What they do with free time

These horses are worse than a barrel of monkeys when it comes to getting into trouble. This is Reno, who is in to deal with his cut up leg and ouchy hind hoof. He needs to be walking around to keep the blood flowing, and everything healing, so I do not make him stay in a stall. I just shut the gates by the barns, and let him roam around. He stays pretty busy, stealing food from Playmate and flirting with Riot, and supervising babies, all of whom are in lots that are close to the barn. He is healing really well too--especially the puncture wound that we never did see, on his left hind. His gait is almost normal now--just a little limp every once in a while, and I am starting to think he is faking that.

Anyway, this is what he looked like after breakfast on Sunday. Normal--with a stringy mane, but every thing else on his head was as it should be.

And this is what he looked like after lunch....missing some hide on his forehead. It is a big ol chunk too--with a teeny tuft of hair left in the middle. Not a drop of blood anywhere and it does not hurt--he just knocked the hide off.

Evidently, he has some free time on his hands to find things to get into and tear himself up further. I may not be able to stop that, but I can for sure give him something else to think about.

So tonight, while the waters were running....and running....and running... I decided to see just what Reno would put up with. He was "helping" me get the feed buckets ready, with his head stuck in the deep freeze, so I tossed a saddle pad on him. He was not sure what he thought of that, but he was not horribly upset. He trotted off a bit, not in a panic, and not in enough to get it off---he just moseyed away and started grazing. Hmm, I thought....that was easy.

I decided to up the ante, and tied him to see what he would do if I put it back on there. He did nothing. Not a damn thing. Just stood there and looked bored. It cracked me up to see him with that big oversized cutting pad on him. He is a little bitty squirt, only about 13'2" so far, and just a little over two years old, so not even close to being ready to start. I get so used to how little they are at that age, I do not think about it. These pictures though, cracked me up--he looks like a little kid playing dress up.

I figured I might as well keep pushing him, since the waters were STILL running. I got out the barrel saddle, as it is the lightest, and I put it on him. I was not super easy about it, but I did not flop it up like I normally would do. He was a little tense, so I took it easy and obviously did not cinch it up tight. I left him there to think about it for a minute or two while I went to flip the hose. When I got back, he had relaxed a lot, and seemed fine with it, so I took it off. I put it on again a few times, and snugged it up a little more and waited for a reaction. Nothing came.

Fine, I says. Now what? The water was still running, and I had already mowed the yard. I did not feel like cleaning up all the junk in the barn from when the other marauders tore it all up, so I took Reno on a walk. We visisted the other pastures and flopped the stirrups on his sides, and wiggled the saddle. I never got much reaction out of him, but he seemed more in tune to seeing what I wanted from him than he normally does when I am just leading him somewhere. I almost think he had fun having some mental stimulation, processing all that was happening.

Interesting. That was pretty easy. I will keep at it, so that this little bit of business will be done by the time he goes to the trainer, whenever that may be.

It won't be tomorrow though, since Dad is having surgery for his bladder cancer and I have a board meeting after work, and am taking Rita out to dinner for her birthday.

Step 2 of Baby Boot Camp

This is young Reno, whose good nature got the best of him tonight. I was bound and determined to get these babies vaccinated, Barry or no Barry. So Madison and I did it.

This required a refresher on leading, standing still for attention, general baby skills that we just started teaching in stage one of baby boot camp. Because Reno is such a doll, he was the first guinea pig....instead of shuttling the babies from their paddock to their stalls, Madison fetched him up in his paddock. He may never do that again, as it meant he got more action tonight than anyone else did. He not only demonstrated that he is an easy going laid back sort of dude, but he was a lot of fun.

Like most baby boys though, he took issue with his vaccines. Has anyone else ever noticed this about foals? It is almost always the boys that have problems with that. I just do not get that. I have had so few colts compared to fillies lately ( hallelujah Jesus, but I probably just jinxed myself), that the differences kind of stick out. I have 2 colts and 6 fillies this year, and 8 fillies, and one colt last year---and inevitably, it is the boys that have been sissies about ouches and veterinary care.

Anyway, Reno got some new pics and he has the craziest marks on his legs. White splatters of hair on his front legs, and I have no idea where they came from. When he was done, he got his shots, and the first one really pissed him off. I did not want Madison to get hurt--heck she is only 12 and handles these babies better than most adults, but I have to remind myself that she is not mine to beat up on and that she simply does not have the bulk that Barry does to handle them if a problem arises. We had to stick him somewhere until Barry got home to help me with that last shot--so we tied him at the baby training station.

I could not have been more proud of him. He wandered around a little, but it was not long before he decided to just stand there. We got busy doctoring all the others, and he ended up standing there for close to two hours. What a class act that colt is. None of the others got the tying lesson, as we were so busy doing pics and getting them vaccinated, but this one seems to have stuck with this child. That is so exciting to me, it is the little things that turn me on--and when a baby takes care of himself like that it is a good sign of things to come.

