Day 16

Measuring and Ferrier Fun

10/28/2020

We had a great day today. Lilly had her first visit with our new ferrier, Nell Hanley. She is a natural hoof care specialist. She was awesome. She was not a bully and introduced herself to Lilly and also was gentle, firm, and took her time with getting Lilly's feet trimmed. She said that Lilly's feet are looking great. She wants to see her again in 4 weeks. So I have 4 weeks to keep working on Lilly giving her feet. She is very big and very strong so picking up her feet is very hard. I am going to keep watching videos so I can continue to practice and work on Lilly giving her feet more successfully. I am also suppose to practice when Lilly does not have food. She wants to try it without Lilly eating. This is going to be hard to do. But I'm gonna keep trying. I will continue to do it 1 time a day WHILE she is eating and I am going to try to do it 1 time a day after she is done eating. We shall see how well that works.

I also asked the Nell about the hoof clay I got. She did not know the brand but checked it out and said she liked it. She said it was a good idea to use it preventively! So yeah! Lilly had two cracks in her frogs so I was able to use it right away. I am glad I had it to help prevent issues! I also put some on the outside white line of her hooves. I will start using it on her hooves to protect them from thrush - especially since the pasture is so muddy from the melting snow and all the poop.

Manners before eating seems to be getting better. She is following me better and staying with me. She is stopping in front of her food and not pushing as much. We will also continue to work on this.

I measured her again today. I will be making a new post to track all her measurements and what that all means for her and how much food she will be needing. Here is the Measurements Post. I took her measurements while she was eating but I was strategic to put her food on a level ground so she was standing much more even that last time.

I also took her for another walk around the farm. We met some little girls and their moms. The little girls came to say hi. She loves little girls. She allowed them so rub on her. We met a woman - she did not really like her. Lilly did not want her touching her. lol I can tell Lilly is getting more attached to me! Yeah! We also did grazing and stop grazing during out walk. This was good practice for us both. She did okay. She really wanted to stay and "graze." When Jerry feeds the horses he drops hay from the truck. So there are small piles of dropped hay on the "streets" around the farm. I would stop her and tell her to eat the piles of hay. She really liked that as it had been a while since she ate. I think I will do this everyday on the way to her supplements. So that she is eating more hay before she eats her grain.

She also likes to drink water after eating her supplements. I think this is very good for her to wash down any pieces in her mouth and throat so I will get another bucket and fill it with water and see if that helps her. I will put it next to her grain. I am looking for something that will work well for that. I am thinking a heated bucket so it does not freeze while I am walking her around.

So that was our day. Things are going really well. I am proud of us!