End of Vacation, 10K Run, Wanda, New Horses Arrive

Vacation came to a close and life back on the farm has been a whirlwind since our return.

First to finish off the vacation pics...

Here was my reading pile!   Not bad...if only I could make time for more of this at home.   Hopeful in the future as things get set up and built and to a maintenance level.

DH and I also hiked at Crooked Slide at Palmer's Rapids.   Lovely quiet park with grand views and amazing trails for snowmobilers.   All I could think of was having a horse with me to explore these trails could be the only thing to make this better.

NOW BACK AT THE FARM....

Wow, Wow, WOW...we have a second shelter pretty much completed for this summer.   

Here is the #4 shelter in progress last week.

Pictures to come of the finished product...it was getting too late by the time I thought of a picture the last few night!

Thank goodness too because we have 4 new horses on the farm.

Please welcome the absolutely giant Aspen (chestnut) and his partner, Paloma.

Ross (grey) and his buddy Marko.   And of course their 2 legged care giver Ingrid!

All four horses are settling in after arriving on Saturday morning.   There has been some stress in the group with all the changes but overall they are a happy bunch and adjusting to their new home as I would expect any new group of horses.   This is their first experience with living outside, so I hope they will be happy with their new arrangement once they adjust to the new found freedom of free choice in and out and free choice 24/7 food.

Wanda....as many of you have been eagerly awaiting news that she is or isn't 'with pony'....She IS in foal!!!

Izzy is going to be a big half sister in June!

A huge thank you goes out to Ferdi and Anita Haupt of Bennville Equestrian for this amazing opportunity.   

Here is her 2 month ultrasound!

This time of year has such amazing sunsets and amazing skies.

This was the beautiful sunset on my return to the barn last week from a hack to cool out to the bush.

This was the dramatic sky this weekend.   Love how the sun is shining bright against the tops of the clouds making them a brilliant white against the lower storm clouds.

I also have been busy with running.   My friend Theresa and I hit the waterfront of Oakville and did a 10K road race.   Theresa posted a PB time and I was so pleased to be part of her journey!  It was a rainy morning but it didn't dampen our spirits...because the energy on race morning is like no other!

I made a big harvest from my garden last weekend and set the produce at the road for others to enjoy and make good use of since I knew I had finished preserving what I needed.   I didn't even make it to the house and cars had stopped and the produce was virtually gone.   Glad that it has gone to good use.   Here was my road side stand.   ;-)

AND last but certainly not least, what would a blog post be without a little Molly drama!

The other night we had to race her to the emergency clinic in Hamilton as we thought she had bloat.   She was in a great deal of pain and her abdomen was VERY distended and hard as a rock.   It turns out she was OK…just had a very severe tummy ache from eating far too much junk around the farm including horse manure!!!

Here is the X-ray…According to the vet her stomach is over 2x the size of an normal adult dog of her age when it is completely full.   He was rather amazed and mentioned the word "impressive" size and not on a fat dog but a healthy, muscular dog!   "WOW, Impressive…Now I know how far the spleen can actually move.   Never seen anything this extreme in school!"

Since they could see it was clearly not bloat just a dog that is a glutten and has no sense of when enough is truly enough…we gave the Ok to induce vomiting so that it would relieve, at some, of her discomfort.   No she doesn't have an eating disorder…at least not one she is keeping from her folks!  LOL  Warning last pic is pretty disgusting…so stop now if you have a weak stomach.   4.5 lbs of barf!!!   Looking mostly like horse manure!!  Yuck!