todays stuff....

Cleaned out Daisy's hooves, she was very good, no resistance at all today. she got one pellet for each hoof. maybe that helped?? LOL a little incentive for being a good girl.

then I haltered Martha, who was in the stall, she was very good, let me put it right on her. Then i used the carrot stick to start touching her legs. Going very slowly and praising her when she let me put it on her legs. She did step back a couple times but nothing big, she soon let me touch them with no resistance.
I gave her breaks in between. i'm going very slow with her. She seems to get overwhelmed easily if you go to fast or ask too much.

She then was standing in the doorway of the stall. I petted down her left front leg a couple times praising her for when she stood still and accepted it. I was very soft with her. Then one time she picked up her leg, so i gently held it for a second, gave it back and praised the crap outta her! LOL. I did it a second time but held the leg a little bit longer! I praised her for the smallest amount of try.

I repeated it on the right front leg, i didn't get to hold it, but she got rewarded each time she let me pet it down to her pastern. Kept it all short, soft and lots of praise when she did well. I think she's getting it.

good day with the donks.

doneky butter. LOL

Today I'm so happy with Daisy!! she let me clean all her feet with no trouble!! and clean them good too!!! Tied her to the pine tree in the middle of the pasture since it was gorgeous weather.

Yesterday we had a 'touchy' foot, the right hind, she kicked out after fighting a bit. But I made sure I picked it back up again by the time I was done & she was relaxed, END ON A GOOD NOTE. always. this time we did 3 feet un-haltered, then the last one haltered & tied.

Day before that I got all four cleaned out pretty good ( not as good as today) WITHOUT being haltered or tied.

With the rainy/muddy season here she's getting cleaned everyday!

She's getting trimmed this Saturday, can't wait to get pics & see what the trimmer says. She also finally is ok with her stall, so that way I know shes outta the mud & wetness when she's eating.

ground tying! RAD

yesterday at lunch I went out to give Daisy's feet a quick hoof cleaning & brush down. I didn't really feel like tying her up, so I just 'ground tied' her - I put the halter on, but didn't actually tie the lead rope to anything, I just let it hang to the ground. I cleaned all four feet with NO problem!! she didn't budge an inch!! oh it was amazing! :)

Also noticed that the turn out is helping - she is starting to keep her hoof wall on the front feet, she's not pawing nearly as much as she used to. good news! woo hoo!!

she was good for a quick brush down, but I warn ya! for some reason right now brushing a fuzzy donk creates static electricity!! I shocked her on the nose when I went to kiss her! I felt so bad!!

Hoof progress

Long time no bloggy........

Hello! I haven't posted in a while because I went on vacation. which means although Daisy had someone to feed & water her, that was about it. I came back to some pretty dirty hooves!! still haven't gotten them cleaned out all the way. I guess we had some rain here while I was gone, so all that super fine dirty got all nice & wet & crammed into her feet.

Apparently Daisy enjoyed her vacation as she wasn't too interested in having her feet held for long enough for me to dig it all out. So we're getting back on schedule of daily feet cleanings. In the super hot months she didn't accumulate much, but now we're getting ready to go into fall & want to start on her now - start teaching her that they're getting cleaned EVERY day, no matter what.

The first day she was kinda a turd, and kicked out on one of her back feet. But I kept at it & made sure I ended on a good note ( VERY IMPORTANT, pretty much with all animals). Yesterday, she was still 'ouchy' about all of it, I think she's just testing me. But I did get some more yuck outta them & realized that she's a little thrushy in spots, not enough to treat yet - but they gotta get cleaned out & aired out. She seemed to have more issues when I was using the pick, so I resorted to digging them out with my fingernails. Still I'm trying to figure out if she's testing me, or if she is in fact a bit tender. Either way they have to get cleaned.
She kicked out again last night ( she has never previously kicked out before I got back from vacation - she's actually been really good about all of it). This time it was big enough to me to holler ' EHHH!' and thwack her on the rump. She almost looked stunned. So hopefully she understood that is NOT ok!

I worked on that same foot again, because I wasn't gonna let it end like that. Picked it up again, she tensed a bit, I told her to relax, she did, and she got her foot back.

On the left front she did her 'hopping around trying to evade me thing' which I've only seen once before when she was with the farrier. I just held on and as soon as she calmed down & relaxed her foot, she got it back.

