home pony stories

Today was Envoy's day to go for a ride. He was a very good boy. His time with the trainer was very well spent. He is very responsive and much calmer about things. He's lovely to ride.

We were riding when the gnats started to swarm. Poor boy about jumped out of his skin. We went inside because they are really bad. I think it's the recent warm weather and rain. So, once Envoy was in his stall he couldn't stop rubbing his hiney on the wall. Poor guy. But, now it's cool and lovely out, so the kids will spend the night in the pasture. I think they'll like being out while it's nice.

Poor guy. Glad you had a good ride.

Figures, you're both having a good time riding when the nasty knats show up to spoil the fun. Poor guy probably had knat bites all over his hinny. No wonder he was rubbing...... **there, there pat, pat**

Poor ol' pony boy! Can you give horses Benedryl for bad bite events like that?

VERY glad to hear you & E's ride was good, at least before things fell apart. Envoy sounds like he's becoming quite the polished gem.

Envoy and Benedryl are very good friends. He takes 10 pills at a time. But, fortunately, events like these don't leave welts. It's just hurts while the bites are happening. But, I do have a jar of the generic stuff handy just in case. He did have a very bad allergy attack a few years ago, so I try to stay prepared.

He really is getting to be a fun guy. I can't wait until he knows as much as Kina knows now. I hope she's telling him secrets.

Today was Casper's day. He had a meltdown during grooming because his buddies were outside and he wasn't. We put Envoy in the pasture where I ride, and Kina came into her stall to hang out under the fan (away from the bugs). Casper was a star once he was with his friend. He is still very green, but he has go, stop, left and right. He doesn't like to bend to the right, and I don't really know why. Further investigation and gentle stretching are in order.

Tomorrow is Kina's day. And then, it's supposed to rain.

UGH!! At least he settled down once Kina came in. Horses are like people, he may be a
southpaw or at least in this case south hoof.

He is definitely herd bound. Since I don't know anything about his past, I am not willing to push him on it. He is good in so many ways, so if he needs his friends close to him, it's ok by me.

Kina was a real trooper as the icky weather approached. The wind is picking up, and it sprinkled rain while we rode. She just plugged along. She did have a little spook when the neighbor's lawnmower backfired. But, it was really nothing. I'm so glad she came here.

Well just keep working with him, there's a lot baggage to be unpacked.

That's great that you and Kina are doing so well.

Everyone spent most of the day inside. It's been pouring and thundering. The wind isn't as bad as predicted, but the weather is still pretty stinky. We have a tornado watch until 10 tonight, and the rain is STILL pouring. Surprisingly, we aren't flooded (yet). The horses are handling confinement well. They got a couple hours out in the afternoon when the rain slacked to a drizzle. Now, they're tucked into clean stalls with hay. I'll check on them again before bed, but I expect that they're glad to be in rather than drenched. I hope the ground is not too soft and muddy tomorrow. I'd like to ride Envoy.

I'm sure they'll be fine, but you might not get to ride for a few days. Unless Kina turns out to be a mud pony. Don't know, how does Envoy handle mud? Some horses are okay with it, others not.

Envoy LOVES the mud. He wallows. I just need to be careful since it can be slippery and that can be bad for ponies.

And you sure don't want him to fall ON you! Or try to wallow with you aboard.......

I gave the horses the day off. The pasture should be ok by tomorrow, but I didn't want to poke a bunch of holes in it, and didn't want to chance a slippery ride. So, tomorrow it is. The funny thing is that we have a trench between the pasture gate and the field where the horses are now. It's, of course, full of water. I turned Kina out this morning, and she high stepped through it. Really cute.

Today's ride was just a walk ride. The ground is still really soft, and I didn't want to punch holes in the ground or risk an injury. Envoy was a very good boy. He tolerated flies and let me swish them away with riding crops. I carried 2 crops so I could swish on both sides. He said that it was fine as long as the flies didn't get to nibble on him. Fly spray is great for about 5 minutes, but after that, it doesn't do much good.

After the ride, I spent the next hour picking up freshly cleaned/dried blankets off the fence, folding, storing, marking so I can find in the winter. Kina came with 3 nice blankets, and she got Sabi's hand-me-downs. So, I have quite the collection. There's still one more trip to the laundromat to come just to get them all clean!

Kina's stall is, apparently, built on a pond. Water is soaking up and coming in between the mats. We are going to have to get some dirt and build up the floor a lot. Ugh! Lots of hard work. Fortunately, she has a dry side for sleeping, but the cost in wet shavings is killing me.

Bummer!!

Major bummer and a huge pain in the @$$

Wood pallets can raise you off the ground and are often free for the asking, but not sure how much use they'd be for ponies. Good luck, shweets!

It's unfortunate that pallets can't hold up to little pony feet under their big weight. They would fall right through and get their legs cut up. I do use them under my hay, and they are Godsends. Today's dry weather helped Kina's stall a lot. Maybe it was the 5 inches of rain we got in the last few days, and it just had to bubble up through the ground. I'll figure out something. Maybe a truckload of dirt and a lot of tamping this weekend.

UGH!!!

I sure hope that doesn't happen again.  Poor Kina....nothing like a flooded stall to literally dampen your days' outlook.

The nicer weather has been good to the stall. Kina has a happy and dry house now. I hope that gives us some time for stall improvements. 

Poor girl has an abscess in a front hoof and a sore back one. The farrier found the front problem today. She wasn't showing any discomfort there. The back foot is a result of stomping at flies, I think. She is an older lady, so the possibility of arthritis is definitely there. I'll try some supplements for joints, and give her some days off. I hope she comes out of this nicely sound.

Poor Missy.    Well, we have lots of experience with sore feets around here (well, there) so I know she's in good hands.  Keep us posted.

She's feeling much better today. The super hot weather dried everything up even though we had amazing storms this afternoon. It was absolutely insane weather. Fortunately, hubby got home in time to bring everyone in. Kina walked in really well, and was standing square when I got home later. I guess getting that abscess all taken care of (even though it was really tiny, it was probably really painful) helped the back foot. She's inside resting and taking a load off today. Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful, and I'll be home in the morning, so I can watch her.  I'm glad it seems pretty minor.

Glad to hear Kina's feet feel better and she's got a nice dry house again.  Those are the same storms that tore through here Wednesday night (we had funnel clouds everywhere and several tornadoes about 20 miles from here). 

Brace yourself, we're supposed to get more storms like that here tomorrow so you'll probably see them on Sunday.  Talk about insane weather..........