This evening's events

Just back from the barn, and ran to the library to return books- thought i'd stop in and jot down some thoughts.

The horses, as usual, came thundering up the hill when they saw me. Ally= food. Food=good.

Each one had their hooves picked out, and Frank got the extra treatment: his eye medicine. we're almost done with it- hoorah! 2 weeks ago he scratched his cornea, resulting in a huge, puffy eye. The vet came out and gave me a bunch of meds with which I am to treat his eye 4 times per day. Of course this means i have to get up at 4 am in the morning, run to the barn, do the eye thing, and then run back home to shower and leave for work. The afternoon i'm busy scooping poop, feeding, hoof cleaning, doing the eye thing 3 extra times, 2 hours apart.

Frank has also had swollen pasterns the past few days and i don't know why. it could be dietary? he's been eating alfalfa in addition to his grass hay (2 lbs alfalfa). I introduced that feed to him when i opened the stalls back up for the horses to eat from during the winter.

It also has been quite rainy, and so i think they are standing under cover much more, and not moving around- which could be the reason for the swelling. it is much worse in the morning than it is in the evening, and it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all.

Faith is all about her hooves being cleaned. She is quite quick when it comes to marking and shaping behaviors..probably from our past clicker sessions. She's also the dirtiest horse in the barn because she's taken to rolling in the mud right outside of the gate. YUM!

Dobie is learning all about the catching game. I have yet to really inspire him...right now he just checks out. first he won't want to be caught, then he'll just resign and do it. you can literally see the shift in his body go from fear to resignation.

Tomorrow I am going to Yakima to pick up Zanaella. I am so excited!!! I have always wanted to help a slaughter bound horse, and i saw my chance in this mare. Granted, it took me seeing her first adoption fall through, but at that moment I knew i could not turn my back. I'm planning on bringing her through Level 1 with me and hopefully beyond. She is so special, and I can't really point to why. I see horses on that board all the time, and though I want to help them all, Zanaella stuck out to me like a shining star- calling for me to help her. That time, I listened, and repsonded.

I hope to have an update on her, pictues included, by Monday. So this is it until then...have a great weekend and as Pat says, "May the horse be with you!"

-Ally