A Mixed Bag Kinda Day

What a mixed-bag kinda day.

On the upside, I think the "mule of my dreams" joined our herd today. Meet "Charlie" (at least that's what I think his name is going to be). He's sort of nervous at the moment, and he needs a lot of work, but I think he's gorgeous and exactly what I've dreamed of owning someday. And, no, that doesn't mean I love Whisper one bit less...he's still my main man, but on days that my body isn't cooperating with me, riding a mule is just easier than riding a Quarter Horse.

On the downside, Freckles isn't doing well...again. Now it seems as if he has an obstruction that isn't allowing him to swallow what he eats and drinks. It being Labor Day weekend, there's no one at the vet clinic, and we've been panicking about what to do. He seems a little better now than he did earlier, so fingers are crossed that he'll hang in there until we can get him help.

Another upside is that one of our rescue horses went to her new home. This <--- is a photo of her on May 22, when we brought her home. She was one bid away from becoming dog food when we raised our hand and bought her. This ---> is her with her new owner going for a test ride today, before they loaded her up and took her to a WONDERFUL new home in Tennessee. Not sure if you can tell how much weight Sophie put on in the 3 months she's been here (a lot!), but I'm sure you can see the difference in her spirit and attitude. We got a phone call this evening saying she was safely in her new home, and eating grass like there's no tomorrow. What a great feeling to know you made such a huge difference in an animal's life. Best wishes to Sophie and her new family! She went with a new purple halter, three baggies of herbal goodies and supplements, and a lot of love.

We're hoping to go to the Mule Days in Ider tomorrow, assuming my kidney stone will cooperate. Man! This is when you know you're getting old. When your choices of activites are governed by how your body parts are working.

Order Up!

The best laid plans of mice and men...and all that. A visit to the doctor's office yesterday afternoon sent me immediately home to bed, where I have been until just a few minutes ago. Amazing what a little thing like a kidney stone/infection can do to a human body. Especially a body that's still reeling and recovering from a year of cancer treatments. Anyway, I'm a day behind now, but peddling really hard to catch up.

I had the list mostly made up before I left yesterday, so it didn't take much to fine tune it this morning.

First on the list is something for Newt. Newt is a two year old sorrel stallion that is one of our rescues. He was foundered as a young colt (rare) and went without care for well over a year. During that time, his feet were so sore that he couldn't take so much as a step without crumpling from pain. A thorough vet check when he came to us gave the report that he was actually in surprisingly good health, considering his inability to move around to forage for food. His growth is stunted, but no other long-lasting ill effects. We were given instructions to pass along to our farrier, and otherwise given a clean bill of health.

I'm a bit of a foot fairy. I don't believe in keeping a horse shod full time (our horses go entirely barefoot in a mustang trim, except for those that need shoes for correction of some sort) so the thought of following the vet's instructions made me cringe. But, we called our farrier (Smith Horseshoeing...and if you're in North Alabama, by all means call this man! He's not only a sweetheart of a man, but he's a farrier extraordinaire!) and made the appointment to not only get shoes put on Newt, but to get them put on backwards! To make a long story short (unless it's too late?) the shoes were a great success, and combined with our home-made herbal regime and good food, Newt is now gaining weight and muscle and yesterday we saw him actually galloping across the field, which brought tears to our eyes. What a wonderful moment!

