Red Pony Farm: A journey in motion

More Cows Less Horses

BIG CHANGES coming and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it doesn't look like a frieght train about to run me down.

Red Pony Farm is ending its offering of horse boarding. We are still without a barn (and I am not so niave as to plan on it actually getting up before snow flies. and even if it did it will be too late for 2009 hay storage) and with only pallets and tarps for hay storage hay rots fast when the temps get above 50 and rains are as relentless as they have been for the last 3 weeks. I am paying 6.00 for 2008 hay and making runs every 4 days for another 20 bales. This years hay is only 3.50 when I pick it up from the wagon. But no one can get new hay in when it rains every day. Many of the fields are under water. I heard a report that the strawberries were suffering in the rain. I yelled. I think hay is a bit more of an issue in Maine! I need to have less hay needing storage and one of my sheds freed up to stare what I will need to get to July 2010.

Then there is the horse manure issue. I cannot manage manure here. It is completely overwhelming! I will not take in customers until I can have as pristine a place as the little farm in Standish!!! And I will charge a lot of money. And I will not care if I have no takers.

I am on a mission to get down to one horse. I have found a new home for old Annabelle. She leaves on the 11th. I was so sure that I was going to have to put her down at the end of July and it has been very upsetting. But I have been borrowing some of the money all winter to feed too many horses and that is not the sort of thing I was raised to be comfortable doing. The boarders are leaving sometime within the next 56 days. It's been a good experience and I have met some really great people. But I am notable to it here under the current conditions. I will have more time for working on changing things with less to look after.

I much prefer the cattle business. When the hay spikes in price I can always just eat them. Much easier on the nerves. And they make a lot less mess.

Merry

She is Belgian Melinios / St. Bernard. She is 7 month old. She is 75 pounds of licky-face bouncy, playful, run like the wind, puppy.

 

She stayed on a leash for only 24 hours. That's how long it took for her to bond and decide we were her pack.

 

She gets covered in mud every time she goes out because of all of the construction and pasture building there is mud everywhere. She learned to be hosed off like the others. Although I still have to hold her pretty hard. Sparticus and Bear liked her right from the first second and have no problem sharing their space with her. I was worried about that because Sparticus needs his personal space. But he is much more tolerant of Merry than he is of Bear. He has fun with her on days when he is feeling well.

 

She came with copious diariah which was cured in 36 hours with rice and eggs. She went right onto the raw diet on the third day. She gets 3 -4 pounds of turkey necks 2 cups of rice and 3-4 eggs, and a cup of raw veggies every day. She still seems a little thin to me but she gained 6 pounds in the first week here.

We love her. She has a bigger bark even that Scooby which is hugely impressive and much neededfor keeping large predators away (2 legged and 4 legged). And she LIKES KIDS! It has been so hard to have the babies over as much as I want to with Sparticus not being allowed out of kennel for any reason while they are here.

She has taken an interest in mouse and chipmunk hunting and bear is busy showing her how it's done. We expect her to end up being the large offish dog who perches on a high vantage point and just watches for intruders, then makes the rounds at night.

Scooter Update

He was very happy and acting 2 again on the prednizone. having a grand time playing with the new puppy, and chasing every squirrel in sight for over a week. Now he is almost tapered off the steroids and slowed way back down and the pain is getting to him. He's back on the pain med but still can't get comfortable for long laying down and is not putting weight on that leg. Vet may up the dose later today waiting to hear.

It was easy to think last week that we could still count the time he had left in months. Now We are crushed again to see him suffering.

I am going through the anger phase I guess. It seems cruel that his life expectancy is only the 10 short years we've had the pleasure of his company and benefit of his work. I have an old grumpy mare who is 23 and will probably live to be 30. It's seems so crazy and cruel that horses should live so long and dogs have such short lives. I realize people can get as attached to their horses sometimes as their dogs, and there are horses out there who deserve it too, so if you are one of those I'm sorry, I'm just so hurting and pissed off today.

I may not post for some time--I've nothing nice to say so I should just take thumpers mothers advice for a while!

MAybe I'll post some Dan stuff, He's been crazy busy doing lots trying to get the landscaping done around the shop this summer, which means that lots of stuff is getting done up top too because they go hand in hand( need somewhere to put the sand-so cut more roadway--lots of stumps in the way so remove stumps and while you're there pull stumps out of the ground in all open areas-- and get digging on the whole where the footing for the barn will go) that's the way Dan works: he has to be doing 4 things at once, always. He makes me dizzy.

