Dream Valley Ranch

Sweet pasture time

Finally!!! Princess Daisy Cup gets a turn!

Patience...

Sweet Daisy is getting ready for her turn in the pasture. She and Lily
don't get along so she has to wait her turn. But she'll have her BFF
with her (Buttercup) so she doesn't mind waiting a wee bit.

Mrrrmmmhmmmhmmmhmmm

It's that yummy time of year! Mmmmm...graaaaaasssss. Here's Lily Bear
Guppie Lips enjoying a short grazing session in the back pasture.
Happy pony!

Morning hike pictures

A lovely hike this morning up a nearby little mountain with The Guppie Tiki Tavis...so peaceful and beautiful to climb up high and sit and enjoy the views.

Heading out...

 

The view to the East on the way up:

 

Taking a break in the shade:

 

Oooooh...do you have a snack for us? We're waaaaiting...

 

 

Mmmm...we KNEW you had something yummy! (yes-my monsters LOVE carrots)

 

And some views from the top:

 

 

 

Now we're home and everyone's napping while I rest my feet...then it's off to do ranch chores. Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend.

Don't forget to brush your teeth and rinse every day!

We are trying to instill good hygiene habits in our baby mustang...here she is rinsing her little mouth out after brushing her teeth ;) Silly baby...I love her curiosity and playful personality :) (I'm having problems with my blog so here's the direct link) www.youtube.com/v/ILmVQDJ_mQ0

Happy 2nd Monthday, Little Snapdragon!

Today our little girl turned 2 months old...happy second monthday little monster :) We love you! (yes-that little raccoon eyed sweetie is our little girl...she is starting to shed her foal coat)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_l8GxDnzKk

>

Princess DaisyCup

Princess Daisy Cup like hanging out together :)

And doesn't The Princess look quite sleek this summer? She's such a beautiful, athletic girl...

 

Salad bar anyone?

yummy!

The problem with 6 a.m. hikes

is that by noon the entire crew looks at me like they've had The Most Boring Day EVER.

Sigh.

Sitting out some t-storms to see if I can squeeze some hikes in soon to try to make up for the awful lives they lead ;)

Building Trust

Woops...this post/picture were supposed to be included this morning, but somehow it got lost on my iphone!

I'll try to recreate what I wrote earlier.

I've been educating myself as much as possible on all of the various flavors of horse training. My main focus has been on Natural Horsemanship, specifically the newer work from the Parellis. However, I'm a big believer in clicker training for my dogs and know it works for horses as well.

A quick search on youtube.com will yield beautiful videos showing how successful clicker training can be especially when working with wild or abused horses. One woman's videos in particular struck me: she works with an untouched yearling black paint named Bobbie D-her videos are so inspiring and they opened my eyes to how clicker training can help with my little wild mustang pair.

While I do love the language that Natural Horsemanship allows us to share with horses, I think the positive association created by using treats and clicker training is invaluable.

Chloe is so fearful right now that she can only stand to have contact for so long before she suddenly feels the need to leave/escape. I've been working on extending that length of contact via treats and scritching. To an itchy mustang, scritching is a heavenly reward for pushing your comfort zone beyond the norm :)

I know a lot of people are firmly against the idea of using treats when training horses. I think we all need to open our minds and realize that each horse is different and sometimes treats are invaluable. In this case, treats help Chloe push past her fears and allows her to stay closer longer.

Here is Chloe waiting excitedly for me to hand over some grain...she actually prefers to take it from my hand rather than from the bucket. I think that's because she longs for a relationship, longs to build trust, but doesn't quite know how to overcome her wild mustang instincts.

The next two pictures below show how hilarious she is with her floopy lips...she stands there and reaches forward, lips flapping wildly, waiting for me to let her at those yummy bits o'grain :D

Sigh...I love this girl and am so touched by her courage and ability to forgive and look ahead!

I'll post updates from time to time on the progress we make using both Natural Horsemanship and clicker training. Wish us luck!

Flapflapflap

Hahaha!

Look at those ridiculous floopy lips!

Aaaaah

Now THIS is The Life.

Bear Guppie enjoys a nap in The Guppie Pool as it fills up. I think
this is his favorite day each year: Pool Opening Day :) as soon as I
started filling it up he and his sister leapt in and laid down, side
by side. Jesse The Flea quickly ran off to chase a fly so Bear
stretched out for a relaxing nap :)

Ummm...excuse me?

