Schoolhouse Turn Returns to Sorta Normal

Thursday, last, the three mares came home. Nell and Faye for the first time. Faye is in the annex for now, being on the bottom of the hierarchy and having dental problems, this is best. She can see Pepper and Nell all the time.

Wednesday was the equine dentist for Pepper and Faye. Amy Scripps has seen Pepper before, but it was her first time seeing Faye. Faye has some major problems that may have been caused by an injury as a filly. I had been feeling guilty about taking her from her lifetime herd and vast pasture, but discovery that her dental issues made grazing difficult and would have made grazing impossible, probably within a year, puts my mind at ease. Amy says she has years of eating hay left, and we devised a way of using slow feed nets in a way that she can use them.

We are in a holding pattern for now because air quality is so bad. The Camp Fire, now 60% contained, is 200 miles away, but we are getting a lot of smoke. After last year, and then this year, it is apparent that California will be getting nastier fires from now until forever. We have to do even more to reduce the fuel load of surrounding area. So I have two goats.... and possibly kids due in March '19, we will have 2-4 goats for grass and brush control on slope that is too steep to do by human.

In the meantime: Ready for evac in minutes beginning in May (still green then) until the first major rain.

Now for the pictures:

Pepper

Nell

Nell, Pepper rolling

Nell

Pepper and Nell

Faye

 Faye

Temp Housing

All three ponies are at a boarding stable in Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the world. After having ponies at home, I don't like boarding.

South Bay Horse Ranch is a good stable, summer home of the South Bay Polo team. The team is gone south for the winter, southern California has a better climate in the winter.
That means.... I can drive on the polo field!!!

The polo Field is fun to drive on. Pepper likes it. Wednesday, when Faye and Nell arrived, she was antsy. Brandy, the trainer who is fixing the trailering trouble and teaching me to keep it from reappearing, said Pepper had a lot of energy. I drove her after her session and I can attest to that! She would not stand still for harnessing and I had trouble getting the cart put to. As soon as I got the shafts through the loops, she was still. Then I got in and said:
"Pepper, walk."

She sashayed around the field in a perfect and forward walk, and gave me a great drive. Pepper is all about the drive. Not so much for schmoozing, just driving.

Yesterday I put Pepper in the round pen with her future partner Nell. Another boarder was concerned about putting two ponies together, but Nell just came out of a herd of thirty ponies. Pepper came from the same herd 4 years ago. The mostly just screamed at each other from a distance of 15 meters. I kept them moving around until It was obvious that they would just scream. After 1/2 or screaming, I put them away because someone else wanted to use the roundpen.

I didn't take pictures. Oops.

Faye let me catch her. I didn't get her out. She was pretty stressed. I just scratched her. She has diarrhea. She got diatomaceous earth and electrolytes and lunch hay. She is drinking well.

Arrival pics:

Faye is the black dun,
Nell is buckskin.