Scooby - Doo Is Not Well

He had to spend Monday afternoon in the kennel because the grand kids were visiting and he has never done kids, for some reason.

He came in in the evening limping on his left hind. He woke up limping worse. From work I called the vet to make an appointment, because I couldn't find anything wrong. Nothing simple like a boo boo I could fix.

By the time I got home he was on three legs, and in a lot of pain. He ate but then threw it up, and didn't want to re-eat it. not good. we then noticed that one side of his butt was very swollen, at the top of his ham string. The whole area was quite large. We thought maybe he got kicked by a horse. But it didn't quite fit with the order of events we were seeing.

Tuesday morning we went off to the vet.

The vet could find nothing wrong to explain the leg pain. I pointed out the enormous butt cheek. He hadn't noticed it. He took Sparticus out back and shaved it. He looked for bruising. He poked it with needles looking for fluid. No bruising , no fluid. He took some cells in a hollow needle to examined them under a microscope. He drew blood for me to take to work and have a battery of tests run on.

All the blood tests were good.  Nothing out of whack. Vet called me later after I faxed the results. He said he didn't like the look of the cells. He sent the rest of the sample to the Pathologist lab.

Meanwhile Dan called to say Scoot was still vomiting. So we couldn't keep the pain med in him. Vet Suggested 24 hrs of just water. My instinct told me he needed some Cimetidine. I happen to have a bunch of it left from when Sydney was here (over sensitive thoroughbred who's ulcers flared up every time he got any little scrape or bump) Scooby is very sensitive too, but hasn't been ill since we discovered the thyroid problem and began treating it 5 years ago. Anyway, I cut the 800mg horse tabs in quarters for myself when I have heart burn. I gave him one of the quarters.

Within an hour his moodimproved drastically! He wanted to eat! He kept down a small portion and his pain meds. I repeated the process in the morning. It worked again. Dan did the same at lunch, again success!

Wednesday morning the vet called early. He was leaning heavily toward calling Sparticus' issue cancer. Some sort of Cancer that would likely cause problems with stomach acids (?) he said the antacid would have been prescribed for that, anyway.

By Thursday his pain was managed and although he was still not putting weight on the leg he was eating more and going out and about, and having less trouble with maneuvers needed for eliminating waste. We waited for the pathologist report.

Friday came and I went off to work. I came home to find his leg blown up to 3 - 4 times the normal size. Too late to call the vet. His mood was still good. He was still getting around ok. The emergency vet is so so expensive! we waited. No change on Saturday.

But Sunday evening some blood was leaking through the skin, because of the pressure I guessed.

Monday AM the vet office opens at 7:45. We were there. Our favorite Doc was in. Yippee, Dr. Anna!! She said the pathologist report came and she had just been reading it.

Cancer. Aggressive. Likely not operable. One that has long tendrils. The mass is not well defined, with any clear edges. She would take some more cells in a hollow needle, she said, stain them in particular ways, and send them off to the lab. She is so very sorry. The results will let her know if even removing the entire leg would be at all effective.

She takes him off the pain meds and we started Prednisone this morning in an attempt to address the swelling. Antibiotic too, if blood is coming out bacteria can go in. He doesn't need that right now.

It's Tuesday evening. he is still eating and still seems comfortable. But he isn't himself and he isn't traveling his rounds of the property. How long till the coyotes move back in? Bear is too stiff now at 12 to be of much challenge. He never would attempt it without Scoot anyway.

Sparticus is one of those rare dogs that just gets under your skin. Just steals your heart. We are so grief stricken. It is all happening so terribly fast and so mercilessly slow!

A Thumb For the Forks, & Box Blade

When we bought the tractor we had them install a few extra hydrolic controls. Dan utilized another of them a few weeks ago when he fabricated this handy dandy thumb contraption for the forks.

It is the cats meow, the bees knees, for picking up the many piles of debris and freshly cut pine for the burn pile.

 

 

 

 

 

He even got a "WOW" from me on that one. I know he can do anything, but this was just too  groovy. Isn't he the cutest thing?

OH AND, Because Alan Reminded Pam to tell me to for pete's sake get the blooming box blade photo on the blog already, he's been waiting for about a month!!

It's 6 feet wide. He got it at Tractor Supply. It works really well for everything but the fine sand, where it just wants to sink in deep.

Spring Flowers

The few flowering trees we have so far seemed to have made it though their second winter on Lithos in Hollis America.

