Little Horses In Their Corral

It's taken a few weeks to get Blue and Remy accustomed to spending their days in the new corral and their nights in the barn:

Remy was especially rebellious and our walks between the barn and corral (in both directions) became frightening for me as I thought he might accidentally (or intentionally?) hurt me:

But over time, both little guys have calmed down and seem now to enjoy their new lives:

I throw a brick of hay over their fence each morning because they have almost no grass left in there to eat. That is, after all, why they're in there:


My Amish neighbor trimmed their hooves the other day and said it was obvious they'd had laminitis (grass founder) but were healing nicely:


And sometimes their friends, the cows, come and lie down just outside the fence as if they want to keep them company:

It may be anthropomorphism on my part, but I really think both cows and horses enjoy these closeness sessions, even though separated by an electric fence:

Remy, being the most clever and mischievous, is the first to be led out in the morning and first to be led back to the barn in the evening. In the morning, I tie him to the Box Elder tree while I go to fetch Blue from the barn:

I tie Blue to the tree in evening so I can safely lead Remy back to the barn for the night - but that doesn't stop Remy from being mischievous:

I took this shot from the road one day while the cows were visiting the horses. It seems to have become a ritual:

And I took this picture from inside the horses' corral just as the cows were moving on. Things have been blessedly peaceful recently:

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:

Remy And Blue

I think Blue and Remy look particularly beautiful when they're grazing near the county road, a scenic picture for passersby:

 If you've been reading this blog, you know that both horses began to get grass founder (laminitis) from eating too much sugary, green grass. I began putting grazing muzzles on them during the day and locking them in the barn at night to keep the problem from worsening. Life since then has been a struggle to keep them in their muzzles and find the discarded muzzles when they slip out of them:

 A blog reader suggested the yellow flagging ribbon, and it has worked admirably. I can see that they are still wearing their muzzles from a distance by checking for the bright yellow flagging:

 Remy still loves attention and it is often difficult to photograph him because he's rushing to get to me for more petting:

 Blue was always more shy and reticent, but a hidden bonus of the new muzzles is all the extra handling they get. Both boys have become even more tame and gentle than they were previously:

 They come back to the barn eagerly at 5:00 each evening for the scant 1/4 cup of grain I give them (too much would worsen the founder). I remove their muzzles for the night and they seem happy:

 They graze all day long but the muzzles slow down their consumption:

 I had to put cow collars on them to which I tie the muzzles in order to help keep them on. I learned, though, not to tie them with baling twine because Blue sometimes slips off the muzzle and then gets his legs caught in it as it hangs from the collar. Now I use small Chihuahua collars with a quick-release feature (you can see the red collar on Remy in this photo). The problem is that they go through about four of them per week:

 I did use baling twine for Remy one day when I ran out of Chihuahua collars, but he's never gotten entangled in one like Blue has:

 Both boys have become more accustomed to their muzzles. They don't like them, but they don't fight them like they did at first:

 And both boys seem happy and healthy:

 One added benefit of this new system is all the extra exercise I get as I walk the pasture, searching for the shucked muzzles. In this case, one of them had slipped out of the muzzle, cow collar and Chihuahua collar. They sure do keep me on my toes: