Fearful Hands

Every morning, I hand feed the alpacas with a large plastic bowl of alpaca pellets and I've been able to catch Thelma by reaching under and grabbing her catch lead while she's eating. But still, both alpacas are really timid and keep shying away. I want them to reach through my two open hands for the feed. They don't want to. At. All.

Eventually, desire for the feed won them over. Louise got brave, reaching through my open hands and began to feed. I was able to gently touch both sides of her face. Then Thelma reached all the way through my open hands to the feed too. I was able to stroke both sides of her neck and poll. They feed one at a time, taking turns. Progress!! I am thrilled that I am getting to lay hands on them at last. I love touching their soft fleece. The catch lead dangles enticingly between my fingers each time one of them puts their head in the bowl. I decided not to try to catch them all the time and hopefully it will get easier to catch either one of them as time goes by. Here are some photos I took of Skyy and the alpacas. She usually comes in with me and lays down under their necks as I feed them. The alpacas don't seem to mind her although once, when she got too close to their hindlegs, she received a swift kick. Poor Skyy, she didn't know what happened but she learned not to go back there.

I have a four stall barn but it is not your typical layout of stall plus run, stall plus run, etc. The first and second stalls are a double pen with the two adjoining stalls sharing one door into the barn from the second stall, and no pen divider. The third stall has a small run and barn door access. The fourth stall has no barn door access, but a large run and an outside gate with access to the arena. I keep Nadia in the first and second stalls so that she has privacy from the other horses and she can eat her food in peace but she doesn't need both stalls. The other three horses live in the fourth stall with the arena access. Unfortunately, it gets crowded when they all try to squeeze into the 12x12 stall during bad weather. Poor Scout usually ends up part way outside. I'm thinking that by adding some pipe rail fencing and gates I can make the whole set up more functional.

If I add a gate on the outside fence of the first stall and run a pipe rail pen divider through the first two stalls, then I could put the alpacas in the first stall for the birthing and the winter months. I can reinforce the fencing with portable panels in the beginning so that they would have safety from predators too. Remember, I did that when Yalla! was born because she kept going through the pipe rails? I wouldn't want coyotes or even Sandy sneaking in and hurting/pestering the alpacas. They would have adjacent fencing to the horses but they would have area away from them, as well. Nadia charges at the alpacas but I imagine they would get used to each other over time. They'd have too, right? The second stall could be Nadia's. I could put a gate on the pipe rail divider between the third and fourth stalls to open it up and allow access from the barn to those two stalls for the other three horses. Or, I could take down part of the stall (gate?) so that they have one large stall. Or just leave Yalla! and Scout together in stall #4 and give Annie her own stall #3 next to Nadia's stall #2. Hmmm, still thinking about the layout there. . .

For now, with Louise due to cria in the next couple of weeks (I think!) building the shed would take too long. I decided to go back to my very original plans, when I first bought the alpacas, of placing them in the barn with the horses. For now, this is an easier and cheaper way to go.Okay, so this past weekend, we moved the alpacas to the barn. During the past week, I've been pulling round pen panels over to the barn and and then my son and I set them up in the first stall. We sat in the alpaca pen, offering feed until we finally caught Thelma. I also seized the opportunity to treat her back with the MTG that was recommended to me for her skin condition.

We tied Thelma up and tried to catch Louise but she was just too skittish. I suggested to my son that he walk Thelma over to the barn and then maybe we could catch Louise easier. They are like Siamese Twins, always doing everything in unison, as if they are joined together.

After Thelma left, Louise became frantic, but she wasn't going to come up to us to be caught, even though Thelma was gone. My son and I joined two ropes and tried to corner her. It took a couple of minutes because she would dart around a tree and we'd have to start over again but, soon enough, we caught her. Then my son led her over to the barn too.

The horses were excited to see the strange creatures up close.

I expected the alpacas to cower in the corner of the stall but they didn't. Yalla! came right up to the pen and she nosed the alpacas right through the rails.