Yes indeed...I drive around with this sign on Vanzilla :) I figured
I'd confuse all of those obnoxious tailgaters into slowing down when
I'm Driving Miss Guppie down the canyon.

Hopefully it makes people laugh. I've noticed a lot more polite
passing and happy waving since I put up the magnet :D

Can you imagine the confusion if you think I'm driving around with car
sick fish Guppies? Hehehe.

P.S. Do not worry, Mrs Skoog...I will post some pony pictures and
updates soon!!

Vanzilla to the rescue!

Today I tried out my latest idea on how to save my poor feetsies from
the constant throbbing pain they are in...and it was a success!!!!

I wish we could afford to get a Kubota RTV900 to haul our manure and
double as a snow plow and a million other helpful things but this'll do.

It's not just the ranch chores that are doing in my feet-it's the
hours of hiking we have to do in order to keep the Gups and other
pups content so that I *can* do my ranch chores :D

well...and bringing in two unexpected horses didn't help matters this
month...retrofitting the barn and creating a paddock and putting up
the round pen for the other girls certainly took a toll.

But as long as I keep finding small ways to give my feet a break it'll
all work out. The word on the street is tgat we might get a hand from
The Ninja Pony Parents and WhipperSnapperDragon's Uncle Jeff next
weekend...woohoo! There will be plennnty of pony poo to go around :D

Muckity Muck Muck

Today I will be mucking and dumping muck alllll daaaay looong...I know once I start I'll enjoy the process and results, but I'm having trouble getting started. First things first: getting all of the pups out on hikes. That'll take a few hours and then I'll be ready to start my muckity muck day.

These pictures will have to suffice for the day...they were taken on a hike with the Gups to Monkey's Meadow and beyond a few days ago. I may have posted one or two before but I'm too tired to look :)

Heading out the back trail with my side-by-side Gupalups

The view from Monkey's Meadow...looking a bit ominous...

 

Bear takes in the view with his Mom...he's been much more snuggly ever since we got his seizure meds adjusted:

 

Bear's wondering how long we're gonna sit here...but he's trying to be subtle about his question:

 

Ummm, no...REALLY...how long are we gonna stay here Mom?

That's more like it...into the woods to explore a bit more. The little monsters pose for Mom: 

  

And then home we went...

 

Hello from Monkey's Meadow

Hippity Hop...

The Bunny's turn was next but, as you can see, he opted for a nap
instead...maybe a little later, eh Bunny? Such a cute sleepy boy.

Next up-The Guppie Tiki Tavis

Next on the roster were The Guppie Tiki Tavis...they were perfect! I
don't like taking this group by myself usually because if we see a
deer or coyote I'm fully aware that all three of their brains will
escape their skulls and chaos will ensue. Since I always keep my dogs
leashed it's really more a matter of how tweaked my arms and back and
knees will get if we do run into the unexpected. As you can imagine, I
keep my eyes peeled for anything that might possibly trigger a Guppie
Tiki Tavi melt down :)

Today they were perfect little monsters.

Lead Woodle?

I took the pups on some late morning walks so that afterwards I could
muck stalls while they napped. The first group were The Count Guppies.
Normally I would only ever take The Monkey with The Gups- (lovingly
known as The Muppies)-she was so calm and stable that I knew I'd be
able to handle almost any unexpected situation that might surprise us.
Now we are trying some new combinations to see if the pack can have
even more adventures together and I decided to begin the day with The
Count Guppies.

One big problem with Count Basie (aka The Woodle) is that he's an 11.5
year old 80+lb dog so his pace is a looot slower than most of the rest
of the crew. He clearly CAN go faster, he just doesn't see what the
big hurry is ;)

Ever since I started bringing yummy treats along he seems to think
there might be something, after all, to keeping up with the rest of
us. Smart boy!

Today's treats must have really inspired him because for the first
time that I can remember he trotted past The Gups and became The Lead
Woodle! It only lasted a few hundred yards but I was proud of my silly
boy :) here he is pointing out a squirrel to his little Guppies :)

Leave it to me

Leave it to me to take a perfectly level headed, completely wild mustang and turn her into a whinnying, nickering, demanding, co-dependent binary fool.

Sweet Chloe is one of the itchiest creatures on earth. I feel terrible for her since I, too, am always itchy and know how frustrating that can be. But the opportunity that her itchiness presents is not lost on me.

