Too many pets for one weekend
Aug. 9th, 2004 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joflasherI never thought I'd reach the "too much horse" time limit but I did this weekend.
Friday - ~6 hours spent clipping and primping Tequila. Still don't have his ears done. Most of that time was spent convincing him that no matter how much he kicked, reared or ran away, he was still going to get his front legs trimmed. Face, back legs, neck, those he had no problems with. He pretty much fell asleep as I was trimming around his eyes and muzzle. Front feet, no such luck. I think I'm going to tranq him to do his ears. I just don't have the patience to do it at this point.
Saturday - Riding lesson with Tisa, which was very nice. We spent a lot of time working on steering at the canter. Apparently I try to cut corners too tightly and thats why our canter falls apart into a messy gallop. Nice to know the problem is me and not my horse.
Afterwards, the Boy and I spent 4 hours (yes, HOURS) getting Tequila locked on the trailer again. At one point, Josh actually had to walk away and let me deal with him because he was just too angry to continue. Tequila wasn't afraid. He was just being a pill. He'd come on, spend 2 seconds standing and then go backing off. As soon as he cleared the door, he'd rear and strike at the person in front of him. Bastard anyways. Eventually I put a chain on him and let him shank himself everytime he went up in the air. I'm not a big fan of that method but I have my limits and the constant rearing pushed me past them. My right arm is pretty much dead today thanks to all the rearing.
After all that time, once we had him locked in, he just stood there, hanging out and eating hay. Wasn't upset at all. So we took him for a ride around the block. By the time we got home, he was lathered clear up to his spine. I told Carol that we couldn't ship him to New Hampshire on Thursday like this (all the time loading, then him breaking down during the actual shipping).
So back we went Sunday to do it again. This time, I put the chain on him right away and it took us 12 minutes to get him locked into the trailer. It was kind of amusing. He'd stop at the ramp and I'd have to coax him for each step. After each step, I'd release the pressure on his lead rope and pet him, telling him what a good boy he was. He started taking the littlest steps possible or just putting one foot forward (without putting weight on it) and waiting to see if he'd get his "good boy"s and pets. Arabians are entirely too smart for 7 o'clock in the morning.
We took him twice around the block for his ride and, while he was sweated up, it was nowhere near as bad as the first trip. Tonight, we do it again. By Thursday morning, hopefully he'll walk right on and not care about the whole trailer ride. Thursday, we ship him to New Hampshire. Friday I find out just how well I've trained the bastard. Afterwards, I'm taking a break from working with him. I need to stop looking at each training session as a fight waiting to happen. I want to get him started under saddle soon and that's just not the frame of mind I need to be in when I first get on his back.
We also decided to adopt the two half grown kittens running around the barn. They are a male and female pair of orange and white tigers, brother and sister. They excel at capturing and killing the tassle on my lunge whip. Saturday, the Boy was playing with the male and we had the "I want a kitty" talk on the way home. We'd been talking about getting an adult cat to help control the mice population in the garage. I'm assuming as soon as the weather turns, said population will head for the warmth of the house and I'd rather have a cat around than poison. My ferrets have been known to catch and chew on the occassional mouse and I don't want to risk it. Normally I'd insist on getting adult cats from a shelter but, as the Boy pointed out, this is about equivalent. If they stay at the farm, they will end up not getting fixed until after they reproduce (they are pretty far down on the neuter list, somewhere after their mother and she's already pregnant again) and only minimum vet care. They haven't had their shots or even basic worming done and their about 4 months old at this point. After the initial spaying cost, having two is about the same cost as having one and I really don't want to break them up. They hunt very well together and they can keep each other company during the day. I have to get the rats' shots updated and pick up some supplies before we bring them home next weekend.
Also, my scooter blenny is ill again. He didn't come out to eat last night and didn't bury himself in the sand once the lights turned off. We tried feeding him with the eye dropper but he kept spitting everything out and then got pissed and started flaring up at us. Tonight I'm going to do a water change in case something is bothering him. Normally the shrimp would be affected by bad water before the fish would be, though, and the shrimp is fine. In fact, he just molted the other night and, if the water was off, it would have bothered him the worst then. It doesn't make sense. Other than a water change, I don't know what to do. He may just be getting old. We've had him a long time now and he hasn't grown any since we got him. I'm assuming he was an adult at the time of purchase and we have no way of knowing how old he is. Still, if he doesn't pull out of it, I will miss my little toad-eel.
