Big Wind & Little Breeze (pics)

[Deleted]

Finally, we got our new mare! Her name is Bobbi Wind, but Rich just calls her Big Wind. Her filly is therefore known as Little Breeze.







Here are the three of them together (sort of). Wind is being VERY protective of her baby right now, and Aiesha's curiosity is killing her!



And yes, this is my old broken down, 26-year old nag.



I'll write more later, but for now I'll just say that everything went a lot smoother than I anticipated. Aiesha is just running big loops around the other two and Wind is giving her nasty-face if she gets too close. Right at first, Aiesha did get too close and Wind nailed her right in the belly. So Aiesha has a big bump where she got kicked, but she'll get over it.

Anyway, I'm going out to watch them some more. Oh, and I guess I should eat some dinner sometime tonight...

~Lannie

[Kathy]

Lannie, they're all beautiful! Your mare Aiesha sure doesn't look her age. That little filly is a real cutie!
I'm sure Rich can't wait to get a saddle on Big Wind.

I'm glad they're finally home and you can start working with them.

[Deleted]

They are beautiful! Boy she doesn't look her age is right! And you have a beautiful place! Just gets to blame cold there...

[bergere]

Kathy's not kidding Aiesha looks like she is maybe 10 years old, not 26! Goodness you take really good care of her!

Your new mare and foal are really nice looking too. And she is a Grey! ;D Pretty.,..pretty!!

[Deleted]

Thanks, guys. I think they're all very pretty too.

This morning I went out to make sure they were all still walking on four legs, and discovered that someone (and I only need one guess to figure it out) knocked part of the fence askew. Askew is probably not the right word. She hit the field fencing next to the small gate near the barn and ripped it right off the post, as well as knocking the post wonky. The post is set in concrete, but that's never stopped her before, so why should it stop her now? It was 5:30 am, so I grabbed some rope and wove it between the wonky gatepost and the fencepost next down the line to close the gap. I don't know why one of them just didn't walk through there. Aiesha has some scratches down both sides of her rump and a small cut above one hoof, so I guess maybe she DID go through, but came back. Anyway, it's a mess, and when Rich gets up he's not going to be happy about having to fix fences today. He WAS going to start working on the stalls in the barn today.

There's also a BIG dent in the chicken wire on the chicken run. Looks like somebody's big nose hit it head-on. Gee, I wonder who THAT might have been? LOL! I'm just glad she didn't crash into one of the supports and knock the whole thing down.

Other than that apparent "accident" they seem to be all getting along. Little Breeze is naturally very curious about her new surroundings, and she seems to especially want to meet Aiesha, so Big Wind has her hands full, keeping herself between the two. It must be so hard for the four-footed mothers to not have any hands to just grab their kids, or be able to yell at them and tell them to behave themselves. They're so patient.

So far, Wind is ignoring Aiesha unless she gets too close, then she rushes toward her (just a feint) with her ears back, and Aiesha bucks and squeals and pees (this is hysterical to watch!) and runs away, but only temporarily. A few minutes ago, Wind was out in the big pasture, grazing, Little Breeze was sound asleep at her feet, and Aiesha was swishing flies in the corral. So maybe things will start calming down from here on out. I sure don't want to have to be fixing fences for a week. I hate that job!

~Lannie

[bergere]

At least they are being good to each other. The Mama mare grumpies will calm down once she has been there awhile.

Sorry about the fencing,, but have to Giggle.
Been there done that. My Fjord is the worse about fencing, though she seems to have figured it out, now that she has been here a year.

Well,, they are making sure you keep in practice by making you fix the fence. ;D

[nan]

Beautiful pictures Lannie! I just checked out your cow post and saw that there were pictures in this one...so had to check them out! GREAT photos! Pretty horses! Love the names!

[Deleted]

I think the worst is over. Yesterday afternoon I found all three of them in the barn, and I thought, oh, cool, they're getting along now. Later I found a big gash on Aiesha's side right behind her elbow, and a bloody spot on Little Breeze's swollen fetlock, so I had to go disinfect them and put some comfrey salve on them. Apparently the gathering in the barn did not go smoothly at first. They're okay today, scabbed over and healing nicely. However, I was putting fly spray on Aiesha this afternoon and found ANOTHER gash on her butt under her tail. Evidently she backed into something sharp. It's already scabbed over and it's not infected, and I think it's from when she went through the fence night before last. It looks like she tried to "sit" on one of the steel t-posts. ARGH!

But, the good news is that Wind is no longer chasing Aiesha, and she's letting Breezy run around without trying to stay right next to her every second. A little while ago, Wind was out standing next to the chicken run, Aiesha was over by the water tank, and Breeze was sleeping on the ground almost exactly between them. Aiesha was ignoring both of the others, and Wind was just grazing. So I think I can relax now. (I sure hope I haven't jinxed myself by saying that! LOL!)

Rich decided (and I wholeheartedly agree) that he's going to just take that field fencing down and replace it with 2 or 3 strands of smooth wire. The only reason we had that kind of fencing up was because there was hay on the other side of it for a while, but it's not there now, and it just keeps getting feet tangled in it. So he's out taking down the old hot wire from around our dog yard (we had to put it up when Julia's dogs were out there with ours because one of hers jumps), and he'll string that up across the one side of the corral that had the field fencing. I'll tie some spooks on it for a while until the horses realize there's something there. Being the visual creatures they are, they'll probably see that the tall field fencing is gone and try to walk right through the wire strands! Well, at least if they crash into this, it won't be such a tangled mess. I wish I had a million bucks so I could afford to put that nice vinyl fencing around the whole pasture.

~Lannie

[bergere]

Sorry your older mare is getting dinged. Can be hard at first. But at least you give them excellent care and keep an eye out for them.
Come to think of it, they are rather like children, always hurting themselves.

For having the horses see the wires... Flags or Tape will work.
I use these fence flags, because first for the Elk and now my Fjord. They really work.



www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2e87c5a6-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5

[Deleted]

Yeah, she's just an accident waiting to happen. I should be happy she's been injury free for most of the year so far!

We have some of that fluorescent orange tape (not sticky, but the kind used for surveying) that we usually use on a new fence. But those fence flags gave me an idea for a way to use my canning jar lids that smell like pickles! LOL! I've been wondering what to do with them.

Gosh, I've typed that last sentence about 3 times and I couldn't tell if it was right. It's waaay past my bedtime, so I'm going to turn in now. Have to be up at oh-dark-thirty to let the chickens out, anyway. See ya tomorrow!

~Lannie

[starfire]

These are beautiful horses. I loved hearing about them.

[bbird]

Wow Lannie, those are some seriously beautiful horses! I can imagine that you are having such a nice time watching them, even though they can drive you to drink. Each horse has a special look to them...very very cool.

Enjoy your summer with your horses and chickens! I bet you don't get bored.