Monday, February 11, 2008

A jumbled week

Last week, I discovered that old Chubs is not a horse to have anywhere near a stallion when there is a mare coming into season.

I had two new boarders arrive on rather short notice, so we shuffled horses around to move my horse to the front, then Chubs, then the mare, then the two new ones in the double stall. Oh my, what a wreck ensued! If it had not been for a good friend and my husband being right there, I don't even want to think about what might have happened!

Despite being taken to the ground, old Chubs is fine-only lost a teeny bit of mane.

So we tried just putting another panel fence between the two. That didn't work either, as Chubs did not stop posturing challenges and I could see my horse wasn't going to back down either. So, we ended up banishing Chubs to the round pen. Later that night my husband plowed out a place in the round pen, dug out our horse trailer, backed that in, and then emptied, moved and refilled a stock tank for him.

Of course there was no way I could just leave Chubs there....not a very secure set up, and he was working the fenceline nonstop anyway. For four fruitless days I tried to find someone to either take him, or who had space, with no luck. Finally, a dear friend of mine suggested yet another old friend-and voila! New accomodations for Chubs!!

So yesterday he got moved over, and I arranged for round bales to be delivered there as I didn't want anyone to have to go feed twice a day. So there he is, and today the attempt is made to actually get the round bale into the paddock as there is a dead vehicle blocking access, lol In the meantime we took over a bale, a trash can with his ration in it, and he has water in a stock tank.

On this end, things are much quieter and calmer at the barn, which is a huge relief. The two new boarders are settled right in, and the mare.....well, I was looking at her this morning and thinking: Is there any way she could be pregnant? >shudders< Yes I know I feed really well, maybe too well in some cases but my gosh that mare is getting a belly on her. I will try a diet for about three weeks and see how she looks then.

I would have sworn she was coming into heat, but I didn't see the typical winking and squatting, so maybe not? If she is pregnant and not just fat (ha!) then the owner is going to be very surprised, to say the least-and I am not set up for that!

3 comments:

AlaskanFugly said...

Oh no, would it be your stallion that could have bred her? Am I gonna have to showcase you on the fugly blog, ha ha! Just kidding, accidents happen and I know you of all people aren't exactly "accident prone" Keeping my fingers crossed that the boarders mare is not pregnant

suvalley said...

Oh heavens no!

LOL, this mare came down from Fairbanks in March, and then my place in October.

There's no local breeding going on, except for the chosen few.

horse snob said...

Sorry it didn't work out for Old Chubs. Sounds like he didn't really leave you any choice. Thank god you had the right group of people around when all hell broke loose. Imagine if you would have been home alone? Ah the joys of horses. Never a dull moment.