When she demands my attention, I scritch and scritch and then scritch some more! As a result, this wild critter whinnies and screams for me at all hours of the day...when she sees me hiking the pups up the hill into the woods she yells out in protest. When I head out to feed their meals four times a day, she whinnies and nickers incessantly, even walking away from her yummy grain and piles of alfalfa/grass hay to demand some scritches. She is possessed! While this is helping me to gain her trust it also presents a dilemma.

Little Miss I Am The Center of The Universe, aka Snapdragon, does not like sharing the president of her fan club: no sirrrreeeee-she does not like it one darned bit! She shoulder butts her Mama, rears at her, and does everything she can to be The One Receiving All of The Attention.

And Mama is no shrinking violet! She nudges and pushed the baby mustang out of her way so that SHE can be The Receiver of All of The Attention.

And we won't even discuss to what lengths I must go to keep The Guppies content while I (gasp) pay attention to non-Guppies!

Sigh...

Once in a while, however, we all reach a moment of peaceful co- existence...I scritch Chloe, who scritches her baby, who takes turns scritching me and her mom. The perfect grooming circle :) Well-perfect except for the two annoyed Guppies glaring at me who have been bribed into compliance with frozen kongs stuffed with organic ground turkey, baby food, and cream cheese-umm...rough life Gups! :D

Some days it sure is complicated being a Sue Bee Doo! But I love every minute of time with my ridiculously high maintenance critters :)

Gimme the damned treat!

Happy boy

Go Bunny Go!

Our little Bunny (aka Freddy or Fredzilla the Gorilla) has been on
fiiiire since I increased his prednisone to help with his spinal
problems (sponsylosis and lumbosacral stenosis). We tried every NSAID
imaginable as well as tramadol, but nothing touched his pain and he
would moan at night or on cold/humid days.

Finally, two years ago, I suggested that we try the dreaded pred...it
was our last resort. Every vet I spoke with said it wasn't the right
drug for this problem but finally we gave it a go. And
oh.my.bunny.hoppiness!! I have never seen an animal so happy as a
hippity hoppity Bunny hopping through the woods :)

I was trying wean him off the pred this summer to see how he'd do and
I was shocked at how tired and weak he seemed. Finally, I bumped him
back up to his normal dose and, woukdn't you know it, The Bunbuns got
his hop back :)

Yesterday we walked down our 1/4 mile long driveway, climbed a steep
trail to the rocky point, and then he ran and hopped back up hill and
down the ravine, full of joy and goofyness. There is NO way he could
have even walked part way down our driveway without his pred.

So, he now has a new nickname: (hey! I heard that groan, KB!)

Frednisone!!

:D

A few pictures

Just a couple of cute pictures to share.

Baby wild mustang...

Silly sweet Bunny...

 

And I almost forgot...this picture cracks me up because it looks like our barn is in Rocky Mountain National Park...this is the view from our little ridge trail...one with the mountain showing clearly, one with the barn showing clearly...

 

Hey!

Look! No halter :)

I am Snapdragon

Hear me ROAR!

Yo!

I'm a hip mustang!

RTT Update

I wanted to let everyone know that sweet RTT is doing much better this morning-thank you all so much for your good thoughts and kind words. We are asking her to rest for one more day even though she is doing her best to convince us that we should throw a few chipmunks for her. She's such a happy, resilient, beautiful girl.

This picture was taken at Monkey's Meadow on Friday-RTT turned 10 years old on June 5th and we took her on a hike with the Count Guppies.

She was so hyper walking behind me that we tried her out as the Lead Trail Dog, Monkey's coveted position, to see how she would do. She is usually like a flea on crack when we go on group walks so we were ready for chaos. I think she knew this was her big chance and she stepped up and trotted forward, steady and staying on the trail, leading the confused Guppies the entire hike.

It was bittersweet...I am happy that RTT will get a chance to have more adventures with us by calming down enough so that we can all have a peaceful hike, but it's hard to not see my little Muppies trotting ahead of me. I miss my little Monkey so much. But I know she would be proud that RTT squeezed her brain back into her skull and is keeping her Guppies safe.

This is CB staring off towards the Divide...I can't help but wonder if he is thinking about his BFF...

Scary night

Noon update: RTT is still wobbly, but mentally she is doing better. Every time we get up she stands (tho wavering from side to side), stretches, and looks at us with a smile. I know what she is thinking: "c'mon! Let's go play Throw The Chipmunk! What? Oh-this? Why, it's just a flesh wound! I'm fine! Let's go!" ________________________

Please keep our sweet girl, Rikki Tiki Tavi, in your thoughts.

