Quad update~good news!!!

Hubby and I drove up to the ranch yesterday to check on Quad's progress and we were so happy to see him feeling normal! YEAH! He was perky and demanding more food! Hubby took him for a nice, long walk and then we let him loose in the arena for a while. He was interested in the other horses and had a nice afternoon there. Then, back to his corral for his bran mash. OF COURSE he grabbed his bowl, threw it into the air, and spilled bran mash everywhere! What a character he is! Fortunately, I had just swept his rubber mats, so he just licked them clean. He even put his ears back at his neighbor ("MY mash! Go away!) His eyes were alert, his head was up, he wasn't looking at his tummy. Ahhhh....what a relief! THANK YOU, everyone, for your good thoughts and prayers. I need to stay at school this afternoon and get my room ready for Back to School on Tuesday, so Cathy will give him his psyllium this afternoon. He gets it for 10 days, then every other day for the next 20 days, so that's a whole month. Here are a few pics of Quad yesterday afternoon. It is so good to see him feeling better. He's such a sweetheart! I'l post pics of Sunni being ridden tomorrow.

Sunni's lesson

My cousin, Valerie, is training Sunni and has been for several weeks now. She has trained all of her own horses and she also trained Beauty. Sunni has always been somewhat insecure, and for a while, he wouldn't come to her, but now he eagerly comes to Valerie and gets haltered. Wow! What a change! Cali is so different! She always comes up to people for "lovin". But, every horse is different, right? Here are some pics from Monday...she always starts with the join up.

SAND!!! and Quad update

Quad isn't out of the woods yet (sigh...) Poor baby! He has now passed out a LOT of sand and his poop is normal, but he is still stretching and looking at his tummy. I took him for a LONG walk yesterday, gave him some soupy bran mash, and he perked up. We will go up to the ranch to see him this afternoon, after school.

In the meantime, I took a couple of photos of the horses and the sand that we deal with up there. It is WORSE down here in the desert. Look, Cali and Sunni have a hay feeder. AND...WHERE do they eat their hay? Yup. On the sand! They throw it on the sand and eat it every day (twice a day)! Go figure. Hubby is going out today to look for more rubber mats (he's off for the next two days and has time to do this).

Sunni was saddled and RIDDEN by my cousin yesterday and I'll post those pics later this week! Just too worried about Quad right now.

Quad down again Sunday morning

I got an email from Cathy that Quad was down again Sunday morning, so I dropped my chores at home and raced up the hill. Now, mind you, I have a 35-40 minute drive up the WORST mountain road in California. It is called "The Killer Highway" (Highway 74). There isn't a week that somebody isn't driving off it. But, I'm a very careful driver. I, of course, was nervous and worried, as this is the second morning that he's been down. She had already called the vet. He passed a HUGE pile of poop about midnight, full of sand, but nothing since. I walked him around for a while and then he passed another HUGE pile of poop, full of sand. Doc came, took his temp, listened to his tummy (LOTS of sounds...GOOD NEWS!) and tubed him again. I walked him around some more. He was DEMANDING food (poor thing)...he was ribby when we got him and now this....through it all, he never flinched, never kicked...he is the perfect gentleman! I finally let him out in the arena as in the heat, I was exhausted! I'm driving up again this morning, with hubby, to check him and then my cousin Valerie is going to saddle Sunni and maybe take him for a little ride! I'll be sure to take lots of pics. Here are some pics of Quad from yesterday. He's got his rubber mats now and tomorrow hubby is going to go see if he can buy some more as now the rest of the herd doesn't have any and we don't wish to go through this with any of them!!! SAND COLIC...ugh!

Quad colicked! Scary day!

As we drove into the ranch yesterday morning, about 10:00, I, of course, glanced over to do a quick "head count". Quad was down. My heart immediately jumped up into my throat. Oh, no! I did see his head move, and ran over to see him. Cathy came out and said she had already called our vet (THANK YOU, Cathy!) He was colicking. He did get up a couple of times, and then go back down. He kept looking at his hind end. There was one pile of poop, then he pooped again, but he couldn't pee at all. Doc was out on another emergency, so about 40 minutes later, he came and checked his temperature and vital signs. Quad was the perfect gentleman (of course!) and Doc announced he was full of sand. (sigh...) This is a constant problem in our desert and mountains. I have a program of feeding the horses in feeders off the ground and I bought 6 rubber mats this summer for them. I also give them beet pulp and psyllium on weekends. Still, however, they ALL insist on pulling their alfalfa OUT of their feeders and eating it on the sandy ground (pulling out hair!!!) So, for Quad, we pulled 5 rubber mats out of other corrals and we have now lined his pen with these. He got tubed and was pooping about an hour later. Phew. That was just too scary! As for the others, hubby is off on Monday and Tuesday and on Tuesday he will drive out to a couple of restaurant suppliers in our area and see how much their rubbers mats are. I paid $50.00 EACH for the ones I bought and we probably need to buy 5 more, so they aren't cheap. But, then, neither are vet visits! Any ideas/suggestions? The problem, like I said, is that they ALL pull their hay out of their feeders and then spread it all over tarnation! After Doc left, Quad was DEMANDING his dinner, but we had to wait until he pooped! He is just so sweet, it is hard to see him not feeling his best. Do you see him looking for dinner? "What kind of a place IS this?" he's thinking!!!

Scout~~Thirds~~Sunday Stills Challenge 090609

Our mustang, Scout, in thirds. This is a hard challenge for me as I had always centered my subjects. I like this one of Scout and I think it is in thirds. Not being spatial, it's hard for me to see thirds...Anyway, I still like it! Sunday Stills Challenge for September 6, 2009 "Thirds".

Desensitizing Sunni

Sunni continues to do well with his training! I have now seem him change from a sensitive, skittish horse to one that is confident and secure with both me and my cousin, Valerie. He now comes to her in his corral, instead of running off and standing in the corner! She drove over to the ranch twice this week while I was in school and worked him for an hour. She sent me reports about his progress. I am so pleased! Way to go, Valerie!