oil. I'm just going to apply it late in the afternoon everyday and hope it doesn't burn him. I hope I applied enough to do the job though. Anyway here are the pictures. He looks awful, but doesn't seem sore or tender.

His drowned rat impression.

Down his entire front leg on his right side.
You can click to enlarge any of the pictures.

A close up. This is the worst spot. It's also the spot I noticed first, but there were no bare patches or tufts of hair. It was just small bumps.

His right hip. He's so relaxed his leg is cocked. :)

His left hip. This looks way worse than it is. I'll have to get more pictures tomorrow lol.

Left shoulder and forearm. It's all down the insides of the legs too.
I can't believe how fast it spread. :(
Of course he'd been playing today and was all sweaty too.

After his bath and scrubbing all of the scabs off he looks a LOT better than these pictures. I wish I'd remembered to take some after he'd dried off. His coat was almost glistening it was so shiny and pretty. :) I put a touch of MTG in the roots of his mane and tail so they were shiny too. He looks so pretty after a bath and he's so soft. I just want to hug all over him.

After I put him up I put all of his stuff in bleach water, put my clothes in the washer and took a shower. I need to figure out something to do with Zep too. If he really does have it I don't want to leave it untreated. Anyone else have any suggestions or advice? Chrome's had rain rot one other time when Galaxy gave it to him, but we treated both of them and it never came back. Anyway I'll keep you all updated.

TestosteChrome

The Chrominator has a new nickname! TestosteChrome. My sweet little boy is approaching puberty and it is starting to show! Before Galaxy left he spent some time bossing her around and herding her. Here are some pictures of his antics.

But it was all in fun. At the end of the day they still scratch each others backs. :)

Big News

Okay, the big news is here. Galaxy has gone to her new home! She's now living on eighty acres with fifteen other horses. I think she'll be happier now because she'll be living in a more natural setting with a lot of room to move around and a bunch of horses to befriend. Hopefully she'll find a buddy that she likes better than Chrome. I'm really sad to have let her go, but when I start feeling down I just have to remind myself of the times when she acted aggressive and scared me or the time when she kicked Chrome in the face.

The people I gave her to are very nice and extremely patient with a lot of experience with young horses. They said that I could come visit her anytime and yesterday I learned that she's already been claimed by a niece of the family. I have a feeling she'll be spoiled rotten in no time!

She did very well loading onto the trailer. This was only the second time she had ever been on a trailer!! It took about twenty minutes and they never once pushed her, scolded her or forced her to do anything. They let her explore and make the decision herself.

Approaching the trailer she was a bit nervous.

They let her sniff the trailer for as long as she wanted.

It didn't take long before she decided to put one hoof on the trailer.

They let her do that a few times to test that it was a solid surface and that it was safe.

Thinking over her options. She was still a little nervous because Chrome was neighing to her from the pasture.

They used feed to reward her when she would put a hoof on the trailer.

Then she put two hooves on the trailer. At this point it didn't take long to get her on the trailer. She got a little scared when we had to close the door, but the trailer was huge so she didn't panic. Poor Chrome was upset about losing his companion, but he's been spending time with the neighbor's gelding by the fence so I think he'll be fine until we can pick up the donkey, Led Zeppelin, from my dad's house.

I'll miss Galaxy. I think she would have been a good horse with some work. I just don't have the time to work with two young horses and I've never dealt with a kicker or a horse with food aggression before. We'll also have all of the goats kidding out within a month or two and life really will get hectic, so I think we made the best decision. I'll let you all know how it goes with the donkey. We're hopefully going to pick him up on Sunday. I also have a bunch of pictures of Chrome to share over the next few days. :) Later!

Random Pictures

I took a bunch more pictures of Chrome. I love taking pictures of him, even though he's finally going through an ugly stage. For those of you who aren't familiar with young horses, they basically grow one end at a time. Their rear end grows taller, then their front end has to catch up. This makes them look all gangly and silly for a while. I've heard said that horses that don't go through ugly stages will be short horses and horses that do go through ugly stages will be tall horses. I don't know if it's true, but if it is I'm glad he's finally going through an ugly stage lol! Anyway, enough rambling. Here are the pictures.

Playing with fallen pine needles.

Going for a gallop with Galaxy.

I love this picture. I caught Chrome in a perfect canter stride and I like Jackal's expression.

Giving me wild, googly eyes because he didn't realize I was standing there.

Galaxy and Chrome both looking gorgeous as they search the far off fields for the neighbor's horse.

Pretty floaty trot. Wish I'd caught this from the side, but still cute.

"Look Mom! What's over there?"

Looking tall and handsome.

And a couple of Galaxy so you don't think I've just forgotten her. I have a lead on a new home for her from someone I trust, so I'll let you know as soon as I hear something.

Pretty trot. I'm going to miss the sweet Galaxy, but not the mean one.

Checking out the dogs.

Tomorrow I'll try to post the snow pictures I got today. Still isn't much snow, but it's way more than we got the past two time.

Injured Chrome & Rehoming Galaxy

I have some very depressing news. Galaxy kicked Chrome in the face earlier today and now he's having trouble chewing. He still acts healthy and happy with a good appetite, but he can't move his lower jaw in the circular motion that they usually use to chew. He can't eat hay, but I'm going to soak his feed for him so he can still eat it. We can't get an appointment at the vet until eleven in the morning, but the doctor didn't think it would be a problem overnight since he's acting okay.

