Wow! Quite a day!!

First of all, Mike and Vickie brought Shadow down first thing this morning.  They arrived within half an hour after the sun FINALLY came out.  Lovely!  So glad she came when it was NOT raining!

 

We had prepared Lizzie's old paddock and stall for Shadow so she could spend the first few days there by herself until she got used to Duke and Arthur.  Ha!   She met Arthur immediately - her paddock is right next to his.  Arthur kept trying to get close to her or get her to come over but for a while there she ignored him.

 

But Arthur definitely is NOT subtle.  he kept trying hard to get her to come over to him.  But after Duke came around to that fence, she gave in and went over to Duke AND Arthur. 

(All those grids and giant rubber mats there next to Arthur used to be laid around the edges of the barn, but had been stacked over there by his fence so Mark could smooth out that dirt by the barn.  Duke and Arthur couldn't care less - they just walk over them!  But it took Shadow a few minutes to get used to them.  We stuck those few there next to her over the mud outside her stall so she could go in and out without getting her feet muddy.) 

 

Duke had been standing at the front of his paddock looking over toward Shadow's paddock across the front of the barn.  But eventually he finally figured out that he could actually get close to her if he went around the back of the barn into Arthur's paddock. 

 

Duke finally figured out how to go around the barn to her fence and check her out.  At the time, she was grazing down at the other end of her paddock but when he ran up to the fence and started whinnying within just a few minutes she trotted back over to the fence to meet him.  In fact, before long she was trotting up and down that fence trying to figure out how to get over there to the other side to be with them!   Wow! 

 

 

Guess we won't need to keep her separated for long - maybe a day, until the land in back dries out some in case they decide to race around after each other back there.

 

Duke had been whinnying and carrying on while she was down on the other end of her paddock,
but she came over right away to see what his problem was.

And they seem to have become a very happy couple ALREADY!
(Darned good thing those wire are not electrified like the ones on the exterior fences! 
Of course, that's also why those chains were added.  Arthur tends to just push through those wires when they're not "on" -- the chains prevent that.)



Look how much taller she is than Duke, though! Wow! 
Good thing she's not in the habit of rearing up. 
It would be a loooong way down if I were to fall off of her!

We had put down a number of grids just outside Shadow's stall because there was a huge hole of muddy water out there.  She had a bit of a problem for a while there learning to walk across them to get into her stall.  But eventually she did quit worrying about it and went on in to eat her hay.

 

 

 

Then not long after she came in, we gave them all their supper.  She was pretty funny.  She would take a bite, then stick her head over her gate to check out Duke and Arthur while she chewed it up.  Then back to the bucket for just a second to get another bite, then sticking her head over her gate again while she chewed.  Funny!

 

Duke and Arthur were busily eating their dinner while she was checking them out while she chewed . . .

 

 

But as soon as they finished, they were ALL sticking their heads together.  Well, let me rephrase that . . . Arthur was trying to, but compared to the two of them, he really can't get HIS head over his gate.  Poor guy.  He was much smaller than Lizzie was, true, but he is REALLY going to feel like a dwarf with a 16+ hand mare around now!  Even Duke looks small next to her!

 

Well, anyway, it's wonderful to have her.  I'm really pleased with her at this point.

 

 

And then there's Gigi . . .  I took her over to her vet for her final shot this evening, and while we were there I asked her if there was anything else we could do for her right eye besides using the eye cream she gave me for her because that doesn't seem to be helping much.  Well, as it turned out, her vet said she needed to have eye surgery tomorrow (for entropion) so she is staying there at the vet overnight so she can't eat anything.  (If she were home and I didn't feed her, she would no doubt eat bushes or weeds or window sills!  SOMETHING!)   When I looked it up it said online that in giant breeds the symptom of entropion is mucus and/or pus discharge from the outer corner of the eyes.  And sure enough -- that's exactly what's been happening more and more all the time, but only from her right eye.  Well, I'm glad they're doing a temporary revision for her.  They aren't going to pull her bottom lid down completely because there is no way to tell how far it needs to come down until she is full grown, so they're just going to pull it down enough to have it stop scratching her lens for the time being and she will no doubt have to have a second surgery once she's completely grown.  Sigh.  So they will just make an incision just below her right eye and pull down the skin.  That should keep her bottom lashes from turning inward and scratching her cornea.  Poor baby.  But I get to pick her up after work tomorrow.  Sure hope she'll leave those stitches alone when I get her home!

 

On the plus side, though, last time she was at the vet she weighed 32 lbs.  Today - just 2 1/2 weeks later! -- she weighs 45 pounds!  I'll tell you what, I'll be giving her that 40-60 lb. Trifexis once this month, but I'm sure by next month she will be ready to use those 60-120 lb. pills that they all take!  Whew!  That's been FAST!

 

Okay - gotta head back to work tomorrow so time for bed.  Guess I'll have to dig out winter clothes again tomorrow morning, though, since it's supposed to be back down in the mid-30's tonight!  Gees!  This IS mid-April in Louisiana.  Wonder what's going on!