We noticed her stumbling and staggering this evening and rushed her to the emergency clinic. A full work up yielded no insights other than possibly a sudden onset of Degenerative Myelopathy.

Having lived with DM affecting our boy Willy Mammoth this just didn't sit right.

I drove RTT home and I had ticks on the brain. I had heard of Tick Paralysis (TP) a few years ago because of a neighbor's dog and it kept coming back into my thought process. After I got the ponies tucked in we sat down and looked all over RTT's body for ticks.

Suddenly-there they were: two ticks-1 engorged 1 tiny (probably male/female I later learned). By now RTT''s front was fully affected and she looked completely drunk. After a long talk with a great vet at the local ER clinic we are pretty certain this is TP. Removal of the ticks should yield a rapid improvement within 12-24 hours...rapid? Holy cow...that's a long time to watch and wait and worry :(

The big concern is that we may not have found all of the ticks-if we missed any or if she is still reacting to the tick saliva she could go into respiratory failure and death within hours.

I can't describe the stomachache I get when I realize that we almost went to bed thinking she had a chronic disease...she likely would have died by the morning :(

I am sleeping on the floor next to her so that I can hear her if she needs help. I'm a bit in shock still...yesterday she turned 10 and we went on a wonderful hour long hike and she was fine.

Please keep our sweet little girl in your thoughts tonight.

And thanks to everyone for the kind and thoughtful emails and comments aboutour little Monkey. We are struggling but we truly appreciate all of the support.

Sigh.

In the blink of an eye

We unexpectedly lost our sweet, beautiful, intelligent, and perfect little Monkey last night to hemangiosarcoma.

The leader of the pack, affectionately dubbed Mama Guppie because of her patience with her Guppies...she was the Grand Explorer. She was Count Basie's bestest buddy and the most well behaved -yet punk muffiny-girl ever.

She lived for finding new ways to convince you to share your burrito-sometimes her eyes would pop out in excitement as she whined, sat, and re-sat in case you missed it the first time.

She did her best to lead visiting aunts and uncles down long and winding trails, assuring them that it was, indeed, the way home though she knew very well that it wasn't.

And she was as madly in love with mr. smrp as he was with her. They were two peas in a pod...if we came to a fork in the trail he would let her choose the route knowing she would always choose the one that led away from home. I don't think my heart could overflow with love more than when I'd see them head out the door together to go on their own little adventures.

We feel as though we've been blindsided...our hearts have been torn apart and we sit here lost and empty. Life seems so incomplete without our benevolent pack leader. We didn't even get a warning...no chance to appreciate each moment with the knowledge that it was near the end.

We realize that she was lucky to have had 12 amazing years with no major illness and no surgeries...no prolonged arthritic degenerative issues or weakness to keep her home while we hiked the other dogs-that would have crushed her little soul. Until these last two weeks, which we all attributed to pain from a tweaked back, she was healthy and could hike for miles with ease.

Her favorite thing in the world was to be out in the woods exploring the beauty around us. I am grateful to mr. smrp and KB for unknowingly inspiring me to spend more time in the woods with my little Monkey and her Guppies.

I spoke with an animal communicator a few months ago. At the end she started laughing and said "I'm sorry to interrupt you but The Monkey just yelled out 'I LOVE LIVING HERE!!!' Can you tell me why?" I laughed, too, and replied "since we only have a small yard we have to go on hikes every day...she has hiked more during the past year than she has anywhere else we've lived."

It is true: she loved living here. And that makes me so happy.

While I desperately wish we could have even just one more day to show her how much we adored her, I will forever be grateful for that Valentine's night, 12 years ago, when a kind couple found a six month old baby monkey abandoned in a field and brought her to the vet clinic where I worked. I brought her home "just for the night."

We love you forever and ever my sweet little Monkey....we miss you so much it is unbearable at times.

I will be taking a break from blogging...when we lose one of our family members I disappear for a bit so that I can grieve and seek comfort with our other critters.

Hug your family as much as you can because life comes to a screeching and heart wrenching stop in the blink of an eye.

Mrrrrmhhhmmmmhmmhmmhmmmm

That's the noise little Chloe makes when I scritch her neck :)

Catching up...

