Well the day started off pretty much like any other. Feeling absolutely blessed. And absolutely overwhelmed too, to be honest. But more than blessed. I get up pretty early, allowing me some personal time for meditation, prayer, and exercises. Now it's coffee time. And with my steaming mug of coffee in my hand, I peruse the happenings on the website and on Facebook. If I have time--usually, after I refill my coffee cup, then I can do some research. Sometimes it's research on critter wellness, sometimes it's about equipment, occasionally about machinery, but most often its seeking out new fields of opportunities for BirdHaven Ranch.
Then I wake up the kids and the dog, telling them to get dressed--the kids I mean. The dog, well he doesn't need to get dressed, although he does need to be rushed out of doors for his morning toilet (we have a very sophisticated chocolate lab!). With everyone accutered, we are ready for the adventure! We troop outside to feed the chickens, and then rush to give everyone else a little breakfast treat--before they break down the fences! The dog goes for a walk and then we milk any goats who are in milk. Ahhh, finally! Now it's our turn for breakfast!
We enjoy our breakfast knowing the real, hard work is only about to begin. You thought feeding animals and milking goats were chores?! Ha, you haven't seen anything yet. Because after breakfast, its time for... school!
I know, I know, cue the screams of terror and the 'ahhh, mom, can't we...?" complaints. Throwing on a little Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave (you know, the dun, dun, dundundun slogging marching song) we get to our school work. But my kids are wonderful, and actually they love learning. Joe is doing amazingly well, and Gail is a beautiful learner!
Unfortunately (in a motherly/teacher sense)--or fortunately if you're a kid--we get several visitors, which helps to break up the monotony of school work. First, a friend shows up with her horses in a horse trailer. Then, just as soon as she's parked, her farrier pulls in! She'd brought them over for the farrier to work on them here. Well, our friend unloads her horses, and her boyfriend, who's such a great supporter, holds one of the horses while she managed the other for the farrier. It's quick work because both horses are barefoot, they have no horseshoes. All they need is a pedicure--a trim, some filing to freshen up their hooves, and a little TLC. If you listen closely enough, you can actually hear the horses discussing the latest spectacular news from the National Muckraker. Just kidding.
Our friend takes her horses over to our pasture and lets them eat grass. They think they're visiting heaven, the grass is a perfect length, green, and has a great mix of sweet little weeds in it. Every little whipstitch they look up and decide a nice run is in order. Our pasture nearly wraps around the house, and these horses are having a grand ol' time running around.
While my friend's horses are amusing themselves, we get Bullet and Lady out. They need their pedicures too! I've been doing my best to trim their feet myself, but I'll admit I'd been letting it slide a little, due to the strain on my back. Horse shoeing and scoliosis are a deadly combination, haha! It's been about three years since the horses had a professional trim, it was considered too expensive by the other owner. It's been a bit since they had a good quality vet check too (hint, hint), but I'm hoping we will get that back on track, since we are definitely making progress on our goals and dreams.
Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. We'd be more than appreciative if any of you, our supporters, helped us out a little bit. You know, just sayin'.
Well the farrier started with Bullet. He's a perfect gentleman. He doesn't try to take his feet away and he lets her trim them. He really likes how she cleans out his soles too, using a hoof knife. And his frogs get trimmed up nicely too, just a perfect pedicure. I bet you didn't know horses had frogs, did you! It's a bit on the underside of their hooves, in the souls of their feet, which tends to get really crusted with calluses. It's like you scrapping off all the dead skin in the shower.
Bullet's done, and he's back to the pasture. Now we get Lady out. She's a charm too with the ferrier. We talk about how she rarely needed a trim in New Mexico because she did lots of walking on the sand and her feet stayed short. I show the ferrier how she's got a bit of a club foot and the farrier trims her properly. So good to have a nice trimming, and clean feet to boot! Or... would it be clean feet to hoof!? Hmm... I'll get back to you on that one.
Back Lady goes, and now all the horses are prancing around like they own the world. We all stand around, chewing the cud (not really, but hey it works, right?) but soon the farrier has to leave to get to her next appointment. Our friend pays for the horses to have their feet trimmed! We are so blessed!
Our friend looks at her horses, smiling as she sees them thoroughly enjoying themselves. Haha, they might not want to leave.
She decides it might not hurt to give her horses a few more minutes in equine paradise, so she grabs a pair of clippers, aiming for Bullet. He hasn't shed his winter coat this year... or maybe he did, and the summer coat is really thick too. Poor guy has been sweating off all his energy! You see, one of the reasons I'm thinking about the vet so much is I'm not sure what's going on with him. Why is his coat so thick? Did he shed his winter coat? Or is this his summer coat? This is on one of the symptoms we want to explore the causes of.
I suspect he might have an equine disease known as Cushing's disease. Yet, there are other potential nutrient deficiencies and illnesses which could cause this too. Now you can see why it's definitely a good idea to get some medical testing done. We don't have medical insurance for the horses, so this could get expensive, and here again, we'd love and truly appreciate any help from our neighbors and community members who consider our cause to be worthwhile. It's difficult to provide horseback riding opportunity to veterans, disabled, and special needs people without healthy horses! Fortunately Lady is doing okay, but I still worry sick about Bullet.
Well our friend clips Bullet's long thick hair and suddenly we can see his dappled coat! But oh, how he's a handsome boy! And, bonus points, he truly loved the hair cut.
Then our friend pulls out some hand-me-down fly masks and fly blankets her horses aren't using anymore. A fly sheet for Lady, fly boots for both of them, and fly masks with Lycra style fabric under the jaw, so they are pretty snug fitting. Lady and Bullet walk funny for a bit--think astronauts trying out thier suits for the first time. And like astronauts, the horses have to get used to this external protective clothing. They quickly get accustomed to the boots and love, Love, LOVE the decreased number of flies. We will need to be careful not to leave the sheets on during rainy weather- a wet sheet inhibits the horses' ability to regulate their bodily temperature.
Eventually our friend loads up her horses and heads home. She has to clean up from the clipping job and run some errands. She told me she was headed to Tractor Supply for a few things, and I ask her if she can pick up some nutrient dense oil to supplement the horses. She said yes she could!
We feel so blessed to have the support from all our friends, family and donors. We are excited to grow more as we meet more people who can benefit from our services, as well as more people who want to support us in our efforts. If you would like to help us, in these efforts, please go to our donations page, or contact us. There is plenty to be done in preparation for the upcoming winter.
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