Friday - ~6 hours spent clipping and primping Tequila. Still don't have his ears done. Most of that time was spent convincing him that no matter how much he kicked, reared or ran away, he was still going to get his front legs trimmed. Face, back legs, neck, those he had no problems with. He pretty much fell asleep as I was trimming around his eyes and muzzle. Front feet, no such luck. I think I'm going to tranq him to do his ears. I just don't have the patience to do it at this point.
Saturday - Riding lesson with Tisa, which was very nice. We spent a lot of time working on steering at the canter. Apparently I try to cut corners too tightly and thats why our canter falls apart into a messy gallop. Nice to know the problem is me and not my horse.
Afterwards, the Boy and I spent 4 hours (yes, HOURS) getting Tequila locked on the trailer again. At one point, Josh actually had to walk away and let me deal with him because he was just too angry to continue. Tequila wasn't afraid. He was just being a pill. He'd come on, spend 2 seconds standing and then go backing off. As soon as he cleared the door, he'd rear and strike at the person in front of him. Bastard anyways. Eventually I put a chain on him and let him shank himself everytime he went up in the air. I'm not a big fan of that method but I have my limits and the constant rearing pushed me past them. My right arm is pretty much dead today thanks to all the rearing.
After all that time, once we had him locked in, he just stood there, hanging out and eating hay. Wasn't upset at all. So we took him for a ride around the block. By the time we got home, he was lathered clear up to his spine. I told Carol that we couldn't ship him to New Hampshire on Thursday like this (all the time loading, then him breaking down during the actual shipping).
So back we went Sunday to do it again. This time, I put the chain on him right away and it took us 12 minutes to get him locked into the trailer. It was kind of amusing. He'd stop at the ramp and I'd have to coax him for each step. After each step, I'd release the pressure on his lead rope and pet him, telling him what a good boy he was. He started taking the littlest steps possible or just putting one foot forward (without putting weight on it) and waiting to see if he'd get his "good boy"s and pets. Arabians are entirely too smart for 7 o'clock in the morning.
We took him twice around the block for his ride and, while he was sweated up, it was nowhere near as bad as the first trip. Tonight, we do it again. By Thursday morning, hopefully he'll walk right on and not care about the whole trailer ride. Thursday, we ship him to New Hampshire. Friday I find out just how well I've trained the bastard. Afterwards, I'm taking a break from working with him. I need to stop looking at each training session as a fight waiting to happen. I want to get him started under saddle soon and that's just not the frame of mind I need to be in when I first get on his back.
We also decided to adopt the two half grown kittens running around the barn. They are a male and female pair of orange and white tigers, brother and sister. They excel at capturing and killing the tassle on my lunge whip. Saturday, the Boy was playing with the male and we had the "I want a kitty" talk on the way home. We'd been talking about getting an adult cat to help control the mice population in the garage. I'm assuming as soon as the weather turns, said population will head for the warmth of the house and I'd rather have a cat around than poison. My ferrets have been known to catch and chew on the occassional mouse and I don't want to risk it. Normally I'd insist on getting adult cats from a shelter but, as the Boy pointed out, this is about equivalent. If they stay at the farm, they will end up not getting fixed until after they reproduce (they are pretty far down on the neuter list, somewhere after their mother and she's already pregnant again) and only minimum vet care. They haven't had their shots or even basic worming done and their about 4 months old at this point. After the initial spaying cost, having two is about the same cost as having one and I really don't want to break them up. They hunt very well together and they can keep each other company during the day. I have to get the rats' shots updated and pick up some supplies before we bring them home next weekend.
Also, my scooter blenny is ill again. He didn't come out to eat last night and didn't bury himself in the sand once the lights turned off. We tried feeding him with the eye dropper but he kept spitting everything out and then got pissed and started flaring up at us. Tonight I'm going to do a water change in case something is bothering him. Normally the shrimp would be affected by bad water before the fish would be, though, and the shrimp is fine. In fact, he just molted the other night and, if the water was off, it would have bothered him the worst then. It doesn't make sense. Other than a water change, I don't know what to do. He may just be getting old. We've had him a long time now and he hasn't grown any since we got him. I'm assuming he was an adult at the time of purchase and we have no way of knowing how old he is. Still, if he doesn't pull out of it, I will miss my little toad-eel.
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re: cats or dogs
Date: 2004-08-09 07:29 am (UTC)Besides, two tigers prowling the vast tundra of your living room? That's movie material.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 11:47 pm (UTC)Hope all goes well w/Tequila this week...
Also, speaking of cats (I don't know if I mentioned), my sister and dad have ended up with a house-cat (who was originally slated to be a barn cat, but has taken to the indoors like Edward did). She's named Eartha Kitt(en).