So tomorrow, someone else will get it. And we will work our way through them like that,

Speaking of which, we had an even bigger success with Echo. This one is a handful as are all of her maternal siblings. Tonight though, she was a lady, across the board. It seems to me that the ones that are the biggest pains in the ass early on are the ones that have the most talent, so it is a bit of a mixed blessing to get them like this. I really feel like I did something tonight having a breakthrough with her.

When Barry finally did get home, we ran out to the back and got all of the PK1 shots done. Some days are just like that--yesterday it was like shooting pool to catch these silly broodmares, and tonight, they were lined up like grown folk to do right. We not only knocked out every single shot that was due, including Melody who is always the one to put on the chase, but we got Foxy moved up to the middle pasture for her upgrade. Days like this do not happen very often around here.

And to top it off, Mojo and I made friends again. We did not get the trailer arrangement set up but we did get it designed and will put it into effect tomorrow nite.

All is good here at Malfunction Junction tonight

Gypsy gets mixed up

But this is not her baby. I doubt she has noticed, but that is a Aries' son, Reno.
I do not know what set her off but she kept doing laps around me, dragging babies with her, bucking and farting and kicking like a fruit loop---more than once I heard a horrible snap, and was sure she had made contact with one of the babies, but everyone came out of it sound.
She already has a round little tummy, even though she is only three months pregnant by now. Nursing is starting to draw her down, but I am going to let her keep her baby a few more weeks at least. I will probably do her and Aries at the same time, since their babies were born the same day. Shiloh is the more independent of the two so it will be interesting to see how that goes--you never know with the maiden mamas.
That is the right one--she must have realized she had them mixed up and took her own baby back.
I think that is her hiding behind Gypsy on this pass.


I love watching these two, and I guess I will never tire of trying to get a decent picture of her. It is sure a challenge though. Further complicating the matter is that with the Gator broken, it is too much trouble to go take pics in other pastures--so I will just keep snapping away at the same thing, I guess.

Reno's first day out

Was Friday afternoon--I got the okay from Dr Miles on Thursday--he said his legs looked great, but I wanted to save the turnout for Friday when Holly was here, as that usually makes for great pics. It did not do much for us this time.



He had the foal scours, which now scare the hell out of me after poor Turbo. We gave him some Biosponge and Holly got the best photo, I will have to see if I can put it up here.


Now he loses track of his mother and runs off with Rondee---what a doofus.


He is a cute little monkey though, no doubt about it.

Snap's boy is unfolding

This is Snap's son Reno on the day he was born. Those legs are a disaster, aren't they? I have had contracted tendons on babies before, but never knees that were contracted. They freaked me out a little. I showed pics to Dr M on Monday and he told me to wrap him 24 hours on and take them off for 24 hours, and not to cover the knees.

Monday around 1, he got a LA 200 shot to help relax the tendons. At 6 pm we wrapped him. Last nite, we took off the one remaining bandage as he had already taken off the right one, which was the more severely contracted. Of course it was.


These pics were taken tonight, just before we re-wrapped him. It is amazing to me the difference already. I was told to count on keeping him in and wrapped for a week, and now I can believe that he will be right in that length of time.

This pic below was taken as we were chasing him down to give him some Probios--my new thing to do, give it at day 1 and day 4 and see if it stops the foal scours. I have all sorts of new plans that probably won't make a damn bit of difference but will let me feel like I am being more aggressive. Anyway, this little monkey may be a little squirt but he is full of piss and vinegar, no doubt about it. He scoots around like a mad cat, and will spin out from under you before you know what hit you.

He is a lot of fun. He makes me laugh. I cannot wait until he gets turned out for real so he can play--I bet he will give me as many photo ops as Shiloh who keeps my camera clicking full time.


And when he is not acting like a fruitcake, he is a handsome young man, isn't he?

The newest addition

He kind of got lost in the lunacy of all that has gone on here this weekend, but here is Snap's baby boy born early Sunday morning. This picture is Sunday afternoon, in all his crooked glory. He does not have any idea he is not perfect though--he toddles around on those stilt legs, all wadded up in front, bobbing along, trotting like a puppy, happy as he can be.



His name might be Reno, it might not. You know I cannot commit, and with the scare we are getting over baby Turbo, I am kind of afraid to commit.

Here he is this evening, checking out his mama

He is seriously contracted on his knees, but we will get that under control. He got a hit of LA 200 today and will be supported by wraps until his tendons relax.


They have already come down quite a bit, and I bet by the time I take these wraps off tomorrow nite (he is doing 24 hours on, 24 off), he will be halfway there.

And if anyone ever tells you that a baby this size cannot put up a hell of a fight, don't believe them--not only did it take JoLynn and I both to wrestle him still for his LA 200 shot, but BS and I had our hands more than full trying to get him wrapped--this little wiggle can squirm with the best of them. I cannot imagine how full if it he will be when he finally gets off of stall rest in a week or so.

He is growing on me, even if he is so awkward right now, he cannot help but fall over himself