National Different Colored Eye Day

Today is National Different Colored Eye Day! Skippy has one blue eye and one brown eye (maybe that’s one good side and one naughty side?) King has partial blue eyes.

Let’s see your pets with different colored eyes!

#DifferentColoredEyeDay

Pasture Pictures

I didn't get a chance to take pictures last night because everyone came up from pasture while I was out. After one day, they are already trained to come into the drylot for the night. I'm guessing it had more to do with the flies and mosquitoes than anything else but I'll take it.


There is so much relief right now for me with almost everyone out on pasture. No more hay (except the ponies and Mayhem and that will change soon). Everyone is pretty well content to enjoy the grass, water, and shade that summer brings. No more heavy winter coats, coveralls, boots, hats, gloves, mittens, etc. to don before trudging out. I can just walk out the door and not have a care in the world other than making sure everyone is comfortable in the heat.


Hard to think that 2 months ago, we were dealing with winter and snow. But I'm happy for summer even if it seems like we are dealing with July weather rather than June weather.


I will leave you with a few pictures from that first morning and their complete enjoyment of being out on pasture. Love seeing the look of pure bliss on the horses

Brego

King, with Zeke and Brego in the background

Jim and Rain

The herd (much smaller this summer but still very diverse)

Maverick trying to photobomb King's picture

Shoo Fly Leggings

During the Tri State Horse Expo I bought Shoo Fly Leggings knowing that others have really loved them. We have too many for me to buy enough for the entire herd and to go all the way around all four legs of everyone but figured I'd buy two sets to see if they worked.


Junior and Lace weren't sure at first but they started loving them right away as the flies are terrible. We are in the first of June and the flies and heat are typical for July weather. That worries me but I guess that's for another post.


I put the other set on King and Dude. I debated on who to put the other set on but figured with King being ouchy footed and Dude having hip problems, they would be the best candidates to try them out. Otherwise, we might try Brego and Zeke. But for now Dude and King are sporting theirs. King wouldn't move and Dude was high stepping. I guess he's never had boots on before!


I'll leave you with just a few pictures from last night.

King refusing to move after the Shoo Fly Leggings were put on.

Dude didn't seem impressed but I bet he'll be today!

I'm sure they were having a conversation about what tortures I put them through

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday to last summer with King (and no the big squiggly thing on the right is not a snake, it's just a branch. Lord help me if I ever see a snake that big!).

Be My Valentine - King

Meet King
King's registered name is Peppy Cutter King and is a 20 year old registered paint. We originally bought King as a personal horse to replace Dude as a riding horse. King has a number of quirks while riding so he did not really turn into the go-to horse I had hoped. He came with shoes on in the middle of winter and that should have been a red flag.

King has flat feet. It leaves him sore and means he walks very slow. We've tried shoes and boots and nothing seems to help.

In 2017 we decided to enter him into the Sanctuary. With his feet and a few other issues, we opted to let him retire.

For being a fairly large horse, his personality is rather meek. He blends into the herd with no real best friend. Jim has taken to eating near him at times. I have also recently seen him start play fights with Lightening.

King is a quiet horse but rather unsure of himself when he's not with his herd. His quiet demeanor makes me forget how big of a horse he really is.

King is also a bit claustrophobic so he prefers to not be in the barn. Because of his white noise, he often gets sunburned but doesn't like wearing masks.

Overall King is a great horse at the Sanctuary and seems to meld with almost anyone thanks to his quiet personality.

Would you like to sponsor King? $50 would go to his routine trims to help with the flat feet and buy a bag of grain to keep him happy. In return you would receive monthly updates and pictures of King hanging out enjoying retirement.

You can send sponsorships thru www.paypal.me/Borderlands or mail them to
Borderlands Horse Sanctuary
Po Box 164
Humboldt, SD 57035

#MyValentine

Play Time

We're warming up out of a deep freeze. I think everyone is happy for warmer weather. Here's a few pics from the other night during sub zero temps. I had to kick Lightening, King, Chaos, and Maverick into a different pen while the rest were in the barn. These four went into a different pen so we could put in hay. Nothing like waiting until it's 10 below to put in hay.

I'll let you caption these pics.

Wishlist Wednesday

Wishlist Wednesday

This Wishlist Wednesday, we wish for senior feed. We aren't picky about the brand, we integrate the senior feed if/when we switch brands. The senior horses (and hard keepers) need senior feed to keep them fat, happy, and sassy during the long, cold days and nights of winter. We want to give them just a little bit extra when they need it to make sure they maintain the correct weight.

Even one bag makes a difference in making sure our senior horses and hard keepers maintain the right weight to keep them happy.

Junior and Lace

King, Chaos, Dude, Rain, and Zeke

Zeke

Throwback Thurday

Throwback Thursday to last summer with Penny and King

Thankful Day 22

Thankful Day 22.

I am thankful for beautiful weather in November.

Cicada or Kattydids

I'm not sure what you call them. We call them katydids (of course I can't spell it). I was always told that once you heard katydids, you had 60 days until the first frost. I'm doing a little bit of digging (and finding other people's blogs) and they say 6 weeks.


I happened to find my post from last year about katydids and it was July 6th that I mentioned them. I don't remember when we had a frost last year. Last year was a blur.


So if it's true, I heard them this week. Six weeks from now would put us at August 25th. There's no way we'll get a frost. Mid September, I could see that happening.

Brego

With all the climate changes, I'm not sure any of these old wives tales work any more. The one about precipitation 90 days after fog was almost spot on when we were in an "El Nino" but now, not so much. I used to count the days on the calendar and knew when a storm was coming. But not any more. It's impossible to predict these days. I'm not sure if it's because we aren't in an "El Nino" any more or if the climate change has something to do with it.


