the craze for the green has begun

Every spring we hit the day when the day/night temps get close enough together that I deem we can open up the front yard to the equines. We usually wait until the sun is down and then turn out in groups of 2.

At least two weeks ago the equines were asking for this to happen - lining up by the fence outside my bedroom window, hoping someone would come take down the tape so they could go through.

Finally, yesterday, it happened. Salina knew it before anyone even took the tape down. She started walking and then trotting and then PIAFFING in the paddock, whinnying so loudly she signaled the mare across the lane, who began to whinny back.

Rafer Johnson got so excited he let himself into the front field (currently off limits), and Redford began to pace along with Salina.

When my husband opened the tape up, Salina went into her biggest, most ground-covering walk down the hill, followed by two trotting donkeys. Keil Bay, who had originally been slated to be one of the first pairs, was allowed to go ahead and make it a foursome. He started into the barn aisle at a big walk, but emerged out the other end in his floating trot.

At one point he had so much grass crammed in his mouth he gave himself a coughing fit.

They got 25 minutes on the very thick, lush grass.

Meanwhile, Cody and Apache Moon were absolutely certain there had been a huge, devastating mistake. Somehow they had been forgotten! They proceeded to gallop at full speed up and down the paddock, then incorporated the back field into their circuit. They galloped, bucked, spun, trotted, and generally did everything they could think of to get our attention. Just about the time they ran out of steam, it was their turn to go graze.

Last night, around 9 p.m., the moon was shining down on a painted pony and his handsome chestnut friend, and from our front porch the only sound was the tearing of grass and the lovely, satisfied chewing sounds of two equines in heaven.

the senior horse, 2: shedding out, and the first tick

I'm actually not sure this is a senior horse issue, but ever since Salina (now 28 years old) came to live with us at 23 her spring shedding has been unique compared to that of the other horses and the pony.

Salina is black, and most of the year she is a "true" black color. But as the winter begins to wind down,  her coat along the back and belly takes on a brown color. If I didn't balance our hay carefully and feed minerals specific to what each horse needs, I'd think her copper and zinc weren't in the appropriate ratio to iron.

I suppose it's possible that at this point of the year she's getting a little sunbleached, but otoh, if that is true, why isn't it on the other parts of her body that also get the same amount of sunlight?

It all seems to be part of a somewhat unique pattern of shedding that happens for Salina. Whether it's a senior horse issue or not might be made more clear as Keil Bay ages and I can compare the two.

In any case, Salina's coat color shifts in the late winter, she begins to shed, generally almost a full month before the geldings do, and as she sheds, the new coat grows in shiny and black, with gorgeous dapples.

Before we get to gorgeous though, we live through a very scurfy stage - during which it seems like she is shedding not only fur but dry skin. The more you groom her, the more you see it - almost a dandruff, but finer, and she ends up looking gray.

When she first came to us, this scurf ended up looking a little like rain rot. Once I got her onto the balanced diet, which includes freshly ground flax and vitamin E gelcaps, that part resolved. Now it's just the fine shedding of dead skin.

The only thing that "cures" this is her first spring bath. We don't bathe horses in the winter, and don't have an indoor wash area, so the first bath comes usually on the first day when both daytime and nighttime temps are warm enough that I know the horses won't get a chill.

Salina's first bath came this past Friday, when I walked her out to our bathing area beneath the big oak tree and started a slow, gentle, soapy scrub-down with a soft rubber curry I have. She always loves this first bath, and stands untied, with only a lead rope laying over her neck so she knows I want her to stay with me.

As you can imagine, this bath takes care of the scurfiness, but it also helps get lots of loose hair out, and it takes a good amount of time to scrub every inch of her body (except her face, which she prefers I do with a cloth) and then rinse and rinse until there's no soap left.

Usually at some point in the process she needs a break to go check on her donkeys, so I let her take a walk, nibble some grass or hay, and then I bring her back to finish up.

After this first bath, I keep her groomed from day to day and marvel that she is suddenly transformed - back to the black mare she is most of the year.

It just so happened that on the day of her first bath this year we also found the first tick. She was happy to have it removed. A little calendula tincture and water helps the tick bite stop itching and heal quickly. Banixx also works but is more expensive to use.

Yesterday I looked out the window and saw a gleaming black mare walk across the barnyard. It's nice to see her shining again!

my most anticipated book this year: Rebecca Rasmussen's The Bird Sisters

You can read about it HERE.

This is one of those books I have been longing to read ever since I saw the gorgeous cover and read an excerpt.

It's all the better when one of those special books was written by a generous, fun author. Who just tweeted that the book, just launched today, has already gone into a second printing!

Congratulations, Rebecca!!  

more horses die in Grand National 2011

I haven't yet gotten around to telling about the recent 3-day event locally in which a horse died and several riders were injured. I had been asked to volunteer but declined. On that one day, three horses in the US and UK died in eventing competition.

Now this.


There are many upsetting photographs so don't look if you're very squeamish. On the other hand, if you're not convinced that these kinds of sports are dangerous, definitely go take a look. Sometimes pictures are worth millions of words, and that's the case here.

come read at november hill press

Thought many readers here might enjoy my new post over at November Hill Press:

CLICK HERE TO TRAVEL MAGICALLY ACROSS CYBERSPACE!