Calm, Forward, Straight

Calm, Forward, Straight

Friday, December 20, 2013

Hey Val - wassup?

What's been happening with the poneh?! You may be wondering, since recent posts have been over-the-top arm obsessed...

Not to worry - Val has been enjoying the life to which he has become accustomed - the life of leisure.

Long, lingering, pampering sessions. Total lack of a demanding workload. Mostly mild temperatures - optimal for multiple naps per day. A fluffy blanket when the mercury has dipped.

Most importantly though, we've broken into our winter hay stash. Gone is the stemmy, roughage filled summer hay. Now we're into the tender, green, smells like summer orchard grass.

Summer hay bales lasted for two days.
Winter hay must be crammed into mean, mean nibble nets for a bale to last three feedings. So. Much. Harder. To. Eat.

Summer hay never ran out - there were always scraps left for sunrise snacks.
Winter hay is good to the last drop. Even the crumbs get hoovered up.
In fact, there is no sign left that hay was ever there.

Val would like to point out now, dramatically, that the austerity measures (nibble net) have once again caused him angst and discomfort...

Yesterday morning as I picked up manure, I pulled out the camera to catch a lovely picture of sleepy pony. I was horrified to find signs of a nose bleed. No obvious scene of injury, no puddle of blood, just a sandy, bloody nostril, some clear mucous tinged red and smears on his foreleg and nose from rubbing. I cleaned him up carefully, but could not find any damage, which was discouraging.


cold enough for blankie, shortly before discovering mystery bleeding

While heading up the road, (bridge is open now!*), and after a consultation with Capt S, the conclusion is vigorous eating + nibble net = stiff hay nasal poke. I once punctured my nose bending over some needle rush in the marsh. Profuse bleeding. So that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. All was well this morning, but if it happens again...(can't bear to mention the v-word since the human doctor bills are piling up lately)


guilty - picture taking + driving...

On the foot front, the farrier was out Wednesday for our trim. Val was pretty stiff picking up his hinds in the cold morning air, and you could clearly see the damage from the laminitic episode - thin little bruises all along the white line on both fronts - but everything looked good overall.

*The road is open again, and we are all appropriately thankful. My only question is, well - really there are several but I'll limit myself - how much better (safer) is a bridge with a score of 4 out of 100 than a bridge with say - a score of 2... just wondering. There is more to the story to be sure.

Final note:
There is a cool Christmas contest going on over at Aoife's blog Pampered Ponies. You get to share fun holiday pictures of you and your equine(s), and the prizes are superb! Niamh from Life of Reilly is providing several of her lovely paper cut pieces. Head over to her Etsy shop TraceALine to check them out. (How I would love to be a lucky winner!)


contest entry - using one from last year - to keep this year's a surprise... ;D


Val being a cheeky monkey in a Xmas card outtake




11 comments:

  1. Hey, it was so nice to hear from you! Thank you for thinking of us. My husband has been ill, but is doing much better. Blogging will resume soon! I gather you are wounded! Must read backward and catch up! Meanwhile, my best to you and Val.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your holiday pictures! Hope you win the contest.

    I'm sure Val is enjoying his life od liesure right now. He sure looks happy. I think you're probably right about his nose bleed. Probably just got too enthusiastic eating the hay.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a life for Val! Cute Christmas photo :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Flash pokes himself in the nose from time-to-time as well. We freaked out the first time; now we're like "Flash. Again?" Love your cast in the last shot. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the pics, thanks for the entry. Sorry to see you're laid up with arm in cast, wishing you a speedy recovery! !!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The weather looks nice there!! I'm glad Val is enjoying your break (!!). <3 your Christmas photos & good luck in the competition!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Keil Bay poked a tiny hole inside his nostril one morning and scared the daylights out of me. I'm sure he did it on the corner of his feed tub as he was manhandling it (that feed tub is gone and he inherited Salina's round red one). I found blood on the tub, on my hands, on his nose and freaked - but before calling the vet I got a washcloth and wet it and swabbed out the bloody nostril - out in the sunlight I could clearly see the little poke hole pooling with blood after I wiped it clean. Huge huge sigh of relief. I'm hoping Val's is a similar thing. Loved seeing the photos, great news about the bridge, and today is winter solstice - enjoy, take good care, and oh, yes, thank you for that gorgeous Christmas card!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh the nibble net. That was one of my failed experiments. Harley could not eat from it efficiently due to his overbite. His buddy had no trouble and the result: buddy got fat and my horse lost weight. I was really disappointed as making the hay last for health and enjoyment was my goal. Oh well. I know a lot of people love using it.

    Love the photos.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love the outtake - adorable!

    Ugh on the bloody nose - they worry us so with all their mysteries!

    What a photo of the bridge view - amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I was ralking to someone recently whose horse had had a nose bleed, and it turned out to be a sinus infection. Anyway, hope Val's originated as you guessed. Glad he's enjoying his leisure :). SOunds like perfect bonding time.
    I love your pictures. You two look great.
    Hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

    ReplyDelete

I love, love, love my readers, and knowing that you've stopped by - it really makes my day.

However, to avoid the new illegible blogger word verification, I've added comment moderation. Lesser of two evils.

Please don't let this stop you - keep those comments coming!! :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...