*Merry Christmas*

Here is the most recent picture I have received of Bo, my old horse, now owned by Kelsey. Isn't he handsome?

Well, Merry Christmas to everyone! I work today, then I am off from Christmas Eve until January 5th. Woo-hoo!! I probably won't be posting much, as I don't have internet access at home. So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

POA Filly

I was going through some old emails and found this picture. My friend Susan bred this super freaking cute POA filly (who was born this year.) Her name is Estee.

Too stinking cute!

2008 Horse Expenses

Well, whoever first said that "Buying the horse is the cheapest part" was right! Daniel and I moved out to our farm September of 2007, so we are just now wrapping up our first complete year living at home with my horses. We started the year with my old horse Tango, my pony Peter and 12 bales of hay. I am ending the year with my mare Margo, Pete, a new Donkey and 28 bales of hay. I tried really hard to track all of my horse expenses for 2008, but I know I missed a few. Here is my closest approximation of how much I spent on my horses in 2008.

Farrier Services:
I started the year with Tango, who had White Line Disease in his front feet, requiring him to have corrective shoeing and wear aluminum shoes. My old farrier charged $80 to do Tango and $20 to trim Pete. When I got Margo in May, I found a new farrier closer to my house. He charges me $60 to put steel shoes on all four of her feet, but he charges $30 to trim Pete. For 2008, I spent approx $570


Feed:
As I said, I started the year with 12 bales of hay, and as of right now, I have 28 bales of this years hay left. I also grain, but my horses are all so fat that they only get about a tuna can of feed a day (just so I can get them up to the barn in the AM to check them). So I go through a $15 bag of grain in 6 to 8 weeks. I also feed a mineral supplement, which I bought one bag of last winter, and I am still using it now. So for 2008, I spent approx $625


Vaccinations, Vet Care, Worming:
I had a pretty good year here (no medical emergencies), wormers and vaccinations are pretty expensive though. Horses need wormed every other month, and wormer costs $8-15 a pop. Vaccinations are about $45 per horse, twice a year. I had two vet trips this year, when Pete got a puncture wound in his foot, and more recently, Margo's infection (see below). For 2008, I spent approx $780

So, those are the necessities. Now on to my favorite category...

Other:
I spent a lot on the "other" category this year. But, I always say, half the fun of having horses are all the accessories that go with them! :) A lot of stuff here is related to setting up shop or are things that I only have to purchase once. I also did not track this category, so I am sure I am leaving many things off... (No one tell Daniel about this category!)

1) Horse Trailer - My parents helped me finance this purchase, but I still count it towards my year end. $1,000

2) Mats for the trailer - Two of them. $80

3) Fancy High Tech Saddle Pad for Margo - $130

4) Gas - The truck cost me anywhere from $55-$35 a tank. I hauled every weekend from July to November to go riding, having to fill up every other week. Not to mention, two trips to the vet, a 100 mile round trip to get the donkey, etc. I estimate that I easily spent $500-$600

5) Fly Spray - I know I bought at least four bottles of fly spray this year, at $15 a piece - $60

6) Margo - I got Margo in a complicated trade, my old horse Tango went towards her, and I also had to throw in another $200

7) Carrots and Apples - A must have. At least $40

8) New Cross Fencing - I haven't had time to shop yet, but I know I will end up spending approx $300-400

9) Riding Activities - I bought a season pass to Wilson's Creek for $20, I spent $30 on entry fees to a schooling show I didn't go to, I spent $50 on entry fees to a Competitive Trail Ride (that Margo did SO good at!), I spent $30 for a trainer to evaluate Tango when I had him. I spent about $30 on rental fees to use a guys indoor arena. - $160

10) For Christmas, I ordered a fancy bareback pad (Mom and Dad are getting it for me, but I still count it) - $250

Okay, I am going to stop there. I know there is more, but I can't remember everything. So, the "other" category equals (approx) - $2,820 Yikes!

