I have MORE pictures to show you. If you haven't seen any yet, scroll down to the first entry for June 1st. This is the second. No, I take that back...this is like the fourth. Scroll down to the one just before this one if you haven't seen any pictures yet and want to. Then read this one after the one before it.

I hope that makes sense.

I just fed lunch. I found two of the horses in the corral where they had been getting some water, but Doc  was in his OLD place below...well, not quite in four inches of pee and poop, but near it. Habits are hard to break and it IS shaded down there and he gets overheated easily.

So, I decided to feed a bit early. I wanted to spread the piles even farther down the hill. I would love for them to make use of the acre or so they have. I know Dodger, the mustang, scavenges down there and occasionally Doc has, but not recently.

First, a picture of the feeders that they have been using. During the winter, this was great. We had gravel trucked in, though you can't tell now. There was about 6 inches of gravel (over the course of a couple of months) that was put down so that they wouldn't sink to their hocks in mud. I didn't want to feed them in the corral with the sand because Harley has colicked twice now due to sand (though it was sand in the hay I was feeding him one of those times...).

So, this winter, this worked well. Now that the gravel has gotten mixed with dirt and poop and decaying uneaten hay, though, it has become a place where bacteria are just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting hooves trying to transition to a healthy barefoot life! I am paranoid, but with good reason!

Here are some pictures of where I had been feeding the horses until yesterday:

The water trough is where I had it full of water, but it is now empty as I explained in my previous entry. In the foreground here, you can see the stuff I have been concerned about. It is drying out now, but hasn't had a chance to with horses peeing in it. They like standing in it, too. Not ok.

Just in front of the feeder above, is Doc's favorite place to stand. Stand and eat. Stand and pee. Stand and just stand. He had about a 10 foot walk to get water and he would turn around and stand there the rest of the time. Because the area has leveled out some, it wouldn't drain as well as the rest of the hillside. Doc likes it a lot.

Today, I put hay piles throughout the forest. Doc immediately headed to his spot:

He looked at me like he was saying, "Aren't you going to put any of that hay in here?" I had already put it in about 12 piles throughout the forest. He stood at this spot watching me the entire time. He gave me a couple of minutes, but I turned the bucket over, upside down, and sat on it. That was when he did this:

Quick learner. LOL! Yesterday's lunch and dinner and this morning's breakfast convinced him that waiting wouldn't be prudent. He would miss out. The next series shows what happened next. In his own way, akin to a downhill skiing, he headed down the hill to the closest pile. None of the piles are too large, so he has to keep moving.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to see him waste little time making his way down the hill like this.

Dodger, the mustang, enjoys having the food on the ground (where he was always throwing it anyhow). He is the low man on the totem pole and I think having so many places for eating provides him with a lot less stress at meal time. Good for his head and good for his body. Here is a series of Dodger. I was standing in one place in the forest and he came from one pile, stopped at the pile by my feet and took a bite and continued on to another pile.

Dodger likes being near Harley. Harley is respected by the others and seems to favor Dodger. I like that Dodger has a choice now. It is definitely a good thing.

Here is another glimpse of this. While I haven't yet spread it around the perimeter of the fence, I hope to do that at some point. Breezy is all the way down by an old oak tree...it is a good distance down the hillside. He doesn't often go down there. I am excited that this will help all of them to feel better. Why didn't I think of this before? LOL!

The horses have turned an old poop dumping pile into a favorite rolling place. All sorts of decomposers turned the poop into almost a silt. This is what the horses have turned it into:

Below is a picture of Harley. I trimmed all four of his feet myself about 10 days ago. I didn't do much, but I am pleased with how both of us came through it. He wasn't haltered and stood so sweetly for me while I got to know the tools and everything. I think they look pretty nice. Of course, Richard Robbins, an AANHCP trimmer had done Harley's feet only 2 weeks earlier, so it wasn't like there was much to do, but they had chipped some and looked like they needed help. LOL!

Enough boasting and bragging. Pride goes before a fall and I can't afford any more falls! I have to keep on top of Doc and be sure he drinks plenty of water.

Thanks for visiting!

Heidi