Robin's Pregnancy Thread MAIDEN :) *Filly! 1-7-13* *New Photos #831*

[phoebeq]

I know what you mean

 

[AnnaC]

Good luck with getting your vet to visit today. Love the pic of Robin and Barry White - hope your good weather lasts for you!

 

[phoebeq]

ARGH!!! I went to town and bought miss priss some Chaffhaye...little brat won't eat it! Explain that, lol. I left it back there to see if she would eventually give in.

I stopped by my vets office this AM and I didn't even try to get to talk to her. She was with a patient and had 3 more waiting, so I didn't wanna bug her. She has been gone a week, so I am sure that she is super busy. I will call this afternoon and try to get her on the phone. We shall see.

 

[phoebeq]

I am beyond frustrated with this little mare. She is still refusing to eat the chaffhaye. She kinda ate some off of the ground and took a few bites this afternoon bit that was it. She would rather sift through old poop than even look at it! Why does she have to be such a pain in the behind? Funny thing is, she will eat ANYTHING. She steals chicken scratch every chance she gets. She got into the dogfood one time. It isn't like the dang horse is picky! But she wont touch this supposedly super palatable yummy alfalfa??

Grrrrrrrrrr

 

[AnnaC]

Have you checked the quality and the smell of the chaffhaye. I dont know what sort you have available over there, but here one as to be very careful about the quality of the stuff they call chaff, plus a lot of the sacks get stored for quite a while and lose their fresh sweet smell.

If she is refusing to eat it, but normally scoffs down anything, then I would think there is something in it that she really doesn't like the smell or taste of. I always rely on my chips to tell me if something is not quite right with their food stuff, even if I think it seems ok.

Any news from your vet yet?

 

[phoebeq]

This is the stuff that I bought. It definitely still has the fresh smell. From what I hear about this stuff, it is supposed to be great. Stores very well.

http://www.chaffhaye.com/

I ended up mixing her antibiotic with a little big of grain and soaked it some, then I poured it over the Chaffhaye and she had eaten most of it, last I checked. I gave what she didn't eat before to my big boy, Dakota. He ate it with no issues...loved it, lol.

I called my vet and left a message...no answer. I left a message...hopefully she will call me back soon.

Not much progress to report. Here are pics from a little bit ago though.

Sorry for the short and not so sweet...I am in a crummy mood today.

 

[Wings]

That belly is certainly sinking down nicely. Can't be much longer now

 

[phoebeq]

More funky weather moving in...she has a blanket on again. I hope it passes quickly. Rawr! Aunt Flo had better make her visit short or no one will want to be around me anymore, lmao.

 

[AnnaC]

Your chaffhaye looks like good stuff (thanks for the link), the only thing I wondered is if it might be too rich for Robin - it must be great for animals needing to gain weight, which, lets be honest, Robin doesn't need to do LOL!! Plus I would be a little worried about the added 'sugar' content for her. Also be careful to check for any small holes in the bags - air getting in to these sort of products can 'upset' things and spoil the contents. Does your bag also have a "use contents within so many days from opening" label on it, just wondering because over here ours do and that is something to watch for.

Robin is looking good, moving along nicely!

 

[phoebeq]

From what Chaffhaye's website says, I should try to use it up within 7-10 days of opening it. It also says that if the bag goes bad, you will definitely know it, as it gets a very strong rotten smell.

I spoke with a rep for it one time and I was concerned about it being alfalfa and founder from it being too high in protein. Apparently with this fermentation process, it is no longer a "hot" feed and you don't have to worry about them foundering or getting too much of it. You can actually free feed this stuff from what I read...I won't be doing that, but it is possible. I have plans to start feeding it to most of my herd pretty quick here. Fiona (clydesdale) probably won't get it, as I want to keep hay infront of her at all times. She will get round bales of grass hay and her high fat grain. My other full sized horses will all get it and my two donkeys. If Robin adjusts, then I will give it to her too. If she absolutely refuses to eat it, I will go back to soaked alfalfa cubes for her. It is sad, because the Chaffhaye actually comes out to be cheaper than feeding big bales of grass hay. There is no worry about wasted hay or mold or dust either. AND it is readily available with a constant price...none of this "oh, my supplier went up, so I have to go up on you now". Forget that mess, lol.

