Monday I got up and got the cow bottles, water jugs and water pail ready for chores and for Dr. Neil’s visit. While I was doing that, Jake got dropped off. We got some of the chores done and then Dr. Neil showed up. We had several horses to check over so we started with a check of Quincy to make sure the treatments of Duplocillin we gave him cleared him up. Turns out it did, he did need his teeth floated again and his sheath cleaned out. The next patient was Buckie, he had a checkup to see if the Duplocillin we gave him cleared up his issue. It turns out that Buckie has a mild case of heaves, so we will continue to treat him with Zev and see how it goes. After that we headed to the corral and checked Casanova’s eye, he has a cataract and is going blind in his left eye, poor guy. We then did a float on Dorothy’s teeth as she has lost a little bit of weight. We also got Dr. Neil to do blood work on Autumn, Whisper, and Angel. We had teeth floats done on them a couple of weeks ago because they had lost weight, but we wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything else going on. One of our borders Chase has also lost some weight so we had him checked out, he had to have a power float as well. Fingers crossed we have everyone on the right track now. So much for having a paid-off vet bill lol After Dr. Neil left we finished up the chores and waters. Then the pigs got out again! The two smallest ones went straight into the garage to go through the feed in there and Peanut went for a tour of the yard. I grabbed some bread and managed to keep the other three away from the fence they knocked down and then grabbed some donuts to get the three escapees back in their pen. Once I got them back in I “hopefully” secured their pen so they are unable to get out again …. at least they stayed in for the rest of the day. I know, I know, I need to get an electric wire in there. After all that excitement, I took back the flat deck we used to haul the birdhouse.
Tuesday my husband Sean was home to help me with chores. Everything went smoothly and we were done by 1:30 pm. Pretty excited Tina and Azzie are done with their pills. Quincy and Buckeye are done with their Duplocillin as well, so we now just have Zev and some Omeparazole to dish out with the mash. That just really means I don’t have to crush up any more pills. I got a phone call that I had a Purolator package that I wasn’t expecting, so I went into town and it turns out it was a really neat book called To Save a Starfish by Jennifer Blough. It is a workbook for people involved in animal welfare to help prevent compassion fatigue. I don’t know who the thoughtful person is who sent me this book but I appreciate you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I also picked up enough feed to get us through the rest of the week and ordered a hay delivery for tomorrow. Shelly and Jake came over in the evening and we put the birdhouse in the pony pasture, Tom immediately decided it was his house.
Wednesday morning Karen came by to help me with chores and feed out some of the loop stuff. Our bale delivery came right when I was done filling the waters so that was perfect timing. We got all the bales put out and I got a text from Dr. Neil. The blood tests for Autumn, Whisper, and Angel came back. Autumn has a low white blood cell count so we are starting her on Sulfatrim and all three of them have low protein levels so we are going to double the soybean meal we are putting in their mash. I ran to pick up the meds for Autumn and pick up the stuff to build the roosts and nesting boxes in our new coop and when I got back Jake was here. We fed out the mash and did meds. I caught chase and put a blanket on him, I was amazed at how well he took it without any concern at all. By the time we were done with all that it was time to go in the house and feed the dogs. I don’t know where the day went today but I ran out of daylight and it isn’t often that happens.
Thursday morning I got up and started chores first thing. Natalia and Robyn came to trim hooves, I took care of the chores while they worked with the seven that came in from Alberta. They only got three trimmed before Robyn had to go so we set up a few more appointments to hopefully get them all done. After they left I went to town and picked up some feed, I finished up the mash and then Doreen stopped by. We fed out the mash together and did the meds, I found a blanket that fit Azzie better because the one he was wearing made him rather unhappy as the straps were all stretched out. That’s about it for the day, I came in and worked on the computer for the rest of the evening.
Friday morning I started chores and got about halfway through, then I decided it was time to let the seven Alberta horses into the pasture as it has gotten so cold and they are right out in the open there and we don’t have a trough heater out there. I managed to catch three of them and lead them to the pasture, but the other four weren’t to interested in getting haltered. I used the portable corral panels and guided them into the pony pasture but they didn’t go down to the far end and through the gate like I had hoped. I talked to Jake and he said he would come help me after school, so I went in the house and did some work on the computer and then went and picked him up. Jake helped me get the horses out in the pasture, it was pretty darn easy with two of us. Then we did mash, meds and waters. So much easier with help.
Saturday at the ranch was a busy one. I got up and Karen, Jake, Shelly, Tracey, Joy and Lori were here doing chores already. I got the contracts ready for a couple fosters and an adoption and then went out to help with chores. Jake and I left to deliver Ghost and Nyx to their new foster home and to deliver a couple blankets and stuff for Amber. Karen went to work on the inside of the chicken coop, Shelly and Joy went to work building a new pen and trying to fix the auto-waterer, and Tracey, Joy and Lori spent the day cleaning, feeding and putting straw in all the shelters. When Jake and I got back we got Sean to help us catch a couple ponies because he is the master pony catcher. Then we took some videos of Winter and Charity. Winter is amazing but we think Charity needs a little more work for sure. We went to go check out the pen Shelly and Joy built and all seven of the horses from Alberta were in the new pen, no gate.
Sunday I picked up Jake first thing in the morning, we came back to the ranch and got all the chores done. Must have been a record because we were done including waters, mash and meds in two hours. We had some guests come by to have a look at Winter, she did great but they want to see some videos of her being ridden, which is fine. We then loaded up Scout to take him to his new forever home. He was such a good boy, followed the oats right into the corral and then once we caught him, he loaded pretty well onto the trailer. He has two horse friends at his new home and he had fun chasing them around. After dropping him off we realized we were pretty close to some of our horses that were being fostered, so we stopped in at Cooks Creek Equestrian to check on Max, Amber, Honey and Chance. Everyone is doing really great there, Honey was not very interested in us at all but Max, Amber and Chance were pretty happy to see us. After that we went to visit Jack and our little Shadow at their winter home, they are both doing great as well, nice and warm in their beautiful barn. We then stopped at Canadian Tire to pick up some supplies and I am really trying to find a multi-plug timer that alternates power between the plugs, I don’t feel like that should be so hard to find.