Soon enough the novelty wore away for all the horses except Yalla! She seems to enjoy standing just outside their pen so that she can get closest to them.

First night in their new pen and all went well. However, I woke up at 5:30 AM, in a panic. I could hear lots of coyotes howling just out back, near the barn, and I was afraid that they were going after the alpacas. The panels are high enough on the bottom for animals to crawl under and I'm not so sure that coyotes won't make the attempt. I told my son about my fears and we decided that tomorrow he would move the panels and the alpacas into the third stall in the barn so that they will be surrounded by the horses and then he will put some wire up along the bottom of the panels for extra protection.

This morning, as I fed the girls handfuls of pellet feed, Sandy came in and stood around watching me feed them, picking up whatever pellets they dropped. I was glad to see that she wasn't chasing after them but it reinforced my fears of how accessible the alpacas could be to the coyotes, especially with a newborn cria coming soon.

Oh, and I put on cowboy boots for the first time since I broke my ankle. It hurt like the dickens! Although I only wore them a half hour or so, I now have a raw spot on my ankle where the plate and screws are. That's why my son walked the alpacas to the barn. I had to do as little as possible to save my poor ankle from getting torn up worse.

Fearful Hands - song: Blackout, artist:  David Bowie, album: Heroes

Too tense to be undone

I was out in the field the other day, visiting my horses as they grazed, when I decided to ride Scout. I put his bridle on and climbed up, using the nearby gate as a mounting block. I'm just not limber enough to jump up and climb on anymore like I used to and I worry too much about re-injuring my knee.

I used to ride Scout around the field last summer and Nadia would follow us. Or I'd ride Nadia and Scout would follow. Anyway, once I was on Scout's back, Annie decided it was time to take off running away from us, down the field. Sometimes I think she does this as a test- "who's with me?"

Nadia and Yalla! took off after her and Scout became panicked as they disappeared out of view. He danced and wheeled and I was seriously worried about getting unseated. However, I had to wait until he stood still to safely get off... What a predicament! I decided right then and there that he was a spoiled brat and far too herdbound to be safe. Anyway, he stopped to listen for them and I dismounted quickly to the side. Then the girls came running back.

I was angry and walked Scout out of the field and back to the barn leaving the other horses behind. He was stressed and neighed and neighed while Yalla! and Annie neighed back. I decided that I couldn't leave them separated overnight, as much as I wanted to, because the neighbors wouldn't want to hear horse screams all night long, so I waited a couple of hours and brought the girls in.

The next morning, I took Annie and Yalla! out to the field and left Scout and Nadia in the barn. Even though Scout had Nadia and the neighbor horses with him he ran around and screamed endlessly for Annie and Yalla! who ran up and down the field calling back to him. I had to go to work but my daughter took Scout and Nadia out to the field a few hours later. That evening, I went out to visit some really tired horses. Of course, you'd never know it the way they came running over to me. Shame on my daughter for leaving Nadia's and Scout's halters on! She certainly knows better.

And Yalla! had obviously run through a couple of cactus plants. This is her knee. Three of her legs looked like this. Sorry for the blurry photo; she wouldn't stand still. I pulled out one of the thorns from her leg and it spurted and dripped blood. WOW! I couldn't believe how much a little cactus thorn hole bled!

I figured that I'd better get them to the barn before I pulled any more cactus thorns out so that I could dose it with some Wound Kote to cauterize it and stop the bleeding if I needed to. I walked them all in together down the little lane and through the field behind my barn. We've met dogs, campers, and dumpsters on our little walks to and from the barn. Annie walks very lightly on a lead and Scout and Nadia follow behind or off to the sides. I keep Yalla! also on a short lead but she is learning to walk more and more easily. I am always aware of where everybody is and I try to keep Scout and Nadia to the outside with Annie and Yalla! at each arm's length. Everybody walks quite calmly and the only trouble I really have is when we stop (everybody gets tangled up) to open and close gates. Also, Yalla! got rather fidgety once when one of the long lead ropes (Scout or Nadia) got under her tail by accident. And every once in a while, Annie will close in on me and step into my heel by accident, I think I have a nice little bruise forming on the back side of my ankle, because there is one place just outside of the barnyard where Annie and Yalla! don't like my parked flat trailer and sidestepped me.