Hello everyone,

Just a written update today because our satellite internet connection has been so slow this past week with all of the cloud cover. It's almost impossible to do much online lately so no pics this time around.

Happy PonyPaloozaVersary to us!
Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of the arrival of the first Flowers to our PonyPaloozaWorld...it's been an incredible year and hopefully soon I'll be able to write a post that does justice to how much I have loved my first year of being a Flower Gardener and how much I adore my Flowers :)

Epileptic Guppies?
Yesterday was also a very worrisome day: Jesse Guppie had some sort of weird panicked anxiety attack episode resulting in crazy involuntary kicking out of her hind legs, shaking her ears violently, running around scared, attacking her paws, and other nervous/anxious behavior. We rushed her down to the vet clinic and had a complete work up. Poor thing was exhausted after the drive down the mountain-she was fighting off nervousness, rectal valium tiredness, and car sickness all at once :( There's nothing medical behind it other than a little bit of red/soreness in between her toes that probably contributed to the kicking, but the manic involuntary nature of it suggests a neurological/CNS/brain chemistry component brought on by her maxed out stress level. The conclusion is that she likely is on her way to becoming an epileptic Guppie :( The stress and fear is due to her absolute hatred and fear of flies combined with her fear of thunderstorms. We had her, Bear, and Monk in the playpen with fresh huge bison bones to gnaw on, all within view of us while we moved hay for a few hours. Poor J Guppie...the hope is that we can clear up her interdigital sores with meds and manage her life really tightly to avoid getting into a downward spiral with her fear/nervousness in certain situations. We are discussing behavior modification as well as anti-anxiety meds. Sigh. At least we are leaps and bounds ahead of the game because of the knowledge we've gained through Bear's fears and epilepsy.

In Happier News:
One of the most incredible positive developments in our world revolves around little sweet scared Chloe. This beautiful girl, who arrived so defensive and scared of being handled that we nicknamed her Darth Vader, gave me an incredible gift over the weekend. Up until now she has moved away whenever we enter her stall. When my trainer would catch her she would visibly tremble in fear each time we touched her. At the beginning, she would pin her ears, turn with fully opened mouth threatening to bite, and would try to strike with her front feet. I thought it would be months or longer before I'd be able to touch her on my own. Most of our friends know that I am in no hurry...I have been handling the baby dozens of times each day to make sure she remains friendly and socialized. I figured my time with Chloe would eventually come.

On Saturday she did something incredible: she watched me very carefully as I scritched and scratched her baby filly and eventually she made a decision. She took one very tentative step towards me, looking away the entire time, then another, and suddenly she was at my side leaning into me, very obviously asking for me to scratch her, too! There was no trembling, there were no pinned ears, at one point I thought she was going to collapse because the scratching felt so good :D

I've spent hours this weekend going in and giving her scritches all over-even her ears and poll!

The significance of this gesture from a horse who has been wild pretty much her entire life, other than neglect, abuse, and intense handling with squeeze chutes and twitches, is impossible to put into words. She gave a me a gift that I will forever treasure. Mrrmmmhhmmmhhhmmm...thank you for your trust my beautiful little mustang!

Saying Goodbye...
And last...on a very sad note-our dear friends KB and her husband let their sweet handsome yellow lab boy, S, go over the weekend. Though they know in their hearts that they gave him freedom from the pain the cancer had finally brought to his body, the heartbreak is overwhelming. Please send them and their two other beautiful labs some healing thoughts-I'm sure they would appreciate it. I think sweet S is running with joy, free of pain and arthritis, sniffing noses and trading stories with our other departed beloved friends: The MooMan, Miss Sophie, The Yeti Monster, Elvis, The Mammoth, Sirbeedoo, Nicky, and so many others who have left us. KB reminded me to hug each of my critters and appreciate every moment we have with them. I certainly will...they can leave us in the blink of an eye and though our hearts break, I can't imagine my life or my heart without animals to love and to hug.

xoxoxo,

All of us at DVR

Oh. My. GOODNESS!!!!

Ummmm...I think I may have died and gone to hermity heaven!!! The
owner of our local Coop stopped by last week to meet The Baby...after
an appropriate session of ooohing and aaahing over little Snapmuffin I
mentioned to her how much I loved their vegan cinnamon rolls and If
Only they would make them more often.

One idea led to another and here is the result: a dozen perfect,
sinful, scrumptious vegan cinnamon rolls to put in my freezer so that
I can indulge whenever the urge for sugar insanity strikes me!!!

