Goofy Eli

After taking Eli out to graze with Ella we put them back in their paddocks for the night and fed them their Beet Pulp mash. Eli gets really excited and tosses his head around like someone head banging at a concert, haha. Silly guy!

Enjoying the spring grass..

Went to the barn the other day, brought both Eli and Ella out of their paddocks to grave on the grass along the drive way. They did good, Eli got a bit excited to see Ella, but when I brought her over to say Hi she pinned her ears and made him walk away ~ after that he didn't bother.

Was quite enjoyable and relaxing, we are really looking forward to some nice spring weather and Ella should be due soon.

Check out the shadow her belly casts in the picture below:

Update: Ella April 14, 2013

Sunday we were out at the Stable, did our routine chores, brought Eli in for a good brushing and some lunging and turn-out in the arena. After we brought Ella in, brushed and brushed and brushed her, I think she quite enjoyed it. Hoof picked her feet, hung out with her in the barn for a bit, then brought her in the arena for turn-out. I re-braided her tail and will wrap the top tonight or tomorrow when we are back out.

She doesn't seem to look much bigger to me, her muscles near her tail are soft and jiggly and her stomach was gurgling a making sloshing sounds quite a bit - BUT I'm no expert that's for sure.

I just found out one of the four mares foaled over the weekend. If I'm not mistaken there was Ella, two others and a fourth mare that were all bred around the same time. The other two haven't foaled yet, so Ella seems to be on scheduled.

Here are some pictures I took Sunday:

Seven tips for helping your horses weather a brutal winter

Horse Sense & Cents Blog

Farrier Appointment ~ April 7, 2013

They did really well considering there were so many people in the barn and they came in separately.

The forge was broken so unfortunately Eli didn't get his front hooves shod. Probably for the best as the ground was still frozen and muddy. I'm second questing whether he should have them on out at pasture

Few Good Pictures

While we were at the Stable yesterday I got a couple of pictures that don't necessarily 'fit' in with other posts, but I do want to save for later viewing. Here they are:

Bald Eagle we spotting in the tree at the Stable

Playful Horse, resting his head on fence post

Pretty Sunset, picture doesn't do it justice

HUGE Orange Moon, picture doesn't do it justice

Ella's Paddock Move

Moving Ella to the other paddock took a little bit of preparation. We blocked a few area's off, moved a water tub into the paddock and a tire for hay. Hung her 2 hay nets, 1 in the shelter the other off the fence post. We moved the tub containing a salt lick and mineral lick and then hung her oats 'feeder' bucket off the fence. Once all of that was done and the tire was filled with Hay and Jesse had taken Eli into the Arena I put her halter on and brought her to the paddock.

At first she was a bit skiddish and jumpy. Once I un-clipped the lead line from the halter she went around doing a thorough inspection. At one point she was cantering around a bit and when the pasture herd came over to check things out she lifted her head high, put her tail straight up, flared her nostrils and snorted as she trotted towards them. This sent the two geldings into a gallop as they pushed the rest of the herd (3 other mares) back into pasture around the other side of the barn. I didn't see them the rest of the evening and Ella continued to investigate her new surroundings. I walked around with her for a bit, then sat on the fence while she ate some hay.

After some time I went away, into the barn, back to the car, over to see Eli (who was now in Ella's old paddock) etc. I would come back periodically and check on her ~ she'd found some grass in random spots she was nibbling on. Then I fed her and Eli their mash and stuck around for just a little bit longer. The barn owner is going to keep an eye on her as well as the barn hand who lives on the property. We'll head back out tomorrow. In the wild there are always, threats and changes, part of horses being here 'still' after 100's of years is their ability to adapt to changing environments. Soon we'll move Eli in to the exterior part of the paddock so they can, once again, be 'NEIGH'bor's'