Monday, January 27, 2014

Changes and rearranging down on the farm


             October found things on the farm needed changeing.
    One afternoon I realized Susie was dragging her hind legs, a visit from the Vet and a heavey course of worming and anti-inflamatories, pain med and vitamin injections and she slowly recovered from deer meningeal worm.
     After 4 years with Ella I realized she was just too much horse for me, I had so much time, money and emotional stress invested in getting her healthy and trained to drive but the realization I was never going to drive her because she was just too strong and powerful and I felt like I just couldn't keep up with her.
I had been trying to find her a person of her own, and finally reached out to everyone i could think of for help.  I realized the worst thing I ever did was to trade my precious pony for her, and that If I ever owned a horse again I was going back to miniatures, and needed to find healthy trained ones with the fewest number of owners previous to me, the total opposite of all  I have done before. Everything with Ella ended very sadly and I learned yet again that I am not good at reading people.
       As we entered winter in late november I  became acutely aware that I may not be a good goat farmer, I really didn't like keeping a buck. and after giving him a couple opportunities with Dolly and a couple weeks later both Dolly and Sue he turned really nasty and started ramming me knocking me down, later a fall at work and my knees were in so much pain I couldn't take it. He found another herd to join. Dolly appears to be pregnant, Susie I'm not sure. Dolly still causes an uproar at every feeding racing around ramming everybody and it's particularly hard on Dharma. Dharma and Dougie got sheared, I love their kid mohair quality fleece and I took it to be proccessed into yarn, I must learn to crochet as I want a scarf or shawl and hat from it. 
     With Ella re-homed I really did miss having a horse, and brought home an adorable little Palomino mini.


 As adorable as Jasper is he is so small, and really hates the goats as it turns out, he is quite unwilling to share the pasture with them. Then I came across a mini who seems to be exactly what I wanted, well trained to drive, a large mini gelding, but I am back to a bay horse,of course I have always loved a bay, and this little guy has a carriage horse build in miniature, sweet and easy going he will stand as long as necessary for harnessing. I fell in Love!
    I really do like how easy mini's are to keep, easy to clean, my hay is down to half of what it was last year, even with all the goats waste, shavings are a quarter of what I used for one horse,they don't punch up the ground any where near as much, I am never worried they are too powerful for me, they have sweet gentle personalities and  I still have a horse I can drive, and a cart that's truly easy to get in and out of, I'm sold! The really neat thing is Vision (honestly I think he will get a nickname soon) is totally trained to drive single and double and I am dreaming of driving a pair, Totally!
                  
                      The Collies are well, although we all have cabin fever from this miserable cold nasty winter, Roma is still happy and active though arthritic, Savi and Ripple have so much joie de vivre that they keep all of us entertained, and Derby, Halle and even Inca playing along with them!

        Spring, Spring we await your arrival!! Please come early!