The feed regimen we had setup for Ellie is not going to work. She’s getting so full on grass, that she just nibbles from her bucket now and then and never finishes one meal before the next meal time comes around. So for now I’m just leaving the bucket out there for her and filling it again when she finally empties it. The fact that she is no longer bolting her food the second I give it to her tells me that she is past feeling that each meal will be her last. She seems to know that the bucket will be there for her whenever she wants it and she can take her dear sweet time to eat it.
Now that she’s feeling a little stronger, I’ve moved the mineral block to one area, feed her in another, and have the trough in a totally separate area. She has to walk up and down hills to get from one to the other. This makes her move around more to get to what she wants – hence more exercise. Now that she’s got a full belly and a little more energy, exercise will be an important part of her recovery.
I’ve also added whole flax seed to her diet. Flax seed gets oily and slippery when soaked, which will not only help keep the digestive system moving, but will also help her skin and coat. I’m also putting healing salve on the girth area sores:
This makes me wonder how badly her harness fit her and how much weight she was made to pull last Fall at the county fair. I’m going to try and track someone down that may recognize her from the fair and see what I can find out.
We picked up some Panalog for her vulva infection yesterday and she’s such a good sport about having it applied! As long as it’s attention and isn’t painful, she’s all for it.
The good news is that she now feels safe enough to lie down and get some much needed rest. Today was the first day we saw her go down and there was no hesitation about it. She sniffed the ground, pawed it twice, then dropped. She didn’t roll, but wiggled around a bit like she was getting comfortable then dropped her head, closed her eyes, and she was out.
What a beautiful sight. :)
2 comments:
I checked in this morning hoping for an update..thanks for posting one. I even have my mom (a horse person) and husband(likes them, doesn't know anything about them) interested in ellie!
What a little sweetie racked out there sleeping. Yesterday was a beautiful day in charleston....looks like you got blessed with the sunshine too.
:)
How does a horse get galls like that??!!! Ugh--wait--I've got it figured out. The same kind of person that would let her get to that state in the first place. Smack me please. :(
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