Still doing great! And changing colors!

I wanted to update because Val has put on even more weight, and is looking so beautiful! Her color is so pretty, almost black!

She is getting some grass turnout, and spending her evenings in a stall with hay and feed. She's not really a fan of being separated, but her pasturemates are hogs and she's a sharer.

Lily took her to another show, and came in first in both Leadline classes, and was reserve champion for the division!

What a difference in this girl!

Val went to her first show on April 14, and was a superstar!

She got a clip the week prior, what a job! But she looks adorable now, and has a beautiful coat underneath that yuck hair!

I started her on smart flex senior, tri amino, and omega horseshine, and she is peppy and spunky!

ACTH results!

Finally, the dreaded moment....the spring ACTH results!

Happy to share that they are excellent! ACTH was 30, well within limits! YAY! I'm not 100% sure but the number in fall was around 90.

Val is doing fantastic, going to lessons each week and getting stronger and stronger.

Lily is becoming a good little rider and by summer I think she'll be trotting independently! Her biggest issue right now is she is small and not very strong yet, so Val ignores her little kicks, but it is getting MUCH better and they are doing so well together!

Some photos from this past week:

And of course, I love the comparison shots!

9/25/12

3/10/13

Valentina: 5 months!

I realized its been so long since I updated this! When the news is good you forget to share it sometimes! Val is doing awesome! She has put on weight, she is part of the group, and just doing fantastic. Its been really satisfying getting her up to weight.

Her current diet is TC Senior, Purina Amplify, and grass hay. I have been able to taper her feed down significantly, because she has put on so much weight! The only spots that she really needs some help is the fat along her hips, and to fill in her topline. Other than that, she's been looking really good! I'm both excited and nervous to see her in spring when she's clipped. Its really hard to get down into that hair to feel her body condition. I think she looks amazing, and I cannot feel any ribs, but its just so hard with 5" hair to really know for sure how they look underneath that.

Her feet look great, the farrier was really happy the second time he came out to trim. He's been doing little trims at more frequent intervals to get the angles back where they should be.

She's trotting (and cantering, and galloping, in the pasture) sound, and yesterday she had her first outing to my neighbor's place. She was a little strong and nervous to handle, but after a quick lunge I put Lily on her and she was fine. I think she was more upset because the resident horses were prancing around, visibly upset by this little fuzzy thing trotting in the arena! If they hadn't been acting stupid, I think she wouldn't have been rattled. She handled it all very well! She's clearly seasoned, or maybe she's just that nonchalant!

I took a few photos this morning as I was putting them out to show how she looks!

Day 1 at our place, for comparison. I can't imagine what she looked like even before this! She was kindly saved by a woman and had been gaining weight prior to coming here. 

She doesn't look like the same pony, does she??? One of the biggest differences I've noticed is that the halter she is wearing right now, was so big when I got her that it was hanging off the end of her nose. I just pulled it out a few weeks ago and it fit! And I bought her a girth when we first got her, and its almost too small. Granted, alot of that is the winter hair, but the halter thing really threw me. 

Lily is still head over heels for her, and I love listening to their "conversations". Mostly Lily does the talking. Val does the listening. 

Lilys First Fall

Well, it was bound to happen and it did! Lily had her friend over to ride Val, and while Lily was showing him how to do it, Val stopped, shook, and Lily came off. She was pretty upset but got back on and I'm proud of her for that! Now she laughs about it.

A Valentina Update!

I realized its been awhile and I've noticed SUCH a difference that I had to show some comparison pictures.

This is the day she came to us

And today, approximately 6 weeks later

Valentina: One Month!!!

Happy One Month to Val! She is doing SO well. Very slightly and very slowly, she is putting on pounds. Lily is still right by her side every morning feeding her, brushing her, and "riding" her, and Val is soaking up the attention.
I spoke with my vet and we are going to retest her in about a month or so, and re-adjust her medication if necessary, although the vet did say that sometimes it can take up to 6 months or longer to see the real effects of the Prascend.

She's been getting short lunging sessions every day with Lily, maybe 10 minutes at max, and she is getting stronger and stronger. She really needs help on her hind end, and thankfully, our property is very hilly, so she gets lots of walking exercise throughout the day.

The other day she rolled and I just about cried. I thought "Well, if she can roll around and get herself back up, she must be doing alright!"

Admittedly I haven't been taking alot of photos this past week, so my apologies!