Gittin' it Done!! Chores, Drunken Llama + Vet Visit

Today was Do Everything Day!

The vet came out and gave Annie & Mr. Strut all of their vaccinations, new Coggins tests, basic checkups and fecal tests. She gave me an A+ for weight management, and said Mr. Strut was well over his founder and quite capable of being ridden (yay!) but did confirm that he has Equine Metabolic Syndrome (basically, type 2 diabetes for horses). Damn. I'm not really surprised though-- he is a gluttonous, cantankerous old fat man from the south, after all!

The vet recommend dry-lotting him if possible. I'll have to think about that-- I'm really hesitant to lock him in the concrete yard all the time, and also hesitant to destroy any part of the pasture. Strut has mangled two grazing muzzles already, so that's not an option either. The vet said my "short pasture" (the small area I fence off from the big pasture, to reduce how much my horses eat) is fine and all, but while it reduces how much they eat, it's worse for them in terms of what they're eating.

Fly masks and mosquitoes in March-- ugh!

The short, constantly-grazed grass actually increases the sugar in their diets because the tiny grass buds that form new growth are higher in sugar than the long grass on older, un-grazed pasture. *sigh* I can't win! So now what? Any suggestions, faithful readers?

While the vet was there, I had her tranquilize Nash the Uncooperative Rescue Llama, so I could finally clip his shaggy butt. I was afraid that he wouldn't go down, like our last little adventure with tranquilization, but nope-- he fell right over and started snoring, with his tongue sticking out of his mouth!! It was the most hilarious thing ever. My mother came out to help me, and it's a good thing she did, because we were barely finished when he woke up and got to his feet again. He looks much better now, even with the terrible haircut we gave him. I don't have clippers, so we just hacked away at the mats with scissors. In many places, his wool was actually felted from being compressed. After he woke up, he walked around with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, making very pathetic whining noises, but he soon recovered. I let him back out into the yard, which he seemed to appreciate.

Drunken Llama:

Before:

After:

More Drunken Llama:

 

The Giant Pile of Llama Wool (scissors on top for scale):

After all that, I emptied and scrubbed both 100 gallon water tanks and all the feed buckets, and the grain bin. Then I showered and went to work. Then I desperately wished for a nap. Luckily, it rained heavily in the evening, so I didn't have to tackle more chores after work!

How are YOUR spring chores coming? Are your horses shedding badly yet?