Thursday AltaNero had straw packets in his mouth and on friday Cubanito had much saliva in his mouth ..... this afternoon at 5pm. they all had a lot of saliva in their mouth ...
So there is a new problem .... and my feeling tells me they have sores in the mouth .... of barley straw or the straw that I brought from the ranch last Sunday ....
Tonight I also gave Chiki some barley straw and no avenastro to the boys .... If Chiki has no problem it is the normal straw that's causing it and otherwise the culprit is the barley straw.
Tonight I'm giving them kamomillethee in the mouth and in the morning I'm calling the vet.
Thanks to the efforts of Irene, who sent a number of letters to various organisations, she got a phone call on thursday The holistic Vet Erik Laarakker said that he wants to help us .
He suggested we send 2 manure samples by mail from preferably the worst of the foals according to me.
I had to collect fresh manure in a plastic sandwich bag and put some aluminum foil around it to avoid any external contamination of substances. Also some hair from the tail was desired.
Irene reported me that the vet would personally and for free examine the manure for worms, intestinal flora and any bacteria in the intestines.
He also gave me info on Emanuelle Driesen, who is working here as a veterinarian. I rang her on Thursday, but unfortunately was not able yet to speak with her. I did leave her a message.
Yesterday it was not possible to have evertyhing in the house in time and to catch the manure because I needed help too for myself and I still had to buy some things.
This morning I waited in the stables ..... and waited ..... and waited.... They apparently knew there was something I wanted from them, haha haha
But patience is rewarded .... and so I could gather everything, packed it up and sent it. It was sent by express mail "emergency" and would in principle be there on Monday.
Tonight I will make a list of events and administered medication and will send the story with pictures to the Netherlands by email.
Ow yes .... I selected the manure of Aston and Amoroso
Meanwhile the horses are sunbathing now after eating their breakfast .... finally back a little sun and warmth ... although the wind is still blowing furiously now and again.
The sun shines, the wind blows, and it is quiet cold .... time to take a minute to inspect the fields .... It has rained enough .... what we have sown in September is now starting to come out well ... but with 2 months delay.
The horses are doing fine today ... everyone .... yes even Aston is making beautifull parcels ...
I had to go to the chiropractor to further unlock my neck and to have the epicondylitis in my right arm (due to the falls of the last month) treated. Monday I also have to go to the traumamologist.
Went to the ridershop and bought this.
Of course I went to the youngsters, as every day, ... I have also been looking for the straw-oat, alfalfa,.... supplier who dit not show up yesterday and who doesn't answer his telephone anymore.
Aston en Amoroso are enjoying the blankets for a 2nd night in a row .... they are a bit big, especially for Aston. .
Ow yes .... my quick design to get water into the mouth of a horse to rinse it out in case something is stuck
This morning, my neighbour Michael and I went to search for the culprit that caused that there was no reaction from the electric fencing ....
Cubanito, our grey one, had already pleated some poles and tested the wires.
The culprit turned out to be the poor conductivity of the ground. Therefor Michael made 2 additional grounding contacts and all the bad contact of the wires were redone.
The horses enjoyed the sun that finally shone again ... and most of them went to lie down and have a nice rest. But Aston was not feeling well and by noon he had the Niagara Falls again.
Together with Michael we moved Amoroso and the Black Stallion ....The Black back to the Cubanito and Altanero...and Amoroso with Aston. So I could give these 2 a bit more avena what would do their bowels some extra good. The other men had had fewer bowel problems, so.
At lunchhour I went to the kids and was shockedto see they had about half a bale of cebada to eat ... while it's a new kind of food for them ..... Although I had prepared all the food for the next 3 days, nicely divided into packets for morning, lunch and evening ... something obviously went wrong.I informed the man that they can only give the food that I have prepared before, because I want to avoid any additional problems.
Later at home I noticed however that the Black Stallion was lying down a lot and again focused on his box ... as if something was disturbing him ...and yes I did not see him urinate. So I warmed some water and gave him another internal wash.
So a busy day once again .... and Aston left me no rest .... I treated him with the torch again and did the extra points that Brian had communicated. You'll never believe it .... at 7 pm. Aston put the perfect pack down .... the best of them all
Searched for a new device ....and did not find it, so I opened it myself. Went to the store to get a new condensator, but later inspection by my neighbour Michael revealed nthat the condensator was not broken.
A new fuse was inserted and there was a good contact. Thuisgekomen bleek na plaatsing om 20u15 dat er niets veranderd was aan de situatie.....
But back home I installed it again at 20u15, it appreared that nothing had changed ... Well if it ain't the wires and it ain't the device, what then ?
Sometimes by night I already have forgotten what I actually did that day .... don't worry, it's just fatigue
The night was particularly bad ... every movement of my head awakened me because of the pain of the pinched nerve in my neck. Luckily I was able to visit the chiropractor this afternoon.
Like every morning it's a matter of preparing and administering oral syringes, feeding the horses and cleaning the stables and paddocks completely & thoroughly. And that should happen today too, but slightly slower and with less abrupt movements.