The bad news doesn't end there. We've finally made the decision to rehome Galaxy. This was the last straw. I didn't want to get rid of her, but I refuse to put up with her kicking. This morning when I walked across their pen to get her bucket, which they'd pulled off the fence, she galloped up behind me, spun around and kicked out with both rear legs. Luckily I heard her coming and was able to get out of the way, although I don't think she was really aiming because she has deadly accuracy. I'm sad about this, but was also surprised to find how relieved I was when I finally made the decision. I just do not get along with her and I bought Chrome to enjoy him, not put up with her. She's already injured a goat and now Chrome. I'm afraid I'll be next or that she'll kill one of the chickens. When we find someone who wants her we're going to go pick up Zeppelin (the donkey) from my dad's house to keep Chrome company. They have similar laid back dispositions, so I think it will work out better.

Well, back to work. Later.

Update.

Chrome is doing great! He loves his new barn and I also got him to eat four nicker maker treats today. I have to offer them when he's out of his morning hay or he just ignores them in favor of his yummy hay. :) Oh I do have Galaxy eating little baby carrots occasionally too. :)

Chrome is growing so much! I can't wait to take all of his measurements on the nineteenth. I haven't been doing much with him aside from the daily stuff like grooming, feeding, spending time with him. I realized the other day that I have years to teach him tricks and to prepare him for being ridden, so I'm going to stop worrying so much on what I need to be doing and just enjoy him the way he is now, because he won't be a young and cute weanling like this for long.

I'm probably going to wait until spring to start clicker training him, when I can feel my fingers again lol. For now I'm going to love on him and keep testing out various treats with him. I just adore my big goofy colt. When I drive home after a long day at work and I look out at him in the pasture my heart just swells. I love just randomly going outside to give him a hug if I'm feeling down. I'll try to get pictures sometime (when fingers aren't frozen haha) and I'll keep randomly updating but we won't be doing any training for now. :) Later!

New Barn!!

Okay, the new barn has been built!! Yay! And the horses apparently love it because this morning it was full of fresh poop lol. I wasn't able to get pictures during the building process because I had to go to work, but I did get this one. Sorry it's cluttered but it's also really the only one that has humans next to it. Look how tall it it.

Below is the view from the house.

We went with the 24x16 barn so we can build two 12x12 stalls. We also went with one that is eight feet tall in the back and ten feet tall in the front. Since it's up on a cross tie foundation it is actually a lot taller, but this allows us to eventually build a loft in it and there's no danger of a horse rearing and hitting it's head. We're also planning to close in the front a little bit and maybe put in some insulation (for sound protection and warmth). You can click to enlarge any of the pictures.

Because it's so tall it makes my horses look like midgets.

Galaxy was a little unsure at first.

But after exploring some they were both fine.


In fact it wasn't long before Galaxy was asking for hay.

My cute, dirty, furry little Chrome.

No idea what they were doing in this picture.
Can't tell if they were chasing the cat or playing.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. I'll try to get them cleaned up a little and get some more pictures. Or I may just wait until the nineteenth when I do Chrome's progress report. Here's a good idea on how much he's grown. Since coming to live here with me he's grown out of two holes on his halter!! It's almost time to buy him a new one. I'll try to get a picture soon to show how far that is. Night all!

Second Road Walk - Pictures!

Okay, the pictures are finally here! I decided I was too tired to edit them last night so sorry you had to wait until this morning. So here they are.

Chrome wanted to check out my vehicle and then he spotted a rug that we had accidentally left outside, so we had to check that out. For people unfamiliar with how a horse's vision works, things like this rug (e.g. dark objects on the ground) look like holes to the horses and they can't tell how deep it is, so they prefer not to step in it. It's the same with water, they don't know if it's shallow or if they're stepping off into the ocean lol. :) I thought he was very brave.

"Whoa! What's that?"

"I don't know if I want to step on it Mom."

"Oh, I'm standing on it already. Not so bad."

Then it was Galaxy's turn.

"Whoa! I'm not walking on that!"

"Oh grass. Never mind. I'm good."

All Galaxy had on her mind during the whole walk was eating grass. She's going through a growth spurt so she's hungry all the time. :)

Chrome was very alert, but he walked eagerly on. I think he really enjoyed himself. Occasionally he would try to turn back home, but that was more, I think, because it was close to dinner time than being nervous or anything like that. :)

"Mom, why are you walking backwards?"

"You should probably pay attention to where you're going mom!"

Galaxy was being a total mare during the whole walk. Take that in whatever context you would like. :)

In the above picture she wanted Chrome to walk with her instead of on the other side of the road.

Chrome was happy being the leader and walking on his own. That's what I love about this colt. As long as he's with someone it doesn't matter if they are human or equine. I think he's going to make a perfect partner.

I love the above picture because of the sun and his shadow. Below are some pictures of him walking through a mud puddle. He was so great he didn't even hesitate. I think it's funny how I kind of subconsciously compare him to the mare I grew up with. She hated water!

Galaxy didn't care as long as she had grass to eat.

Sorry they were dirty, we didn't have time to groom if we wanted to get the walk in before dark. Galaxy's back looks gross because of the MTG I have to put on her for the rain rot. We got a lot of it with the last treatment, but it was so widespread and her winter coat is so thick that it's taken a second treatment. Let's hope we get it all this time. :)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.