Catching up - it's the end of February already!

It's been a busy few weeks since my last post.


We had a Valentines party on Sunday, February 15th combined with a contest to determine the winning logo for our new branch of the Pony Club. All of the Valentines party attendees had a chance to cast their vote for one of the logos entered by Sunday afternoon.


We had four submissions to choose from:






All were carefully thought out and drawn, either on the computer or by hand, and every one got at least one vote.



The winning logo was submitted by Jennifer S. Her daughter will be joining the Eastwind Pony Club in March.


Jennifer coloured the pony dark blue grey (in honour of Sneakers, perhaps?) on the printed copy that she submitted for the contest, but we could pick another colour if the members feel strongly about it. The font is called Jokerman - I'll look for it online and if I can find a free version, we can use it for letterhead and thank you notes (for clinicians and volunteers).

Thank you to everyone who participated by either submitting a logo or voting!

Natasha created a great themed costume for Dash with lots of hearts. He looked absolutely adorable in his flashy multicoloured halter and the heart covered breast plate.




Natasha took Miella out for a ride on Dash in the field.



Natasha later helped Alex saddle up Reba to ride and took her out for a stroll, too.



It was too icy to go very fast or very far, but I know Miella and Alex appreciated the opportunity to ride a little bit.

Thanks, Natasha! You're a big help and a good sport!


Farrier

Our farrier (Yvan Roy) came out on Tuesday, February 17 and trimmed some of the horses. Serge held Malachi and Kane (Katherine and Michael's horses) out in the field and both of them were very good. Neither of them like to come in the barn for a trimming, and Yvan is happy to accommodate them.

Cinder and Finnigan had their feet trimmed, too. Both of them were well behaved.




Arrivals and departures

Scrappy left for Petawawa on Saturday, February 21. I hope that Amelia and Scrappy enjoy their new homes!





Two new horses, Gwen and Neala, a 9-12 year old mare and her 6 month old filly, arrived shortly after Scrappy left. They were rescued from a neglectful situation by Laura W. and her mom. They plan to continue to sponsor them and work with them this summer.



Gwen is a bit thin, but has already put on weight since she arrived. Neala had never been handled - she's wearing her first ever halter now! Gwen likes people, and especially enjoys treats. Neala needs some regular handling to teach her how to behave around people. She's very curious, though, so we hope she'll learn quickly.

Neither was sure how to drink water from a bucket - there was no water in the field that they lived in previously - but they figured it out pretty quickly. Both need work on their feet and a full course of innoculations (Jeff, the vet, will be out next week). Gwen and Neala's feet are way too long and Gwen has "skis" because her toes are so long.

Neala is available for adoption for $300.




Announcements


Happy birthday to Jasper! He's a whole year old now - maybe he'll finally stop growing!

Spook (Cool Blue Dreams) turned 2, too! He's really grown in the last year and doesn't look like a baby anymore!




Upcoming events


March brings us St. Patrick's Day and hopefully the start of spring. The vet will be out later this month to start doing shots and Coggins, so please let us know if you want a Coggins or think your horse(s) need their teeth floated or anything else.


The vet checked Beauty and confirmed that she's carrying a healthy foal. She's due around April 12, 2009. He checked Cinder, too, and thinks her foal is due in July.


We're planning an event on Sunday, March 22 to celebrate everything green! Look for more details here soon. Hopefully everyone will be back from their March break vacations by then.

(Note from Susan: Elly's birthday is on March 17, so we can celebrate that, too. :) Sssshh! It's a secret for now.)


Natasha, Mom and I attended the second of six lectures put on by the Ottawa Valley Large Animal Clinic (OVLAC) at Kemptville College last night. Last night's lecture was all about breeding and gave us all a lot of useful information. Next week's lecture is all about parasites.

More September news

Busy, busy, busy! Lots of things happen every single day on the farm.

Yesterday, Mac and Levis headed off to Jenn. L.'s place. Mac is staying there for the winter so he can hang out with other thoroughbreds and enjoy "fat camp". He'll gain weight on Jenn's grain and extruded feed ration plan and have a stall and blankets and all the extras. Jenn's mom may ride Mac, too, if she feels comfortable on a 16 hh horse. Mac is very quiet and very good for everyone.

Levis will be back at Dreamscape Acres on Thursday after he has his feet looked at. He may just need his shoes pulled for the winter - but we'll let Jenn's farrier give his expert opinion on Levis' lameness.

We have a new horse on the farm: Roxy - a 2004 registered APHA mare - is here for the winter for training and to get a few miles on her. Her registered name is Strike Me Magnificent and she's a (very rare) blue roan and white overo Paint. Roxy belongs to Jenn L. She's lightly started under saddle, but needs some more work. She's for sale for $3000. Once we have some photos and a video or two, we'll post her for sale on Equistation.

Elmer picked Gypsy up today. The vet didn't make it out yesterday, so she didn't get her pregnancy check. It was great to see Elmer and he made a big fuss over Gypsy and gave us all the news about Queenie. Queenie is happy and healthy and ridden about three times a week on the trails on Elmer's 200 acre property. Although mom is sad that Gypsy was adopted, she's glad Gypsy has a good home.

The vet came today and checked Nikki. She's not pregnant. Darn! Oh well, we'll try again next spring.

Autumn got the once-over from the vet and he gave her a shot to relax her tendons a bit so that she can put her tiny hooves flat on the ground. He said that tight tendons are pretty normal for foals and that it is unlikely to affect her in the future. Abby J. is in love with her and may buy her before she's registered.

Mom will take more photos of Autumn on the weekend. She gets to go outside with Dreamer every day while the weather is nice. She delights in cantering around the paddock and leaping and bucking to burn off some energy while she's out. Dreamer gets a bit worried when Autumn gets too far away, so she's getting her exercise, too!

While Jeff (our vet from Dundas Veterinary Clinic) was at the farm, he took a look at Maggie's eye. Maggie has uveitis, as does Scrappy. Uveitis is sort of like glaucoma in humans - sometimes early medical intervention can stop the damage, but other times, the disease progresses very quickly and there's little you can do to stop it. Uveitis can be triggered by an injury, bacterial infection or allergies. No one knows what triggered Maggie's uveitis.

Unfortunately, it looks as though Maggie will lose her eye as the disease has progressed too far for drugs to help. Removing her eye sounds harsh, but she can't see out of it at all, and if the pressure continues to build, it could rupture and cause excrutiating pain. She's got some drops to help for now, but she'll have to have surgery soon.

Scrappy's uveitis means that she's blind and needs occasional steriod treatments, but it hasn't slowed her down much.

Horses with uveitis are often extremely light sensitive, so both Maggie and Scrappy wear their fly masks all year round - they can have them off at night and when it's raining or overcast. Bright light can make the iris go into spasm - and as you can imagine, that hurts. Their flymasks act sort of like sunglasses and cut down on the amount of light that gets to their eyes.

Natasha came out on Monday to see Autumn and she'll be back tonight to ride Dash. We like Natasha and enjoy her visits! She's doing really well in school this year - she knows that if she lets her homework slip, she won't be able to come out to visit as often.