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April, 2000
Well, I know its been awhile since I added more to this journal. Unfortunately, I have been so busy running to different doctors this past month that I haven't had a lot of time to work with Lady.
Even Paul has been out of town helping his brother-in-law.
I have also decided to update this once a month until the weather gets better and we can really do some work.
But I have been seeing her every day! She has got to where she will come up to me and not pin her ears back. So far, she is doing fine.
Another reason is that believe it or not, she had the flu! That's right, the flu! I had
noticed when we brought her home that her nose was dripping, but I didn't think too much about it at first. Then I noticed it kept doing it and then she started slowing her water intake.
I immediately had the vet come out and he said she had the flu and gave her
powdered antibiotics which we mixed in her food. He also told us to give her a week or two so she could get to feeling better.
Of course, this is what I did. After about a week on the medicine, she started perking up and eating almost twice what she had been eating! She started gaining back some weight and looks a whole lot better now.
I noticed that she even started playing with the small ball I put in with her. It's just a ball that I stole from my grandson, but she plays with it more than he did!
We have been pretty much mixed up as to who is the boss. She thinks she is and I know I am supposed to be. I know now that I was being too nice, in the sense that I would basically do things her way. That wasn't working.
I gave her some grass and after she ate it, she stamped her foot at me, so I gave her some more. Boy, I found out real quick that was the wrong thing to do! Next time I saw her, I
didn't give her any grass, and she turned her tail at me and mostly just dismissed me as she were superior to me.
So what to do? I thought and then decided to try something. Next day I took some grass and when she saw it, she came right up and took it. Of course after that it was back to the old foot stomping trick. So instead of giving her more, I stomped my foot really hard and yelled "BACK"! She threw her head up and put both ears forward and looked at me as if to say "What's her problem?"
I assume it worked, since after that she doesn't look away from me anymore and the foot stomping has stopped completely.
Now I rarely give her grass and when I do, if she has been good, I put it in her feed pan. That way she doesn't think all I am good for is to give her grass.
Babe is still pregnant and getting huge! She is so clumsy! I was watching her and she was walking like it was all she could do to move her legs, and I can imagine how she feels. If I felt like a big elephant who walked like a duck when I was 8 and 9 months pregnant, think how she must feel!
I am sure she doesn't have much longer to go and hope she has a nice looking foal.
May, 2000
Paul made it back from Denver. As soon as he got home, he starting working on a barn and a couple corrals. They are a lot bigger than what Lady is in at this time. But when we get them all done, we will be able to transfer her to our place for training purposes. Since she likes Paul the best, this should work out well for all of us. We still go over there every day and work a bit with Lady. She was really happy to see that "Daddy" was home!
Babe still hasn't had her foal, even though she keeps getting bigger and bigger!
I am still running in all directions with my doctors, so we are all a bit busy again this month.
June, 2000
The computer went out and was down for about 3 weeks. So all this is late getting written.
Paul got the corrals and barn done. We ran around and bought a bunch of supplies that we needed to have, like brushes, combs, etc..
We moved Lady here to our place on the 11th. No problem getting her in the trailer or out of it. She went nuts over the grass in the corral! We talked to her and petted her but basically we let her get used to her new place for a couple days.
Paul started working with her every day and its only been 4 days, and already she is off the lead rope and coming right up to him. She is still a bit off with me though. I guess she will most likely end up being one person horse, and we all know who that will be!
I went out and bent down to get some night flying bugs out of her water. Of course that meant that I splashed it a bit. After I moved away, Lady went over to the water, looked at it, looked back at me, and then started splashing the water with her foot! She did this a few times, then put the whole bottom of her leg in it! I know she was playing, and it was really funny!
But I did have to empty the whole thing and give her fresh water since she got quite a bit of dirt in it.
Had the vet come out and check her out. He said she was a healthy horse. Although he did worm her. We wanted to make sure that she was over the flu and ready to be worked with.
He also said she was good looking as far as her body and muscle tone looked.
My grandson brought over a "pet" for Lady. It's a little black and white kitten who is
supposed to be an outdoor cat. He lived outside since he was born, so there should be no problem. (WRONG!) I took him outside, he meowed 3 times and climbed up my leg! Showed him the horse, he was scared of her, took him back inside, the dog is scared of the kitten, and all the while, my cat thinks we are all crazy! So much for a barn cat to chase mice! Looks like Lady's "pet" will be an indoor cat after all!!!
Babe is still getting bigger, but no foal yet. I can hardly wait to see what it looks like, and you can bet I will be there taking pictures as soon as it's born!
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