Lilo – 09/19/09

I got nothing.  I’m only doing an update because it’s been a month, not because this mare has gained any weight.  Ugh.

She’s still very “wired”.  Even after our evening bonding session a couple of weeks ago, she’s very high-strung.  She’s friendly towards me, but sometimes the simplest things get her going, head high in the air, trotting around the pasture like a grand prix dressage horse.  It’s times like those when Sadie and Stride simply stand in the middle of her wild circles, watching her go, and probably wondering what the deal is.

She’s still being fed three times a day:  2qts rice bran pellets, 2qts rolled oats, 2qts hay pellets, corn oil, and plain yogurt.  In the morning I also give her Weight Builder and Source – all soaked and mixed up into a really lovely mash that she dives into with gusto. 

Wait, yogurt?  No, I haven’t lost my mind.  Yet.  Doc suggested it for another horse, as a way to stabilize the bacteria in her digestive tract and hopefully get more nutrients into her body instead of letting them pass – even though that does keep the chickens happy.  So I’m trying it on Lilo as well and hopefully… maybe… she’ll start putting on weight. 

Oh, and on another note, I’ve been calling her Flo.  It just slipped out one day and now I can’t seem to call her Lilo.  I guess all I see is a tall, leggy red head who seems to say “Kiss my grits!” when she’s upset.

Conformational train wreck or not, this mare looks prettier to me every day. :)

Lilo – 09/08/09

I haven’t done any Lilo updates because there just hasn’t been anything to report.  This mare has made absolutely NO progress.   The only thing I can say, is that after weeks of Koppertox, her thrush is finally gone.  She’s been wormed twice, two weeks apart, with Anthelcide and then Ivermectin.  She’s getting 2qts of rice bran, 2qts of hay pellets, and 2 qts of rolled oats three times a day.  She has plenty of pasture and I’ve also been throwing three square bales out to the three of them every day.

So, I think the Lilo picture updates will come once a month, rather than every two weeks as I did the others.  However, I did want to share a breakthrough that happened tonight.  Remember in my first Lilo post how I said she was shy and slow to trust?  She’s been that way every day – I reach to pet her and she pulls away.  I can catch her if I have feed, but other than that, she really has had no use for me… up until tonight.

When I took their buckets to them tonight I reached to scratch her head, as usual.  And par for the course, she pulled away from me, but I managed a quick rub once she had her head back in her bucket.  I left them to eat and came back about an hour later to collect up the buckets.  Lilo was standing by herself (unheard of) by the gate, and Stride and Sadie were off in the pasture grazing.  I walked up to Lilo and instead of pulling away, she lowered her head and let me scratch her ears and rub her face.  I stopped petting her for a minute to chase a horsefly away from my head and she stepped closer and lowered her head even more until I scratched behind her ears again.

So I rubbed and petted this poor mare until the sun went down.  As I walked away she just stood at the gate, staring after me.  I looked out the kitchen window later and saw her grazing quietly between Stride and Sadie.  I’m hoping with the mental adjustment her body will also finally adjust to the new environment and the new human and maybe she’ll finally start putting on some weight!