• Anyway, for Newt we ordered white willow powder for inflammation and pain, along with glucosamine and feverfew. We'll include some fenugreek to keep his gut working well with all the extra feed he's getting for weight gain and then some celery seed, rosehips and chamomile to keep a healthy blood supply to his hooves. Because of his debilitated state, his coat is a little dull and his skin is paper thin, so we'll add in a teaspoon or so of dandelion and garlic to help with that. I think I still have some burdock, so no need to order more just yet.
• Jazz is next on the list. He has an ongoing issue with an eye that weeps. For him we'll get some billberry and eyebright. (I love the way so many herbs are named for what they actually do).
• Poor Dan. He is our resident "Ethiopian horse" looking like the photos of all those poor starving children with skeletons showing through papery skin. When he came to us a year ago he was a little thin, but got a glowing report from the vet otherwise. We put him on our weight gain program and he showed some improvement, but started getting really bad diarrhea. Our vet suggested we slow down his input and we began giving him marshmallow, fennel and licorice to help maintain his digestive tract health. Nothing seemed to help. If he ate enough to gain weight, he developed diarrhea and lost ground instead of gained. Blood workups show that all levels are exactly as they should be, and other tests came up equally unhelpful. It was finally decided that Dan is suffering from ulcers. He was given a prescription for Zantac (21 a day for 20 days, do the math...definitely not our cheapest fix ever!) and antacid liquid. This took care of the diarrhea and allowed him to sometimes eat alfalfa/oat pellets without problem. Eating too much hay not only upset his allergies, but made him prone to impaction colic (like poor Freckles), so that was out. Finally, we were told to put him on a diet of mostly field grass, something he could eat slowly and his system could digest. He will be getting as much grazing as he can ingest, and since it's mild weather at the moment, he can eat around the clock if he wants. He gets regular doses of antacid still, but he's off the Zantac for a while to let his system rest. He gets doses of slippery elm, fennel, licorice and marshmallow along with peppermint, garlic and dandelion. To an undeducated and perhaps judgmental eye, he looks like death walking, but we can see the tiny signs that he's beginning to hold his own. It still breaks my heart to look at him this way, he is the most loving, wonderful, considerate horse we've ever owned, but we have full confidence in our vet, and in Dan's will to thrive.
• We offer horse training, and sometimes when horses first come to the stable they're nervous and leery of not only being in a strange situation but being asked to do things they've never done before. We will be ordering some passion flower, ginger and motherwort to aid their nerves and help calm them so their lessons can sink in.
• Although we do not do any breeding on purpose, a "goodbye action" from a disgruntled stable hand has put us in a position of expecting some colts this spring. Veterinary exam has proven one expectant mother, and educated eyeballing is suggesting at least three others. For them, we'll order some raspberry leaf and parsley leaf and they can share Dan's fenugreek. A little closer to foaling, we'll add in red clover and barley grass for better quality milk.
• For our mares that managed to keep their legs crossed until we could get our rescue stallion castrated, we'll get extra raspberry leaf (this seems to help with their PMS) and chaste tree berry powder to help regulate their sometimes raging hormones.
• For our older horses that have problems with metabolic funtion, we'll add a bit of dandelion, lemon balm, rosehips and garlic to their daily ration. A bit of kelp should boost liver function and if Cushing's is suspected, a teaspoon of chasteberry powder will be given twice daily for 2 weeks, then off a week, then back on for two, etc. Those that have joint issues will receive white willow root as needed for pain along with peppermint to help them digest all the extras. Old age isn't for sissy horses any more than it is for humans!
• Whisper (the chestnut love of my life, pictured over there to the left ---->) is prone to get allergies in the fall. He'll get a bit of marshmallow, slippery elm, anise, garlic, and alfalfa leaf to help ward off the sniffles. He's an easy keeper most of the time, but even when he's in perfect condition, he gets a pinch of peppermint leaves in his food...just because he likes it and he's The Whisper and that is good enough.

OK, the shopping list is completed. I'll check and see that I'm not doubling up on something already in our storage closet, mail off the order form and then start checking the mail for a big, weird-smelling box!

Today is Harley's (our stable baby) birthday, so we're off to celebrate with Skeeter and Nancy and their friends and family. She was born on her mom, Nancy's, birthday, so it's a double celebration. We took Skeeter and Nancy to Georgia for a Clinton Anderson clinic for her birthday. Definitely the gift that keeps on giving!

A Day Off

Haven't seen a horse all day. I'm in withdrawal! I know they're in good hands with Skeeter and Nancy (our caretakers, that live in the barn and play mom and dad when we're not there) but it's sort of like sending your kids off to camp. I just hope I packed enough clean socks!