But there are only 11 you say? Oh-you MUST have miscounted ;)

YUM!!!!!

Nighty night everyone!

Another busy day of building, mucking, puppy walks, and more building.
I am almost as pooped as the baby mustang, but noooot quite! It takes
a lot of energy to nibble everything in sight ;)

Traveling Guppies

And now the Gups are all set to go to town with me to run errands :)

Mine!

Jessica Guppie licks her bison femur-she's claiming it just in case I
had any thought of stealing it from her :D she has her "worried" ears
on in this picture. Silly Guppie-not to worry-I promise I won't steal
it from you :D

Bribery

The Guppies are more than willing to hang out next to the barn in vanzilla, in their comfy crates, while I muck out stalls. I think that massive bison femur is a good distraction :) this is Bear Guppie-doesn't he look so alert? I'm so happy he has adjusted to his meds finally! Knock on wood: we are almost 3 months since his last seizure!!! Go Beah!!!!

Well?

If you're gonna make us stay inside so that the bratty new Flowers can
play, shouldn't we at least get some food??? C'mon, Mom! We're starving!

Hello World!

Do you all miss me? I am Snapdragon, Hear me ROAR!

May I help you?

Miss Chloe is wondering why I am taking a picture of her sleeping
little sprout.

Isn't she looking just lovely now that her winter coat is finished
shedding out and her colors are showing? She is really coming around
in terms of her self defense/aggressiveness...we are hoping that by
next weekend we can at least remove that lead rope.

These two new little sweethearts have created a funny series of events
around here-my preference for hermitude doesn't stand a chance against
all of the friends, admirers, workers, and vet/trainer visits :) and
we appreciate every single visit!

As one of my good friends recently pointed out: I sure am social for
being such a happy hermit :D

Oh dear! Silly baby!

So...I wake up every 3-4 hours throughout the night to check on the
little dragonfly to make sure everything is okay. Sometimes she is
curled up asleep in the straw next to her mama. Other times she is
pestering her mama in various ways: running full speed in a circle
around her, chewing on her ear, nibbling her tail, nursing while mom
is asleep on the ground. I usually just laugh and then marvel at
Chloe's endless patience.

Tonight was an interesting dilemma for mom and baby: I tuned into
Mustang TV to find the baby straddled across her sleeping mom with a
look that I swear said "Uh oh! I hope nobody sees this!" on her face.

I have no idea how she got herself into this predicament: she had her
hind legs standing up against Chloe's belly, her tummy over Chloe's
back/ribs, and her front legs over on the other side along her mom's
back.

She must have reared up while standing at her mom's belly?

Chloe, being The Most Patient Mom on The Planet, just kept still,
nosing and sniffing her little wild firefly gently from time to time.

I admit it was a bit nerve wracking to watch Snapdragon stand there,
looking tired and bewildered, knowing I could not help because of
Chloe's fear issues...I did my best to imagine an easy resolution but
after a few minutes I started to worry a little that Chloe might stand
up and take her baby for a piggy back ride!

Luckily Snapdragon finally gave a few scrambed attempts to get over to
the other side, finally succeeding. She then went on to investigate
every inch of the stall, nibbling as she went :)

Finally, after a few minutes she passed out next to her mom.

Whew! Another late night on MustangTV!! :D

Flowery Bliss

I cannot think of a more wonderful gift for my heart at this moment-
seeing my sweet Chloe sleeping so soundly, snuggled up next to her
baby Snapdragon...it is simply perfect. Thank goodness for sweet
flowers and baby monitors :)

Well of course!

Well of COURSE the itty bitty guppie can pass out at the vet clinic...SHE didn't have her peeper holder (aka sheath) cleaned out by three technicians and a vet!

Poor little infected Bunny...based on the look on his face I am quite certain that the treatment is much worse than just living with an itchy peeper?

It's been a long few days with two rushed visits to the vet: first for a very painful Monkey, then for an infected Bunny.

We are so happy to be back in Hermitville!!

Exhausting but good day

Thanks to all for the good thoughts and concern over our little
spotted mustang!

The rebandaging went well-thank goodness for sedation :)

Her pelvis is, indeed, bad...we won't have a real answer for months so
we will keep her stall fluffy and comfy and will start her on
supplements and Legend injections soon. She loves taking care of her
little baby Dragonfly and that's what we will do for her-let her be
the best mom she can.

