Hide and Seek

Poplar Springs Farm is an exciting place.  With all the animals and living in the mountains, there is always something going on.  My mornings start out easy, about the time the sun comes up, with a cup of coffee and the internet, just in case something might have happened since I took my last peek before I went to bed the night before.  After I have had time to meet the morning, I start my chores with feeding the horses.  My very own horses first, and they are very eager for those morning morsels.  If they can, they will hurry and eat their portion and then mosey to the next stall to see if the other guys have anything left that they can mooch.  Let me introduce them to you:

The sorrel horse with the white blaze is Spirit, a very special horse, but that is a story for another day.  The Palomino with the dark main and tail is Marshal Dillon, a quarter horse cow pony, but boss gelding.  The black horse is Midnight Express, a Rocky Mountain Horse that was my retirement gift to myself.  Wonder why I chose him, huh?  The bay with the white diamond on his face is Sunny, my old Tennessee Walker.  Just by looking at these guys, you can tell that food is not a problem for any of them.  


This morning when I pulled into the barn to get their food, Midnight was in the hallway where horses are not supposed to be.  I thought I might not have latched the gate and Midnight is the curious one that knows how to open the gate.  He has orchestrated an escape before.  I got him back into the stall area with little problem, but two others were missing.  Sunny would never leave the barn and risk missing a meal, so he was the only one in the stall waiting.   


My first thought was that someone might have realized that I had the rescue horses and maybe as payback came and got my horses. Dillon has a bad eye and Spirit has a bad foot.  Not a lot of value to anyone except someone who loves them.


 Now I wondered if Charley and Speck were in their pasture.  Possibly Dillon and Spirit had gone visiting.  Maybe the logger that was cleaning up our storm timber had left a gate open although he has always been especially careful.  I drive down to feed Charley and Speck.  They are there to greet me with a welcoming whinny, but no horsey visitors were there.  I had no time with Charley and Speck this morning as my mind was on finding my other two.


Went home, changed vehicles, went the back road to find the logger and asked him if he had seen them this morning.  No, he had not, but oh by the way, he had never seen a horse gain weight like that white one up in the front pasture.  He told me that up until 10 years ago, he had used horses for his logging.  That is still done in some places as it is a very environmental friendly way to remove trees.  He said that he wished that he still had them so he could use them here at our place.  No time to talk, gotta go look for horses. 


By the time I had driven the Gator down to the bottom of the pasture, out of nowhere comes a flying Dillon. " What?  I can't be late for breakfast."  Dillon is never late for food.   Amazingly, he is on food restriction while I give as much as I can to Charley and Speck.   I was unable to close that gate in time, so into the wrong part of the barn he went.  Easy to fix, just walk him through.  But where is Spirit?


By the time I got back to the gate, Spirit was galloping at full speed to get  to breakfast.  I always have to stop and watch him run as he had a very serious leg injury and we were not sure he would even live, never mind run.   I was able to steer Spirit into the stall portion of the barn and all was well.  


Where were they?  Someplace hidden in the top pasture eating away at grass.  The logger had left that pasture gate open and closed the gate that goes into the barn.  Possibly they did not come as I was driving the truck instead of the Gator that I usually drive when I come to feed them.


Maybe they just wanted me to spend as much time with them as I have been the two guys up in the front pasture!

Dreamin

Wouldn't it be great if one of these guys was able to be in the Christmas Parade?  Maybe have something on the saddle blanket about animal abuse?  Just thinkin' and I have never done anything like that before.  Don't even think I have been in a parade, never mind ridden a horse in one.  I am sure that Charley will still be way too spooked to be anywhere near a parade, and I like calm docile horses.  Not sure if Speck will be at the point he could be ridden as that is  only about 3 months away.  He sure would be pretty decked out in red, black and silver though.


OK, back to yard work.  It is a beautiful day and a great one for a little work and a little day dreamin'.

Green Monster

Charley and Speck have been at Poplar Springs Farm for just over two weeks.  I suspect that you will be able to see a difference in them since the last post.  They had a slight disruption in their one acre world and Charley was not happy about it. 

There was a great big huge green monster that got into their pasture and was chewing up their grass(weeds)!

Charley had never seen such a thing and knew that it certainly did not belong in his home. Speck on the other had, took everything in stride.

He figured that while he was in the pasture we call the Green Field, that he might as well

partake in some of the quiet and peacefulness.  Take time to check out the Koi, well what the Great Blue Heron has left anyway.

Maybe take a little time out and have a Zen experience.

Speck enjoyed the time to explore, but most of all, he enjoyed the possibility to find new grass.  His occupation at this time is eater.  He does that about 24 hours a day, and he surely needs to.

Their time out of their small pasture was short lived, but Charley was very relieved when he was able to return to their known world.

Charley is just beautiful and I loved seeing him run.  He is in good shape, except for the skittishness.  He did come to me when we were in the other pasture so that continues to be a good sign.  Speck also continues to show improvement.  He is a little more aggressive when I bring food and that will be curtailed when need be.  I just like to see a little spunk in him as it means that he is gaining ground.  They are on regular feed now and I think both are pretty much out of the danger zone.  

Yeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

Today was a stellar day for the boys!  My favorite vet checked them over today and pretty much said that other than lack of food, that he felt the boys were in pretty good shape.  Both were wormed and given some injections.  These were for the protection of my other horses as much as to get these guys on the road to good health.