Today is "take care of me" day, which, instead of being a "day off" as the header implies, means I've been catching up on emails, trying (quite unsuccessfully I might add) to get a path through this cluttered mass we call home, getting the shopping list created for this month's herb order, and to finish off the day, a visit to the doctor to see if I have a kidney stone, an infection, or a pulled muscle. Getting older is NOT for sissies!

I'll finish the shopping list tonight and we'll go over what's being ordered and why. Need anything?

Another Crisis Averted

This morning Freckles woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed and worrying about when his next meal was going to get there. It was hard to say no to him, but the vet made me promise not even an apple or molasses treat until after noon. Needless to say, as soon as the bell tolled at twelve o'clock, Freckles knew it was tolling for him and he dove into his food dish like he'd never seen food before. A far cry from the pitiful writhing hunk of freckled horseflesh he was just a dozen hours earlier.

I've spent most of the day today picking the brain of everyone I know that feeds a natural diet, to see what additives I can start including with his food to keep this from happening again, as well as to get some weight on him before winter sets in. We have three horses, him included, that are about 100 pounds underweight, and even though our Alabama winters are not as harsh as some (ok most) other parts of the US, we still have some pretty frigid days and nights.

One of the first things we learned when we started taking in rescues was how hard it is to put weight and muscle back on a severely debilitated horse. Our vet says we've done a good job at it, but it's taken a lot of research, a lot of work and a lot of fretting and worrying.

We have recently started getting more serious about including moistened beet pulp with our feed. Not only does this add moisture to their diet (which if you'll remember was the vet's diagnosis as to what caused poor Freckles' bad night) but it's a great source of easily-digested non-starchy fiber. Something else that keeps popping up in my quest for the ultimate weight-gain diet is fenugreek. I plan to order a pound or two and begin supplementing all of our underweight and older horses with it. I'll keep you posted on how it works for us.

One of the things that we have learned after turning our back on some of the traditional horse-keeping ideas in favor of something more natural, is that our horses stay healthier on a much lower budget than I hear some of our equine friends discussing. I purchase our herbs in bulk and create individualized diets based on plants that a horse could theoretically find in the wild where Mother Nature would point him in the right direction to choose something from nature's pharmacy to cure what ails him. Read the label on some of the diet additives you'll see in fancy tack shops and feed stores and think about what you're putting into your horse's mouth. In my opinion, I'd rather see individual leaves of herbs mixed in with our horse's grains and pellets and know what plant produced it and why it's in there, than to stir in a generic mixture of heaven-knows-what-and-why simply because it has a fancy label (and price tag).

I'm getting a shopping list prepared for my bulk herb order. We'll walk through it next time and make sure I haven't forgotten anything. Until then, happy trails!

PS: The photo is of Freckles on a trail ride, jumping across a swollen creek. His inexperienced rider almost didn't make it across with him.

In The Wee Hours

My grandfather always said there's "no rest for the wicked." Not sure about the wicked part, but there's certainly no rest for anyone around here tonight. We have a colicky horse.

To anyone who knows anything about horses, those words are sure to strike fear. We all know that every horse we have, no matter how healthy he is, no matter how much he cost, no matter how much we love him, is always just one grain or one pellet away from colicking.

Knowing that colic is the number one cause of equine death made our hearts beat quite a bit faster when our Freckles refused his evening feed and then started showing signs of severe distress. We tried making him walk (the best way to keep the gut working and cause him to pass gas and stool) but his knees kept folding and he'd try to crumple to the ground. The vet (ours is on speed dial, I'll bet yours is too) said to allow him to lie down if he insisted, but to keep him from rolling at all costs. So, we aimed him to his stall and prepared ourselves for a long vigil.

After a while on the ground, Freckles apparently decided that this position didn't hurt any less than standing up, so he labored back to his feet, and then without any fanfare...he pooped and farted. What a wonderful sound! First the pfffffffft and then plop plop plop.

