Pumpkin Pony

https://linktr.ee/Noormyrr

[clickerpunk]

Knitted some teeny tiny socks for a teeny tiny human 💛

[clickerpunk]

Absolutely lovely 70km hike on Hardangervidda!

Sunburnt and tired, but man, one of the prettiest places to be.

📷: @fidgetspringer

[clickerpunk]

There were so many hops in her today

📷: @fidgetspringer

[clickerpunk]

For those who were curious about Rudis shoes. They are Hoofstar Runa glue on shoes!

[clickerpunk]

Meet Pee and Wee, they are piss fish.

(Bags for pee funnels and wipes for hiking)

[fidgetspringer]

@clickerpunk doing hoof stuff with an audience

[clickerpunk]

Astra loves having a third person to take advantage of

@fidgetspringer is visiting for a few weeks

[clickerpunk]

New hat who dis

[clickerpunk]

Strawberry snackies 🍓

[clickerpunk]

The kitties got an extension to the catio today!

A long tunnel going from the big catio to a smaller one at the forest edge. They seem to approve so far!

[clickerpunk]

Please tell us more about the forest paddock! How it's set up, feeding and watering, poop removal etc. I'm interested in alternative ways of keeping horses , like track systems, and I'm intrigued by Rudi's situation

Sure! Basically since Rudi has EMS and had laminitis last year, grass is pretty much off the table for her.

So our solution this year was to put the easy keepers who needed to loose weight in a chunck of forest we fenced in.

Up here they have a straw bed on the top, and an automatic waterer down the hill closest to the stable. We hang weighed up small hole hay nets once a day. The rest of the time they forage for leaves from the trees and straw.

I have a gps tracker on Rudi so i can monitor her movement, and they consistently move about 7-8km every day. In comparison, when they are in their winter paddock she only moves about 4-5km a day.

Poop we havent really done anything about, it's quite a good sized area so it's not much of a problem to leave it.

It has worked SO well, they have lots of shade, shelter from rain and not a lot of bugs. So it really has been an optimal way of keeping them!

[clickerpunk]

One of the steep rocky parts they have to go through to go down to drink. They really have to think about their feet going down, and build muscle going back up 💪

[clickerpunk]

I can SEE her ribs! 🥳 First time since she was 3 years i think haha. Very pleased with her progress!

[mylittlehony]

Congratulations! Air ferns require a lot of thoughtful management, and having ribs return is such a good sign.

What management changes have been most successful for Rudi? I am particularly envious of the forest pasture, I would like to get my grass into more shade.

Since the pergolide got Abba's hyperinsulinaemia under control, my vets keep telling me how happy they are to see her ribs in spring and summer. I am a little ambivalent because she is older and a healthy amount of visible rib becomes shocking weight loss quite fast at the end of summer now, but I would like to see Shakira and Sahara's ribs return; I have learned that it is possible Abba's PPID was triggered by the excess weight she carried.

[clickerpunk]

It is such a fine balance once they get older 🥲

Rudi has EMS, so the main worry is just to keep her as lean as possible.

She was on Invocana for about a month last spring which helped kickstart the weight loss and restart her body a bit.

Since then it has honestly just been strict management of food intake 🙈 Weighing meals in small hole hay nets and keeping her off grass completely. The forest pasture has been a blessing because they have to walk a distance and climb some pretty steep terrain going up and down from their water.

I know a lot of people say that training them more is enough, but in my 10 years of owning her i have never been able to train her enough to make a meaningful difference, so for us we HAVE to restrict her food intake as well 😅 Obviously exercise helps a lot, and it also helps them deal with their insulin better, but getting the feeding right has been a huge game changer.

We analyze all the hay, and feed accordingly. We also give straw as a low calorie option to prevent them from going a long period without forage.

[clickerpunk]

I can SEE her ribs! 🥳 First time since she was 3 years i think haha. Very pleased with her progress!

[clickerpunk]

Brego isn't impressed by her romantic approaches

[fidgetspringer]

My completed fox cardigan from PHM 🦊

[clickerpunk]

Haymaking time!

Before the hay is cut we do a thermal drone search to find baby deer. That way we can catch them and put them somewhere safe while the grass is cut. Last year we found a bunch, this year we found none! So hopefully no baby deer in the haybales.