A Week of Firsts

Where do I begin? So much has happened since the last post! Well, I guess I will start with the bad news. David and I decided to take a little holiday trip to Fort Davis for Easter. We left on Friday afternoon and our friend Steven volunteered to care for Bailey while we were away. The past week had been hectic for Miss Bailey with all the construction at our place, the other horses being moved back to Mom and Dad's due to the construction, the heat, our being gone, etc., etc., etc. Oh, and before I go on, let me add that Steven did a great job of taking care of her for us. We returned home on Sunday evening to find Bailey looking pretty normal, but having NOT finished her grain...which is highly unusual for her. She loves her food! So, I took the rest of the grain out of her corral and left her a flake of hay. I checked back in with her in another hour or so and noticed some (....READERS BEWARE....) runny poo, which is not normal for horses and usually indicates some sort of problem. She also kept laying down, occasionally looking at her belly, and she had a bit of a high heartrate...which can indicate pain. So, of course, I almost have a stroke thinking she is colicking. However, she was still acting normally...drinking water, having "movements", etc. So, we decided to leave her with a small flake of hay and check on her early in the morning. I went out around 7am and she was laying down and had not touched her hay from the night before. When she saw me, she got up and came to greet me. I went back a few minutes later and she was down again. I also noticed she had another (...READERS BEWARE...) runny poo bout. Well, that was it for me. I immediately called Dr. Vaden (the only horse vet in the area) over in Uvalde to see if he could see her and his assistant told me to bring her on over as quickly as I could. To make a long story a bit shorter, Dr. Vaden agreed with me that more than likely the source of Bailey's problem was an ulcer, not colic. Whew! I can deal with an ulcer. She had to spend the night at the hospital and has to have some wonderful oral medication for the next 2 weeks. The good news is that the medication will help heal the current ulcer(s) and prevent future ones. All in all, it was quite the ordeal for the poor little girl. Also, I had to bring Scout back to Del Rio to be her buddy which will hopefully cut down on her stress level. I snapped some pictures of her being "really stressed out" on Tuesday. She is soooo much happier with Scout home.

Now on to the exciting news! The fence in the front is just about finished!! We have completed the two long sides and closed off the remaining gap with some panels, so the horses were officially turned out Wednesday afternoon. They LOVED it!! Bailey was so glad to eat some real grass and stretch her legs. I actually managed to catch one of her BIG romps on video. It was hilarious. I got to see just how athletic she is...which was VERY exciting! The funny part of the video is that Scout was just standing there in the middle of all of Bailey's craziness as if he was wondering what all the fuss was about! (I am having trouble uploading the video, so you will have to check back to see it...argh!...technology!)  However, sometime during one of her romps, she apparently got her first boo-boo. She somehow managed to cut her muzzle above her lip on her right side. Luckily it was nothing too terrible and I was able to doctor it without her giving me too much grief. Horses! They will ALWAYS find that one tiny piece of wire sticking out! Gotta love 'em!

Spring Fever

Hooray!  The t-posts are up and the H-braces are welded and set in concrete!  All we have left to do is paint the pipe and stretch the wire, which will hopefully be done by the end of the week.  Then little Bailey can run and play and I will be able to see her out the kitchen window!  The front of the house is perfect for her with lots of shade and grass.  Sure is feeling like spring around here.

As spring grows closer by the day, Bailey becomes more frisky by the day!  As I mentioned before, she can think quite highly of herself at times and she just wants so badly to PLAY!!  David and I snapped some photos of her today, one with me next to her so you can see how she has grown since day 1.  I think she is going through a growing spurt as her legs seem REALLY long and gangly, particularly in the past week or so.  She might end up being taller than the 15 hands we were originally thinking.  I also managed to catch some video of her during one of her "I don't want to be caught, but I do WANT TO PLAY!" romps.  Finally, I had the camera with me!!  She really has beautiful movement and at the trot she almost seems to float.  Ooooo, I can't wait!!

What you can't hear is Bailey squealing at me whenever she takes off or kicks out or bucks!  It was too hilarious.  The guys working on the fence probably think I am crazy the way I was laughing at her.  You had to be there. :)

Construction Zone!

Well, the barn is finally finished!!  Now the horses have some shade and just in time...it has been almost 100 degrees for the past 3 days.  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come!  With any luck the fence at the front of the property will be finished this week and Miss Bailey can get out of her corral and play!  