I always find it interesting how calm my horses get when we walk. Arabians lead like lambs and ride like lions. Someone told me that once and I think it is true. Although, in shows, they get all hyped up. I think they like to act crazy because that is what the crowd wants. My Annie was always extremely calm and well behaved when I took her to the vet's office repeatedly for her breeding a few years ago, even though she'd never been away from the barn previously and it was all strange to her. I remember leading my Thoroughbred mare years ago and it was like a freight train when she wanted to go someplace, walking with my elbow in the shoulder and pulling back on the lead. My Paint, Dude, could yank the lead out of my hands. And yet, Annie can come running up to me at full speed with her head up and then she just drops it when the halter goes on. Shahreen, my half Arabian was just like that. Nadia ponies and leads with almost no control needed. Even Yalla! is fairly light on the lead although she needs to learn "whoa" a little better.

When I walk the four of them together, I feel like the herdmaster. I can even stop them all when I want to, along the way. Scout steals mouthfuls of grass and weeds where he can, but he is willing to pick his head up and keep the pace rather than fighting to graze. See, even he is easy to lead with the Arabian blood, although he needs more active direction, from that Appy and Paint blood.

Anyway, since the horses were tired and I was not happy about Scout's herd anxiety behavior, I decided to ride him. I saddled him up and we rode over to the pasture. I got off at the water pump and intended to take the hose across the lane to fill the water tank when he got all jittery again, not because of the hose, but because he was away from his companions. I nixed the watering plan and tried to get on him. He wouldn't stand still. The neighbor was out walking his dog down the road and as he approached us he picked up the dog. I thanked him and proceeded to turn Scout around in circles until we were both dizzy. Then, when he stood still for a second, I climbed into the stirrup and jumped up quickly. Scout settled a bit and we rode around. He neighed once, back at Yalla!'s constant calling and then seemed to finally remember his manners. For the whole rest of the ride, he kept his mouth shut. We had a really nice ride through all the neighborhood lanes as the sun set and the moon rose. He walked calmly at a nice clip (not too slow or fast) with his head down even though I could feel he was still a little tense. We even trotted and cantered a little. I enjoy riding Scout because he is always alert but he is usually well behaved, like when the turkeys suddenly gobbled as we walked past and he never even flinched. We rode long after the sun went down but the moon was so bright there were shadows on the ground. It was almost 10PM when I finally went inside for the night after settling the horses down for the night.

I am going to keep on working at his herd anxiety because he demonstrates extremely risky behavior at times. I realize that if I ever plan on going trail riding with him, I need to teach him to be a loner. I have spoiled him in recent years by ponying Nadia along with us.

In parting- here's my little whirlwind. Since she has been turned out to pasture for the last couple of weeks, I've noticed that she seems to have grown. She is shed out now and muscling up nicely. She shows lots of spirit and loves to run the long field, still doing circles and figure eights around everybody. It must be her daddy's working cow horse genes ;). She has a wonderful shine to her black/brown coat and her everchanging star on her forehead is now looking more and more like an "f' again, even though I just told my mom I thought it looked more like a feather plume and less like an "f". It's so covered up by her thick forelock it really doesn't matter, I guess. She is also going to school these days. More on that later...

Too tense to be undone - song: Get Real, artist: David Bowie

kissing all the ladies

Scout's got a new girlfriend, or two. He loves the ladies and spends quite a lot of energy courting the neighboring mares to their squealing delight.

Kissing all the ladies - song: Somebody up There Likes Me, artist: David Bowie, album: Young Americans

But he can kick

Blue Hors Matine, the dressage sensation has died! It seems that she broke her knee in a freak pasture accident and had to be put down. For years now, I've watched this video with tears of joy from the beauty of it. Tonight, it's with tears of sadness.



