All Maisie probably wanted for Christmas is her mom back. Poor girl got weaned for Christmas/her 5 month birthday.
It's gone pretty painlessly, it was probably sadder for me than for them. I separated them out for two days. The great thing about this property is that there's gates EVERYWHERE so I could divide the stall/run and the paddock from each other so the girls could still see each other and eat next to each other but not nurse. That didn't seem to affect either of them, Maisie was definitely a little sad - she dejectedly ate her hay. But there was no panicking or anything though.
Then I loaded Jetta up on the trailer and took her to the new barn! Thank goodness for having such a great horse. My trailer doesn't have any inside lights and because it is winter and dark ALL THE TIME she had to load up into a pitch black trailer, which she did without hesitation. Jetta whinnied maybe 5 times between loading up and unloading at the new barn. Then she had her hay in front of her and she didn't care anymore.
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| So sad |
Maisie wasn't quite as unbothered. She whinnied a bunch, but was quiet unless I was around. She's been a little sad and not sure what to do, but luckily she has a goat and a sheep for company (yeah, they randomly live on the property - Marge and Sparkles) plus the roommate's horses. She's buddy-buddy with the 3 year old Appy, Kestrel.
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| Eating like a big girl by herself |
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| Super helpful animals... |
Jetta looks plain AWFUL right now. It's embarrassing. She was obsese for a while so we cut her grain back a bit and she's back to a better weight, but she's ribby right now with no muscle. Ugh. The plan right now is a couple weeks of lunging, gradually building up time and adding side reins and trot poles.
Today was the first day both of them seemed perky and 100% back to normal. Maisie hasn't been eating very well which stresses me out, but today she actually greeted me with an "I'm hungry" whinny instead of a "where's my mom, I don't want your stupid hay" whinny. Jetta was kind of naughty on the lunge line which means she's feeling like her usual self too!
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| At least she's shiny? |
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| Missed working with this girl |
Sounds like as smooth as a weaning can go! And don't worry, pretty much all broodmares look like that at weaning. She will bounce back!
ReplyDeleteBaby, horse in work, vet school? Your life makes me so tired.
ReplyDeleteSounds like weaning went pretty well!
ReplyDeleteJetta will bounce back, the babies tend to drag them down!
ReplyDelete