As I got ready to go to the chiropractor and washed my hair, I deblocked my spinal purely accidental and I had much less pain.... ... I therefor annuled my urgent appointment ....as he was taking me after his hours because it was urgent and now it wasn't anymore.
Given the good response of the horses on the "paja the cebada en rama" I phoned the supplier and ordered a load .... Normally it will be delivered on Thursday, if it finally stops raining...
The horses are meanwhile better again: Scores:
Altanero: 9/10 (always leave the door open he) ) Cubanito: 9/10 Black Stallion: 9/10 Amoroso: 1 pack less good in the last 12 hours: 7 / 10 Aston: No Niagara falls in the last 24 hours...still a bit soft sometimes ... but much better than sunday 4 / 10
In the afternoon I returned to see the little foals of course. They had to stay inside all day because of the inclement wet weather. Luckily they have an extra large shed where they can easily walk around in these bad days.
At 9 pm. the big guys got their 4th meal of the day and yet another day had gone ...
Once more I made a false move and I pinched a nerve in my neck ... a good start to the day soHmhm... HMHM ...
Quickly went down and excecuted all the tasks because I had to leave to go to Alicante. Meanwhile my neighbour Tony stayed with the horses. Aston was indeed quiet and had become a bit sad.... After seeing the inspectiondoc, I had to go to the medical horse clinic because my vet had enough of the fact that Aston still had diarhea. As everything was OK at home (I called several times .. yesyes), I went to see the little ones and they were all fine. Then I went to the pharmacy for an extra charge of medicine and then I went back home.
All horses were right up and everything was cleaned up ... I could not see what had been laid during my absence.
I gave Aston the antibiotics but was shortly afterwards shaken as he no longer had diarrhea ... During the whole period that I was downstairs with them they were no more waterfalls ... I was almost sorry that I had given antibiotics but well...it was too late now...
Also the rest of the day the packages were acceptable, yet not good but better than yesterday.
The DA was surprised that I had managed to find "paja the cebada en rama". Apparently, it must be totally different than the barley straw up North of Europe because here it seems to be one of the best for horses. And the one they delivered to me yesterday does not have those piercing stems and therefore can not cause damage to mouth and intestines.
So they had a bit this afternoon for the first time for dinner and again at 16.30 and 21u30 although mixed with oat straw where the grains are still and straw of oats and ...
Ow yes ... they are crazy about it and are even a bit wild when they see me coming down with it....
Tired and worried Ow ... did I tell you yet that it's raining again and now the stormy winds are heard and felt.
I didn't sleep much....Amoroso had spasms again last night and so I had to keep him in sight And for me that meant staying with him for an hour after he gets better again and then check on him every 90 minutes.
Fortunately he stayed well during the night.
The showers were not too bad ... we have been spared so far.... but it is very dark and cloudy .
This morning I had an appointment at 10 am. with my neighbours to go and pick up a large bale of straw that I bought yesterday at the ranch where the foals are. The weather was still threatening but fortunately it had not rained yet. We connected the trailer and went on our way. After we had put the big bale in the trailer we went to visit the 4 foals to say hello and stroke them. The objective is that the neighbours would go once a week to visit the kids so that they would be less alone .... At my place I was all day long in their neighborhood.
We hugged them and pieces of apple and banana (in fact my breakfast) were distributed.
On our way home we were stopped & put aside by the Guardia Civil....and I knew why but... well ....
So to the side and get out ... meanwhile I had my iron corset on top of my other one ... Madam, you know that car and trailer have to have the same nrplate ? But of course sir, that's how it is no ? Well damn, well I've loaned my trailer to a friend and they have apparently forgotten to change the plates again. Oh sir, I've got the plates at home. Why don't you come with us... I just went out to get some food for some starving colts that I saved...blabla blabla .... A vague memory of my old career in Belgium came back to the surfaceand my arguments took 5 more minutes ... but I did win all means ... Maybe he felt ashamed at what his fellow citizens had done to these foals ... and saying that both the Police and Seprona were informed about my actions ... well
Instead of having to pay 160 for the fine, I received a warning ...and that's a first .... whew an extra 160 for the foals so
Back home everyone was free and upright. And Amoroso put a nearly perfect package down for the first time in 3 days. The treatment with the torch must have done him good. During the afternoon cleaning at the paddocks of the foals, a truck arrived... and they thought of playing with my feet again. I had ordered 10 bales of barleystraw to see if the foals would like it and was well tolerated but he arrived with a full truck.
Well I did not change my mind and he backed off with the rest.
After the disinfection of the stables I took the time to briefly look on the internet about information on barley straw .... and so I learned to know the different types ... I was also warned about the danger of barley straw and so I decided not to use it today but to wait till tomorrow, so I could first speak with the vet.
During the afternoon Aston deteriorated ...He had another visit from the Niagara Falls. It was terrible .... it squirted easy 1.5 m far back ...