The rain stopped at dark last night, and Robin was beginning to twist her little blanky around her body (since she wouldn't let me use the straps between her legs last night), so I took it off. Well, she stayed dry last night, but it got down to like 32 last night, so she was kinda cranky this am. She felt better once the sun came up and she could stand in it though.

This baby needs to get here...like NOW. I don't think that I can take much more of this stress/worry. I am already concerned with the cost of feeding all of my critters this winter. I am attempting to sell on of my full sized horses, but no one is biting. I have like 1200 in him and I am trying to get at least half of that back to help with feeding everyone else this winter...well that's not happening. I could easily sell him for a couple hundred, but then what is the point? That wouldn't even buy one big bale of hay! Then I have the whole lack of a shelter thing, which means that I have to bug hubby to get on the ball with the permit to build a new one. We already have all of the supplies...just have to get the permit and get it built. Bugging hubby to build stuff for my animals is not very fun though, lol. He is already not really a horse guy...well he likes them, but he doesn't like fixing fences or repairing damage that they do to buildings or building shelters for them, lol. So, whenever I ask him to do those things, he gets grouchy. Then there is the 3 extra dogs that I am babysitting right now. They are a pain and they don't listen, so when I let them out to go to the bathroom, I have to go and chase them down and make them come back. I don't deal well with my OWN dogs not listening (which doesn't happen very often, as I have made sure to train them all very well), let alone someone else's dogs (whose owners actually dared make a comment about MY training abilities, lol). Oh, and then there is Hurricane Michael (my 2.5 year old) whom will NOT let this house stay in order. I pick it up and in 10 minutes he has dragged every toy back out. Rawr!

Sorry for the autobiography of grouchiness, lol. I guess I just needed to vent. I realize that I don't have it so bad...there are many that have it much worse...I'm just in a grumpy mood and am feeling poopy about things right now. If you read all of that, give yourself a cookie!

No pics of the potato this am...it was cold and she was cranky, lol. No real changes though. I will go out and get some when it warms up some (and hopefully my hurricane will be taking a nap!).

 

[Snapple]

Sometimes you just need to vent. And I totally understand. I also have a 2 year old son, and a non-horse hubby. I think that when the time comes to get fences and a shelter built, I will be doing a lot of it myself. With "help" from my 2 year old, of course. It may take all winter, since my little guy's help makes anything take twice as long as it normally would. He helped me make muffins the other day, and the clean up took longer than actually making the muffins.

 

[phoebeq]

Isn't it great when they want to help? LOL. Hubby always tells me to have my 6 year old help me with animal chores...he is finally old enough that it doesn't necessarily take me twice as long anymore. The little one though? Whew...I love him to death, but when he helps, it is bad, lol. The only time that he doesn't wanna help is when it comes time to clean up! And the older? I swear when I tell him to clean his room, it is like I am killing him. Screaming and crying and pouting...little booger.

 

[phoebeq]

Oh no worries there...I am FAR from one of those "OMG, must have a clean house" moms, lol. It is more for hubby than me. He gets rather cranky if the house is messy Me? I could easily step over those toys, lol. Luckily, he is at work right now and won't be back for another couple of weeks, so I don't have to worry as much about it.

So, really??? Alfalfa causing founder is not true?? I cannot believe that I actually have been so worried about that! I just tried to do a bit of research on the subject and found so many different opinions. I just went ahead and asked SIL about it, lol. I figure that she is fairly fresh out of vet school, so she may have had a class on it more recently LOL

It has been 371 days since Batman and Robin were separated! At what point should I start to worry? OR give up that Batman is dad? LOL. I just can't imagine that she would be bagging up this early if she weren't "due" until December/January

 

[chandab]

Then I have the whole lack of a shelter thing, which means that I have to bug hubby to get on the ball with the permit to build a new one. We already have all of the supplies...just have to get the permit and get it built. Bugging hubby to build stuff for my animals is not very fun though, lol. He is already not really a horse guy...well he likes them, but he doesn't like fixing fences or repairing damage that they do to buildings or building shelters for them, lol. So, whenever I ask him to do those things, he gets grouchy.