I read somewhere that she was kicked in the knee by another horse who was out in the field with her. Such a tragedy!

My Annie was a kicker in her younger days. She has quite a lethal history too. After we bought her, we found out that she had kicked another horse in the knee and it was put down. Then, about six months after owning her, she kicked Scout's mother, Beighley, in the neck. Beighley used to boss everyone around and bite at them so, one day, when Beighley was snaking her head out to bite at Annie, Annie nailed her. Beighley's neck swelled horribly and we had her under vet care for ten days. The vet was coming out twice a day and giving her water with a tube, since she couldn't reach the water to drink, because of her stiff, swollen neck. As the swelling subsided, she went into choke on a wet mash. Long story short, the vet felt there was esophogeal damage and told us we needed to think about putting her down. Beighley made the decision for us when, one day, she got colicky. As my husband walked her around, she tripped and fell, breaking her neck, and dying instantly.

I've seen Annie kick my other horse, Riddler, in the knee. She liked him so it wasn't a hard kick. He didn't even swell up. We were lucky, very lucky! Even now, the other horses steer clear of her and her random kicks, which are rare, fortunately.

This morning, I noticed Yalla! kicking out at Scout. It brought back memories of Beighley, Riddler, and the other unknown horse victim. And then I read about Blue Hors Matine. What a kicker!!


But he can kick - song: All the Young Dudes, artist: David Bowie

Strange games they would play then

I notice that Yalla is snaking her head up and out quite often nowadays. Does anyone know why? She seems to do it around meal times as well as sometimes out in the field with the other horses. Is it a sign of subservience, a foal trait, an Arabian foal trait, or what? I don't see Annie doing anything to cause it...

Strange games they would play then - song: The Supermen, artist: David Bowie, album: The Man Who Sold the World

So thin and frail

Annie has never been an easy keeper. She is not easily tempted by food like other horses. I always believed she'd starve to death rather than give in, unlike most of my horses that have always been 'pigs in horse bodies'.

I believe that an underweight horse is healthier, overall, than an obese horse. There are less lameness and other health issues. Horses can gain and lose weight relatively quickly. My horses are evidence of my low maintenance plan. They almost never get sick or lame. The only lameness I experience are tenderness from freshly trimmed feet on rocky roads which clears up quickly.

But now, with Annie in foal, I feel like she's even more underweight. What should I do? I have more than doubled her hay (at least 3-4 flakes per feeding) and she gets a two pound coffee can of half cracked corn and half sweet feed twice daily along with her mare supplements. I graze the horses whenever I can on fresh grass. The hay I feed is grass (AM) and alfalfa & grass (PM). I think I am going to try adding vegetable oil to her grain as of today. Also, I paste worm about 5 times a year although I have never seen any evidence of worms in the feces.

I never used to give any of my horses grain unless they were exercised. Now I give Scout and Nadia a quarter can of grain mix almost every feeding because they get so excited when I feed Annie. Nadia can use it. Scout doesn't need it.

The last two times I've ridden Scout, he has acted like a fireball. Yesterday, he bucked and bucked. And spooked. This is unusual behavior for him. It could be the wind (it was really windy yesterday!) or it could be the grain.

Whatever the cause, I really trotted him down both in the round pen and out in the field where he was so "dancy". He got all sweaty on his neck and chest but dried very quickly so it was more of a nervous sweat than a workout sweat. He's acting very studly too, prancy and dancy all the time, and having big herd separation anxiety issues. I may just pull the grain and make him mad at me. That'll fix him! ;)

Just a few days ago, I was riding him and jumping off from both sides at a walk and trot to see what he would do. He stopped as soon as I shifted my weight out of the saddle. Of course, this was in the round pen. But still, it's good to know that he stops... And he has no issues with mounting from either side.

Any suggestions on feeding Annie or any of my horses? I'd love to hear your suggestions for feeding plans and how grain affects behavior.

So thin and frail - Strangers When we Meet, artist: David Bowie, album: The Buddha of Suburbia