Spring Ideas...Unicorns

The days have been so nice but with this nice weather also comes the blooming of plants and pollination as well.  I have had allergy symptoms for days and have been cooped up avoiding the pollen.  After more than enough rest it must be time to get creative.  So I came up with unicorns....as close to the real thing as possible.☺  The minis are very co-operative while we play dress up.  Now I can say unicorns have walked on Texas soil.

Freindship

♥ Destiny came to us very thin and I wondered if she still had a will to live.  She has a petite frame and seemed so frail.  Each day she seemed to get a little stronger.  One day she began kicking and hurling herself at the buddy she came with, who's weight was good.  I knew that of the small amount of food they were getting he ate the most by his body condition.  When I first met them and they first came to live here they were inseperable.  Destiny followed Kiwi like a shadow.  Then the day of strength must have came for her and she let Kiwi know he would never eat all the food again.  For me it was a relief, the first sign she did have a will to live.  To this day she has to be separated at feeding time, which is most of the time according to her and has only been allowed surpervised visits with some of the younger geldings.  When my mare Sparkle had the seizure and went on a special diet I began separating her with Destiny.  Sparkle is 21 now and is the lead mare of the senior herd but now she needed rest and a break from leadership for awhile.  Destiny who is 5 immediately made it clear she was to be the boss in their herd of 2, unusual for Sparkle she accepted this and let Destiny be in charge.  They have been together for several weeks now and I've not seen any sign they were becoming friends or even liked each other.  As I was leaving for my afternoon errand I noticed Destiny mouthing Sparkle's neck and back.  I backed out slowly because I wasn't sure if Ishould see what they were up to and break them up in case Destiny was picking on Sparkle.  I kept watching and Destiny switched sides while Sparkle just stood there.  I realized that Destiny was going to groom her, that friendly scratch horses give each other on the withers. I watched them intently as my son closed the gate. I felt so happy for Destiny she now had a freind or a buddy at least.  She really didn't seem to know what to do at first but Sparkle patiently showed her and tolerated her clumsiness. ♥

Sparkle

Sparkle was my first mini horse.  I got her when she was 16 years old ironically 16 years after I had seen a miniature horse for the first time.  Today Sparkle is 21 and counting!  Recently she had a seizure.  She was twitching and couldn't stand up without help but at 250# it wasn't easy to help.  I couldn't imagine if this was happening to a full size horse.  I now empathize with those that have HYPP positive horses and appreciate how important their diet is to them.  After our emergency trip to the vet and some bloodwork results the solution was simple?! Karo syrup as she had a low blood sugar level.  Total opposite of what some of my other minis have trouble with which is insulin resistance, with spikes in blood sugar.  This has all set in motion countless hours of research on equine nutrition, diabetes, hypoglaucemia, vitamins, minerals, holistic treatments, etc......I really love it. Sparkle is now on a special diet I have developed for her and has not had another seizure or a need for more Karo Syrup.

This is my favorite picture of Sparkle and her mini mule son Echo with Thibideaux his Dad in the background. The only baby she ever got to keep! She had 6 owners previous to me and was a broodmare. Around here she is our special girl and Echo is her constant companion and friend. Echo is believed to be the reason she had low blood sugar as he is 4 years old and was still nursing...now he is being weaned by us because for whatever reason Sparkle has not made him stop. I never worried about it since she was not going to be bred again until the night of the seizure.  She is just too good of a mommy. Currently Echo is hanging out with his Dad, Tibby.

Horses are not so easy to feed and care for as they are grazers yet have small stomachs and miles of intestines.  I find the challenge of feeding each one as an individual very gratifying.  Funny though the kids and I still like junk food and don't spend half as much time worrying about our own nutrition.  I think that's because we don't really want to hear about the things we shouldn't eat since some things are too good to resist even if we could make better choices.  I have a couple of minis that feel this way too and I'm thankful they don't know about Sonic and those shakes or what french fries and hamburgers are. 

Brandy

Well tonite we got a call from Down Under Horsemanship and they selected another horse, although Brandy is still on the back-up list.  I actually feel good about this because she must not be naughty enough for a Demo Horse.  I've been to Parelli and Clinton Anderson tours and think Clinton Anderson picks some really tough Demo horses.  The best trailer loading demonstration I've ever seen (and learned from) was at a Clinton Anderson tour and I've seen a 3+ hour trailer loading demonstration by Linda Parelli.   Not that that says alot because they are all my favorite trainers. 

I think I will take the money I would have spent on taking Brandy to the tour and invest it in some Clinton Anderson DVD's.  I already own about everything Parelli has done and last year I began following Down Under Horsemanship but have only purchased a couple of halters for Brandy and Dancer and an absolute must, an Aussie Tie Ring.  I still have a collection of John Lyons books I enjoy reading and drawing information from but I saw him do a demonstration once and unfortunately it put me to sleep, so I will stick to his books.

We will resume Brandy's training with the Down Under method and see how it goes.....it will give me something to blog about.