Merry Christmas

Well... Mother Nature wasn't acting too kindly upon us Minnesota folks for this year's holiday season. We got snow. A lot of snow. The roads and weather were so bad on Christmas day that my brother wasn't able to make the hour drive back home. Still unsure when we'll be having him home for "Christmas" because he's now set to work 12 days straight. Great paycheck, lousy timing.

So, yesterday I made it out to the barn to see the boys. Oh, have I missed them both a lot. Poor Gus. His blanket (Dover Northwind) was almost soaked through. Uggh. So, now he's sporting his Schneiders blanket liner plus his Schneiders Aquanon sheet. It works. Hopefully his blanket will be dried out by this next Thursday, so I can swap blankets again.

The photo below is of Gus in his new sheet/liner combo.



Anyways, as tradition, I took plenty of photos yesterday celebrating Christmas. Both boys got a lovely mash of alfalfa pellets (Gus also had some added beet pulp) plus their normal grain ration. Both enjoyed their treat immensely - especially Gringo. I think he was literally moaning in excitement.

Without further ado, here's the "best of the best" from the photo op. Gus really wouldn't cooperate this time around, so I'm not too pleased with his photos, but Gringo took good shots, as usual.

I think his stifle is bothering him again... note how he's holding the RH in both the photo above and the one below.

I REALLY like this photo. It is so much better in black & white... it's very intense.

I like this photo too. It was a perfect day for photo taking... nice and dreary out.

Both boys enjoying their hay.

And this is Lylette. She's the Pileated Woodpeck who lives on the property. She's very photogenic.

And...

I'm changing the boys' grain up, yet again. I'm going to be switching back to Progressive ProAdvantage Grass Formula ration balancer. Only, Gus will be the only horse on it. Gringo will strictly be on alfalfa pellets. Gus will get alfalfa pellets too.

I'm thinking about starting with:

Gus -

2lb Progressive ProAdvantage Grass

2lb alfalfa pellets

1/2lb rice bran pellets

Gringo-

1/2lb alfalfa pellets

Only Gringo will need to remain on the Mega Cell multi-vit, since the alfalfa pellets plus grass hay he gets already will not be meeting his nutritional guidelines. Hopefully that plus the Tri-Amino from Uckele will help Gus put that weight and muscle back on. I'm just dreading the ol' switch-r-roo. I hate changing feeds up...

Anyways, hopefully the weather will remain halfway decent, least until Thursday. I'm hoping to ride Gus again Thursday morning before work. I think he's missing his routine (that or his stifle really is bothering him) as he's started cribbing again. I do have his crib collar all padded up and ready to go, but I really don't want him wearing that 24/7. That's not fair to him... and he's only destroying (lightly) the wood in his run-in (the kick boards) and a little bit on the wooden gate. Uggh.