Bailey has really been feeling her oats the past couple of days.  Due to the awful heat and with still having her winter coat, I have been hosing her down several times a day.  She loves it and gets pretty frisky when she starts feeling a little cooler from her soaking.  When I go out to muck her corral, she will try desperately to play with me!  She rears up and bucks and kicks out at me all the while cantering around her corral.  She looks at me as if to say, "WHY DON'T YOU WANT TO PLAY?!?"  It is terribly cute!  She just doesn't understand why I CAN'T play with her that way!  Of course, whenever she is in this state, I never have my camera around.  However, I did catch her playing with the kitten who mysteriously appeared at the house a few weeks ago.  I managed to get a few seconds on camera...man o man...can you say COWY?!?!  She just gets better and better!!!

From the Beginning

Picking out your next horse (or in my case THE horse you have been waiting for) is often quite a task.  Luckily for me, I know the right people (Jennifer) and the choice was a no brainer.   Jennifer told me her brother was selling a ton of horses, yearlings and up, and knowing their fantastic breeding and temperaments, I told her I want one and I want a filly and I want a yearling and solid bay is preferrable.  This is how little Bailey came to be my new equine partner.

Day 1: I met Bailey for the first time, in Kerrville, on the afternoon of February 1, 2008, after only being handled once by humans and 2 hours before our brave Dr. Patterson was scheduled to draw blood and give her her first vaccinations.  About 30 minutes before the doc arrived I managed to get a halter on her.  Although I must say she was quite reluctant!  That is when I knew she was bound for fame.  She is so laid back, but has just enough of the spunk needed to be competitive at a level higher than I have ever been.  Things didn't go quite as planned, but I trust Dr. P completely and he managed to draw the blood, give her the rabies shot and deworm her orally without too much of a ruckus.  Whew!

Day 2: I didn't do much with her the following day...day 1 was a little traumatic and I knew day 3 would be as well (the nearly 3 hour journey to her new home).  I did, however, manage to get her a little more friendly and she realized how great the curry comb was.  She just loved being scratched with that big metal thing in the human's hand.  I am sure it felt good scratching all those old tick bites!  Before the end of the day she was backing up to me so I could scratch her backside....now that's progress!

Day 3:  Today was the day for the big trailer ride to Del Rio from Kerrville.  Jennifer helped me back my trailer up the pen where Bailey was hanging out.  We opened the gates and let Bailey walk up to the trailer.  She started smelling around and ploop!...went right in!  I couldn't believe it and I thought to myself, now THAT is worth EVERY PENNY!  That was, afterall, only her 2nd time in a trailer EVER!  She did great on the way home and unloaded like a perfect lady right into her nice big, shady pen next to the house.  She settled right in, with the help of a couple of yummy flakes of coastal.  I was already in love!  I couldn't have picked a more perfect filly if I tried!

After arriving in Del Rio, Bailey remained pretty friendly.  I would go out to her pen and spend time currying her, scratching all her best itchy spots, and so on.  She still wasn't crazy about me touching her on the neck or face, but everywhere else was ok in her book.  I brought Scout over to be her buddy as I didn't want her getting too stressed out.  She had quite a week behind her and my gut told me that was the best thing for her.  Then one night while feeding, she walked past me like always and just decided to kick me!  Luckily for me, she hit me square on my jean pocket...I thought to myself, did that just happen?!?  After that Bailey thought she was IT!  She wouldn't even let me get close to her without acting like she was going to turn her butt.  So, I decided it was time for my 45'rope.  I made a loop and managed to get it over her ears pretty easily.  It took about 30 seconds for Bailey to realize she was not having her way this time and that turning her butt to me was not such a great idea.  In another 30 seconds she was leading and light as a feather, I might add.  She let me rub her up to her ears and I thought that was a pretty good place to stop for the day.  This rope trick went on for another week or so...long enough to ensure she was friendly with me ( I could then touch her face, ears, legs, and belly).  Then came the halter.  All the other prep I had done with the rope, made the halter a piece of cake!  She stood completely still and at ease while I haltered her and led her around.  We played some more friendly and even sprayed a little with the fly spray.  She was totally cool with it all!  I was impressed!

Now we are playing the first 3 Parelli games with ease and she always comes to greet me when I go out to see her.  She even nickers when I arrive and whinnies whenever I leave!  Can't wait to see where we are a year from now!