A Horsey Emergency

The pasture grass has been gradually turning green, but I didn't think it was yet anything to worry about:

Nevertheless, I did notice that Blue was lying down more than normal:

 It appeared that Blue's hooves were already going bad, a case of Grass Founder, caused by too much high sugar, green grass. I was loathe to put their muzzles on again this year and begin the same daily battle with the horses which I had last year:

  The grass kept greening and then Remy began lying down much of the time also:

 One cold afternoon I put out a new hay bale and all the cows came over to eat from it. The horses were nowhere to be found:

So I drove out to the farthest corner of the field and found them both, standing still in the sleet and driving winds, looking miserable:

 Worse, Remy's hooves were badly tipped, a sure sign of painful Founder (laminitis):

It seems that the front of their hooves becomes painful, so they tip them back to relieve the pressure. It was obvious that I had to do something immediately and couldn't  put it off another day:

 So I drove back to the barn and parked the tractor. Then I grabbed two lead ropes and walked out through the driving sleet and snow to where I'd found the horses. I led them slowly back to the barn and locked them inside. Remy seemed happy to get out of the weather and to lie down on soft hay:

Blue did likewise, and I determined to keep them in the barn, eating only hay, until I could come up with a better plan:

I got moveable posts and set up a small corral for them inside the main fence (in case they escaped the new fence, they'd at least be inside the big fence). The Box Elder tree was inside their new corral for shade and I tied yellow flagging ribbons on the new wires to help make sure they noticed them. They've spent a few days in there so far, and I've brought them into the barn at night. It may get more difficult when their grass is all gone but just outside their fence is lush, green pasture. Time will tell: