Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Wednesday Evening

I love pulling into the driveway after work with almost two hours of light left.  Tonight, I flung the groceries onto the counter and ran upstairs to change into my jeans and a sweatshirt.  Brett had been busy painting the hen house today.  I love the color; so cheerful.

Brett asked me to help him bring the horses into the oak pasture for the night.  He let them roam around the ranch today.  Mufasa was already next to the pasture, ready to be tucked in for the night.

Flash was a bit further down, grazing underneath the tree house.

Jackson was the furthest away, chowing down on the green grass next to the dressage court.  His right front is brewing another abscess.  Poor guy.

Brett had both Flash and Mufasa in the oak pasture in the time it took me to move Jackson a few feet.  Once we got off the spongy grass covered ground and onto the packed dirt pathway, Jackson stopped and looked me with eyes that said he just couldn't make it all the way to the oak pasture.  We were right next to the donkey pasture so Brett opened the back gate and we put him in there.  He thanked me and got to work on the grass, which must have been very tasty judging by the way he was ripping at it with his teeth.

Tuffy wasn't too sure about sharing his pasture with Jackson.  When Jackson is sound, he enjoys chasing Tuffy.  Of course, he isn't in any shape to chase anything right now.  What is he doing in here??!

Are you listening to me?? I want him out.  Now.

Sorry Tuffy.  Deal with it.  Jackson is moving in until his abscess bursts.  Put on your big boy pants.

With the animals safely tucked in for the night, I headed into the house and made dinner.  Black rice with mangos, oranges, peanuts and watercress, all tossed together with a lemon honey vinaigrette.





6 comments:

  1. I admire your energy. Black rice sounds interesting - I've never tried it and should.

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  2. And love the bright red henhouse!

    A question about Jackson - with his metabolic/foot issues, is he on medication for Cushings (or has he been evaluated for this), do you use a supplement with chromium (often very helpful with glucose metabolism issues), and should he be on any grass at all?

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  3. poor tuffy may have had a restless night.

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  4. Nice work Brett! Love the look of that mango/black rice dish...delish +. Never had such a thing. Your place is looking great with all that green. As for Jackson and Kate's comment about grass. I can see being careful if it is founder, but not so sure about keeping him off for an abscess. Hope gets through this quickly.

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  5. Lori - the reason I raise foot issues is that recurrent footsoreness/poor hoof quality/frequent abscesses is often an indicator of underlying metabolic issues.

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  6. Love the chicken house, and your donkeys are soooo cute Annette. Glad you're enjoying the extra hours of light - me too!

    Chiming in with Kate - was wondering too about metabolic issues and Jackson's grazing. I believe being prone to abscess is one of the symptoms of that constellation of conditions related to insulin resistance, cushings and metabolic problems. Sometimes it's really hard to determine which part is the chicken and which the egg.. (see what I did there? ;D)

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Thanks so much for commenting!