Chancey’s first farrier visit

Chancey met the farrier this morning. He needed to have his hooves rasped because, when he was so weak and walking on his heels, the hooves actually get rounded. The whole visit went pretty well. I ended up tying Natty at the front of the stall with lots of food and moving Chance to the far corner of the stall, and the farrier came into the stall to do his feet. Natty only looked up when she ran out of food, but luckily there were a few people there to get her some more. She really does love food more than she loves Chancey. Once Chancey figured out what was going on, he did a great job, He lifted his little feet and didn’t squirm too much (although he did manage to step on my feet a few times). It was a pretty quick job, and afterward he nursed and went down for a nap like everything was normal, so I don’t think he was traumatized at all. Also, his limp is better today, so maybe later this evening or tomorrow he’ll get to go out for a very short turn-out. Oh, and I measured him again day before yesterday – 200 pounds!

Post-turn-out blues

Well, Chancey may have overdone a bit when I turned them out. I shouldn’t have left them out so long. He came in on wobbly legs and went straight to sleep, and yesterday he was still more mellow than usual and had very bad diarrhea. I think Natty must have realized he wasn’t up to snuff because she was a terrible cranky protective beast – she nipped my arm and then kicked the wheelbarrow when I tried to come in to clean the stall. She spent most of the visit backed up to the door to keep anyone from coming in, and Chancey spent most of it napping in the straw nest.

Today Natty was in a better frame of mind (but I was the only person in the barn this morning, and she’s usually fine with me anyway). She let me in to clean, and Chancey finally got up. His diarrhea is better and he is nursing and everything, but he’s limping today and wanting to spend as much time as possible laying down in the nest. I checked his leg really carefully, and there is no swelling, heat, or sensitivity in the leg or the hoof, and he’s putting weight on it fine – he’s just really hesitant to take each step. He is otherwise his usual perky self, so I’m hoping he just strained something a little with all the running in the strange footing or else really worked his muscles and stiffened up while resting. If it isn’t better tomorrow I’ll call the vet again. I’ll be out there first thing in the morning because the farrier is coming to rasp his heels anyway, so I’ll be able to check him really early. I wanted to see him stay on his feet and walk a little more to loosen things up, but he really wanted to go right back down. He didn’t even wait for me to get the straw down in the hole in the middle of the stall where he sleeps. I had to shake it out around him, and then he squirmed around and used his front legs to pull the piles up against him. It was pretty cute to watch – looked like he was covering himself up for a nice nap. I hope he’s feeling better tomorrow.

TURN OUT! WOOHOO!

**There are now 5 videos if you scroll all the way to the bottom of this post**

Big girl and baby boy finally got to go outside this afternoon! Sounds easy, you say? Not so! Lois helped me by leading Natty out of the stall, but then Chancey got his front 2 feet in the aisle and darted back into the stall. I think he didn’t want to cross over onto the concrete walkway. I had to really push and prod and try a couple of times to get him out into the aisle, and then somebody closed the door quickly so he couldn’t get back in. Natty wasn’t even calling him, but she was also walking nicely in circles just outside the barn, so that was good. I managed to get Chancey the whopping 20 feet to the barn door (they are in the corner stall, so it wasn’t far), and he wouldn’t step off the concrete aisle to go outside. He called to Natty and she replied in what must have been comforting tones, and one more good shove got him moving, He actually kept going pretty well down the driveway and into the first turnout. He was pretty mellow when I first let go of him – I was a a little disappointed he didn’t run right away, but Natty went straight to the grass and started eating. He did finally perk up and run around, and so did Natty after she had a good roll that got her halter right off… I didn’t get any video of both of them running because they stopped every time I got the camera out, but I did get a bunch of Chance running by himself. He tripped in the stream a few times, and other times he went in more gingerly and then lifted his feet really high to step out. It was funny. The grass in the bottom of the turnout is so tall that he was really bounding like a deer. He’s so cute! I walked out there to get better pictures, and he came right to me. I was happy to see he’s friendly even when there is so much going on. I left them out for 2 hours, and they came back in so well! I was able to halter Natty with no trouble at all, and then she didn’t balk at all on the walk back inside, and Chance just followed like a good boy right into the stall. He was all tired out, though – his poor little legs were shaking while he took one final nurse before he collapsed in a heap in his straw nest. I was so happy to see them out in the green grass finally! I hope the weather stays nice so they can go out again tomorrow.

Here are the pictures. I’ll add the videos as I get them uploaded!

GRRRRRRRRRR!

Little punk tipped over my wheelbarrow today! I think I’m going to have to ask for a lot less help from now on! Have I mentioned I can’t wait for them to go back outside? But I looked at the forecast today, and we are expecting showers for the next 10 days at least, so not great weather for Chance to adjust to being outside anyway. He doesn’t have nearly as thick a coat as the other foals. I’d be happy if they could even be turned out for a few hours during the day, but so far the vet says no. When I called there yesterday, the lady who answered the phone told me I’ll just have to turn him out and not tell the vet about it. Then she told me to wait until I can’t stand it any longer, then wait another week and turn him out. Ack. I think she might be by tomorrow to check on another horse with a bad cut on her leg, so maybe I’ll be able to get some better answers from her then. Keep your fingers crossed they can go back out!