I am so incredibly proud of my little wild mustang...she trusted
Lauren and Charlotte in ways that made my love overflow more than
ever. And I couldn't have wished for two kinder, more loving
handlers...Chloe is starting to trust Lauren-no pinned ears or Darth
Vader attacks today. And Char is an angel: she always has faith in my
horses and always takes as much time as is needed and then some.

This beautiful horse has a soul that won't quit. The ability animals
have to forgive, move forward, and trust again is so humbling.

Thank you all so much for caring about my little spotted pony :)

Sweet Chloe update

Today is a big day for Miss Chloe-my vet (Charlotte) and friend/
trainer (Lauren-in the picture below) will be attempting to change the
fetlock splint-hopefully without the need for sedation.

I found out that Chloe fell very hard after she was rescued. All of
the mustangs had to be "processed" by going through a squeeze chute-it
was the only way they could safely and efficiently vaccinate and
deworm 200+ untrained, wild horses.

Unfortunately, Chloe is terrified of squeeze chutes and went pretty
crazy, fell down hard, got her foot/hoof stuck, and when the guys got
her up she twisted her fetlock to the point of having severe nerve
damage.

We had guessed most of that-what we did not know was that she had a
serious pelvic injury with two fractures.

No one else had ever noticed her limping or with a dropped hip prior
to CSU. We simply don't know if it happened at the same time as her
fetlock injury, earlier this year at the 3 Strikes Ranch, or maybe
when she was captured off the Sandwash Basin as a wild mustang in June
of '05 (she was 2 years old then).

I read her ultrasound report and realized that she has subluxation of
her hip along with a fracture to the tuber coxae and acetabulum. I've
read that we are looking at a 1-6 month time frame of strict stall
rest before we can determine if she can heal. She will obviously never
need to be anything other than a happy horse-no prerequisites of being
a saddle or "usable" horse. But-what she does need to be is comfortable.

As you can see from the picture it looks as though somebody sat on our
poor sweet girl and squashed her pelvis :(

My vet will give me her thoughts today...I will post an update tonight!

Wild Baby Mustang On The Loose!

There is something so magical and inspiring about a baby animal...whether it be a puppy, kitten, human baby, or filly-it doesn't seem to matter. They bring out the joy and innocence in us and make our hearts and souls smile.

In little Snapdragon's case I know that she likely wouldn't have survived had she not been foaled out at one of the best Equine Veterinary Teaching Hospitals in the world-CSU (thanks entirely to my good friend Margaret DeSarno!)-and she owes a tremendous thank you to her two primary vets, Katie Amend and Jenny Sonis.

Knowing how fragile she was upon her entry into this world, and knowing the horror of starvation and neglect that her mom endured during her pregnancy at the 3 Strikes Ranch, makes this itty bitty flowery miracle that much more endearing and special to me.

This baby mustang has hundreds of friends and fans who adore her and admire her-sharing her adventures with those who love her is a responsibility I fully enjoy :)

So, without further ado: please join me in laughter and sheer silliness and enjoy Sunflower B Snapdragon's first official outing into the great big world-she is 11 days old in this video :)

It's a great big world

Today we let Chloe and Snapdragon out of their stall and into a small
run-what a joy to watch the baby Dragon leap from the pen into her
stall and back again-she has such a positive and innocent outlook on
life:)

Oops! Did I say that out loud?

This morning a very amazing thing happened. I opened the barn door and was met with an eager nicker. Now-I have 7 horses...so of course you'd expect to hear a nicker at breakfast, right?

Not so fast, Grasshopper!

This wasn't just any nicker...this one came from the heart of a horse who is learning to trust...one who has endured horrible starvation, neglect, and abuse throughout much of her short life. Yet despite that, and after only two days here at DVR, she greeted me this morning with a joyous nicker: eyes bright but soft, ears forward, her sweet mouth relaxed.

I think she was as surprised as I was-I swear she was thinking "Oops! Did I say that outloud?" right afterwards!

However, I just returned from the barn after handing out their second breakfast and this time I got a full throated enthusiastic whinny topped with a soft nicker...and this time she looked certain that she *meant* to say it out loud :D

 Little Chloe is home and I think her heart finally believes it as much as mine does :) Sigh. Today she gave me the best gift an animal can give-she opened up her heart.

How can a Suebeedoo be SO lucky?

Good morning!

Happy Wednesday everyone from The Baby Snapdragon!