Visitor

Today Ellie got a visit from my wonderful farrier, Mike. He said that her feet are "interesting". I was really proud of Ellie today. She let me catch her, lead her out of her pasture (her comfort zone) and right into the barn she's never been in. She stood, and Mike had her done in no time, asked me to walk her and stuck around to watch her play in the round pen for a minute.

Mike then asked me if I rode her on the trails.

I was shocked, I told him no, I don't ride her at all...I figured she was too lame to ride. He said he thought I ought to try to get on her and see how she does, that he thinks she'd benefit from some exercise. I have a friend, Charlotte, who says she'll hop on her, so we'll see what happens!:P

She is starting to get quite the belly. I'm a little concerned she might be bred, I didn't think it would be possible, and haven't had any reason to believe she was, but now that she is up to weight, her belly seems to be un-proportionately large. I cut back on her grain some, so we'll see if that helps with the belly. If not I have the vet coming in April to check teeth, do shots, and maybe we'll palpate while he's here.

She is now getting:

Free choice hay
Pasture
1/2 Scoop Allegra Sr
1 scoop Probio Blend
1 scoop Farriers Formula
1 scoop flax seed
1 scoop BOSS

I think she looks pretty good!:)

Ellie has a REALLY nice trot. Too bad she is lame at a walk!

Here she is just standing around in the pouring rain.

Ellie The Mudball

Ellie's pretty self prior to our grooming sesh.

So it's been about a month since I moved Ellie to Paradise. She settled right in, and has made some over-the-fence buddies, is scarfing down food like a little piggy, and enjoying 2 acres alllll to herself. Of course instead of taking advantage of all that space she opts to stand in the mud (well, OK, wet dirt) next to the gate seperating her and the 3 year olds.

Go figure, you rescue a horse from the muddy cold kill pen, put them in a warm, dry barn, and they end up happier out in a field where they can wallow in the mud like pigs!:)

This is Ellies "My Give a Damns Busted" Face:)

I went out last weekend and spent some quality time grooming her (she is shedding quickly, but it's been too cold to remove her blanket to give her a good grooming). A good curry, some shed blade action and a quick brush. She had a nice shiny coat going for awhile, but now that it is Spring her coat has dulled, died and begun falling out in clumps...she is nearly bald in some spots. I'm thinking thanks to all the good food and vitamins her body is working on ridding itself of all the crappy/dead hair and is going to start all over and grow a brand new coat!:)

Standing "tied" to the fence getting a good grooming. You can sort of see her

gaskin/hip area where she is "balding"

Today I went out and gave her a few treats and made her grain. I've decided that since we are starting from scratch on her coat that I would add in a few goodies to really give it a chance to "shine" if you will.

This is Ellie today. As you can see the HORRIBLE rain has actually not had TOO

much effect on her pasture, except the place she likes to "wallow".

So her new diet is pretty much free choice orchard grass, pasture and once a day she gets:

1 scoop Senior feed
1/2 scoop rice bran
1 oz Farriers Formula
1 oz Probio Blend
1 oz Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
1 oz Flax Seed

I am hoping this diet will make for a chunky, shiny little mare come Spring;)

Tara