Looking at the pile of manure proved the type of colic we were dealing with. Most are treated identically at the beginning, but post and preventative treatments vary according to the type, so it's important to realize what's causing the problem. With Freckles, the dry flaky stool showed he was suffering from "pelvic flexure impaction". We'd been out of town over the weekend, and to make things easier for our barn sitter, we'd put out extra hay for everyone and lessened the numbers of feedings of grain per day. All of this extra hay had impacted and stopped moving, most likely in the left colon where the intestine takes a 180 degree and turn and narrows. What fluids he'd managed to intake were not keeping his gut moist enough to keep food digesting, so every bite he took kept piling up and up and up like cars in a wreck on the interstate until finally he simply...filled up.

Because his bowels were functioning now and he was able to pass fecal matter and gas, the prognosis for Freckles began looking brighter immediately, but still requires overnight watch which will include no feed for 24 hours, free range to graze if he chooses, as much water as he will drink (putting apple cider vinegar in a pail of water will sometimes entice them to drink, and is great for their system) and a new diet when he starts back to eating. This diet will include wheat bran (32 oz every day) to aid digestion, no hay at all for 10 days, and as much fluid as we can get him to take. We'll soak some beet pulp and add that to his food, and probably soak the bran before feeding it too.

While Freckles was down, we gave him a shot of banamine and that was when he began to made a turn for the better. At times like this, I am grateful for every moment of medical study and research and every single medication that is available to us to make life easier and healthier for our animals. As much as I believe in the power of alternative and natural medicine to heal, and as much as I want to give our animals a natural lifestyle, I also believe that we are responsible for providing as safe an existence for them as possible. This means taking the boat when you are offered it (are you familiar with that old joke about the man in a hurricane who keeps telling rescue workers to go save someone else, God will save him....as he is about to go under water he asks God how he could have failed him so and God speaks "Fail you? I sent you a boat, I sent you a helicopter, I sent you a.....")

I am lucky to have vets nearby who are willing to help me find a balance between old and new medicine and who have given my animals truly the best of both worlds. There are not enough words to express my gratitude.

Now, it's time for a check-in, and then if all is well, maybe an hour or two of sleep. Perchance to dream. Most likely about new saddles, clean stalls, and maybe even a nice moist poop or two.

Howdy!

Howdy and Welcome!


I figure you're either here because you want to see if I've come up with something new under the sun regarding natural horsemanship, you want to share your own ideas, or you're here to see if I can write as well as I say I can. Either way, I hope you find what you're looking for and I'll look forward to meeting you.


In my opinion, natural horsemanship covers every aspect of horse ownership, every choice you make large and small: choosing your horse and its equipment, training, environment, diet, health care, hoof maintenance, daily life and grooming.


Going natural may mean a complete break from everything you've ever learned about horse ownership. It will likely mean you'll be going against the advice of your peers and it may mean taking a different direction entirely from the way you've enjoyed your horses in the past. It doesn't mean you can't exhibit your horse but it may limit which exhibitions will embrace you and decide which will shun you. Choosing a natural lifestyle for your horse may also mean you will have to defend yourself to less knowledgeable horse owners who insist that all horses must be shod, must cost a fortune to maintain, must be trained with heavy hands and cruel equipment, and will never be totally trustworthy unless they're ridden with bits and spurs, etc etc etc. These are usually the same people that have a hard time understanding the difference in fear and respect, and find it difficult to believe that a horse will obey a person it loves and respects far faster and with more dedication than it will someone who has beaten it into submission.


In the pages ahead, I'll share what I've learned while owning and operating a public stable, maintaining our many horses as naturally as possible. We offer trail rides, pony rides, beginner riding lessons and horse training to help pay the bills for our first love...our rescue horses. Come along and meet my family. Like everyone else's family we have all sorts of personalities, or as Pat Parelli says "horseanalities," some of them loveable, some of them not so much.


I'd love to hear from you if you think we're doing something wrong, if you think we're doing something right, or maybe you can help us solve some of the problems that are bound to arise when you share your life with a batch of misfit equines.