A short update as the weather is beautiful and it was a busy day; I spent the morning cleaning out the sheep barn now that lambing is done and the afternoon taking down and rolling up some of the existing fence in the big fencing project.
In regards to several questions and responded about Bloopie's passing, thanks for the condolences, yes, he had a fun personality,had a good long life, and is buried in our little paddock cemetery. We'll miss him...
Also, to explain, when a horse chokes it isn't overly dramatic as the item is usually lodged deep in the esophogus and doesn't interfere with breathing. The animal can't swallow, but he wasn't that uncomfortable and he was alert and would still whinny when he saw us yesterday. In the past year he would often cough when he was eating (horses can't really vomit for several reasons, one being they are really trickle feeders, eating a little at a time all day long, so they have a slowly moving digestive system with sort of a "one way flap" with an angle where the esophogus meets the stomach and not a lot of muscles built into it). I feel now that he's had a restriction in his esophogus for a while that has made swallowing difficult.
First photo: We never know what horses are really thinking, but Derby seems to be saying "goodby" to his little friend, Bloopie.
Second photo: The apple trees are all in bloom; perfect weather for the bees.
