Sunday, October 26, 2014

Wouldn't a 5-day weekend be nice?

Have you ever had one of those weekends when 2 days just isn't enough? I must admit that I have those weekends pretty much every weekend - but this one seemed worse than usual!

On one weekend day, there were a lot of chores and other things to do that severely limited pony time. On the other weekend day, uncooperative weather severely limited pony time. Pony time is really precious this time of year - in the time of ever waning daylight - and I'm sad that it didn't work out this weekend.

If only there were more weekend time! I definitely support switching to 2 weekdays and 5-day weekends!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

The ever waning daylight

Weekends always seem especially short during the fall season. There's so much to do and the ever waning daylight doesn't make things easier. Seems like a lot of people out there in the blog world are dealing with rainy weather and the huge temperature swings of fall. We're dealing with the same, and so far the ponies are tolerating it.

I've been busy tidying up the barn area for the winter and making more room for hay. There really aren't a lot of weekends left before winter will be upon us, and I like having everything in order before the cold and the snow arrive.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

The seasons are changing and ulcer update

You can just feel the seasons changing now. The daylight hours are so much shorter, and even when the sun is out, it doesn't shine at quite so high an angle. The nights are chilly and the days are warm. The leaves are rapidly changing colors and falling off the trees. The squirrels are gathering nuts for the winter. And P and AP are getting extremely fuzzy.

In other news, the ulcery horse has recently been started on an ulcer supplement. The horse has already been treated with GastroGard in the past, and we're hoping that an ulcer supplement will help maintain digestive health. I've been told that this particular supplement includes aloe vera, slippery elm, and also something called glutamine which is an amino acid that's supposed to help heal the digestive tract.

I know a lot of ulcer supplements include calcium to buffer the stomach from the acid. I wonder if the aloe vera is better for soothing old ulcers that may have healed but with scar tissue.

Equine ulcers - what an issue!!

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Rain, rain, go away

I absolutely believe in as much turnout as possible for horses. I think it's much healthier for them to be outside. P and AP have lots of turnout with a shelter, but there are some days when they actually choose to stay inside the shelter. Like today! The rain has been on and off all day, there's a strong wind, and when it's not drizzling, it's pouring. I guess I can't blame P and AP for staying inside and eating hay!

Thank you for the comments on my previous post about horses with ulcers. Due to the rainy day, I've been reading a lot of information online. Of course GastroGard and good horse management are important keys to healing ulcers, but there are so many different symptoms that you might see and so many different supplements that seem to help. It's mind-boggling!

One thing that a few people have mentioned is flare-ups of ulcers as the weather changes. As we're heading into fall now and then winter, this is a prime time for flare-ups as pasture grasses die off and horses start eating only hay again.

Hoping for some better fall weather soon!