Either way, I'm going to start preparing. It's hard to think winter when tomorrow will be almost 100 degrees. But I'd rather be prepared. I've been so unprepared the last few years that it would be nice for the first time in a very long time to NOT be caught with my pants down!

King

(Pics are from the other night. King and Brego were the last two to come in for the night to avoid the mosquitos).

Summer Pasture Time!

I spent Saturday scrambling to get the temporary fencing up so that I could release the big herd. I've been more than anxious to get them out on grass. The hay guy is worried about having enough hay, which makes me even more nervous. So having horses out on pasture means no more putting hay in! Hopefully with dividing the pasture, we'll be able to rotate enough and be able to bring the horses back to this section of the pasture later this summer. It'll also give me a chance to do some serious spraying.


I've been trying to spray at least once a week to go after weeds that have been long forgotten and are taking over. I'm excited to see the results. So much neglect over the past couple of years and I'm finally getting back to it. Not sure that I'll get to do any spraying this week but this week is going to be busy.


I wish I would have taken my camera last night to take pictures. There was some pretty sights last night out in the pasture. But for now, I'll leave you with a few pictures of the first day out to pasture.




Jim and King



Brego, Dude, and Chaos



Rain and Jim

Penny supervising the herd

Penny having a discussion with Brego (and Brego's shadow, Ivan)

Wishlist Wednesday

Our Wishlist Wednesday (on a Thursday because I ran out of time), is for hay. We wish for any hay, in any form. We need hay for the summer months to feed the ponies (and King). Lace will be taking King's spot out in the pasture. King has decided to not respect electric fence. We put up temporary fence to rotate the horses and if King is pulling down fences, we won't have any pastures to rotate to.

So, we need hay for the summer (and so Lace can not be such a crab).

Wishlist Wednesday

Wishlist Wednesday. We wish for little tires for our wheel barrows and yellow hay wagon. About once a year, each one of the tires goes flat and there's no way of repairing them. The little tires cost about $10 at TSC. We have one one-wheeled wheel barrow, one two-wheeled wheel barrow, and two hay wagons. That's a lot of tires that go flat in a year!

King. It's an old picture but he hasn't changed. Although I'm starting to see some age on him.

Stupid Paint

Well, we are back to square one with the big pasture. Last week before we left on vacation, Mike moved the temporary electric fence so the horses would have the ENTIRE bottom half of the pasture (along with the quarter that they’d been on for the past month). Everything was supposed to be golden. The last little quarter that they’d been on in June would hold them while we were in the hospital in September.

We got home last Wednesday night and being that the baby is sitting on a nerve, I didn’t feel the urge to check everyone in the dark out in the pasture and worry about tripping on a rock or falling in a hole. So I opted to wait. What did I find when I went to check on the big herd, the whole damn herd in the one part of the pasture we’d been trying to keep them off of.

I was more than livid when I saw it. I had no idea where they broke the fence. So much for having ANY pasture in September so that I wouldn’t have to worry while I’m in the hospital or have to call in yet ANOTHER favor.

I have my suspicion that it was King who did all the fence pushing and fence breaking.  I am putting him in with the ponies and that will be the end of this crap (sorry, I’m just that angry over the entire deal). I don’t know if the pasture where I wanted to put them in September will come back in time. There’s less than a month but we have been getting rain. I don’t know. I am afraid they were on that part of the pasture the entire time we were gone. Furious doesn’t begin to explain my mood these days with those blasted horses.

Next year when I’m finally physically able, we are dividing the pasture permanently. I’m going to deal with this any more. And it could be that King will become a drylot horse. He’s already got the beginnings of laminitis in one of his feet. He might as well be drylotted with the ponies. I can’t figure out that two years ago we had half the herd out at the  neighbors in ONE STRAND of electric and this time around there’s two strands and they keep blowing through it.

King.

He and Jim were the two that were never allowed over at the neighbors. Jim respects and fears electric (but if he does get loose he’s a runner). So it has to be King.

He is now permanently removed from the big herd until further notice.

F.U.R.I.O.U.S.

Anyone want a big fat, naughty, paint?

Meeting Time

I think the horses were having a meeting and the cat, Little One, was running the meeting.

Ten Types of Horses

This article made me laugh.. it so fits all of the Sanctuary horses

http://www.horsecollaborative.com/the-10-different-types-of-horses/

1. Hard Keeper

• Bo
• Junior
• Jim
• Brego

2. Mr. Tender Toes

• King

3. The Easy Keeper

• Tommy
• Skippy

4. Alpha Mare

• Rabbit

5. Scaredy Cat

• Ivan
• Rain

6. Accident Prone

• Mayhem

7. Experienced Rider

• Dude (although he's no longer allowed to be ridden)

8. Escape Artist

• Chaos

9. Stable Vice Master

• Luckily we don't have anyone with a stable vice (thanks to 24x7 turnout)

10. Bombproof Babysitter

• Maverick - he's our sorrel diamond in the rough... a true sorrel unicorn
• Zeke - as long as you know how to ride, Zeke is amazing to ride

#NPCommPix - Day 24 Happy Hour

Any time with the horses is considered happy hour!

#NPCommPix - Day 23 Kids at Work

The horses are our kids. And they do make it tough to get anything done with they want to "help"

#NPCommPix - Day 26: Answers

I actually wanted to post a picture of the playday but was too tired. The playday is an answer to our fundraiser needs! But for now, I posted King and Maverick having a discussion. I'm sure one was asking a question and the other answering.

#NPCommPix - Day 4: Awareness

#NPCommPix - Day 4: Awareness

King trying to find the rest of the herd