Following my dreams of homesteading and having my own land with horses. I want to raise chickens, ducks, goats, and grow my own food. I want to raise horses and live off the grid. I want to help and give back to the world. This is my adventure. I like to research and learn all about these things. So come along with me and learn everything about raising a newborn Suffolk Punch/Percheron filly, setting up a homestead, and raising animals.
This is Lilly's first FULL month of life with me. She has now been with me for over a month. I got to spend her entire 7th month with her. She is now 7 months old! I am so excited to see how she continues to grow and change.
Here is a video showing all the pictures I took over the last month. It is very, very, very long. I took over 500 pictures.
Happy birthday to my wonderful Midnight Lilly Belle. In less than a month she will be home! Her next birthday she will be with us! She has had a lot of big events in her life this month!
I will do a recap of her first 5 months and all the milestones she has accomplished.
The highlight of the day was resting in the pasture with the horses. Pluto was sleeping getting REM, than Nora. Della and Lilly were sleeping standing up. Pepper and Gracie also laid down for some REM. It is nice to be accepted into the "herd" and the horses trust me enough to lay down and sleep when I am in the pasture. Lilly did not lay down - but maybe someday soon. For now I am just enjoying the time I have with them.
Pluto getting her REM
Nora getting her REM
Horses sleeping in next door pasture.
Lilly sleeping
Pepper and Gracie getting their REM
Nora still out
Lilly sleeping
Horses behind me in other pasture
Lilly moved to get some scratches
Pepper still sleeping - Gracie standing guard
Della eating
Elizabeth and the pups came out to the farm for the evening session to work more on desensitization. Serenity got triggered by something when we first arrived and started barking her head off. So that made the whole visit much more anxious for both dogs. Sonnet was crying when Elizabeth took Serenity around. It was not as successful as the day before. It was also colder so Elizabeth was less motivated to be as through walking around with the dogs. Hopefully tomorrow will be more successful. I did get some cute pictures of Elizabeth with Lilly. They are both very hesitant of each other.
Monday, November 23
Today brought some stress. Many things happened that told my gut something was not quite right.
When I arrived in the morning Lilly did not greet me like she usually does. She was standing in the field and did not whinny or come up to the gate. I thought maybe she was having an "off" day so I waited and did not push her. She came with me and when we were walking she walked up to a plant she has tried before and spit it out and now she avoids them and ate it. She seemed to be self medicating. But the rest of the morning went without any big incidents. We went for a shorter walk and rested in the pasture. I also took pictures showing how much she has grown - she now seems bigger than her friend Beryl!!
Pluto's nose - "Whatcha doin?"
At home - Elizabeth asked me how old Lilly was in comparison to human years. She was talking about who is older - her or Lilly. We discovered that Lilly will be younger than her until Lilly is 3 years old - than she will be older :-)
When I came out in the evening with Elizabeth and the pups she still seemed a little off. But she ate her afternoon meal with no issues. We took a walk around the farm and visited places we had not yet visited to try to help her overcome her spookiness at one particular part of the farm. Then we had some scratching sessions with her and Pluto. Elizabeth did very well walking the dogs around. She was able to go around many times. Than she came and said hi to Lilly and Pluto. She also wanted to share her new horse friends with me. So we went around the farm and she showed me her two horse friends. The other friends had been put into the barns for the night. I will ask her to show me them tomorrow. I got the names of them from Jerry.