This could not continue and so I decided to give him a complete treatment with the torch and to also treat the points for viral infections. Luckily he was still playful and was still eating...
All in all a tiring day and tonight I will hold guard ... you can't be too carefull with Amaroso !
Thus we returned to oats, because alfalfa at every meal seemed to do nothing good for their bodies ... and other straw can lead to congestion so...
And then .... then you have oats straw with the oats still on, called "avena en rama" here ... which I've just 5 bales or something left. The entire winterstock of my horse went to the foals.Yes indeed, really, I gave the food for my horse to the foals.
And so this morning I 've been calling around and going to stables .... but nobody has any avena and it is no longer available untill May 2010....
Tomorrow I get a few bales of something that should appear like a cereal straw .... something about straw of something else
Nobody in northern Spain or France can help me to find a phone number of a supplier?
A donkey ... does not hit his head 2 on the same rock ...
or how do they say it again
This morning it was already so far ... within a time span of 5 minutes, I knocked my head against the same corner twice ... How stupid do you have to be ? Or was it a sign that I was tired and should take it easy.
Amoroso had a good night ... after the last spasms of last night I did not see anything druing the check-ups that was disturbing, he was relaxed.
After administering the morning oral syringes (URBAL & ultra levure) I saw during the cleanigworks that Amoroso had diarrhea now: that did not disturb me much because the pain relief he got yesterday could have caused it. The packets of the others were slightly better, only Aston is still in the back row.
Continuing on my feeling of yesterday they only had avena / oats for breakfast. Amoroso also ate and had no cramps after that.
As the other owner of the ranch had now arrived and was up with his horses, I took advantage of the fact that there was a superintendent who could keep everything in sight, to go the pharmacy to pick up the rest of the order of yesterday and find a cream for my burned hands and to pick up the mail: I received some lovely post of a co-bokker with beautiful pictures of her rescued animals and a bonus for the foals: They thank you!
Back home, everything went fine, so I filled the car to go to the little ones ... Hearing my car is still enough for Filly to call for me
I laid out the food laid for the next few days and decided to start giving them foalchunk again ... they are not sick and they need it, so we begin to quietly rebuild it up.
Back home I gave the big boys their lunch and started to clean again.
After lunch Amoroso had cramps again but not for long and no injection was needed.
At dinner I decided to let Amoroso eat only a small amount in the barn to eat so he could not overeat with the others ...But of course there was something standing in the way, my left leg was not high enough and so I landed flat on the ground in the remains in the bleach ...I can barely step and will start treating me now.
Amoroso just had some coliccramps again and therefor we will have another tiring night with regular check-ups.
Now preparing the evening syringes and then administer them ...
I saw it immediately .... this is not good .... Amoroso was lying down this morning when I went down.
He did get up to go have his breakfast and did his business ... but stopt eating and went lying down again ... he streched his leg and stretched his neck, his head went back and he showed his teeth, his breathing was faster and louder .... so it was clear to me he was having pain and went back up to get an injection and to take the torch.
I gave him an injection and treated the colicpoints. I sent an SMS message to the vet because he only starts at 9:30 ... And then the vet called me and I could also tell him that everything was better. The vet was in surgery and therefore not around ... he was also off work from noon till next Monday. Agreement was that I would call him before noon to tell him the situation.
An extra large barn with an extra large paddock ... fortunately at only 15 km from home ... so I can go visit them daily and take care of them
Punkie has already captured some hearts ...and an adoptive candidate ... but he can not go right now ... he has x legs and we have to see with the vet what we can do ...
Edit: because of the question of Yvonne, I would like to confirm that the children are fed 3 times a day But today I was there just in time for breakfast and so I gave them their meal.Otherwise they give the children their meal. I do provide the food that is given because that is part of the agreement and also I'll know exactly what the kids eat They are in a riding school where people are constantly walking around and it was recommended to me by our vet ...
I hope you understand ... but I'm still running past myself to get everything done ...
Short version vd days:
After giving the first round of medication and the distribution of the breakfast, I quickly went to 2 places to go and see where the 4 little ones could stay for max. a month. One of the places fell through because everything was built for adult horses and not for the kids...they could run underneath.
In the first place it appeared to be in the backyard of a finca but the littlens would not be able to go inside on their own and in my humble opinion would never get any sun but in the wind when the weather would be bad.So this was definitely not an option.
In the second place they had a large barn where they had direct access to a large paddock and even if it was (because of rain for example) necessary they could easily stay several days in the barn because it's really big. Unfortunately, this solution is terribly expensive, but well .... I have no choice: And so I called the vet to explain my decision and asked F whether he could drive the little ones for me (I'm no longer car with towbar, hence) to the new place.
Back home neighbour Tony helped us so we could quickly load all foals into the horsevan and wetook them to their new place:"La Llar del Cavall" in Muxtamel (Alicante).
At noon they were in their new place .... a bit concerned at the sight and hearing of so many horses (bad memories catching up propably....) I found them comfortable and gave them their dinner in their new temporary shed. Home at 12:45 and now my workingday still had to start ...
