Life at the Ranch

Okay - I have fallen down on the blogging.  I am new at this, and tried several times to write a blog, only to fail by getting an unknown error message!  So today I will try again and hope it all goes well! 

Last week began with Julie's arrival to pick up Eclipse. Julie adopted Eclipse several months ago, and boarded her here until the big move to Cloud Croft, New Mexico.  Since we had been practicing with Julie's trailer, Miss Eclipse, at 11 months old, loaded like a dream and happily munched on her hay.  Amid the tears of everyone at Dreamchaser, Julie and Eclipse drove away.  It is very heartwrenching when we have to say goodbye to the animals we have loved so much, but the joy comes when we know they are in wonderful hands.  Here are pics of Eclipse in her new home, with Julie and Al.

Wednesday, Laura, Allen, and I were at Desert Sun Acasdemy with goats, sheep, llamas, and the minis for one long petting zoo.  Over 155 children from pre-school to fourth grade visited with our loving and gentle animals. All the children got a bit of an education about the various animals we had brought.

Thursday afternnon was taken up with Doc Tryon, our fabulous veterinarian of 14 years.  Beautiful Rosie somehow 'did the splits' on January 4 and seriously puilled groing muscles affecting her right hind leg.  She has been on rest and bute, but is not progressing much.  She is constantly resting that hind leg, and of course my first concern is that she will develop laminitis in the left hind as a result.  We have added MSM to her bute, and Doc suggested we try a new iodine compound "E.D.D.I" which has has shown positive results with muscular injuries. 

Rosie was dropped off here several years ago, and unbeknownst to us, was pregnant.  She had spent her life at a Premarin farm in South Dakota, and was 20 years old.  She delivered a beautiful foal, Akhinee, and became a fabulous riding horse.  It grieves us to see her lame, and we will do everything we can to heal her. 

Beau, the abandoned horse, was next on Doc's list.  Beau has gained weight since his arrival, and has had his feet trimmed and tended, but is still showing signs of lameness.  He also desperately needed his teeth floated.  Since money is always an issue, we line up the most urgent matters first!  Beau does have a lot of problems in his mouth, and was floated, but Beau will have to add wet pellets to his rations of hay and senior grain.  As to the feet, Beau shows signs of laminitis, and has his feet now dressed in duck tape and styrofoam blocks to ease his discomfort. 

Misty and her mother Mandy got their teeth floated as well.  Poor Doc, he is a big guy and I felt badly that he had to work on two minis who are 31 and 32" tall!  This was probably their first teeth float as well, at 17 and 27 years old. 

Well, this gives you an example of the days we have.  There is always so much to do, and so little time.  I heard that, as we age we need less sleep, but I think it is an old wive's tale!