Sunday, June 13

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

Getting the second coat of paint on the front steps. They are kind of rough looking steps, but look more intentional with paint on them.

I planted some more little bedding plants in a container. I'm enjoying the flowers that I've planted so far. It's nice to have a little bit of cheerful color.

My sweetie worked hard today doing more leveling of the dirt in the area by the septic tank, and then seeding that dirt with grass seed. He's also filled in some ruts along the hedge where the truck for the septic tank installation drove last year.

I had some concern for Dandy today, and I'll have to keep an eye on him. I had let the ponies out to graze for a while in the afternoon, and when I went to bring them in, Dandy seemed...off. That's the only word for it. He didn't seem interested in treats (TREATS!) or the hay I put out, and he seemed uncomfortable and rolled a bit. That might mean colic, a dreaded word indeed for horse people. Colic is a blockage in the intestinal tract, and can become very serious.

Colic can be minor if it's just a bit of constipation and discomfort from gas, which can happen.

It also might have been nothing more than being a little hot, because it was so warm today, and not that interested in eating.

I contacted the vet, and she said his symptoms merited observation, but to try walking him for a while, to see if it might be just the gas, since he wasn't sweating, kicking his gut or trying to bite at it. So we did walk. We walked up and down the road. He seemed more comfortable after the first half hour or so of walking, and was back to grazing, but I really wanted to see a good poop. Finally after quite a lot of walking, he pooped a nice, big, normal poop.

As the vet pointed out, poop doesn't necessarily mean he isn't blocked somewhere above that point in the intestine, so I'm going to keep checking on him.

That said, he seemed comfortable, was not sweating or kicking or biting his sides, and was eating. He also had a drink, and peed.

The positive side to this, is that this is actually the first time I've taken him out on the gravel road, and without Ursula (his Mom). Neither one of them panicked that he was so far away from her, which is very good. Sometimes horses can become very dependent on their herd mates and will really have a meltdown if you separate them. Dandy was fine, and very interested in the walk down the road.

He behaved really well, and wasn't spooky or anything. I think he enjoyed going for a walk (and I would have really enjoyed it too if I wasn't completely freaking out).

It was actually a beautiful evening (aside from the inner terror), and we saw some deer, a fox, and a skunk, all in the same short bit of road in front of our property.

So, hopefully he's okay. I'll keep checking on him.

The upside, is that he and Ursula have done well with going for excursions outside of their own pasture, so maybe my sweetie and I can take the ponies for walks in the bigger pasture when we go, or out on the road. It would be good exercise for them.

I also took pictures of a few things and posted them on the buy and sell. I want to defray the cost of buying a nice little pony cart and clear out some of the stuff we have stored that we aren't using. We have things left from our house project/salvaged from the trailer that we won't need anymore, such as windows that we salvaged, the stove from the trailer (the house came with one that we're using), the tools from the fireplace that was in the trailer (if we install anything now, it will be an enclosed wood stove) as well as things that we have sitting around that we don't use. They might as well move along, and hopefully go towards a fun project.