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| Zoe December 2007 |
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| Zoe is slowly gaining ground. She has come through most of her challenges so far... but unfortunately now she is going through another hoof abcess. Our farrier (Clayton) assures me the worst is over, but until then, she has to have her foot soaked twice a day, wrapped at night, and padded if it becomes to sore for her. I also had to stop taking her over to our neighbor's sweet pasture to graze (because of the abcess), so my pasture is basically gone now. Thank God for winter rye.
Personality-wise, she is really starting to open up. She is starting to show more of her opinion about things and definitely has her favorites among our other horses. She absolutely loves one of my geldings, Thunder, and he loves her, but he is 5 and too rambunctious for her at this point. She also is beginning to show interest in my other mare, Stormy, so I might start turning them out together a bit to see what happens.
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CHECK OUT ZOE'S DECEMBER PICS IN OUR SLIDESHOW BELOW
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| Zoe January 2008 |
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As you can see from the pics, Zoe is doing awesome. She has really come into her own now and is interacting with her other horse buddies and showing lots of affection and interest towards me.
We are doing some Level 1 Parelli Natural Horsemanship with her and a few of our volunteers and she LOVES it. She is super calm, learns fast, and likes the attention. Our focus now is to continue working with her on the Parelli stuff and to get her moving more to gain some muscle tone and strength.
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| Zoe eating like it is her job. |
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| This is Levi. He keeps Zoe company while she is recovering. |
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The day these pics were taken it was cold and windy and probably in the high 30's. Nippy for us Florida wimps. Zoe is definitely feeling better over the winter months. I am hoping she builds and gets her immune and body systems running more regularly, so she will be able to withstand the hot summer months ahead. Despite that concern though, we are enjoying the beautiful weather and her good health.
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Here is Zoe Girl below looking good and feeling good. She is making steady progress health-wise and continues to flourish in both personality and spirit. Her favorite thing is... you guessed it, eating... and her second favorite thing is getting her itchy spots scratched.
We have also to officially announce we have decided to keep Zoe as a permanent resident of our rescue and family... Meaning specifically, she will not be available for adoption as she has found her home with us for the duration. We are sorry about the circumstances of her being with us, but so grateful we have the chance to know and love her for the rest of her life.
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Zoe and Her Herd
July 2008
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Horses are happiest when they are with other horses. Since Zoe is at the bottom of the herd, I have to be super careful with who I turn her out with and in which pasture. Levi has been her buddy for a while here, but we took on another horse and he is now keeping her company a couple houses down. So, Stormy and Handsome have been alternating buddies for her, however my three originals (Handsome, Stormy, and Thunder) are a tight knit group and fuss and worry about the missing one when they are split up. To remedy that I got a couple pygmy goats in hopes Zoe will bond with them as her herd. We'll see how that goes...
Here are some pics of all of them below.
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ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY
September 9 2008
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Unbelievably, one year has passed since Zoe came to live at our place. Looking back, it is
still hard to see and think of her in such bad shape... especially now,
since I know and love her so much. To think that only a year ago she
was suffering in obscurity in Sanford, makes it even tougher to come to
grips with all she has been through in such a short time.
It has been a tough road with lots of ups and downs (hoof abcesses, gut problems, diarrhea, heat stroke, poor hoof quality, etc), but she continues to heal and has become a permanent resident here at our barn. Zoe is super smart, very opinionated, loves her food/hay, and will do just about anything to get you to scratch her itchy spots.
She got a bit beat up
by the rest of the herd a few weeks ago... I had her and Stormy out
together and the Boys on an adjacent paddock and somehow someone broke
the gate and they wound up chasing poor Zoe around for an hour or so.
Her rear leg was cut up and she had bite marks and cuts along her back
and rear end. Our vet, Jon Seiler, came out and cleaned her up (no
stitches), although after another past incident like this, I will need
to keep her separated from the herd and only turn her out with Stormy
or Handsome, or maybe I will have to get some goats or a donkey to make
her own herd. The wounds from the brawl finally healed up, but not
after getting some proud flesh (yuk) and celluitis, which required more
antibiotics and putting powder on the proud flesh to eat it away. Yuk.
But, she is good to go now and none the worse for the wear.
Her daily routine includes eating bfast at 5:30 or 6, being turned out for hay and grass with her new pygmy goat pals (Little Joe, Penny, and Lilly) after a good grooming with lots of scratching... then she comes in around 1 before the heat of the day hits us, eats more hay, hangs out under a big fan in her stall, and waits for the other guys to come in for more hay, and finally dinner and lights out. What a life.
Soon, she will also have another pal join her herd, a mini donkey. We will be sure to include some pics of him when he gets here.
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If you would like to help take care of Zoe,
donate through PayPal at right.
Thank You.
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