I realize not easy with a little one to watch, but start building yourself, its really not that hard. It shouldn't be too hard for you to go get the permit, while you wait for him to have time to help with the building if you don't feel comfortable building yourself. Summer before last, I built a portable shelter for my mini geldings, the only thing hubby did for me was cut the corners off the timbers used for skids. So what if it didn't turn out completely square. Lost the progress pics when my computer crashed, I hadn't saved them to thumb drive, yet. Will try to get a picture to share. Same summer, maybe even the summer before I put up 48' or so of windbreak, hubby did help set the posts, well he dug the holes with the tractor driven post hole digger. Might have been last summer than I put another 32' of windbreak around the portable shelter I built, posts were already in, as I used the corral posts.

Here's a pic of some of the windbreak I did:



I helped hubby build my mini barn:



It was made from two calf shelters he had previously built, but never used, we jacked them up 4' and put an 8' aisle between them.

Guess I do kind of have a pic of hte shelter I built, I was actually taking a pic of Jasper to show someone how awful he looked right before his Cushings diagnosis.



Ok, so it only shows the inside of the shelter, but you can see the skids and the 2x6' nailer boards.

 

[phoebeq]

I wish that I had the skills to start it myself. Unfortunately, in order to get the permit, we have to have plans drawn up and then they have to be built up to standard with the county. It sucks...

I did build a little make shift shelter once, out of 4x8 pieces of plywood and some 4x4s on the bottom for stability. Just kind of a 2 sides and a roof thing up against a wooden fence. It was ugly, but it worked, until my big horses had to go into that corral in spring and Dakota itched his butt on it until it fell over Big bootie head, lol. It worked well as a windblock and had enough roof to keep the snow off of them, if they wanted it. I had it attached to the wire corral panel for stability as well. Here are a couple of pics...like I said...ugly, but functional

Basically the issue now is that the supplies that I have are for a large horse shelter that will be half in the corral and half in the pasture. It will be like 12x24 and have a metal roof and wood siding. Hubby wants it to match the house...I just want shelter, dangit! LOL

I may see if I can scrounge up some supplies to make something in the backyard that will work for Just small animals. I think that you guys have inspired me, lol. I'm gonna go see what we have outside

 

[chandab]

HOw's this for inspiration:

http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletShed/

I know there are lots of other ideas on the net for these, and I thought I saved a couple really good sites, but can't find them now.

 

[phoebeq]

Okay, I got inspired, but not inspired enough to start this evening, lol. I have 4 pallets, enough wood slats to side the pallets with and some tin roofing that I could put ontop. I figure I can put it up against the existing wooden fence in my backyard, as a backing. I just need to figure out how to make them stand. would a frame of 2x4's work on the ground? And perhaps one up top for the roof? It won't be huge, but it will be big enough for her to get out of the weather for sure.

 

[chandab]

You might try t-posts to support the pallets, if you turn the pallets the correct way, they could just slide down over a couple t-posts and then be held in an upright position. HOpe that makes sense. Good luck.

I need to put together some pallets to hold some chopped hay, but haven't gotten to it, yet. Then I could get a whole pick-up load of chop from the neighbor, instead of filling a few old feed bags each time.

 

[phoebeq]

Hmm...I hadn't thought of that! Thanks! Dangit...I will still have to ask hubby to pound the t-posts in, lmao. Sadly, I have never been able to do that, with my weakling little arms

 

[phoebeq]

Rawr! Bag has deflated some, hooha is all scrunched up, and I am ready to use robin's belly as a trampoline!