HOWDY – it’s me, Senor Kona. I’ve got lots to tell and I love an audience!

    Winter at Dunrovin can be our favorite time of year.  This is when we get to spend our days quietly munching our hay, enjoying the beauty of the snow covered mountains, and hanging out together. Summers are great! But let’s face it, we all have to be beautiful and on our best behavior – and that can wear a guy down. In winter we can just walk over to the scratching post any ol’ time and give ourselves a nice butt scratch!

     The big problem this winter has been the ICE. It didn’t use to be that way. Our pastures used to be snow covered all winter – but NOW it rains off and on which has turned the snow into dangerous sheets of ice.  It doesn’t bother me much – this is where my short stature and tiny, sharp hooves come in handy. But my big horse companions have had a hard time of it. We are all being VERY CAREFUL now after witnessing what happened to Power.

     Power, our fearless and beloved leader, recently fell and got himself stranded on a big sheet of ice. We all could hear him struggle to get up – but every time he tried, his feet would just slip out from under him. Boy, were we worried!

       It happened in the middle of the night when our human caretakers were asleep. They didn’t find him until daylight. Jessie, Sally, and SuzAnne came to the rescue. He was very relieved to see them and knew right away that they were there to help. They gathered up carpets pieces to put under his legs and hooves. He managed to get to his feet on the carpets, but fell once more when one foot slipped off the carpet. The next try brought success! He tenderly walked on the carpets to the edge of the ice and carefully made his way back to the barn. We all let out a big sigh to see him standing again.

    He spent the next day and night in his covered stall where there were lots of wood shavings and sand to give him firm footing. He seemed OK, but the next day he had a huge swelling on his right shoulder. Jessie and SuzAnne didn’t like the looks of it and called Dr. Dick to come out and check on him.

     Well, after talking to Dr. Dick, it was clear that Power was a very lucky fellow. Power did dislocate his shoulder, but he didn’t tear the nerves that run through the muscles there. If he had, he would never walk correctly again. WOW What a relief! Dr. Dick wanted him to stay absolutely still to let the shoulder heal. So poor Power was confined to this stall – WITHOUT pain medication! We all thought that was cruel – but then Charger reported to us that he had heard a conversation among the humans about how our bodies use pain to keep us still when we need to be. So even though Power had to endure the pain, he did keep still and has completely recovered.

     Evidently Dr. Dick also told our humans that putting fresh manure on ice sheets can really help. The very next day we saw Jessie emptying a whole cart of fresh manure and spreading it all over the ice. Sure enough! The hot manure melted the top layer of ice and froze right into it. We have all learned some lessons from Power's accident.

     You can see a very dramatic rescue of a horse from ice on YouTube. Those of you reading this who take care of critters like us might want to check out the web sites below about horse care during winter:
Barefoot or shod: Winter hoof care essential for horse health and safety
10 Tips For Winter Hoof Care
Fighting the FREEZE - Winter horse care tips  
Seven Tips for dealing with horses and winter weather

 
    So long, keep safe, and STAY OFF THE ICE
    See you next time, Kona

Hello all you dog lovers – it’s me, Joyful Jewel at the keyboard, and have I got some great news!

    This Christmas was THE BEST! Daniel and Monica brought home a NEW PUPPY for me to play with. They named him Ursu – that means bear in the Romanian language. What a lucky guy. He’s speaking two languages.

     Ursu is really cute, funny, quick, and loves to wrestle – well, sometimes it does get a little out of hand. And I confess it’s true; we’ve been thrown out of the houses and offices on a number of occasions because of our antics – just kid stuff, mind you. Sometimes it is hard to understand why humans need to be quiet in doors.

     Ursu is learning the ropes really fast. He follows Daniel around during the morning and afternoon to feed the horses. I’ve been showing him all the tricks of living out here – how to read the horses’ language and get out of the way when they run, all the under-the-fence routes to retrieve balls that end up in the orchard, the places to always find a drink of fresh water, and how to knock on the office door to get let in when we’re cold and tired. I can’t wait until summer when I teach him about the river,  show him all my favorite swimming holes, and run side by side with him on the trail with the horses.

     Earlier this month, Ursu went on vacation with Daniel and Monica to the southwest to see the Grand Canyon and other great places. Everyone raved about what a great traveler he was – didn’t make one mistake in the motels and slept quietly in the car. I’ve never seen Daniel and Monica so happy – and I have never been so sad as when he was gone.     He’s been growing like crazy. I know that he will soon be bigger than me. I’m not worried though; he’s my best friend and we’ll have just as much fun when he towers over me.

     I’ll keep you all updated on his progress, so be sure to visit me again.

     By the way, both Ursu and I started out life at Dunrovin by being adopted from the Western Montana Humane Society . We know that great dogs can be found there.

    Happy Trails and Wagging Tails,
    Jewel

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