So adventures with donkeys! woo, but really she is a good girl, I've seen worse. I did remind her that I know how to use the ropes on her. LOL. she hasn't experienced that yet, but if she keeps kicking out then she might meet them.

this session all happened before dinner time, so there was probably a little anxiety about that. but it has to get done one way or another.

I let her out to graze on the pasture for a bit, but I went inside to show some pics of my trip to my dad. I heard Daisy bray & I ran outside. She had somehow gotten through the strand of electric fence to the other side of the property. i think she squeezed through on the gap between the first step in post & the dog run. She probably tried to squeeze through, got shocked & the dogs were going nuts. So i came out & she's over there running around like a crazy donk. The only reason she's not allowed over there is there are 'dangers', some old fence boards that still have nails in them, a giant hole for a french drain I'm working on. She didn't seem to injure herself, but she was going nuts cuz the dogs were going nuts barking at her.

Got her back on the other side, put her up & gave a her a bit of hay. Then fixed the end of the fence by moving the post closer to the dog run & adding some twine so it doesn't get pulled away from it.

I ordered some horseguard fencing to section off a run & fence off the back yard from her. I'm hoping it'll keep her out of the backyard - away from the trees, and also let us let the dogs out in the backyard without them running around her. I'm doing three strands of the brown fence. I dont really like how the white looks, they're also done research that equines in fact can see the brown & green tape better, so the white is just for human eyes.

if you haven't read about horseguard fencing, you should check it out, its not like other tape fences. I actually had them send me a sample one time & its tough stuff!
I will post pics of it when it's installed.

Daisys feet are growing fast, which is a good thing. Its been 7 weeks since her last trim & that was way too long, she's more on a 4 or 5 week schedule. her backs need to be taken down pretty good, she's got about 1/2" hoof wall grown out. Her fronts are starting to shed her heels so now they're looking more normal.

Hoof trimming 8.1.09

Daisy had her second trim this last weekend. She did great. She did get a little impatient at the end, but she was manageable. :)

She got peppermints for good behavior, which she LOVED!
starting to really get somewhere with the trimming. Last time the hardly took anything at all off the backs, this time they were able to really work on them. She even got some flare taken off the right hind - so much that the hoof almost looks normal! Its amazing.

she still has really dry feet - soaking with the hose was recommended.

here are some pics

Abrasive donkey hoof trimming

Here's the abrasive method of trimming donkeys. I do not recommend going out & doing this yourself with out training with a qualified farrier familiar with abrasive trimming.

This is the way that Daisy gets trimmed.

How to trim a difficult donkey - Videos

I attended a hoof clinic this past weekend, these are some videos I captured of how to deal with a difficult donkey.

Daisy 7.5.09

for some reason my vid didn't render at 16:9, still trying to figure out why. In my editing program it's 16:9 throughout. Hmmm...
anyways, here is Daisy from today!!

A walking we will go....

Started Daisy on her walking last night. I need to do it everyday for her to get back in shape. Its a great opportunity to work on ground work too. Walked down the road & back, she was really good, especially since this was the first time that I took her out by myself & had to work the gate by myself ( I usually have someone to tag along). She did have a few 'donkey' moments. Mostly when the grass was on 'my' side & she wanted to bowl me over to get to it. That didn't happen though LOL. I think she's finding that I'm just as determined as her sometimes.

She's on a strict diet right now, I actually weigh her hay rations so that she gets the right/same amount every day. She has plenty of fresh clean water & I just replaced her mineral block. I could not find the other one, so she must have actually licked it/ate it! there for awhile it didn't seem like she used it at all.

Then we walked around the pasture for about 5-10 minutes. Working on 'whoa' and 'back up'. She still doesn't quite understand back up, but by the last time I asked her - the wait time for her reaction was significantly shorter. So she's getting it.

After that she was tied & got every hoof picked out & then a liberal application of 'hoofmaker', which is like a lotion for her hooves. Hopefully we'll see an improvement on the moisture front on the feets. :)

I think maybe next time we go out, I'll take the quickpod & snap some pics.

My trimmer said that she'll look amazing once she looses those fat pads & sheds out. I can't wait. although she might still have some fat left after shedding - my trimmer estimated that it could take 9 months or so to get her back in shape. You have to remember that for the last two years she didn't get to move much!