So, for the year 2008, my first year at home with my horses, I spent $1,975 on necessities, and $2,820 on other things. For a grand total of: $4,795.00 (Approximate)

So... I spent about 20% of my yearly (before tax) entry level salary on horses. Uh-oh. DON'T TELL DAN!!

Cross Fencing Plans

Well, I am finally being forced to cross fence (Again. My first attempt failed, I wrote about it here.) I have wanted to do so anyway, but after my vet told me that both my mare and pony are heading down the road to foundering if I don't get the weight off them, I have decided the time has come. I have to get them off the pasture before spring grass comes!

So, I went out Saturday to measure. I am going to do two different sections of fence, creating a front paddock of about 3/4 an acre, a sacrifice area around the barn (where the 'herd' will live, also about 3/4 an acre), and a larger appr. 3 acre field in the back.

So, I need about 250 feet of fence, all together. I want to use the 2" wide white electric fence "tape" (looks similar to this:)

(Not my horse or fence, I borrowed this image from a google search...)

So, anyway, 250 feet of fence, if I am doing three strands of tape, is about 750 feet... So, I am planning to start pricing this out. I will also need insulators for the t-posts, six 8" dia. end posts, two bags of 'sacrete' (concrete, gravel sand pre-mix) per post hole (according to Uncle Tom, who has graciously offered to dig holes with his tractor for said end posts), t-post caps, end connectors (I don't know what they are called, but for where you connect to 'tape' to the end posts), those big hinge things for hanging the gates, ummm, and probably a million more things before the job is done.

I measured my current fence and the t-posts are set ten feet apart. So, I counted every loose t-post on the farm, and I have 44. (Thanks Dad) So, if my calculations are correct, I won't have to buy anymore t-posts. I also have two gates that my old neighbor Sharon gave me when she moved. (Thanks Sharon) They aren't the purdiest gates in the county, but they will work.

I am also wanting to purchase a solar paneled fence charger. (They are expensive!) So hopefully I can find one on Craigslist for cheap. I have a little charger that plugs in, but a) I don't feel safe leaving anything plugged in all the time in my old, dusty, hay filled barn, and b) Dan thinks it will make our electric bill higher. So, my little cross fence project will probabely cost like $500 by the time it is done. (Hopefully not more!)

So, come over this winter break and watch Daniel and I trying to drive t-posts into the frozen, rocky Missouri earth. Fun!

Confirmed, Margo Has Mastitis! :(

My poor mare! After a stressful Friday, with Margo's udder swollen so big (and hot), I called my vet to see when they could fit her in to look at her. They only had open Saturday at 8:30 AM. (Of course!) Fair Grove Vet is an hour away from my farm, and I hate to rush, so Margo and I were on the road Saturday morning at 7 AM. (Yuck!)

So, the vet looked her over. She had a normal temperature (which is good!) and when the vet milked her infected udder, the fluid was clear to white, with no odor. (Pheww...) The vet said the last mare she had in with Mastitis had a 104 degree temp, and when she milked her bag it was green stinking pus that came out. So I caught it in time. (Hopefully!) Also, the vet checked her white blood cell count, and all was well there.

So, I was prescribed Banamine paste, for Margo's pain/tenderness.

Over $32 dollars a tube! Yikes! 1000 lb dose (day one) for Margo, and 500 lb doses the following days until the tube is empty.

My vet also had me put her on Tucoprim, which is an antibiotic.

This stuff was over $42 for the tub! Another Yikes! She is having me give Margo 2 scoops, twice a day until it is gone. Let me tell you, Margo HATES this stuff. The vet said to try and sprinkle it on her feed, but fat girl Margo only gets a tuna can of feed a day, and two scoops of this stuff is a lot! So, I am mixing the two scoops of Tucoprim with a bit of hot water and a big squirt of maple syrup in a giant dose syringe. I shake it until it is mixed, then shoot it in Margo's mouth. She hates it! This morning I had to about wrestle her to get it in her mouth. Fun!