The Magnolia was the first to bloom the week of the 21st of April. It filled the yard with a heavenly aroma for several days. These flowers are quite short lived, but magnificent.

 

 

 

 

Then the following week this one bloomed, whos name is no longer legible on the tag, so I can't name for you. If you recognize it please remind me! The flowers are tiny. I believe it produces some sort of little fruit that birds enjoy. We attempted to make that a priority with the first batch of trees (magnolia excepted-that was just because I've always wanted one).

 

 

The Crabapples should have bloomed next, before their leaves were much more than buds. They never did. And here it is May 17th!

 

This next one is the Mountain Ash, another with a fruit that birds like.

 

Dan is working on the landscaping around the shop today--which means he is also working on my carriage trial surface. He is sticking his tongue out me as he drives another load of sand up the hill, can you see that? What a brat. I think he thinks I should be working too instead of snapping photos.

 

Here next is the Potato Chip Tree, thusly called due to the fact that I cannot read it's tag anymore either and because it makes these little seed chip things that look like little green potatoe chips. If you can help me out with this name please do. The japanese bettles are hard on this one in mid summer!

 

 

Also, we may have some heirloom apples. A friend of ours is into apple trees, especially old and exotic varieties. He took a grafting class and gave us three of the products. The picture did not come out well, but you can see a couple of little buds starting to open. unfortunately they are part of the root stock below the graft and had to be plucked off. It will be several more weeks till we will know if the trees will make it. So far there is not much growth happening above the grafts.

Frog Songs

I took these photos during the last week of April when several species of frog were filling the evening air with their eager mating calls. I walked past a small wet area on my way to toss hay to the ponies and with my LED headlamp I was able to walk up and view the frogs in a ritual of frenzied Passion. I think they couldn't see me behind the light so were not frightened off. That or they were too engrossed in the work of reproduction.

It all looks rather tame in the still photos but several strays were fully engaged in the effort to loose the coupling pairs, or so it seemed, as they bombarded the embraced couples and tussled them about, at times successful in separating them and sometimes leaping off to attack the next pair.

A few others simply filled their throat pouches with air and trilled out a long lonesome note, perhaps to call more partners into the raucous amphibian orgy in the little puddle of water at the edge of a wood on the top of a little hill in Maine.

 

Looking for Summer Labor

 

Busted Truck

Dan is still working and it's 10:30 PM. I should be sleeping!

Dan has to get the crain truck back together so it can go in to wagon master for inspection early in the morning. It has lots of work to do this week and week is wastin fast.

 

It needed some transmission work, something called a king pin replaced, and some break work.

 

It Amazes me how much stuff he can do.

Oh, I hear a horse snorting outside the cabin, now's a good time to go corral my gang and put them in the paddock for the night. More rain coming. we sure have needed it! we have so much burning to do. I have made quite a few pine piles with my new chain saw.

We Have a Bush Hog . . .

 . . . and it works. Dan found it at an auction in Tamworth New Hampshire last Sunday. He got 2 actually. One is smaller and more rusted but they were both new as in never assembled never used. The smaller one needs a new seal and is now for sale because Dan really like the way the big one works. I know it sounds frightening when it's shining up the boulders and taking out the clumps of maple saplings that are each as big around at the base as my wrist. It sounded like thunder, because he was too far away from the cabin to hear the tractor engine. I was afraid to go over there till he came and got me to show off what he'd done. I brought my camera:

1. Starting at the top on the west edge of the property (the cabin is on the east edge 600 + feet away) looking northeast. Next I'll walk straight to the big pine and look over the edge.

 

2. We are now looking East. The pasture goes a bit further northwesterly, around in front of the big pine.

 

3. There it is: Dan's newest toy. He may not pick manure, or feed the critters, but thank God he likes playing with my tractor!

 

4. I've walked southeast from the big pine. It is still in the far left of the photo. The tractor hasn't moved. You can see The Poland Springs Hollis bottling plant in the distance, white blotch above and left of the tractor. Just in front of me is a bunch of baby pines that were cut and are waiting to be stacked. I am so amazingly thrilled to walk around over here and see that under that tangle of brush and prickers there is already grass trying to grow!!! It just needs lime and some more seeds. This whole section of the property was clear cut before we bought it. And now it will be horse and cow feed between snowy seasons.

