Deworming Fun

Yesterday we dewormed the horses and donkey.  I wanted to get pictures, hoping I could get them making a funny face or something.... err they turned out boring and pretty horrible... taking pictures of the deworming process is more difficult than I thought it would be haha!

We started out with Zep.  Since he's half wild and not halter broke (yeah I fail lol) we have to build a pen to put him in.  He was already in the round pen (that isn't round right now) playing with a feed bucket, so I just closed the door, then we put up another panel to make a three sided square in one corner.  Then we follow him slowly so that he walked into the corner.  When he realizes he's trapped he turns to face us and then he freezes.  Once he's caught he always freezes.  It's kind of sad.  You would think by now he would know we aren't out to hurt him.

So after getting him in the corner I put the halter on him easily.  I was standing in front of him to block his escape the whole time because if he bolts you can't hold on to him.  He doesn't understand halter pressure or leading at all.  Then we gave him his dewormer, scratched and petted him a bit, then unhaltered him and let him go.  Not dramatic at all.  It was hard to get good pictures because I couldn't move from where I was or back up to get better shots.

He's really good about his dewormer.  He never fights it.  Something he even tries to eat the tube lol.

Next up was Faran.  He has to have one and a half tubes of dewormer because he weighs more than what one tube will do.  He doesn't like being dewormed at all and tries to walk away, but he doesn't pull or try to bolt.  He moves his head away for the first tube, but he's always perfect for the second tube.  :)

 You can't see it, but the tube is in Faran's mouth here.

 This was the best "making faces" picture I got.  He didn't like the flavor lol.

Chrome was last.  I always give him his dewormer, without a halter or lead rope, and I forgot about getting pictures.  My hubby got one.  It's awful and I look gross, but it shows me giving it to him without a halter.  :)  Such a good boy.

I'm so happy deworming is almost a non-event around here.  I guess having to corral my wild donkey is sort of an event, but it's not hard hehe.

My Dirty Boys!

The picture above is cool because his forelock is split perfectly so you can actually see his interesting star.  Normally his thick forelock hides it.  You can also see his tiny snip and his white lips, hehe. 

I am SO sorry I haven't posted in a long time....  :(  I guess my plan to do better at blogging for the new year.... is a big fail!  Oh well, a friend of mine kindly reminded me to stop neglecting my blog so I grabbed my camera (for the first time in over a month) and went out to take pictures.  I do have to warn you that the pictures are awful!  It was the wrong time of day to try to take pictures, but I grabbed the opportunity while I had the chance.  :)

And considering it's January... I had the perfect opportunity to share with you guys how dirty my boys are.  The ground (and pond) have been frozen for longer than I can ever remember it being frozen, but it's started thawing the last couple of days... you know what thawing equals... MUD!

So enough chattering, here are the pictures of my dirty boys.  First up!  Faran!  You would think my black horse would be the dirtiest... but just you wait.

Faran's tail ornaments.

You might have to enlarge the picture to truly appreciate how dirty he is.

It was funny, the other day I thought Faran had rubbed out a ton of his mane and I started to freak out, but luckily half of his mane was on the other side LOL!  I haven't brushed it out (too cold for my poor fingers), so it's still on both sides in these pictures.

See how his mane looks all torn out?  It's not, trust me.  Look at the first picture in the post to see how his mane is on both sides.  :)  Also there is not snow or frost on the ground, it just looks white because the lighting was all wrong and the background is overexposed (actually almost all of them came out overexposed so I edited them a bit... not my best day's work).

Now we have Zep!  Also I took more than just these two pictures, but I either forgot to edit/watermark them or forgot to upload them... oops.

 Zep says, "I am NOT dirty!  I would never get dirty!"

 Yeah we don't believe you ZepZep.  Enlarge to see the full extent of his dirtiness lol.

 And now Chrome.  First I have a picture of my two headed, eight legged horse... haha just kidding.

 This is actually to show you how CLEAN he was!!!!

Until he did this... :(  The exciting news is he actually ROLLED ALL THE WAY OVER!  That's the first time I've seen him do it since he was a baby.  :)  I actually don't think he meant to do it.

 So I think because I've been ignoring Chrome (other than when I feed him and say goodnight to him) that he's decided to start training me, since I'm not training him..... he's preparing me for the day when he's completely grayed out.... *shudder*

 

 

That's talent right?  Gross!  So I failed my first test because I didn't even get a brush out LOL!  He has to wait until it's warm enough for a bath hehe.

 He's proud of himself!

 

 Isn't his mohawk still so cute??  He's rubbed it a little in the middle, but so far I haven't trimmed it at all and it looks great.  :)

 Enlarge this one!  He has smudges above both eyes and all over the bridge of his nose.... just how??

See the short spot in the middle of his mohawk?  That's where he rubbed it a bit on the hay ring, but so far it looks good.  I probably need to trim it soon.  :)

 See the pond still frozen over behind him?  I love his multicolored tail.  Here's a question for you though... is the bottom yellow from staining or is that just what color it still is?  Will it eventually grow out completely white?  If I cleaned it would it be white?  It's always been black, white and yellow (well obviously it started out all black lol) so I'm not sure.

 

 

I interrupted their nap time.  I actually have pictures of him with his eyes closed, dozing, but I forgot to upload them.  When I went inside to put my camera away and went back out, he was laying down asleep.  Oops.  He was a good sport though.  :)

We dewormed them later in the evening today, so I'll post pictures from that tomorrow.  I don't feel like editing more.

First Ride of 2014 - Ride 40 - Happy New Year!

Sorry for the old pictures.  I didn't take any today.  I was working out in the yard with my dad and husband today and they drove the truck to the back of the pasture, but I had to take Stormy inside so I got left behind.  After taking the dog in I got my bridle so I wouldn't have to walk, but they were already driving back so I just bridled Chrome and rode him in the yard instead.  I rode around bareback at the walk for about twenty minutes, just enjoying the gorgeous weather and my sweet horse.  At one point my dad got in his truck to move it and I moved Chrome in front of it so he couldn't go anywhere.  It was hilarious because he was creeping forward expecting Chrome to move out of the way on his own, but my brave boy stayed put and wouldn't budge.  We laughed and I moved him out of the way so he could park the truck.  :)

My leg is getting much better.  It doesn't hurt anymore and the abrasion is almost completely healed.  It's still a hard knot and bruised, but it's getting better every day.  I can't remember ever having a bruise/abrasion take three weeks to heal.  Sheesh!  The abrasion was fairly deep though so I shouldn't be surprised.  It looks like it's going to heal without a scar though, so that's cool.  :)

Faran is doing great.  He has padding across his ribs again, although he's not quite back to his old weight yet.  I did deworm him with Safeguard (it's all I had on hand) to make sure that wasn't contributing to his weight loss.  His rain rot is gone too, so all is good now.  :D  I hope everyone has a great new year!!  My only goal for 2014 is to live in the moment and enjoy every single day to the best of my abilities.  I'm going to be a bad blogger and not do a 2013 recap since most of the year was taken up with moving and building the house (boring).  I do want to try to do better with blogging this year since the house is.... if not done at least we're living in it hehe.  Happy new year!!  I'll get caught up on blogs as soon as possible.  :)