June 10, 2021 - A Huge Pile of Shit

Yesterday, the 'men' with the machines came to pick up the manure. They came with a truck and a Bobcat. Luckily, yesterday Junior had the white Bobcat. They said it's not as sensitive in steering... Although it also has a malfunction, it sometimes stops in the middle of something and then tilts slightly backwards. We had never seen it tipping over at the back before! Anyway, we were glad that he drove the white one. Because there was already a message in the stable chat when he was driving the red one: 'Attention XX is out with the red machine today. Stay clear of him and don't go near him with the horses. He can't handle the machine!' On that day, I asked the others on the farm why that was... if the machine had a malfunction? In response, I got shrugged shoulders with the remark: 'Hmm... It's more delicate in steering, he just can't handle it somehow!'

Okay, Junior came with the white one. But it wouldn't be like always if the truck didn't break down right in the middle of our stable. Maybe you remember the photo with the PET bottle neck as a fuel cap? That one... The battery is new, but it doesn't charge anymore. Senior was very upset! But unfortunately, they are used to it and knew what to do: Second truck in, jump-start it. Then Senior knelt under it, there were a few sparks and curses,... and off we went again! Nick and I then took the rest manually with rakes and pitchforks (broken because a cow ran over it). Because there are stones everywhere, they couldn't do a thorough job with the machine.

Then Nick and I had manual lessons again.

So... and today it was very hot again. We have to fetch water again. We started riding the horse that will go to Austria early next week. Until now, Nick has been leading me, taking his horse by the hand or lunging: walk and trot. She's still a bit unbalanced, but she's doing great! If Kath is reading this now, maybe skip a section 🙃 - Nick's mother. Today, Nick just got on her without anything! 🤠 She's totally cool with it. We'll keep working with her to make her even more confident, but I think we can let her go with a clear conscience. Even though we don't like to give her away!

Then we worked the horses. Actually, we both work all the horses that are 'ours'. But it has been established with some of them that either he or I work them. Sometimes the horse can respond better to one of us.

Sarina is still noticeably lame, but not as much. And I had a crisis today. This photo with the little wounds is from Fly's rear end. She had some hard holes underneath. I wasn't sure if they were fly larvae - and eventually maggots - in her wound. Unfortunately, we couldn't pull out the yellow thing with the tweezers. They say I should wait, it's probably not too bad... I hope they're right! But other than that, Fly is doing fine as always.

Some time ago, we wrote about a horse that we integrated (was alone for months without others). This week, he was castrated. Maybe he will calm down a bit. He's already quite special. To disinfect the wound, we have to halter him because we don't want to chase him into the manga. Then he runs away like he's been poked, then lies down in the middle of it - rolls around and lets it happen..? In the next few days, we will still give him anti-inflammatory injections.

There's a little colt standing next to him that I'm in love with. He has a crooked head and eyes of different sizes, not at the same level either. He didn't lie optimally in his mother. Maybe his head got deformed due to the position and possibly the birth. Since the forage (something like very coarse straw, feed straw) was so prickly, we cleaned his and the others' mouths and rinsed them with chamomile tea last week. Since then, he has been following us. He's also a real sweetheart. It was said that if we were to stay here, I would get him as a gift! I just want to show him to you, even though he's already in other pictures.

By the way, the mare that Nick loaded for the clinic was successfully operated on. She had a tumor on one ovary: 10 x 25cm in size! Take a look for yourself!

After dinner, we took an evening walk with our 3 cats. On the way back, the dog called me again... I find that terrible: There has been a livestock protection dog in his kennel here for at least a month. He has water, slaughter offal, and some sawdust to lie on, that's all. You can imagine how it smells! Every now and then I bring him a little treat in the evening before he barks half the night again. He's bigger than a Saint Bernard - a very friendly one. When we visit him, he almost goes crazy with joy. As you can imagine, I would love to adopt him too!