Gypsy Babies, & Friesian Sport Horses

At Hearts & Horses

  

  

 

More on the way:

Ghirardelli Burgers Libby

 

 

Lucy Liu has Cataracts

She has them in both eyes. Dr. Flaherty says they are mild. She needs to wear a fly mask for protection on bright sunny days. She may be a lot more susceptible to eye soreness and other eye issues. I'm bummed. But Annabelle has had them for the 6 or 7 years I've owned her and not had an issue with any eye problems. Hers have not gotten significantly worse over time either. But it's a wait and see sort of thing.

I found a couple of interesting pieces of information through a search:

"Cataracts in Horses
  by Robert N. Oglesby DVM

A cataract is any opacity of the lens or its capsule. There are many small structures and imperfections of the lens that are not cataracts, and harmless. Many types of equine cataracts are nonprogressive and harmless. Equine ophthalmologists are very noncommittal when asked to predict the future of a cataract and even argue among themselves over nomenclature and significance. . ."

The other thing, and I can't find the link again, was that surgeryis becoming more  common. It isn't something I could afford I'm sure but it was interesting.

Annabelle (Chestnut in above photo with Lucy) is 23 this summer (estimated) she may have cushings. She is particularly shaggy this spring. The blood test isn't back yet though. Old Willie lived 5 years past his predicted demise with the help of Pergolide. It's also more than I have to spend for treatments. But the tests to make the diagnosis is free through my work, so I decided to find out.

Hot Spot (aka Rocky):

 

Needs to gain 50 - 75 pounds. None of my horses are getting grain since first of March. (They have as much hay as they can keep up with in front of them continually and they are turned out to find what grazing there is to be had for 4 hours each day at least.) I have to get my winter feed bill paid first before buying grain or beet pulp! I will get seriously close to caught up this month, then we'll see.

I met someone today who may come and pay to ride Annabelle. That sure would help. I really have no business trying to feed 3 horses!!

Anyhoo, my horses get for yearly vaccines: Rabies, tetanus, EEE/ WEE/Flu/ Rhino. They have blood drawn for coggins tests which I also have run free of charge at Our North Grafton MA Lab. Lucy's teeth were the worst of the three by some degree and so she had hers done. The other 2 may posibly be done this fall, after fly season is over. And with the Farm call being split between two of us and even with all the freeby stuff from work, it was $596.00 for which I had to write 3 post dated checks.

The Bell Gun or the Pretty Pink Poison: Succinylcholine / Pentobarbital

The Final Furlong by Seth Wickersham for ESPN the magazine. 

Boots and Saddles posted a link to it and that's how I found it. Thanks Boots and Saddles, it's A Must Read. There are so many deaths on the race tracks. It's important to pay attention. Think about it, talk about it.

I am going to watch the Derby today. I have such mixed emotions about the whole thing!!

Commercial Fishing Net: Trawler

A quick overview:

Netting comes in bales, sort of the way yard goods of fabric come wound around bolts, these many yards of much heavier netting are flaked into big squares.

 

There is a diagram (or pattern) for every net. with measurements and a scaled image of the finished product. The twinesman has to cut the precise pattern by counting out meshes. It can get intricate when a straight line has to be maintained because of the way the knots and squares lay when the twine is stretched out. There is a lot of mathematics involved.

Once the pieces are cut out they have to be stitched together by hand. A shuttle wound with twine or rope is used. Then there is an amount of "salvage" polyester netting that is hand knotted and sewn in to create a very smooth transition line from the twine netting to the wire rope that forms the mouth of the net, allowing a very gracefully tapered funnel that tows evenly, stays open and holds it's shape to guide the fish to the belly of the net.

 

Poly balls are tied on to the head rope of the net to float the top keeping the mouth open. The roller frame hand made from cable and rubber discs called cookies is attached to the bottom rope. It weighs down the bottom edge of the mouth of the net and helps it bounce over the very rough and rocky floor of the oceans in the north east without getting hung down. 

 

This particular net is one that has just been heavily repaired. Note the older faded mesh. It is a net for catching shrimp. In the above photo you can see the "salvage" work of white polyester hand made meshes. Dan and David make beautiful hand sewn hammocks of polyester "salvage" with macrame points on teak or cherry hangers (in their spare time). I tell them they should offer them for sale. Some people might love the idea of having a hand made hammock created for them by a Maine Fisherman / twine specialist. They are a dieing breed for sure. I'll be sure and post the picture of the one he makes us this summer. You will be very impressed.

So that'sa very quick overview. I will post more on this work if anyone is interested.