All paddocks were clean at 4.30 p.m. and meanwhile keeping an eye on all there horses I heard something running or falling, ...were they urinating or did they have diarrhea .... and who had normal feces and who had diarrhea ?
3 showed signs of Niagara Falls as my vet calls it... Only Picollo and Amoroso had nice balls ... but Picollo did have problems with gas and abdominal pain. The Black Stallion on the other hand could not pee again and I gave him an internal cleaning with one hour of interval.... but this time it did not do the trick to get his penis out of the shaft. I had an appointment with the vet to call him at 16.30 to explain the status but I already sent him an SMS before to ask him to come ... Black continued to have problems and it bothered him ... so I rubbed his belly and his b ****** jes ... (that's the first time for me!) en hij And it did him such good .... if you see a horse in pain, but then virtue of what you give him, that makes your whole day. His penis finally came out but he did not urinated
The vet came at 17u25 while I was cleaning the boxes with the Kärcher that fell down and was broken .... .... Now I must go buy 2 new because it was not mineand I can not go without
Briefly now, because I have to go tothe horses
*had a sweet phonecall from a lady who sent the packages with the good news that someone wanted to give a donation for the foals and that would be used to help regulate the vetbills. A was here at 17u25 * with the stableing of the foals for one month and the vet today, I'm now almost 600 poorer in less than 24 h ... and even then the vet has been very sweet ...
This morning everyone was up when I went to give them their injections ... but soon afterwards the gray went down and continued eating ... not so good sign ...
Pretty Face seemed slightly better, Black Stallion was lying down a lot.
The neighbours Brenda and Michael came down again, all stables were emptied and decontaminated again, as well as everything else like buckets, brushes, halters etc. .. paddocks were cleaned and then the picador prepared for the arrival of the little ones. With this we were finished by noon.
Then I continued on my own and thanked my neighbours for all their help.
more info tonight
Pretty Face and Picollo yesterday
Cubanito has lost weight
Pretty Face is isolated and feels miserable despite my good care
View of the new distributions of the paddocks and the littlens in the picador ...
Black Stallion with problems
Chiki showing the rope halters that were made on Sunday ...
Pretty Face who rolled down between the barriers, got stuck and scared me to death (sorry the picture is not sharp, but I was in a hurry to go and help him).
Pretty Face wasnot feeling too good ... but the painkiller that I had injected happyly started to work quickly ...
Thus ... when I went down this morning AltaNero (Picollo for Brenda) was lying down... not unusual in itself but when you know they normally are all waiting up for breakfast ... Then you know that something was wrong. But Picollo saw me with breakfast and immediately got up and put a pack down... so I was relieved.
I gave breakfast to everyone ... all alfalfa and Chiki & Negro their grain + alfalfa:
But then I saw Picollo lying down again next to his food and he rolled (something he had never done before) ... and so I decided to put him a halter on, and to isolate him and call the vet ... The vet had to come today anyways if Aston "Pretty Face" would not improve.
And Aston did in fact not improve at all....and Picollo went rolling ... and rolling ... and rolling ... and then a good thick Plops double pack came out .... and he was playing the deadgame ...
I stayed with him ... of course .....but meanwhile he had rolled down to Pretty Face and got stuck and Pretty Face did not want to get up so I had to turn Picollo all 4 feet in the air and roll him over again myself. He got up to go and lie down again a meter further and about 10 minutes later, another load of manure came out ... he obviously had had an obstruction in his intestines ....
I left him lying for a while so he could recover and later on he voluntarily got up .... And Aston also just got up when the vet arrived.
Meanwhile, the Black Stallion went down loo but that he does that every day after breakfast. The vet checked him out as well as possible ... but found nothing special. Picollo was well enough to go back to the group, according to the vet. But with Pretty Face the vet encountered the Nigara waterfalls and the vet was really worried ... He did not like that at all.
We had to intervene .... all contact with the little ones should be avoided because what came out of Pretty Face srayed easily further than a meter aways
And so he wanted the little foals to be moved into the round pen during daytime and locked up at night .... all well and good but it does take several hours of work to make the roundpen foalproof and I still have to clean and desinfect all the stables, I had to go and get medication at the farmacist and so on ....
Thus a temporary solution was necessary.... I asked if Negro and Chiki could go up the hill at the other stables but F refused... He just took his horse Negro and left me with my problems...
Long story made short ... I've put double cables everywhere so the horses can not get into contact with each other. The little ones are at the stable of Chiki and Chiki is standing in between the littlens and the big boys
All the big ons are getting Urbal again every 12 hours, the sick ones every 8 hours and also an injection Fluxinine and a paste every 8 h with Flore process and ultra-levura.
And now I have to go back down and later on I ll take a rest....So until later ....
