Why Not The "Rolling Horse Ranch"?

I got this shot yesterday of old, blind Scout having a great roll in the pasture behind Beauty's Barn.  Scout has Cushing's disease (for which he gets his apple-flavored pergolide medication every day), has more gums than teeth, and needs lots of equine senior grain to maintain his weight.  Going out to pasture is more for exercise than nutrition, because his old-man's teeth don't allow him to actually chew and swallow grass (or hay) any longer.  But he still tries, and most of it ends up as big, green wads of wet grass, strewn across the ground.  His buddy blind Tonto is exactly the same way.  You can always tell which pasture these two elderly gents have been in because there are wads of semi-chewed grass all over the ground.  (No amount of dental work has made a difference for them!)

There's one thing they can still do well, though, and that's roll around on their backs in the grass.  As old and rickety as Scout is, it's just wonderful to see him still feeling good enough to be rolling on his back.  I took this second photo at the end of the roll, when he was contemplating whether to get up ... or lie back down and go for another roll.  He rolled again!

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Update on Brynn:  I'm back in Pullman, Washington, tonight, and will pick up Brynn Tuesday morning at WSU's veterinary teaching hospital and take her back to the ranch.  The last report we had on Friday night was that everything looked good, and she was posturing and peeing like a normal mare.

Apparently I've been making a lot of trips to Pullman recently, because when I went into the local Mexican restaurant this evening and sat down at the table, the waiter came up, looked at me, and said knowingly, "Vegetarian fajitas, right?"  The only thing he couldn't remember was whether those were with flour or corn tortillas (flour, thanks), and whether the margarita was on the rocks or blended (on the rocks, please).  Or maybe I just need to get out a bit more and try different restaurants?

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(Click on photos for larger image.)

Comments

[Sandy Grimes]

I can certainly relate to the old and toothless ones. I adopted a 35+ yrs old (best guess from the vet) blind, quarter horse from the Yakima feedlot. He too has very few teeth and I keep his weight on by feeding him senior grain and beat pulp. He may not be able to see but his nose and ears more then make up for it. He can smell food from a quit a distance and has no problem hunting it down. Thank you for everything you do for these horses. They are extremely hard to find homes for. If I had not adopted Ward he would have been sent to slaughter since they were not aware he could not see out of both eyes.

[Boundforglory]

Awww...I loved the pics of Scout rolling; glad he's enjoying the Summer grass.

Glad too that Brynn is peeing properly, it will good to have her back home and see some pasture shots of her as well.

[Shirley & James]

Thanks for the update and Rolling Horse picture. Hopefully you can hang your hat in Montana with no necessary trips back to Pullman. Yummy...love Mexican food!! Nice to have a home away from home!