I was a little worried about Charley since he is so skittish.  I brought food and beloved carrots so that I could preoccupy them while the vet worked.  He wanted to bounce around a little but with Favorite Vet and Most Wonderful Vet Tech, Charley was in good hands.  He was not crazy about the thermometer placement, but a carrot treat made that and the injections hunky dory.  Charley is only about 30 pounds underweight and pretty much OK otherwise.  Teeth are in good shape and his feet are sound.  He did not like the yucky worming medicine but that will help him gain weight more quickly.  Favorite Vet told me that I could put him on regular horse feed and boy did he love that this evening.  They said Charley resembled a quarter horse and is about 8 years old.  He is only about 14 hands high and  is what I call a cow pony.

Speck was so preoccupied with food, I am not even sure if he knew the vet was examining him. He was absolutely no problem through temp check, mouth and feet check and injections.  Charley did spare one small carrot for Speck, who also was in good condition except for the starvation of course.  He got the yucky worming medicine too,  and that will probably make a huge difference with him and his weight gain. Speck is just at 200 pounds below his ideal weight.  Yes, that is not a typo.  He is about 800 lbs and he should be right at 1,000 lbs.  They think he might be a TN Walking horse and is over 16 hands.  Wonderful Vet Tech fell in love with him and his beautiful kind eyes.  His color is called Flea Bitten Gray.  I think I like white with freckles better.  Favorite Vet estimated his age to be about 14.  I saw a little more of his personality this morning when I brought them food.  I always give Charley his bucket first as he is the dominant horse, then Speck second.  This morning, Speck was a little impatient and used his right hoof to paw a couple of times.  Nothing big, just a little sign that he is making improvement.


This was pretty much the day with Charley and Speck at Poplar Springs Farm.  It was a good one!

No Vet Today

Today was planned around a vet visit for the horses, sometime between 2 and 2:30PM.  My mind gave me a brief reminder that this particular vet office was closed on Thursdays, but I failed to follow my intuition and recheck the appointment.  My mistake......the vet will be here tomorrow!
At 2:00PM!  


In preparation for the vet, I fed them early so that I could easily get a lead rope on them.

                                                         Where did that food go?

                                          Aaaah sed, the head don't come out 'til the food
                                          is gone!!!!!

                                          Maybe we will get a little rain, and maybe the 
                                          gnats will give us a rest....for just a while.

                                          Mama, can I help?  Canna, Canna?




So, no news, but the good news is that they are both hanging in there.  Charley's
biggest problem will be trust.  Speck's will be whether he can gain weight and will
he survive.  And my Pebbles dog is just happy to have us around to play rope when
she chooses.


Til tomorrow..................

Charley and Speck

Last Friday, August 12, I received a call about two starving horses.  The caller was a local benefactor to our animal shelter which is only set up to handle dogs and cats.  This gentleman is an animal lover to the tune of about a million dollar donation to the local shelter last year.  He had called a horse rescue prior to calling me but they wouldn't take them in this condition, so he
called me.  


I had bought a horse trailer a couple of years ago so that in an emergency I could transport my horses, I have 4, to the vet.  The trailer was still where we had parked it a couple of years ago.  This is where Steve came to the rescue.  We have to go figure out how to hook up a goose neck trailer.  We had not tried to do so since we had the apparatus installed on our truck.  After scratching our heads a couple of times and a few mishaps, we finally got her hooked up and ready to go.  Cowboys, we are not, even though we do have cattle.  As you would expect, and much to my relief, Steve was the driver!

Now we are off to town to meet up with the sheriff's deputy to go get the horses.  Luckily the deputy in charge is a "cowboy" and knows about horses.  He does not know that a truck pulling a horse trailer cannot keep up with him in traffic, but we do get there.  Speck is ready to go as I guess he figures that anyplace will have more food than the joint where he has been living.  Charley was not so easy.  He's a smaller horse, but was very skittish.  The deputy was able to hook him to the lead rope by enticing him with food  Next was getting him into the trailer.  He was slow to get loaded, but he did not live up to our expectations.  He was a docile baby once we got him inside.  


The trip home was uneventful, until Steve and I, who were dying of thirst had to stop at the Del Rio General Store to get some water.  As our luck would be, two couples were riding motorcycles and chose to do the same thing.  Unfortunately, they were ready to go before we were.  I hoped their bike would not be that loud, but of course it was.  All I could think was that the skittish horse that I had in the back of the trailer was going to get really upset.  Again, he was a sweet little baby and never made a move.


We made our way to the farm which was another six miles.  We then unloaded the boys with no trouble.  Their main concern was the new grass that they had at their disposal.  We put a bale of hay in and gave them a small amount of food.  You cannot start feeding a starving horse with a lot of feed as it can kill them or at least cause them to founder.  By the next morning, I was able to touch Charley on the neck.  I could do anything to Speck as long as food was involved.


I have now had them for five days, and each day I have increased their food.  Slightly, but more each day.  They  can have all the hay that they want, limited pasture and limited alfalfa.  Starting yesterday, I have been able to rub Charley all over.  I have not attempted to pick up his feet, but I may try that tomorrow.  Speck still only walks and both his hind legs are stiff.  Charley neighs when he sees me now and Speck tries, but only gets out what I would describe as a long grunt.

The vet comes tomorrow so I will have some idea as to what I am looking at with Speck.  I think that Charley, after worming, will be ready to go.  I will continue to keep them together as horses are herd animals and do better when other horses are around.  It will be awhile before I can introduce Speck to my other boys as he is too weak and they would push him around as horses are big into pecking order.  


I will continue to update this blog so that you can see the progress of these boys and I will probably branch out a little so you can see some of the other animals.  Poplar Springs Farm is a wonderful place for animals, and humans alike!