Extreme Mustang Makeover 6/30/07
Saturday, June 30th, 2007
Amigo has had some
time to soak in his learning, not to mention his environment! It has been
raining here for 15 straight days and there is no end in sight. The ground is
saturated and the pastures have an inch of water just standing. Mud is the
enemy! To top all that off, Ted has been in the hospital twice this past week
with what we believe is a tick-borne disease. He was extremely ill. Today,
Saturday, is the first day he has been able to get around since Tuesday. It
looks like this last round of antibiotics have finally done the trick.
Amigo has decided that a stall is nice dry place to be and is no longer fearful or startled by the happenings in a barn. He has a 12x14 stall, a covered outside area and a large paddock at his disposal. He is respectful at feeding times, enough so that our sons, ages 13 and 9, are comfortable going in the stall to feed, water and even groom. I have been spending time grooming the big guy. He stand quietly to have his mane and tail sprayed with conditioner and combed through. I'm still not sure what we're going to do with that "wild" mane of his! I'm hoping that the center portion may grow out enough in this 90 days to at least lay over nicely, otherwise me may consider roaching it. It's so pretty, though, that I'd hate to do that!
Surviving the Fourth of July
Ted was released from the hospital on the Fourth! He is at home and recovering. I am always apprehensive of the fireworks on the fourth, and even moreso this year. After getting Ted all settled in the house, I spent a great deal of time with Amigo, grooming, cleaning his feet and just enjoying the time with him. I told him that tonight would be an exciting time, but there was nothing to be fearful of, just a lot of noise and bright lights, told him to enjoy the show. We worked on giving to pressure, putting his head down, and started some lateral flexion work. He picks things up so quick!
The fireworks started about dark. The pasture horses came thundering over from across the creek where they normally spend the evenings and took up a position near Amigo's pen. Harriott and Dusty who are in the paddock adjoining Amigo were a little agitated at first, but they all settled down and took comfort in numbers. We are in an area where fireworks of all shapes and sizes are legal, so there was a quite a show from all the neighbors. Amigo took it all in stride. I checked on them all several times during the festivities, and the pasture horses were actually a little more spooked than Amigo was! They all survived the evening and we enjoyed the show. Hopefully Ted will back on track with Amigo soon. In the meantime the boys and I are doing what we can with him. Bless my boys for really taking up the slack while their dad is sick and I'm working. I am going to owe them!
