Traveler – 07/12/10

I realized the other day that I never did a final post for Summer or Traveler.  I just left them hanging, looking like fat little wooly mammoths.  You can find Summer’s most recent picture before she was adopted here.

As for Traveler… he’s quite the handsome pony these days!

He’s still a big sweetheart who likes to be held and smooched.  Now that he’s two years old, there won’t be much more growing going on.  He’s only about 11h (I’m guessing because I haven’t taken a stick to him yet) and is going to make some little human very happy one day!

Traveler – 03/08/10

Fat as a tick.  You can still see ribs and there’s no way in hell he’s wormy.  I’ve hit him and Summer with every wormer medicine under the sun, and they’ve been on Strongid C for a couple of months.  He just wants to have a big fat beer belly.

He’s on 2qts of Strategy twice a day.

Doc says he still has his mild heart murmur, so we assume that it is something that he will always have.  On a scale from 1 to 6, his is only a 2. 

I’m convinced he’s not going to grow much and will always be pony sized.  But what a cute little pony he’ll be!

Traveler – 12/17/09

Traveler isn’t recovering nearly as quickly as Summer, but she doesn’t have the heart murmur, wasn’t castrated, and isn’t now sick with a cold.  The poor guy has goopy eyes and a runny nose, but no temp yet.  I’ve got him on SMZ for his sniffles and it seems to be helping, but he’s only been on it for two days now.

He’s finally starting to fill in a little and looks better than he did, but still not great.

The first time I put a blanket on him, he just stood there looking at me as I did up the buckles.  Like he’d worn a blanket all his life and couldn’t figure out why I was just now getting around to it.  When I take it off in the mornings he sometimes tries to move away as I’m undoing the buckles as if to say “Hey!  It’s still cold out, what are you doing???”  But he always stands still when I put the blanket back on in the evenings.  Hmmm… smart little bugger!

He’s still a bit crotchety and pins his ears back at me when I feed, but he hasn’t tried to kick me again since that first week.  We now play a little chase game at feeding time because he refuses to just put his head in his halter and make life easy on me.  Oh no.  I have to go into the pasture and walk a few circles after him until he finally gives in and lets me get his halter on.  This is a new development and I think it’s because he knows that if he’s not tied up, he can eat faster than Sky and go steal his food.  Little turd!

Traveler – 11/27/09

As with Summer, Traveler’s previous owners said that they had owned him for two years.  According to Doc, his teeth put him at barely over a year.  He still has a few baby teeth left in his mouth, and the top two middle adult teeth are just starting to come in.  Yet, they had tried to ride him anyway. 

The unlimited ignorance of some people truly amaze me.

Doc also found that Traveler has a heart murmur.  On a scale from 1 to 6, 6 being the worst, his is between 2 and 3.  Hopefully, like Ellie, the murmur is because of him being so underweight and will go away once he’s healthy.  Unfortunately, it will affect his weight gain and it will take longer for him to get back up to a healthy weight.

Traveler was also castrated last week and did really well.  He recovered quickly and has had no infection and very little swelling.  He hasn’t gained much weight, but I’m hopeful that he’ll start gaining soon. I gave him a 350lb dose of Anthelcide last week and will start him on Strongid C next week with Summer. 

Traveler – 11/08/09

Traveler is a two year old stud colt.  We have no idea what his breeding is, but he’s probably a Quarterhorse or QH cross.  He’s also starved and full of worms, but is otherwise a very sweet boy.

He’s in the quarantine paddock with the other gelding wannabes for now, and so far he’s getting along great with Timmy. 

I’m starting him out on 1qt beet pulp and 1/2 qt senior.  He got a 300lb dose of Ivermectin when he got here and I’ll follow up with another dose in a week.  I will probably also put him and the other three that came with him on Strongid C for 8 weeks, just to make sure we get everything.

His halter was way too tight and he has the same sores that Summer has, just not quite as bad as hers.  His halter had plenty of room to adjust, so that’s the first thing we did once he was on the trailer.

Isn’t that the cutest little marking you’ve ever seen??