It's time for breakfast on a chilly, foggy morning in January. The North paddock drains a lot better than the South paddock, so Willow continues to be there. Bruce has done a lot of work in there, trimming back the brush that has over-taken the area...blackberries, oak, tan oak, honeysuckle... It's all out there.
We've had a lot of rain (snow in the mountains) and now we're into the "fog" season. That's typical for where we live. What's not typical, is the low temperatures that have come along with the fog. We've had a lot of temps below 32° this year. Between the rain and the fog, and the freezing temps, Willow has worn her turnout blanket more than she appreciates. Bless her heart...she really doesn't care for it a whole lot. She appreciates it, once it's in place, but it unnerves her to a degree initially.
Willow would much rather her days were like this... Ok, it was all of about 38° outside, but the sun was out, and she was happy. She's playing Mustang Guard Horse in this shot. She's so attentive! Nothing gets past her! We'd just had a lovely mid-paddock grooming session and mini-bath. Her hocks get really mucky with her turnout on...so I scrubbed her nice and clean and dried her while the sun was out. An hour later she'd rolled in the mud. You have to love them.
Our Trust-Training continues, and works well. Last night I put her turnout blanket on her (started to rain) by myself without having to resort to a lead rope. I admit, a bucket of grain was pretty much essential, but we got the job done, one on one. Usually it takes Bruce to hold her lead rope while I fasten the turnout. It took us about 20 minutes, but she eventually stood still while I stroked her shoulder holding the turnout against her, then let me rub her with the turnout, then the turnout was over her shoulder and on her back and slipped over her withers and down over her rump...SUCCESS!! No starting, bolting, running off!! It was the best feeling! Now, this morning, she bolted out from under it uncharacteristically...but that was this morning. Go figure! We make progress...a little here, and a little there.
Incidentally...she's up to 1100 pounds now. We were feeding alfalfa and 3-way...and I couldn't keep weight on her. I added Adult Horse feed to it...still couldn't quite get those ribs to totally disappear. I switched to grassy alfalfa...and dropped the 3-way...added COB w/Molasses... Still no major improvement. After I talked to my guy at the feed store and he recommended straight grass hay, I tried that...she hated it. She was spoiled by all that alfalfa. It took awhile to wean her off...we did grassy alfalfa and grassy hay through the first cold nights...as much grassy hay as she wanted, and a regular feeding of grassy alfalfa at feeding time. We also bumped up to Senior horse feed... Ahhhh... And corn oil for added calories on super cold nights. Then...I heard what our vet had to say about feeding. No alfalfa grown in our area...don't know why, but...I can imagine. I forget about this area having so many toxic areas. Strictly grass hay and senior feed. I have to admit...she's gained weight and looks much better. She has plenty of spunk without being over-heated. Her ribs finally disappeared. I can feel them, but they're finally under a bit of flesh. Yay! And even in the middle of winter, she's bright and shiny! Gotta love it!
