We have had a 25 degree change from yesterday morning to this morning. I don't know the overall temperature shift but it's pretty prominent. Yesterday was oddly hot and humid for the last day of September with temps starting at 74 degrees. I was shocked when I stepped outside to do chores. 74 degrees at 6am is crazy and usually only happens once in the summer (not in the fall). Had I known, I would have opened every window in the house! I love fresh air!
Fast forward to this morning, I struggled to get out of bed with a thunderstorm rolling in but it being so dark I had no motivation. It wasn't like a normal thunderstorm where I could see it rolling in. I woke to rain on the roof and rumbling thunder (a hard motivation to get up and get moving when snuggled under a warm blanket). When I did run out to let the big herd out to pasture, it was 49 degrees. Hello October! The rain, the clouds, the dark mornings and early nights are normal for this time of year so yesterday was a bit of a shock. My only regret is that I didn't take the day off the paying job to get a few outside projects worked on while the weather was warm.
I forgot what it was like to do chores in the dark (both morning and night). Now that the pastures are close to being done, I need to start supplementing with grain for the hard keepers. Some aren't exactly hard keepers but they aren't the ones that get fat on air. So now we are graining Lace, Jim, and Jesse. I want to start graining Dude but he hasnt' figured out what I'm asking of him just yet so he doesn't stand at the door waiting his turn to get in.
I set up corral panels to let Lace in to grain her. She gets annoyed because the ponies try to bother her. Jim has the entire barn to enjoy his mash. We'll be moving the ponies shortly but I want them to get the most of their lawn time as possible. The less I have to throw hay to them, the better! Then there's Jesse. Because I'm still getting used to her, I can't take as many liberties as I would with others. I can't feed her in the pen with Ransom and Diavlo because they push her out. So that means I have to halter her and lead her out, making sure the other two don't try to escape (darn boys). I can't grain her in the stall in the hay shed because she will freak out (or so I'm guessing). The geldings are very insecure without Jesse there with them. They aren't happy that she's on the other side of the fence in full view of them. But Jesse is quickly figuring out the grain thing. I halter her, lead her out, and I stand patiently while she devours her grain mash.
She's much too thin for my liking. I really dont' know if she'll make it this winter but I have to try before making the decision to put her down. This could very well be a simple lack of extra nutrition and bad teeth. She didn't lift her head the entire time she was eating. Usually the others always life their head and spill their grain (some do it on purpose to make eating last longer). But not Jesse. She didn't lift her head until she had the feeder almost licked clean. That tells me she's hungry and of course she loves her food. We are starting her off slow with the grain. I suspect she's not had grain before, just treats. Because I don't know the condition of her teeth, we are soaking everything. She's on one scoop of Purina Senior at the moment but after she adjusts, I want to increase that amount and possibly mix in a few other grains to help generate more weight gain. We'll see. Every horse is different for gaining weight. Jesse was more than happy to go back to her pen after she was done eating but I think she would have been content to eat her grain longer. But doing chores in the dark with kids that need to go to bed limited the amount of time she could stand around and lick the entire dish clean.
Jesse needs a sponsor. She needs teeth done, farrier work, and massive amounts of grain, besides a new blanket. I'm not sure she's ever had a blanket but it's definitely needed if she's going to survive this winter. She lost weight after coming to the Sanctuary. She's in a pen and that's not to her liking. She needs to be on pasture but I'm not yet ready to split her herd up and put her in with Lace and Mayhem. I'd rather not stress out Lace yet. So we are keeping a close eye on Jesse and will have to figure something out if she continues to lose weight because of stress.
Tomorrow we are supposed to try loading the last mare to get her home. If not, I'll be walking her this weekend to get her home. So stressful. Hopefully with the other mare home, Jesse will calm down.
