Stall time

PRF ended up with a full board opening for this winter; (YAY!) So Deuce gets his own stall at night. It took him a few hours to figure out he could hang his head out the stall door, but not long at all to learn the feeding schedule! 

New Home

Pheasant Ridge Farm is a wonderful boarding facility where my friend keeps her horse, Special. It turns out PRF had an opening for pasture board for a few months this summer so I jumped on the opportunity to have Deuce at a facility where we had access to an arena (indoor and outdoor), a cross country course and and instruction. As an added bonus, the small, family run farm is conveniently located about halfway between my long commute from home and work. And to top it all off, they are home to the Fox Hills Pony Club and have a strong interest in eventing. Can't really ask much more for a boarding place!

Deuce loaded up well with only mild contemplation about the big step up into the trailer and hauled great to the new barn. When we arrived, of course he announced himself and was ready to check out his new place. He backed off the trailer like a pro and walked calmly out to the field. I turned him lose and he immediately wanted to say hello to his neighbors. Poor guy; apparently he was not wary about electric fences and got a little shock when he went to touch noses over the fence. He jumped back in surprise but then came forward again with caution. There is that good old draft brain taking over; react, but maintaining some sort of common sense and not feeling the need to run off in terror.

I watched Deuce for a little while as he checked out his new place and neighbors and decided he would be just fine in his new surroundings. I am looking forward to having a big arena to ride in this summer; yay!

Getting to Know You...

Deuce has really bonded with the herd, but it is taking some time for us to make a team. When I go out to retrieve him from the field, he sees me coming and might even raise his head and take a few steps towards me with interest (the treats I have in my pocket are usually a pretty good incentive) but that is about it. He willingly puts his head into his halter and will reluctantly leave the herd to go back up to the barn for grooming and saddling. In the barn, he stand quietly but I can tell he is just waiting for the chance to get back out with the herd. When on the trail, he has moments of giving me his full attention, but he predominantly merely goes through the motions of responding to my aids. We have quite a bit of work to do to have his full attention.

A Hole in the foot

Deuce came up from the pasture severely favoring his right front foot. Of course I immediately gave him the look over scoping out signs of swelling, scrapes, rocks, anything that would give an obvious sign of pain and discomfort but to no avail. So a nice salt water soak for good measure (remembering that 80%+ unsoundness issues are in the hoof itself) and then out he went again. I figured it was better for him to move around at this point than to stand around in the barn and get stiff.

The next day he came up out of the field even a bit worse than the day before. I took a closer look at his hoof and brought along the hoof testers too. No soft spots but I did discover a hole in his toe and after some more digging, it connected to a hole in the hoof wall. Well, that makes sense, an abscess that worked its way trough and got close to his laminae in the hoof. Of course he would be sore! It would be like cutting your fingernail too short and then walking around on it. Ouch!!! I dug out the hole and cleaned it up with hydrogen peroxide and packed it with ictahmol and wrapped it up. 4-5 days of cleaning wrapping and packing and hanging out in the barn and he was doing much better. He was a good patient but most definitely ready to be out with the herd again.

Horses of a different color

Summer has arrived and in theory so are the warmer temperatures and hairy critters are starting to shed out! Well... actually the temperatures don't really have much to do with coat shedding, it is more a light cycle that triggers the body's hair dropping process. And it is just as well that it is light and not temperatures that trigger the shedding for the hairy critters in the northwest. Summer's warm temperatures are slow to get here in southwestern Washington and the poor critters would remain woolly well into July if they were waiting for warmer weather to drop their coats.

The days are in fact getting longer and Deuce and Flash are both moving into their summer coats and not only are they shorter, their colors are changing too!

Deuce is getting more white in his chest, shoulders and around his face. He has dark spots on his rump along with his splashed white markings. His mane and tail seem to be remaining black along with his stockings. He does have one white sock on his left hind and a white hoof.

Meeting the herd

Deuce spent his first week in the barn so we could get to know each in a more confined space before turning him out with the herd on 20+ acre. On the day it was time for turning out, I took him to the field and let him loose and sat down to watch the show. He had at least met the other farm residence not long after arriving but he did not have free rein to strut his stuff at the time.

Babe (the alpha draft mare) promptly ran up to Deuce to let him know she was in charge and not to mess with her baby. She squealed, snorted and swung around to show her skilled use of find feet then rounded up her several month old colt (Shorty) and took him away from the herd. Margarita (Icelandic pony mare who has determined she is "second mother" to Shorty wandered off with her. Matilda (4 yr old mischievous Icelandic mare) and Deuce seemed to hit it off the best. They touched noses, trotted around each other and swished tails with minimal pawing, snorting or screaming. Flash secured himself as the low man on the totem pole by clicking his baby teeth. He was trying to play the sympathy card but no one took him on it. So after saying hello and declaring that he was the baby, he just stayed out of everyone's way.

Introduction

Deuce (formally known as Bubba) He is a seven year old Appaloosa/Belgian gelding standing at 16.2 hands. He came into my life officially on May 7th 2011, when I moved him to his knew home. We are still getting to know each other but I sense a strong partnership forming between the two of us. He's in need of consistency and someone he can trust.

He is living at my friend's farm where he has 20+ acres of forest and field to roam with a herd of cows and 6 other horses (one of which is my baby, Flash; check out FLASH TAILS for more about the youngster).