I'm at the end of my strength but I continue to fight .... I have no good news ... I'll try to post more info tonight ... need to go back down .... Fortunately, 2 neighbours come down at 4 p.m.... because I saw that I just could not finisch the work before it would be dark ... And now let's hope Chikiboy will stay calm because F just came to get Negro to put him up at his place with his other horse.... yes I was not amused ... It's not the right time to have more stress
The vet is on his way ... AltaNero has colic .... will lie and roll, roll, lie ... Vet is on his way, more info later ...
Edit 10:30: We're still waiting for the vet but everything is already better again. Altanero apparently had an obstruction because after 10 times a double load of manure came out and he released 10 minutes later another load .... all together more than a dayload ....
He also got up from himself 15 minutes ago. I left the stables as they are so the vet can have a look at all the manure. Of the littlens only Filly suffers a bit, the rest looks fine .... Even the manure from the big boys is acceptable this morning.
Sunday 11am .... meeting with the neighbors and the horses
Horses were brushed and caressed in all positions ... and it must be said, there is no one who does not like it ..... they all love it ...
We also kept an eye on the horses and only Aston, who did not have any real problems untill now ... was having big intestinal problems... but he was lively and wanted to play.
Every day you learn more and more about each horse ... like Aston for example is a bit "mouthy" , he likes to touch everything with his mouth and AltaNero loves scratches behind his ears ...
But everyone is so surprised about the Black Stallion .... last week where almost nobody (except me) could touch him, he did not want to go away from the caressing hands of my neighbours ...
It became obvious that the place for the kids was now too small for them ... but to put the big ones back in their old space, meant everything had to be cleaned up....
Even the neighbors came to help me after the brush hour and so all areas were cleaned up completely, closing all the wires back and moving the horses back to their old spot.
And then we had a visit ... the pictures speak for themselves
Somebody asked me on the "Bokt"forum if the hay tht was delivered is now soaked from the rain ...
No, of course not ...
Everything is inside .......
Vraag me alleen niet om in de gastenkamer te komen....want het bijgebouw is voor de gelegenheid ook gevuld....met alfalfabalen 'm Just don't ask to get into the guestroom.... because it's filled up with alfalfa bales ....
I was so tired last night that I had to rest after giving the last piece of alfalfa of the day to the horses.
Despite the terrible storms we did sleep a bit.
The horses seem a little better than yesterday but with these winds, I still have given them their alfalfa inside the stables.
And now I have a new concern ... My rescuecat Maxime did not come for dinner last night and did not reappeare this morning ... I have to go and look what has happened to her....
Max normally never leaves home ... no she never does ...
I made a start with the website about the horses ...
It aims to find names for the horses and a new owner in the future. So come on with those names and if you want to be owner of 1 of the foals, let me know
I have got so much to tell .... but I have not got the strength for it right now ... sorry!
We had an almost sleepless night and a difficult day .... After Altanero, Cubanito went lying down this morning to have his brekfast, and later on Amaroso, Aston and eventually the Black Stallion got sick....
It hurts me to see them like that...
Some people would go and sit down and mope....others try to fight and do something as long as they can ... thaats me... I fight, fight, fight ... until I can't anymore ...
And so I began to clean the land up by hand and with a wheelbarrow of all leftovers and excrements
Paco came at 11 am. and after having some words, he finally was ready to help with the tractor to remove about 20 cm of the paddocks
The big 5 only have the paddock of the littlens now and the littlens have another small piece next to Chiki & Negro. This way I have a better overall control and the area is so saturated with water so that the tractor is doing more harm than anything else.
I treated most of the horses with the torch so I'm pretty confident that this will come good.
The parellihalter and similar ones made it quite easy to put on the foals. The others made strange noises which they don't know yetand they know it is not yet ....(this will change soon ). ).
The DecemberDVD of Parelli is a gift from the sky ... I saw him yesterday for the first time and it is just about these kind of things .... how to prepare the horse to give an injection, how to get them used to many things ... enfin everything related to DA and farrier etc. .. just GREAT!
I ll write more later on ... I'm just too tired now
This WE a friend will come and make halters for the foals (he also made the yellow one of the picture ... There is also a person interested in one of the 3 big ones ....
P:S: We had a delivery yesterday and today of 100 bales of alfalfa for them ... So we have good food for them for the next 6 weeks (3-3.50 bales per day at 4 30 per bale) ... and with the bill of the vet we spent another 1000 in less than 24 h... It just flies away ...
Marlies, in name of the horses and myself, we say "THANK YOU" !, Thank you, thank you for your friendship, your help & thank you for what you sent them....It 's incredible that you invested so much in horses you've never met...
I hope you will have time in future to come & visit them !
I was looking on "tracktrace" this morning to see where the package was that Karen sent from Holland, on the 2nd ...it "arrived in destination country" on the 8 / 1. Then I went to "correos.es" to have another squeak ... but here they did not recognise the number... So I closed down that line ... And then the mobile phone started ringing straight after : MRW has a package to deliver ......
Just wait another hour and then we 'll know whether the box is for me or for the foals
Marlies, in the name of the horses and myself, we say... "Thank You"! Thank you, thank you for your friendship, your help and thank you for the package that you sent for the foals ....