Calling the Horses In

Everyone needs a fairly consistent and foolproof way of calling the horses in. whether it be for a visit from the farrier, or an early feeding due to an unforeseen need for a sudden schedule change. Over at Vienna farm in Gorham where I learned almost everything I know about horses, there was a sure fire way to call in the ghetto horses, at any time.

The ghetto horses where thusly named because in 1991 they were the few school horses, youngsters, that resided in the large run-in shed and pasture. They were not boxed in at night in the cushy luxurious stalls in the main barn, and had free roam of 7 acres of pasture. So it was very handy to have a way to call them in when needed for whatever reason.

The call was a sign song Horrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-saaaaaaaaaaaas that consisted of two notes an octave apart in range. Much like the traditional call for pigs: "SUUUUUU-EEEEEEEEE" but more drawn out like the whinny of a horse minus the exaggerated treble effect.

Every time the ghetto horses heard that call they knew there was likely something good to eat at the source, and there usuallywas. They heard it at every grain meal and randomly just to receive a carrot and an ear scritch, or the occasional vet exam, or hoof trim.

I adopted this custom when I brought my beloved Vienna farm bred, son of Tex, "Kashmir "home. Since then , All the horses I owned in Standish were trained to that same call. It made vet calls and farrier appointments so much easier.

Well I just noticed that I haven't kept it up here on the hill in Hollis. But this month as I am letting my gang of three out loose to scavenge for greenery in the evenings and well past dark I am thinking it would come in handy.

I tried it out last Thursday and was so surprised that Annabelle after 4 years being away remembered! I called Horrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsaaaaaaaaaaaaaas, and within 60 seconds there she was looking for a goody, Lucy and Spot not too far behind, wondering where she was off to in such a hurry. They got their carrots too.

WHO Declares Swine Flu A(H1N1) International Emergency

Several years ago some scientist worried that the Avian flu would get together with the swine flu and we would be in trouble. Looks like the time is closer at hand. Read more at the World Health Organization Web Site.

 According to WHO we are now at stage 3 on a progression of 6 stages to full Pandemic. This means that the flu has crossed the species barrier. We have not been this close to Pandemic since 1968 the report says.

According to WHO this is number 2 of ten things you should know about pandemic influenza:

"2. Influenza pandemics are recurring events.

An influenza pandemic is a rare but recurrent event. Three pandemics occurred in the previous century: “Spanish influenza” in 1918, “Asian influenza” in 1957, and “Hong Kong influenza” in 1968. The 1918 pandemic killed an estimated 40–50 million people worldwide. That pandemic, which was exceptional, is considered one of the deadliest disease events in human history. Subsequent pandemics were much milder, with an estimated 2 million deaths in 1957 and 1 million deaths in 1968.

A pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus emerges and starts spreading as easily as normal influenza – by coughing and sneezing. Because the virus is new, the human immune system will have no pre-existing immunity. This makes it likely that people who contract pandemic influenza will experience more serious disease than that caused by normal influenza."

April 30 Update: Late last night WHO declared stage 5. The Influenza A (H1N1) as it is now being called is easily crossing internation borders.

There are 5 confirmed cases here in York County. At least one school closing due to one of the aflicted being a school aged child.

The Stump Grinder is getting Closer to Done

Dan Has cut out the steel, and welded and bent and drilled and bolted on the teeth and the gear box that brought on E-bay. He still has to attach the 3-point hitch assembly and the hydrolics. But it won't be long now before he can start grinding hundreds of stumps down flush with, or just lower thanthe surface of the earth.

 

 

 

I Got an Easter Present

Dan got a new box blade for the tractor (I will add picture soon) and I got my own brand new girlie size chain saw:

 

It is much lighter weight than the one with the 18 inch blade that I have been using, it has a 14 inch blade. I feel much more in control of it which means I am able to do more. I ran it for 5 hours Sunday. I cut down trees and processed good burnable wood and made piles of limbs and pine for the burn pile. A couple small trees I cut down have been standing dead for quite some time. They were perfectly ready to burn. I brought some in just before the rain on Monday night. It was very satisfying to have done it all myself! It was so hot we had to open the windows all night, it was 40 degrees F outside, so a fire was not really necessary.

Mountain Horses

Spring is here. The grass is starting to grow. There are more patches of it--but not much fenced in yet. I let my horses out free to browse what they can when I am here. This time of year they do a lot running and goofing off also. And lots of wandering.