SSDreamin Blessings and curses

SS, do you have access to a RP, or room to make one? If so, I can give you some exercises you could do w/Jim that would help both w/the spooking and w/him being buddy sour.

Denim Deb said:

SS, do you have access to a RP, or room to make one? If so, I can give you some exercises you could do w/Jim that would help both w/the spooking and w/him being buddy sour.

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We are working on building a RP, or - if DH gets his way - a 60 x 90 arena that can be converted to a RP. That sounds great, but he would have to put gates in it and drive through it with the tractor or truck to get to the back pasture area. I don't care for that So we keep going back and forth and it may be late Spring before I win, errr, we decide Anyway, YES! I'd love any ideas/exercises you could suggest for him!

I forgot - Ice Cream cycled last week, and the A.I. guy came out sooooo, cross your fingers!

OK, will do. I'm giving you one now that can be done w/out a RP, but will make it so he leads better. When you are leading him, his head should not be past your shoulder. If it is, in his mind, he's the alpha. So, when your leading him, if he's getting ahead of you, stop and make him back up. You want to get to where, when you stop, he stops and takes a step backwards.

Thanks for the quick tip DD! I have been practicing with him a bit, though not as much as I should

Taking a few minutes out to update. From all appearances, Ice Cream is expecting! Hooray! Our only doe had babies, so we have 4 new furries in the barn! DH has *almost* completed the barn redo/addition. The horses will enter from the end, instead of the side - which should make things easier this winter. Plus we'll have more space to store hay and a nice big slider door to use, instead of trying to carry in bales through the man door! Yippee! The meaties were getting way too big for the isolation pen in the coop, so we moved the ducks to the greenhouse and put the meaties in the hutch. They are doing much better with all the extra space. These meaties are the weirdest ones I've ever seen - they ALL want to roost, and they try to fly out at me when I open the hutch door! They LOOK normal - all waddly and such. They just don't ACT normal! Wish we could keep a couple to breed, as these seem like they'd be hardy. Since the ducks were forced out of their home, and lost their 'pond' due to freezing temps at night, we rigged up a fence run for them that connects to the garden. They get free range of the garden all day and I tuck them in at night The pig girls are doing good. We attempted to 'weigh' one the other day, with a weight tape. According to the tape, they are barely 100# but that doesn't seem right, looking at them. They are eating us out of house and home, and still maintain a low fat layer (which is fine by me!). As for Jim & April, well, still spoiled and loved on daily! We had to 'shift gears' when the weather changed, to get everything around here winter-ready, so a RP went on the back burner, but I do what I can with what I have. At minimum, I try to work with April daily on her feet - she raises her fronts, but either refuses to raise, or kicks after raising, her backs. Jim gets some working time, but I've mostly just been lovin' on him. It has helped a lot - he no longer runs away when approached, and he's almost as bad as April now about sticking his nose in my business when I try to clean their pasture Pa likes being indoors. The dog has developed some sort of skin infection that the vets (he's been to 4 different ones trying to get it figured out) can't cure. I feel so bad for him - he hides in the bedroom and cries! From his mid section back is covered in bald spots. Poor guy! Who have I forgotten? Regular chickens are... regular The cat needs to go on a diet. I've worked out a consistent way to make butter, so we don't buy that anymore. Cheddar cheese is still too dry/crumbly, but mozzarella and ricotta are great. Garden will be poop-a-fied once the ducks go to freezer camp, then we are leaning towards making next year its 'year of rest'. All depends on DH however, who is eyeballing a 'new' place That's it, I guess. Oh, I got on this weird suppliment - more energy (usually), and I've lost 9# so far! WOOT! OK, that's REALLY it. I think.

How are you working w/April on her feet?

Wowie you're busy!
Glad things are going well!

You ARE busy! I'm curious about the weird supplement that gives energy and takes away lbs????

Denim Deb said:

How are you working w/April on her feet?

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In my horse magazine they had an article, showing I believe the Parelli method - where you massage their leg, then apply pressure, then release when they comply. I am having trouble getting her to respond to the bursa/hock pressure. DH will give it a try this Sunday, then I'll know if I was being too gentle, or she's just not responding.

What kind of food are you giving your dog? We had a Healer cross years ago that had that problem and for years we were told he was allergic to fleas. Then a friend suggested that he might be sensitive to the soy in the dog food we were giving him (a lot of dogs have problems with soy). We switched to a premium dog food that didn't have soy in it and voila! The problem went away over a couple of months. He also gained a lot of energy and put on weight. At the time, he was 10 years old and I'm convinced that the change to a better dog food is responsible for the 5 more years of life he enjoyed before finally contracting cancer.