It is incredible that you've invested so much into horses you've never even met ...
But we do hope that in future you'll find the time to come and visit them!
So ... what about this ... get up when it's icy cold, ice on the water and an hour later it's already 16 degrees and at lunch 26 degrees .... nice ... finally the wind & storm ended ...
The "GetTogether" of this morning did not take place ... My neighbour Tony was the only neighbor to come so instead we sorted the tomatoes out together
All the horses were happy to be able to eat lunch outside
Tasty green mouths
And .... test ... test of new vegetables: chicory, paprika, beans ... and the rest we know already And .... what do you think of "moeke" "Mam". Doesn 't she look great ?
It was a little cold here this morning .... and the storm winds that rushed through the night, have left their mark
And the horses were happy that I broke the ice in their water bowls.
The places where there were puddles with water from the last rainy day ... had become skating areas ...
Oh yes ... did I mention that I live in Spain?Hahahaha what a joke...
After giving them their breakfast, I left to do some shopping and came home with a car filled up`with food for the dogs, cats & horses: foalchunk 80 kg, 25 kg of natural saltstones for the foals, 40 kg for the dogs & 5 kg for the cats .. .. voila everyone is served for a while.
The bag contained however only 2 salt blocks, the one in this picture weighs 18 kg ...
Meanwhile all the horses were outside in the sun so that I could do some repairs in the stable of the little ones.
And after dinner it was time to go to the market again ... but today I was apparently too early and had to wait another half an hour before I could take the remains.
Just a few cabbage leaves, a lot of lettuce and many vegetables of which I do not even really know whether horses can eat them (no I do not believe just anybody ... I prefer to look it up on the internet ... just to be safe... I'm not taking any risk with their health ...
I was back home at 4 pm. and some time remained to continue to temporarily repair the doors so the foals would be protected during the night ... Yes the storm is still active
The rescue cats Maxime & Baloo have already sought refuge in warm places for tonight
I haven't got much to tell about what happened today or I should talk about the weather again...archhhhhhhh ... Yes, even the horses are tired of this lousy weather...... storm&winds, rain, snow, freezing conditions ... they've all seen it now and would now like to get some warmth and sun on their bodies...
I even got some snowflakes on me when I went to the pharmacist in Jijona to buy some medicine for the horses to have some stock at home in case something should happen...
The icy wind has also ensured that the 3 littlens had to stay inside..... The yearlings were also inside most of the day ...
An ideal time to upload some pictures on the website.
But today I have not taken any picture of the foals ...
But still a picture of the rescuecat Maxime with Pineau together in their chair, ...inside, not far from the stove.
No, today you would not believe me if I say that we live in sunny Spain .... in the last 20 hours it has rained for more than 18 hours ... I' ve been living here for more than 6 years and have never experienced this .... I am repeating myself..... What's happening to our world?
This morning the ground was already saturated and there were puddles here and there ...
The horses rarely came outside but I left the kids and Filly inside... I really did not want to take any risk that one of them would get a cold again because they still are weaker than the big guys. Moreover, the wind started to blow again and so it was no weather to be outside :
I saw the big ones only run once today... when they were scared by big white monsters who were running on the road above them....but it appeared that only my rescue dogs had scared them ... the bad weather had apparently clouded their minds ...
Sorry that the pictures are so dark but the weather was just bad
and we had to turn the generator on to fill the batteries and provide us with electricity because of the lack of solar radiation ...
This is not the sunny country anymore to which I emigrated to
The weather was ok and it was a holiday .... and so I spontaneously grabbed my mobile at 2 pm and wrote the following message: "The horses need you & they need hugs: Today at 16h30, 1st 30'neighbourly therapygettogether...Good 4 u, good 4 the foals !I hope you all come.C u " and then sent it to my 3 neighbours ...
And at 16.30, the first neighbour Tony arrived... at first he still felt a little awkward among those big 4-legged friends.
And a bit later my neighbours Brenda and Michael arrived ... and the 4 of us went to work ...
A good therapy for all. The foals had a great time and the neighbours had a good experience.
Going to the market to get the greenstuff for the horses .... is not simply pick the greenstuff up and go home to give it to the foals .
As you could already read on the blog yesterday, I went to the market again...20 minutes driving down, over one hour looking, searching, picking up and shifting and then driving home again.
My car was full to the roof and that looks like this .
But then the work is not done yet
Back home everything is unloaded and placed in separate vegetable bins so everything can be washed. And you have to separate the bad from the good and also have to separate fruits from vegetables
Then you wash it all and then bring it down ...
At the end, this is what remains of the lot.
Overall, you are busy for 4-5 hours ...
And of course half an hour every day to clean and cut vegetables for their daily portions...
But the kids are super happy... and so that's why we do it ...for them ...
Opening your door and seeing horses in front of your house .... is a dream of many To hear a horse whinnying to you, saying you good morning (or rather "hey I'm hungry") ... is just fantastic
I fed the horses this morning, made some order in the feed room and at 10 am. I got prepared to go out to do some shopping because I was out of dogfood and I also had to look for some foal food.
