Once again, it's been awhile. I've been trying to upload some pictures to photobucket the past few days but without much luck. I've managed to get six done. The program keeps freezing up on me. I've tried it at different times of the day/night, wondering if it was just because the program was being used so much but it hasn't made a difference. As you can tell, I don't know much about this computer stuff!
Winter has finally hit our area and the temps have been cold for the past few days. Actually the temp isn't too bad (about -10), it's the friggin' wind that kills you. It's pretty bad when you listen to the weather forecast and when they say "winds from the north at 60, gusting to 90" you think, "oh, not too windy today!". It'd blow the friggin' milk right outta yer tea!
Last week we had one day that was beautiful and sunny so I decided to take Skipper for a cart ride around the neighbourhood. Or I guess you'd say I decided to get Skipper to take ME on a cart ride! It was wonderful. Man that pony can move! I'm used to driving Thunder, who has a stride similar to that of a hamster. Very cute but you don't cover alot of ground in a short period of time. Skipper on the other hand can really shake what his mamma gave him! We went up the road and stopped for a gabb with "da boys". I had to show Syl (the guy I borrowed the hames from) the wonderful paint job that I did on the hames. He and his buddy were quite impressed, tried to give me another pony and sell me a skidoo. (never a dull moment). We continued our journey and decided to take a drive up to the seniors' complex. The hill is pretty long so Skipper had to work pretty hard to get all the way up. Two of the workers were just leaving the building as we pulled up. One of them nipped back inside to tell the residents that the cart and pony where here. Next thing you know heads were appearing in all the windows. Sort of reminded me of the Wack A Mole game. But don't worry - I didn't try to wack anyone!
After that visit we headed back home. It was a great ride - Skipper did wonderfully. He was a sweaty pony afterwards. Stretch and Reo are still trying to figure out all this cart business. Here are a few snaps that I managed to download:
Stretch and Reo watching intently as I hitched Skipper up. It looked like they were whispering to each other, "I hope she doesn't come and get us too".
Skipper's fuzzy little nose. It's sooooo cute!
I just had to take a close up of Skipper's coat. It reminds me of a sheepskin rug I had as a child. Very thick and warm.
All hitched up and ready to go.
After our journey. He gets so hot so quickly because of his thick coat.
I'm also happy to report that Lord Gord has taken a liking to the guinea pigs. Kayla and I went into St. John's this weekend so the Lord was left to look after the animals for a 24 hour period. When we got home yesterday afternoon Kayla ran into the pig room as soon as she got her boots off and happily announced, "they're still both here - Dad didn't eat them!" (he keeps saying that he's going to make a stew with them). For the rest of the day wherever Kayla went the pigs went. She put a few towels in the laundry basket and carted them around. I had to draw the line though when she wanted them to sit at the dinner table with us so she settled for them just being beside her chair. So there we were eating our supper and every once in a while you'd hear the "cheep, cheep, cheep" of So and Cute. I almost busted a gut laughing at Gord's expression! But he has definitely warmed to them and I don't think he's going to make a stew with them. I've even caught him talking to them and petting them when he doesn't think anyone is looking.
I had the vet out to float teeth last week. Stetch has been off his "grain" for about a week so I figured he needed some sort of dental attention. Turns out that he has lampras, which is a fancy name to irritated gums right behind his front teeth. The vet said it's usually caused by a piece of hay seed or something getting caught between the tooth and gum, which causes sore gums. Sort of like when we get that darned piece of popcorn husk caught between our tooth and gums. It should look after itself so I'm just monitoring it for now. The vet was telling me about some of the "old" remedies that his clients had told him about. One was to take a piece of hot iron and burn the gum in the area where it's sore. Strike that one off my list! Another was to feed the horse baby potatoes. Not sure how that would help, but I guess they used to do it. The whole vet visit was pretty entertaining. We tried Stretch first without sedation but he kept putting his head up and fussing so the vet gave him a shot. My upper chest muscles were sore for 3 days afterwards from trying to hold Stetch's head up. He was stoned! When he was done it took both of us to get Stretch out the back door of the barn - trying to make it to the paddock was out of the question so we just sort of parked him there, and there he stayed. I looked at the vet and said, "you mean just leave him here?". He looked back at me and said, "ummm ... I don't think he's going anywhere in a hurry". And he was right. There was the mighty reiner, tongue stuck out one side of his mouth, head and various other parts hanging, having a snooze.
Next patient was Skipper. The issue with Skipper was that his neck is so thick and his coat is so thick that the vet wasn't sure where the heck to find the vein. He said usually there is an indent in the neck which you can use for a guide - but apparently nobody told Skipper that! Luckily he got it first try. The sedation didn't hit Skipper as hard as Stretch so I was able to put him in his paddock afterwards. These Newfoundland ponies are as tough as nails. There was Stretch still looking absolutely loaded, and Skipper was happily munching away on hay in his paddock.
Next was Thunder. No doubt about it - he needed sedation. The first time that I had Thunder's teeth done I figured he wouldn't need to be sedated. After all, he's so small and quite. Boy was I wrong! After 2 of us trying to hold him and the vet having a really nice hoof outline on his forehead, he had to be sedated. So now we don't even question it. Vets bring out the Black Stallion in that little guy! He was pretty zonked afterwards so I lead him outside and left him with Stretch. I wish I had taken a picture because the two of them were lined up like they were on a trail ride - tongues (and other things) hanging out. It was a great day for "boy maintenance" though and I'm happy to report that I removed their "beans". I felt like I was on a treasure hunt!
And that's about it from around here. I'll post the other pictures if photobucket ever cooperated with me!
Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:13 am
