Lambs

Beetle and friends

Now what?

Bumblebee's beautiful lamb locks fall off in my fingers

First, Bumblebee continues to gain strength. So that's good.

But I realized yesterday that she is losing her fleece. This must be what people mean when they say that stress or illness causes breaks in the fiber. Her curls come out with the slightest pressure.

So, do I shear her? Roo her? (Odd sounding for a BFL, but possible in her state I think.)

I'm afraid to leave it on her. It will certainly mat when the new fiber starts to grow in.

On the other hand, to take it off will leave her bare. I figure she's got about two months before we get any truly cold weather, but even next month, the nights should be in the forties. I guess she could wear one of the goat coats if it comes to that.

What do I do?

Icelandic fences

It's not all gloom and doom around here.
Before the lambs got sick or Josie broke her foot,
 I was working on a post about Emily and Devon,
the Icelandic sisters.

These two march to their own beat. 

Day by day

First, the lambs are doing well. Bumblebee and Cricket are still separated from the main group until they are strong enough to avoid getting trampled (um, yeah, that requires a whole lot more strength than I thought, sorry Bumblebee.) Otherwise, they're good.

Anyway, phew on the lamb problems. For now at least.

Hard to say about Josie. Sarah at CSL rightly asked how do you keep a 1000 lb pony off a broken foot.

The short answer?

Pain.

Josie is still restricted to her stall so that she can't go walk about even if she wanted to, which she doesn't at the moment.

She's also on a long-term sedative to keep her calm. Since she's the easily frustrated type (who, for instance, kicks her stall walls when pissed off), this is drug strategy number 1.

The second drug strategy, though a little counterintuitive is equally, if not more important. Josie is to get just enough bute to benefit from its anti-inflammatory properties, but not enough to dull the pain. It's the pain that will keep her from using the foot before its ready. Yesterday I think I gave her a little too much. The paste form does not come out of the tube easily. This makes the dose harder to control than it should be. Arghh. I saw her pick up the unbroken foot at one point in the afternoon. Not good. On the other hand, for the first 48 hours she went nearly bute-free, because she refused the powder I was giving her. She kept her foot pretty clear off the ground then. Today I am shooting for the middle ground.

The final strategy is ice. For both feet. These are wraps that you keep in the freezer when not in use. This is in lieu of cold hosing.  Cold hosing requires her to walk out to the hose outside. She's not allowed to walk anywhere. And, um, yeah, I can't hose her in her stall. So, ice.

It's the front foot that is broken. 

Good thoughts for Josie everybody, please?