Updates

Little Chancey is finally off medications! He took his last dose of antibiotics last night, and I’m sure he’ll miss the twice-daily syringes full of syrup, but at least he’s done with pills. He still can’t be turned out – the vet is waiting to make sure that belly button has plenty of time to close up so the poor little guy doesn’t wind up in surgery. For now, he’s still inside but learning by leaps and bounds. Oh, and also learning leaps and bounds (see videos). Yesterday he tried his hand at stall cleaning. He has been my constant shadow while I do it, and I guess he’s been learning because when I left the tools unattended, he grabbed the handle just like you’re supposed to:

He’s a big helper, as I’m sure you can see.

Training updates: he’s dumb as a box of rocks, so he goes along with anything. He lifts all of his feet beautifully (and only fell over one time). He lets me brush him and comb his little mane and tail and sponge him in the hot weather. He wears his little halter like a big boy now, and he’s almost ready to move up to the larger crown piece on the “Grow with me” halter. Lead rope must mean chew toy in horse language, because that’s what he thought it was when I clipped it to his halter. He leads pretty well with a butt rope, but he’d also walk beside me to the ends of the earth if I just throw my arm over his little shoulders, so mostly I do that. Luckily, he loves hugs and kisses! Any time I squat down, he comes right over for a big hug and a kiss on the nose. He might also be rubbing off on Natty because she was more affectionate than usual yesterday. Yay! Natty is very interesting these days – she is very defensive of her foal and has lunged with bared teeth at a few strangers in the last week. BUT she absolutely remembers all the people who helped me when Chancey was so little and weak, because not only doesn’t she attack them, she lets them handle the baby! Even lets them come into the stall and scratch his little bottom (which he loves – he’ll back up to anyone and lean into them to get scratches). I wish Natty wouldn’t try to bite anyone, but I’m really glad she remembers who helped us and knows they are friends! She is such a smart girl.

This video is from yesterday. It was a bad combination of events because Natty’s best friend Key was turned out for the first time since they all came inside (she has been living directly across the aisle from Natty and Chance), it was pouring rain, and the lawnmower was close outside the barn. I started recording because Chancey was bouncing around looking cute, but then I saw him hobbling on 3 legs. I looked back at the video and realized Natty stepped on his foot, yikes! He’s fine now, but it took him awhile to put that leg back down and stop hobbling. Poor little guy!

Quick Updates

Well, little boy continues to grow and get stronger and be generally nosey. I’ve started working on leading and can now halter him without waiting for him to go down for a nap. I’m also brushing him and lifting all his feet every day. As of yesterday, he has 4 little milk teeth, weighs 165 pounds, and stands about 10.1 hands. I took the cutest ever picture today:

Too careless today

When Chancey was first born, I got in the habit of leaving the stall door part way open when I went in just in case I needed to escape quickly if Natty got aggressive. She never has been aggressive, but I guess I got in the habit of leaving the door open because I still do it. A couple of days ago, one of the dogs came into the stall while I was there without my noticing – I left the stall without seeing him and closed the door. Luckily, I was standing outside the stall talking to someone when Natty started attacking the dog, so I was able to open the door and he escaped unscathed. Today, I left the door partway open while I was grooming Natty, and pretty soon I heard a new boarder say “Oh my, he’s in the aisle!” Yes, you guessed it, Chance was going to visit the neighbors. He didn’t even care that he was leaving his mama, and she barely called to him when she spotted him walking away. I ran out, got my arms around him, and managed to steer and push him back into the stall. I need to do 2 things now: starting closing the door, and teach the little guy to lead in case I forget to close the door and he leaves again.

He continues to be cute and friendly, and Natty was very cooperative with her grooming today, so it was a very pleasant visit with both. Check out my latest video:

Little guy is so cute!

I’m loving life with my little man. He is getting really friendly. He keeps coming up to me while I clean the stall, and he nuzzles and rubs on me and lets me pet on him and give him kisses on the nose. He’s the sweetest thing in the world. I’m starting to find his good itchy spots. He likes to have his poll and the top of his forehead scratched and will actually pin his little ears and stretch his neck out to give me better access. And tonight I found out he love love loves to have his little behind scratched. He was backing up to me for more and clacking his little gums like he was in heaven. It was the funniest thing – I’ll try to get video tomorrow. I figure as long as he’s “imprinted” I might as well teach him a few things, so today I lifted both of his front feet and brushed him all over. Big mama just turned and looked at me like she had no idea what I was up to, but her baby didn’t seem to mind so she’d let it slide. Tomorrow I’m going to try to comb his mane a little bit because he’s got some dead skin flaking off in there, yuck. And if he looks really steady, maybe I’ll try to lift his back feet. I am also making him wear his little halter for a while every day, but i haven’t put a lead rope on it yet.

Big Mama is starting to get a little stir-crazy from being cooped up inside for so long. She has been really snotty and nippy when I tried to put her halter on the last 2 days. I know she wants to go out, but vet says Chancey’s not ready yet. I need to cut down on Natty’s grain intake, but I use it to keep her happy while I clean the stall and mess with the colt. Today they were both pawing big time, and I’m sure Natty is teaching this behavior to Chance. He even tried pawing at the wheelbarrow in the stall doorway yesterday (and that’s the only thing keeping him in – he keeps trying to slip out if the door isn’t closed all the way). I can’t wait until they can go back outside!

Quick update on the little big man

Mostly putting up more pictures today, but have to say the little guy is so sweet! He is getting brave and nuzzling me a lot right now. His little nose is so soft. I lifted one of his feet today, and it was really easy, so I’ll start working more on that. I also made him wear his halter for a little while today.

One more video