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Smatterday again
Aug. 29th, 2009 09:55 pmGary made it back from his long odyssey to Michigan City this morning. None the worse for wear, mostly and thank goodness.
We went out for lunch and did some shopping for animal food and our own food. Rearranged the feed storage in the two barns so that Tess has her special feed in the same place where she lives. Duh. For years her feed has been stored in the other barn. It just happened that way, don't ask me why. This should be much simpler.
I had a scare, too. Since the sun was out this morning, and it wasn't for sure whether it would change to rain again in the afternoon, I put Tess out in her pasture first thing, at 8:30 am. Normally she gets to be out for three hours, no more than four. I'd figured on bringing her in at 11:30 or so. Well, I got distracted, and forgot. This hasn't ever happened before, believe it or not. We got all the way to Woodstock and I looked at the sky and wondered if it was going to rain, then suddenly realized that she was still outside. Not that a little rain would really hurt her, but her grass consumption has to be limited for health reasons. This is new growth, too, because of all the rain we've had. So we drove back home and put her in. She seemed fine. By then it was about 1 pm, so she was out for over four hours. I kept worrying about it because the grass is lush and green again after all that rain this week.
So tonight when I moved her from her pen to the stall, I checked her feet. (The problem she gets from too much fresh grass is called grass founder, and causes swelling and pain in her feet. Not good, since there's no place for the swelling to go inside a hard hoof.) Her hooves felt warm, though no more so than the rest of her. Still, it was worrisome. I went back to the other barn to check the boys, and their feet were warm too, even though they had not been eating grass all morning. Finally it dawned on me that the outdoor temperature was only 57F, which makes a horse's body temperature of 104F seem really, really warm. So I trust she will be OK, though I have to check her carefully in the morning. If she won't get up and walk, it means an expensive emergency visit from the vet.
Gary's making English muffins at the moment, and they smell really good. Earlier this evening he baked bread.
We went out for lunch and did some shopping for animal food and our own food. Rearranged the feed storage in the two barns so that Tess has her special feed in the same place where she lives. Duh. For years her feed has been stored in the other barn. It just happened that way, don't ask me why. This should be much simpler.
I had a scare, too. Since the sun was out this morning, and it wasn't for sure whether it would change to rain again in the afternoon, I put Tess out in her pasture first thing, at 8:30 am. Normally she gets to be out for three hours, no more than four. I'd figured on bringing her in at 11:30 or so. Well, I got distracted, and forgot. This hasn't ever happened before, believe it or not. We got all the way to Woodstock and I looked at the sky and wondered if it was going to rain, then suddenly realized that she was still outside. Not that a little rain would really hurt her, but her grass consumption has to be limited for health reasons. This is new growth, too, because of all the rain we've had. So we drove back home and put her in. She seemed fine. By then it was about 1 pm, so she was out for over four hours. I kept worrying about it because the grass is lush and green again after all that rain this week.
So tonight when I moved her from her pen to the stall, I checked her feet. (The problem she gets from too much fresh grass is called grass founder, and causes swelling and pain in her feet. Not good, since there's no place for the swelling to go inside a hard hoof.) Her hooves felt warm, though no more so than the rest of her. Still, it was worrisome. I went back to the other barn to check the boys, and their feet were warm too, even though they had not been eating grass all morning. Finally it dawned on me that the outdoor temperature was only 57F, which makes a horse's body temperature of 104F seem really, really warm. So I trust she will be OK, though I have to check her carefully in the morning. If she won't get up and walk, it means an expensive emergency visit from the vet.
Gary's making English muffins at the moment, and they smell really good. Earlier this evening he baked bread.
