Pasture Time!

As long as conditions allow, I put Max out in the pasture for a couple of hours each day after work. He loves it. He usually eats the good stuff for a minute, grabs a big mouthful and trots off to his favorite spot in the far corner of the pasture. Occasionally he is full of himself and takes off cantering. It is highly amusing.

Revised Goals: 2015

Due to some medical conditions, I haven't been able to ride much this year.  So far, it's looking like this is going to be status quo for a while.  Between that, the weather, and life in general, I don't know what I will be able to do with Max (or myself) for the rest of this year. There's enough going on that I even stopped taking my weekly lessons.  Due to all of this, I've decided to revise my goals for the rest of the year.

Goals for Max:
-Try to do groundwork when possible with a focus on yielding to pressure.
-Go for walks, especially in the woods once the mosquitoes stop sucking us dry
-Don't let him get too fat

Goals for Me:
-Try to ride a few times, even if it's just walking in the paddock for 10 minutes.
-Continue to update the blog, but maybe step back to twice a week

 Other Goals:
-Continue making trail obstacles if/when the materials should magically appear.
-Survive the year with humans and animals in once piece.

What? You want me to leave all this for some grain?  Okay!

New Obstacle

It just needs some trimming then I'm done. Yay! I can also slip a pole underneath to make it a teeter totter. 

The Drama Llama

Literally.

So, Ms. Broken Bones is a smart ass. There's a low spot in her stall where rain water and urine have been accumulating. So after I finally manage to sop up all the moisture with pine shavings, I put some fresh ones down in the spot and leave it be.  I go out the next morning to find that she had apparently rolled in the shavings.  This made me die a little inside, seeing her wool covered in filth. I had planned on shearing her after vacation. However, she's a pain to shear and I don't want to stress her out too much with her leg.

The filth

Hungry Pony

Someone found some mulberries.  This is the look I get when I'm taking a picture instead of feeding him morning hay. 

Today I'm trying the blogger app on my phone. We shall see how it works.

Photo Friday: Puerto Rico

 Quick update: Cindy is still doing okay.  She was excited to get her grain tonight, but still holding that leg way up when she first gets up from the ground. I don't know how she broke it. My first thought was Max kicked her, but the location and lack of skin injury makes me think that's not what happened. Part of me wonders if she was kicking at Max or flies and hit the wall awkwardly.  Or she was twisting around to move and it got caught in mud.  This is one of those things that I will never have the answer to.

Pony is pony. what can I say.



Last week the husband and I took a trip to Puerto Rico.  It was awesome.

Rain over San Juan.

A view from El Morro in Old San Juan

Another shot from El Morro

Lots of sea urchins hiding in tidal pools on rocks. D managed to step on one at another beach.

One of several waterfalls at El Yunque in the rainforest.

Crazy Week

So, a lot has been going on over the last week or so.  There's not much of an update on the pony though.

Last week I went on vacation to Puerto Rico. That was awesome.  What was not awesome was the unbelievably horrible Monday, also the day we left.

Best Buds. They do everything together, especially begging for food.

Two hours before we were to leave for the airport, I went out to feed.  And found Cinderella the llama, horribly lame.  Her back foot was completely limp and just hanging there.  I felt it slightly and could feel bone fragments moving around.  Thankfully, there weren't any breaks in the skin.  I called the vet and left him a panicked voice mail and text. He got back to me fairly quickly and told us to go ahead and leave, he would come out and do what he could and get back to me. I made her as comfortable as possible in Max's stall (his has mats and stays drier in rain) and rearranged so everything would be ready for the person watching the critters and the vet. There was some quick discussion on the phone about putting her down, but I could not deal with that right now.  First, Max would just be a mess since he would be alone for a week. Secondly, what to do with the body.  It was supposed to get hot and I can't just leave it there while we were gone. I have plans, but those all involve me or my husband being there to oversee things.  So I told the vet to do what he could to manage pain and make her as comfortable as possible. Which seems to be working for now.

Bandage is holding up well.

So far she seems to be doing okay-ish.  It's a wait and see game. It will all depend on if or how well the bone heals over the next couple of weeks. Thankfully, llamas are not like horses who need use of all 4 legs. so her laying down all the time or simply not using the leg isn't as big of a concern.

Max has been very excited to see me.  So excited that I'm wondering if my caretaker was feeding him treats while I was gone. He's been trying to mug me over the stall wall way more than normal.  I'm also wondering if switching stalls and having Cinderella locked up has stressed him a bit.  It looks like he may have started to rub out his mane again. Last year, he started doing it in February. This year, he hasn't been doing it at all until now. It could also be the new fly spray I put on him before I left, or there are some new, irritating bugs beginning to emerge.

He was so happy to get some grass after a week that he didn't move far from this spot. Note the scraggly looking mane.

Friday, I'll have a continuation of the horrible Monday and some vacation photos.