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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Spring Clinic

Dr. Gary, tech Step and student Jen came today to give the boys their Spring shots, de-wormer, and health check.  Reggie and Boomer both needed their teeth floated.  Dr. Gary showed Jen how to check for points on Reggie's teeth.  He's a great teacher.



Boomer had some significant points.


Dr. Gary told us that Boomer's weight is ideal and Ben's is good.  Reggie has a tad too much belly and a tad too little topline (he'll be 20 in June), and Paj is...too fat!  We will be working on that.  We weigh hay every day, but on those extra cold days, we give extra hay.  Looks like Mr. Easy Keeper has been getting too much extra!  It's hard to get it right in the winter. 

In other health news, it's time to limit pasture turnout.  Colorado has a brief time slot where the grass is actually green, and the laminitis risk for our semi-desert horses runs high.  We had already started giving them a shorter time out, but Dr. Gary recommended a measly 2 hours a day until we're out of the danger period.  The boys will be so pissed off!

Lastly, we walked around the property and discussed our summer project.  We would like to fence in another pasture if the budget allows.  It probably seems odd to get your vet's input on this, but it's our roughest piece of land, and Dr. Gary is the one who has to put the pieces back together if there's a pasture accident.  He sees a lot of injuries and has a good feel for what's a real risk.  We looked at rocks, tree stumps, and gullies.  Dr. Gary felt that the proposed pasture is big enough that they are unlikely to get in trouble in the places we worried about.  That was good news. 


9 comments:

Dreaming said...

Great news about the pasture project.
Those points look terrible!
My boys have been limited to 3 hours. Their vet comes tomorrow. I'll have to ask for her thoughts.

Funder said...

Pssst, more like Reggie's a great demo patient. What a good boy!

I worry a lot about this "grass" stuff, but I won't have to really fret til we move, and hopefully the grass will be past its sugary peak by then...

Terry said...

We knew Boomer needed his teeth done - he had some "spit wads" - but we were surprised how sharp the points were. Poor baby.

Funder said...

Dixie has NO spit wads, great weight, doesn't slob dry grain... and huge points. :( She's getting done in a couple weeks, but I had no idea! At least my vet showed me so I can keep an eye on them...

Terry said...

Aww, David will really appreciate a nice comment on his Reggie!

It's ironic that we Western state folks have to worry about our pitiful grass more than the Eastern folks knee deep in the stuff!

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Wow, those points look like they could do a lot of damage.
It's always good to have new projects on the horizon, keeps one on their toes :)
Great news on the health check-up !
~Jo

Janet said...

Hi Terry- I bet boys feel a lot better eating now -that`s quite a lot of tooth taken off ,have a great weekend x

Terry said...

Happy Weekend to you too, Janet!

Jim said...

Look at those points!! Yeow! Do they feel that?
Between learning about chickens and horses, I'll be all set....for something!? In my next life! lol