Oh, and the most enjoyable part of the treatment is applying wet heat (in the form of a hot wash cloth) held up to her udder for ten minutes twice a day. Nothing quite as nice as leaning against Margo's fat belly while holding a wet wash cloth against her udder... (Ha!) Lucky though, that other than the Tucoprim stuff, Margo is a nice, polite patient.

After all this, the good news is, on Sunday, after only one round of meds, over 80% of her swelling is down with most of the heat gone! Woo-Hoo! I couldn't believe it! Today (Monday) her udder is the same as yesterday, but at least it hasn't swollen back up. And very little heat. (Big sigh of relief) So, I am not out of the clear with her yet, but I think we caught it early enough that it will clear up nicely. The vet said to call asap if the heat and swelling get worse, as apparently, in horses, if Mastitis isn't treated, it can be life threatening.

So, *fingers crossed* that it will continue to clear up and my mare will be fine!

Oh, the vet also said that Margo is a huge fat whale! (Which I know...) She said I need to basically starve her in a dry lot, with only 2 flakes of hay AM and PM. So, Daniel and I are finally forced to cross fence! More Fun! (More on that later...)

Margo May Have Mastitis!

I went out to check Margo last night and one of her udders was swollen and hard. It had a hard lump about the size of a golf ball behind her nipple, with softer swelling around that. Yikes!

I went out this morning and her udder has doubled in size! The hardest part is the size of a hot dog bun in her udder, with a defined ridge on the outside and softer swelling all around and stretching out down her belly from the udder. There is definitely heat present as well. She also has a bit of puffiness/swelling above her eyes. Agrhhh!! Just kill me now!

I called my vet this morning and am waiting to hear back. I looked online (self-diagnosing!) and I think she has Equine Mastitis, which is an infection of the udder.
I found a good pdf on the subject "Udder Problems in Broodmares" Her other udder is soft and deflated as normal. I hope this is what it is, so I can avoid an expensive trip to the vet.

Worry, worry, worry! It's all I ever do! I am just an anxious owner, I guess. But Margo is all I have, and I cannot afford to replace her, so I do what I have to do...
I can't figure out the cause, all the articles I have read say it can be from many different things... I know that just two days ago, I started feeding my new hay (this years hay) so it could be caused by that; also two days ago I turned the donkey out with Margo and Peter for the first time (could be caused by a kick); I also cleaned a bit of smegma from between Margo's udders yesterday (could be caused by that, un-hygienic); Margo is also a big ol' fatty (could be caused by that, an over production of estrogen in an obese mare)... Arghhhh!!!

Here is the only picture I could find online, Margo's swelling is not NEARLY that bad.(Yet) I will update the situation as soon as I hear from my vet. *Fingers Crossed*


See my other post "Comfirmed - Margo Has Mastitis"

Craigslist Buffalo

Not horse related, but pretty interesting ad, original here:

"We have decided to sell our herd bull. He's huge. I don't know how to score buffalo, I just know he's a huge one and would look very impressive on someone's wall.

He took 2nd place last year and he was bigger then the 1st place bull but the 1st place bull hadn't started shedding his winter coat yet so he looked better.

He has gotten too dangerous for me to have around anymore though so it's time for him to be mounted. He can lift a 1200lb round bale of hay with me on top of the bale (which is another 230 lbs) with one horn and shake the crap out of my tractor in the process.

He's $2900 with meat or $2500 without meat. I did some looking online and that's about half what a person would pay through an outfitter.

He's big and tough and VERY dangerous so I'm not loading him to take him anywhere. That would be the buyers responsibility. I'll take him to our local custom butcher for whoever buys him. He can be bow hunted if you want but I would prefer a good clean rifle kill. If he's shot with a bow and decides to go through my fence, the customer is responsible for the fence repair. A bow hunter would have to sign a liability waiver, provide proof of life insurance and whatever else our attorney recommends before setting foot in his field. I personally wouldn't want to be that close to him, even in a tree.