And then it went wrong again ... I had to step over the threshold of the window and my left leg did not get high enough again so ..... ... straight forwards on the gravel again and landed right on the bad knee . This time I knew it felt really wrong ... and so I strumbled inside after a few minutes to get to my crutches.
I'm beginning to wonder whether the surgeon maybe has cut just one too many nerves during the last OP? It is clear that my brain thinks I've lifted my leg high enough when it's really not the case ... or is it the tiredness and am I careless
The other ranch owner has been so nice to go to the store for me and come back here with the dogfood and a few bottles of red wine
And this afternoon he has given the horses their lunch ... while I watched and gave instructions. . So he knows what the animals need if something suddenly had to happen to me ... like when I broke my back in October 2008 after a fall of my horse Chikiboy on a rock in the hills ... then all the work fell suddenly on him and the neighbours ... I do not want to think what would have happened if Paco and the neighbours had not been there for them ... I am eternally grateful to all of them.
Only difference ? Now we have 11 horses here instead of 2 and therefor much more work, especially with those who are still sick and need to have their injections ...and nobody else can do that for me .... so I must not get sick
And now they tell me that the market in El Campello will not take place tomorrow because it is a holiday .... the 3 kings ... the biggest partyday for children here in Spain ... and so the market is today ... The foals need fresh greens tomorrow ... so I have no other choice than to put myself together, get dressed again and to leave for Campello in half an hour on my crutch and with my metal backframe to collect the greens... Yes I know...that I am crazy ....
Psst: Don't tell Paco ... otherwise he might be a bit angry...first he comes over to help me .... and then I do go out.
Locked up... locked up .... yes I've locked myself up in the house .... then nothing can go wrong for the rest of today ... hopefully.
I don't dare to go out the way I look now .... a cap on my nose, a small cut of 2 cm on my jaw, blue legs and swollen knees, aching muscles in the arms (from the falls), scraped elbows and since tonight a slice-cap on my head .... others will propably say "clumsy mie"
So after I had given the horses their dinner and opened my head, I locked myself inside behind this computer to continue to work on the website about the foals ... it takes a lot of work because the mobile internet here in the hills is slow .... very slow and everything takes much longer to upload ... but then if you want to live surrounded by nature without a regular phone line, without a connection to public electricity or potable water, well .... they live a life that most people do not know anymore....and they can not imagine it .
No, really .... we have no official electricity supply, no gas supply, no central heating, no telephone, no TV-TDT connection ... we live surrounded by nature and we are autonomous: we have electricity thanks to the solar and wind installation that I installed, I have a mobile telephone and mobile internet, a satellite TV connection, and a wood stove for when it gets cold ...
YES REALLY this still exist anno 2010 and we are happy that we can do just a little bit to reduce spreading more gases that ruin our world
Pictures of the day:
Foals that snuggle up to sleep after their lunch while a rainbow comes out ...
It was actually pretty quiet today, although it started to rain again last night and the day was often a bit dark and heavely overcast. I went out with the other ranchowner to get more pallets this morning to put the food of the horses on, so the bottem can not get wet.
I also called the supplier of the foal chunk to say he doesn t have to come at the moment. The foals really do not like it and the 2 youngest do not even touch it So I will try a different brand first before buying a large amount.
Lunch tasted good though
This afternoon, my neighbour Michael stopped by again to hold Brownie while I gave him his injection ....
The state of Brownie worries me a bit because he did not eat enough yesterday and so I stayed with him tonight so he would eat enough grains and I will do the same tomorrow ...
And then Michael offered the foals some mints... I never saw that before but he told me that the British Queen gives them to all her horses. The foals found it weird and those who had touched it let it fall afterwards Our horse Negro loved them though....he ' s a left brain introvert and loves any kind of food And while I was mucking out the stables I saw Michael stroking the foals who liked it and it seemed the ideal time to go a bit further and .... so I took some brushes and we went to touch the horses with a brush as if it were our hands ... so they would get a positive experience and learn something at the same time And most of them could not get enough of it ....
Our Filly began to gibber, laugh ...
The gray and the eyeguy did not let me let go ...
Every day I am realising more and more that I have a wonderful group of animals that will become great horses, each with its own personality and character ... and that they will get the best start in 2010 with me
She wrote me yesterday saying that they have sent a box with 11x Equimax, Eraquell, Equiworm P, vitamin paste + 2 halters, 1 pony size, 1 full size and a rope. I told her I only saved 9 and that the others were here from before my rescue action:
Just crazy .... and just like that...without knowing me ... Strange really because I did not even ask ... and I would never ask for such help anyways... that is not "my character" or maybe I am too proud ?
In any case, it's not about me here, but about these foals and they can use everything.
I also received questions from others about how, what , when...about any help
In Holland there ispeterson51 & live.comwho collects everything and will send it over here at their cost. In Belgium the Cherry Tree ranch in Diest will collect anything .
