I would love if some of my endurance riding friends would share their thoughts on the following. At the Whiskeytown Race Blaze ate and drank like a champ and got As at preride vetting and lunch time. At lunch time the vet asked if he was eating (he was scarfing hay as we waited in line for said vet check) and said his gut sounds were a little quiet. Blaze went back to the trailer for our hold and had some mash and carrots. He peed and it was a fine yellow color. BUT after peeing he stretched out twice more and let his peeper down as if he needed to pee again. Nothing else came out. He seemed in fine spirits and ate more hay and drank as we waited for our riding partner to head out on the last loop. At the end of the ride he got all A’s except gut sounds, the vet said there were almost none and asked me to come back in an hour. Took him back to the trailer and he ate loads of hay and drank, we went back to the vet and all was well, he received his A on gut sounds. He didn’t do it again after that and ate and drank like a hog all night.
When I rode this Tuesday he peed twice in good color (one pre, one post ride) but after peeing at the trailer at the end of the ride, he again stretched out and dropped trou like he needed to pee again. He wasn’t interested in hay or water (he NEVER is on training rides, hence my amazement at his eating and drinking so well at the race) but we got home and he ate rice bran and beet pulp and took off like a bat outta hell into his pasture and was trotting around grandly with his mini and seemingly feeling fine.
So, lots of details, but my main question regards the stretching out to pee multiple times. It doesn’t seem like a good thing and I would assume signals discomfort of some kind (mild colic or??), but he seems to get over it quickly, he eats and drinks fine and is in good spirits otherwise….Thoughts????

Leather Halter FINALLY

I’m starting to think I’ll stick with Sheza as a barn name for the filly. It is sort of strange to call her by what is technically a contraction, but then again Sheza sounds sort of fancy and Arabic, is clearly feminine..and I don’t want to call her something completely different than her registered name. Speaking of, I need to sort out getting her registered etc…though I think I have a month after birth and she is only a week old, today! Happy week old, Sheza cute lil filly!
Every morning and night I bring mom her mash (finishing up her round of antibiotics the vet left to be on the safe side, since the placenta was in for a while), and oat and alfalfa hay, and muck out the stall. They seem to stick to making an utter mess of the back third of the stall; at least their consistent! I can’t wait for consistently great weather so they can be outside! Today is rainy and crap again so I think they’ll have to wait for tomorrow for turn out.
I halter Sheza every morning and have started working on her leading the last two days. She runs away like a complete loon and its a bit of rodeo until I can get my hands on her. I assume this is normal baby behavior and once I have her she stands quietly enough and I can run my hands all over her body, face, legs, etc. She sniffs at me and doesn’t seem very bothered to be handled so I suppose her mad fleeing initially is instinct/play? I also just go out to the stall sometimes and don’t do anything, just hang out, and she always comes over and sniffs at me. My leather foal halter FINALLY came, after two weeks (never ordering from Horse Tack Co again), and I had to punch two extra holes but it fits her great (and boy is leather easier to punch than even dreaming of messing with that nylon shit). I put the halter on while I clean the stall and put fresh water etc, then handle her and work on leading. For leading, I put a little pressure on the halter and give her pressure on her hindquarters and click as I will when I am really leading her. As soon as she steps forward (from the hindquarter pressure, at the moment) I release all pressure and praise her. She seemed to really get it this morning and took a couple of steps with barely any hindquarter pressure multiple times. She gets mad fits sometimes when I am handling her and starts to try bucking and getting away but I hold gently but firmly until she stands again and don’t let her go until she is calm. Today she threw her head out of the halter dramatically when I was taking it off so I put it back on and took it off again with her standing quietly.
Momma mare Desire is a total saint. She lets me do what I have to do with the baby and doesn’t interfere in the least. I swear sometimes she even seems to be trying to block the baby’s mad dashes like she is trying to help me out. Probably not but it seems that way. I am so incredibly grateful that the mare has stayed so gentle and willing.
I know the filly is only a week old and I have months but I am already nervous about weaning!!

Another dark, cloudy day. Only 20% chance of showers but 70% tomorrow. I know, I know, I’ll be complaining about 95 degrees in no time but seriously, I am indeed done with rain! I want Sheza to be able to go out every day and and…whine whine whine. Blaze is having a day off today anyway, that was a solid cantering, hill climbing ride yesterday. His mini is SO fat. Obscene. Or should I say obese. Oh man its looking really dark outside..arg.
Oh well better go try to get a lawn or two mowed before it rains..

Look at that trot on mom…I am dying to ride her again. No rest for the wicked! Okay, maybe a little. And she isn’t wicked, at all. She is a completely classy and fantastic mare, so far. A great mom. And such a beauty. I think its very striking to see the chestnut filly and the gray mom. What a pair! We put them back in for the night and baby was similar, planting her feet and not even wanting to follow mom, then suddenly unfreezing and we were moving right along. I had a lead rope around her as a butt rope to help the process as I saw and heard suggested and it worked out. It gave me a good handle on her and assisted in the pushing along process. She stood nicely for me to take off the halter. She is already so strong! It makes me nervous sometimes when she is resistant, as I’ve never done this before. Clearly I have to establish boundaries now. She does understand though and I harass her until she stands quietly to be touched all over, or haltered. She is a curious little thing, which helps. Always ready to sniff me and investigate.
Rain in the forecast again..I’m really over it. Time for sun, sun, sun!

Haha, thanks girls! 🙂

Yep, the filly went outside for the first time this afternoon! After I got home and tended Blaze and scrubbed out the trailer it was officially time for filly’s first outing! Josh led the mare and I haltered and butt roped the baby and just sort of cradled her in my arms and walked with her that way to the pasture. She was surprisingly iffy about the whole thing and let mom walk on away from her without moving an inch away from the stall! I suppose it is the only place she has ever been though. I clicked to her and helped her with a little pressure from behind and then she unlocked and started trotting after mom! So I was kind of running alongside still cradling but letting her do it. We got to the paddock and it was time to let them go. They actually stood still for a few minutes just sort of getting bearings and mom was pinning her ears and telling the geldings to go far far away. The mini was absolutely pressed against the fence trying to smell the baby and Blaze seemed much less impressed. Blaze was surprisingly cool about the situation, actually. I know he heard the baby from the pasture outside the stall since she was born so I don’t think he was hugely surprising to see her..maybe? I dunno, he stayed pretty mellow though. The mini was fascinated, maybe he thinks the filly is another mini, maybe his long lost lover from his last residence. Sheza finally started running around and mom was right on her heels. They had a great run and I was snapping photos and Josh videoing.
WOOHOO! Loving my horses