That being said the long and short of it is he's huge, mean, fast and would look very good on the wall.

He's the one on the right in the picture.The cow on the left is 30 feet closer then him and appears the same size, that's how big he is and as you can tell, he's not happy about me being that close to his cows and I'm 80 feet away with high fence between me and him concealed behind a telephone pole."

Bo and Kelsey Showing

Here are some pictures Bo (my old horse) and his mom Kelsey at a recent indoor show. This is a really nice picture, but lets see more bascule, Bo! :)

Pretty canter...

Concentrating...

What a long way he has come from when I had him! He looks calm and happy, that is for sure.

Thanks so much for sharing, Kelsey! We never got out of the schooling ring at the only show Bo went to when I had him, he thought he was back at the track, looking at everything, full of beans! He sure looks more confident in these photos. I can't wait to see him over bigger fences!

Merry Christmas!

Daniel decorated our front porch for the holiday's, thought I would share...

We Rescued a Donkey

My friend's Mom bought a 6 month old donkey to keep at her place in Fair Grove a little over a year ago. Everything was fine, other than the little donkey being a bit lonely, with no other equine friends.

That was until the day a stray Pit Bull showed up on the farm. The Pit attacked the donkey and destroyed her ears.

The vet came out and stitched them up the best he could, but he had to sever the tendon that holds them up, as they were so badly mangled. (Poor Donk!) As a side note, my friend's Mom shot the Pit and killed it.

Unfortunately, the Pit showed the Mom's three dogs this new game (Attack the Donkey) and the three of them began running her.

The Mom got really upset at this and was worrying all the time, so Dan and I went out to her farm on Saturday to rescue the little girl donkey.

Her name is Nell, but I think we are going to rename her. Not sure what yet. I am not really in the market for a Donkey, but I was happy to get her out of that situation!
I gave her an old pumpkin to play with...


Here she is checking out her new stall...

Sniffing around...

Here is Christmas, who snuck up to check out the new arrival...

He says "Meow"

She already seems happier. Peter (my pony) likes her a lot. Margo is not sure what to think. Poor little donkey... she really likes Daniel though! The donkey doesn't know anything though, it was a struggle to put her halter on when we went to get her and it took over an hour to load her in my trailer. She doesn't lead or pick up her feet. (I did get her to pick up one, and I made a big fuss over her and she let me pick up the rest, but I have not tried to clean them yet.) My farrier, Cody, was out yesterday to shoe Margo and trim Pete, so he looked at her too. He said she was long in the toe, but not too bad. He said work with her and her feet a lot, and next time he comes to do my two, he will see how she is.

Here she is checking out her little water bucket. I think she is cute, but I feel bad for her. Hopefully, I will be able to find her a good home at some point. I am going to keep her awhile though and let her chill out.
Oh yeah, my neighbor has donkeys and one of them brayed last night, and our little girl donkey go sooo excited! She was like "Hey,that's my language!" I don't think she has heard a bray since she was a baby. She hasn't let loose a full bray yet, but she makes really quiet little eee-awws, which freak my mare Margo out. :)

Neighbors Horse Died

Went out to check my two horses early one morning a few weeks ago and I noticed one of my neighbors horses was down. I walked over to check her, but she wouldn't respond. So I went inside to call me neighbor and make sure they knew one of their horses was down. They said they knew, that they found her the night before. It is not known what killed her, but all the other horses are bright eyed and happy, so life goes on... Still freaked me out a little, thinking that could have been one of mine. Here is the lovely photo...

Nom Nom Nom

Here are my two cats, Little Girl Kitty and Christmas Kitty pigging out.

Giant Spider!

Dan and I caought this giant spider IN OUR HOUSE a few weeks ago! I had to take a picture before setting him free. Yikes!