There are many ways into a horse's mind and heart, these are some of my ideas ...

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Stephanique Information

The imported purebred Arabian mare SH Stephanique is alive and well and living with me. She will be 28 in March 2011. As such, as being "old" she is well cared for and will never be attempted to breed from again.

She has access to water 24/7 which is cleaned and refreshed every day - about 60 litres and there will be more available in the next few weeks when we get one or both of the baths fixed.

She has two meals per day, morning and night. This food consists of dairy meal, lucerne chaff and either Economix or equestrian pellets. She gets bran sometimes with her food and safflower oil (about 1/4 cup) to help soothe her stomach. She will eat almost anything and I believe that this is what is causing her to occassionally have "stomach aches". If she lies down and/or is showing early signs of colic my vet is contacted. He is available 24/7 and is a horse specialist. He keeps current with everything as he is the District Vet for the AJC so TB's can be registered.

She is on a worming and farrier routine that is normal for any horse.

She has freedom to walk the entire property (6.5 acres) as we keep the gate closed. We have three stables, a large shelter and an overhang from a shed for shelter which she can and does choose as she wants. We have many large and shady trees on the property. She has a fly veil and is sprayed for flies every few days during the warmer months - as the weather requires.

She is treated like a pet with the TB mare I have here. She gets carrots and/or apples every single day. There is almost always someone here on the property all day every day. I personally check on her several times a day including a thorough inspection of her body and under her hooves. Nicks and scratches that draw blood are treated with antiseptic and anything that would require stitches would mean a call to the vet. So far (touch wood) she has not cut herself that badly.

Any enquiries regarding her and her treatment you can PM me through my profile.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Long time between bets ...

Not much is happening with the two girls. They have settled into their usual routine, which mostly consists of sporadic grazing, loafing and dozing, and a mad dash at dinner time. Bell can be very bossy at feeding time, as she is Boss Cocky, but they have settled down into it. They have taken to mutual grooming, which has been a while getting to, but I take it as a good sign.

The funniest thing is when they loose each other and go tearing around in opposite directions trying to find each other. Neighing and nickering. Often we have to go out, and hold one and call the other. Usually it is Steph who wanders off and Bell doing the searching.

We might be getting another mare soon, and I shall try to blog more often. I still think of breeding Bell, but I will just have to wait and see what happens this year.