To further clarify ... everything is nicely kept legally and will be declared as gifts ... everything is intended for those foals. Later, when the foals will go to their new families, I'll just try to cover my expenses (and therefore accounts are being kept) ... if anything is left over, which is doubtful given the high costs and care, it will go to another good "horses" target that you will decide or will be used to save other horses. Those who know me a bit, know that I'll do everything for my 4-legged friends .... sometimes even neglecting myself or others... but with just 1 goal...animal welfare ....
A morning without any problems ... The sun is shining and chases the morning chill away .... A bright blue sky with just a few white clouds ... A fence that's working ...
And 9 foals, who are eating their lunch outside ....
The message has been adapted to 12:14 because of additional information:
Is there someone who wants to come and house-dog-horse-sit for a few days, as I need to go Belgium for a few days
You have no expenses, as I 'll pay the ticket and there will be enough food and drinks in the house for those few days.
The co-owner of the ranch will come by every day to feed the animals and the neighbours are there if you need any help. It is more about having someone around and present so the dogs are not so long alone and to keep an eye on the foals. Requirements: an adult person, who knows how to deal with horses and dogs in a natural way, be free for several days.
Well it can only get better ... I hope the worst is over...
While eating breakfast somtehing was happening in the stables where the littlens are... it turned out that the "not so blind anymore" Filly has become so fit that she quickly eats her bowl of grains and then chases the 3 little ones away so she can eat it all. This was visible when the neighbour arrived ... (he came to help to hold little brownie so I could inject his antibiotics). Filly was really full of energy ... and even began to jump in the barn ...and thus we quickly let her outside with the big brothers ... and so at least the little ones could eat in peace. But that was not what she wanted and she now started to be silly and started to run in and out the other stable still hoping to get back to the kids.
Meanwhile I also had asked the help of my neighbour, who is an electrician: I had a pretty bad result with the shock fence for the horses, the foals were leaning against it and didn't sense that there was a machine on it so I got another machine, but that didn't change anything.There was no electrical reaction.
So I asked my neighbour to do some measurements.But such measurements are not possible on this kind of an electrical fence. But now I was still working on a change in the division of the paddocs and I had to put the wires differently and yes suddenly I felt the shockand not only me
The "eye"guy had his head meanwhile in between the 2 wires to get to a piece of grass on the hillside ... and suddenly the poor boy got a shock...backed up and lifted his head and took the upper ribbon along ... which scared him and so he ran away distroying nearly half of the ribbon holders of the paddock were he was staying ...
I almost sank into the ground Does it never end? Should something really happen every day? It was so quiet, calm and relaxed here before I saved the gang ... My courage sank into my shoes for a moment...
I took a long breath and my neighbour Michael already started to take the broken holders off and replacing them with others... and so you keep going. We've put the ribbons back and suddenly there was a very good contact
The littlens have now their own separate play area and hopefully have no need anymore to go to their neighbours, "the big boys" ...
And now I will leave you because I have a lot of work tomorrow morning .... making a different distribution format in the stables so I can seperate Filly during meals so that she leaves the kids alone .... and putting an extra ribbon on the paddock of the littlens...enough work you see ... Pictures of the day:
The Black Stallion and the gray are napping after breakfast ... while I m behind them, to work out the new distribution and am putting ribbons on to test it (therefore they are touching the ground) )
The 3 little ones evaluating their new paddock.
The harvest of the market day today ... lettuce, cabbage and lettuce leaves, a cauliflower and broccoli ...
View of the new distribution of the paddocs for the horses: each group comes from his stable now directly in their own paddock.
It already started yesterday evening .... storm with windspeeds...you don t want to be out in those ...
So, we all went to sleep at 23h15...
But this morning it still blew violently sometimes, even so hard that I was not able to work outside and I could not let the littlens outside... they are still recovering from a cold and cough ... The older foals did lay to rest in the wind ... fortunately the sun was shining.
Meanwhile, my Border Collie became unwell and the juices flew out ... he could not stop it ... and so I quickly put the torch on him and treated the necessary acupuncture points ... he soon became quiet, relaxed and fell asleep.
In the afternoon the wind laid down so I decided to let the littlens out .... but the door was not open yet or a strong wind blew past us and 1 of the new wooden barn doors flew into chunks.
After feeding the horses I wanted to stop by by my neighbour to help her with the torch treatment ...so I got a large lamp in one hand and the torch and a box of homemade cherry jam in the other hand (which my neighbour likes a lot) and left...
...just to get stuck with my left foot behind one of those vegetablesbaskets of the horses and to be catapulted forward ... to fall on my elbows (to safe the torch and lamp that I was holding in my hands) and full body in the gravel and I m not saying about what I've done to my thigh ... my whitish vest was covered in red spots of the jam and I was just laying there... ...The dogs had fun though.... eating the cherries and cleaning the mess up ...
.
... I prefer to look it up on the internet ... just to be safe
.