Elizabeth's friend "Little Debbie" named after the snack cakes
Elizabeth's other friend "Foxy"
Than after we got home I got a call about 4:40 telling me that Lilly was acting strange. When Jerry went to feed them she was lying down then got up then laid back down again, then got up, then laid back down again. He said the vet was coming out for another horse and did I want her to also look at Lilly - I told him of course and that I would be on my way. So I got dressed and went back out to the farm. When I arrived (at about 4:50) Rachel (the significant other of the ranch hand who lives on the farm in the trailer) was standing by Lilly and Lilly was lying on the ground. It was getting very dark outside. It was only 5 pm but the sun had already set. Lilly looked so small and vulnerable lying down. I also know when a horse does not feel good (especially when it is a digestion issue) it is VERY important that they do not roll around on the ground as this can cause more issues. So I put the halter on Lilly and Rachel helped me get Lilly to stand up. Then Lilly said hi to Rachel and stood there for a while ( I think we woke her up). I checked her over and Jerry came too and listened to her gut sounds. Rachel said she heard her passing gas. Jerry could hear gut sounds. Then she went over to the hay and started eating. That made me feel so much better. The vet was coming at 5:30 so we just waited. Rachel went back to her house. I stayed with Lilly and Jerry went to check on the other horse and women who were with the horse. The vet arrived at 5:30 and went to check out the other horse. Lilly was eating the whole time. I listened to her gut sounds and they sounded very busy. Then around 5:45 Jerry told me to walk Lilly up to the new barn. Lilly did so amazing walking to the barn. By this time it was very dark outside but Lilly really trusted me and listened extremely well. There was another horse still tied up so we waited. The vet had gone to find us while we had come to the barn to find her. She arrived and checked out Lilly. She asked us what happened and we described that Lilly had a loose stool at about 4pm and then Jerry told her what he had told me about her strange behavior. We also told the vet she had been eating for about 30 min. She said all her vital signs were looking good. Her breathing rate was under 60. She wasn't dehydrated. Her gut sounds were active throughout her GI track. She said that her gut sounds were a little too active in the back. So she said if she still has loose stool in the morning to get some Advita (which is a probiotic) from the other lady whose horse was checked tonight. She said that her horse takes it all the time. She said it could work itself out - but if it doesn't to give her the Advita. She said that horses under two also have lots of issues with worms. She asked me when she was last dewormed and with what. She said babies eat a lot of things and get full of worms because their immune system does not have the tools to fight them. She mentioned round worms, so I am going to check which dewormer she got. On the way home I also called my vet to get her advise and opinion and see if she had any homeopathic that she likes to use. She is putting out some PREbiotics for me to give Lilly. The prebiotics help feed the probiotics. There is also aloe that sooths the digestive tract. So I will pick that up on the way out to the farm today and give Lilly some of that. I was going to give her so split peas today - but I think it is best to wait and see. I do not want to bombard her system with things and cause more issues.
I got home by 6:30.
Jerry texted at 7:37 that Lilly was still eating. So I feel good that Lilly is going to be okay.
Tuesday, November 24
After the stressful situation yesterday I was thankful for a very relaxing and peaceful day. Lilly's poops were normal. I gave her the probiotic my vet gave me. She is also all done with changing her food over. The last food will be the pumpkin seeds. Today was the 2nd feeding with the split peas. The first time she didn't mind it and ate it all. But the second meal of the day she left more food behind.
Elizabeth came out with the dogs and did a great job. She took them around and they had a lot of fun. The pups were not as anxious today. Elizabeth also took them together one time. I also got pictures of her with her horse friends.
Wednesday, November 25
Today was a good day. It was farrier day. Nell came out and worked on Lilly's feet. Since I have been doing her feet everyday - she could tell a HUGE difference in how Lilly responded to her feet being done! So yeah!!!! She said her frogs look really good. She also said that her hooves look really healthy. So that is great! She arrived at 9:30 and we were finished at 10:13. By the end Lilly was loosing her patience but she did very well. She only tried walking away. I gave her hay after she was finished with each foot. We also took short breaks and let Lilly walk around. I am proud of all of us. The session went really great.
I also took her measurements today. She is still growing - but her growing has slowed down. So after all the food changing is over I will adjust the amounts of the food to make sure she is growing at a good speed.
When we arrived at the farm this evening Lilly was sleeping with Pluto! It was so cool. I rook lots of pictures and videos to capture the moment. It was so peaceful. I did not want to wake her up and ruin her sleep. So I waited until she woke up on her own.
It was great to spend time with Lilly today. We went for a walk around saying hi to other horses and I followed her where she wanted to go and she did a lot of hand grazing. We spent a lot of time just relaxing. She even laid down and took a long nap! She makes very strange noises when she sleeps. lol I sat beside her and watched her.
