- Ziggy’s been pestering me for the past two weeks. “When you have a blog, you should be writing, not just grazing around the pasture or laying in the sun snoring your head off.” What’s wrong with grazing and sleeping? Okie does it all the time, and so does Sneaky. Of course, neither of them have blogs . . . hmmm. Maybe I should get Ziggy to write a blog. Would she stop pestering me then? Guess not. Sometimes I think she thinks it’s her life’s mission to pester me. Oh well, she’s a mare, and a bossy one at that; although I must admit there is plenty of good horse sense in that head of hers. She always has so much relevant information to impart. I don’t know where she gets it: I’ve never seen her crack a book, mare intuition maybe? Or is she just really good at listening to the conversations our mistress has with Doctor L and our farrier.
By the way, I did overhear that Doctor L has retired and now Doctor J will be taking care of us. I hope he’s as nice as Doctor L. I understand our farrier works a lot with him fixing hoof problems. Thankfully my pasture buddies and I all have healthy hooves, although there was a time when I kept getting abscesses in my hooves. That was before I came to live with my mistress. She takes really good care of us, making sure we all get the proper nutrition to keep us fit. Especially Okie who has something called heaves.
According to Ziggy, heaves is similar to COPD in humans and causes inflammation in the airways in the lungs making it hard to breathe. Okie really has a hard time with it in the humid summer weather we have here in South East Texas, spending most of his time in the shade under a tree instead of grazing, and losing weight in the process. I feel sorry for Okie and kept trying to coax him into grazing with me. Our mistress gives him several flakes of nice alfalfa hay in his stall during feeding time as a supplement. This winter though, with the cooler weather, Okie should put back most of the weight he will have lost, and will breathe a whole lot better. It’s unfortunate that there is no cure for heaves. Okie’s really a good egg. Ziggy said there is something called “Dexametha”-something which is a steroid that is used as an anti-inflammatory. She said it helps Okie breathe easier. Like I said, that mare is full of useful information.
