There be a Mule (and Horse) in my Barn!

Louie and Marie are home at last! I brought them home Friday morning. It was sad leaving Upper Pond Stable though. The owner, Karen and Bart are just then best and I really enjoyed having my animals there. And I also made some new friends such as MaryJo who was also just leasing stalls and was in our end of the barn. I will definitely be keeping in touch with her. Tracy, MaryJo and I all worked thing out together to share chores and it worked out wonderfully. 

Anyway, I got Louie and Marie home and led them into the barn and turned them loose. Right now all the stalls are open with just gate I can swing shut in the middle to split the space into two stalls. Eventually, I plan to put up a solid stall wall. But, as I don't have use of the middle aisle, as it's still a construction zone. Nor do I have all my fencing up as it will be when all is done to access the different outside access doors. So,  I need to be able to move the animals between stalls with a gate for now. Though I may come to like it this way and keep it. Who knows. 

Marie and Louie were very interested in their new house. They checked it out thoroughly, then went out and checked every corner of their pasture to see if there were any more new changes, then came back in to look over their new stalls again. I put some hay in the stalls and left them happily munching away. I went back out a  bit later that morning and noticed Marie was not eating her hay. ????? NOT normal, Marie never stops eating if any food is available. I watched her for a few minutes and it became obvious that she was colicing. She looked very listless, kicked at her belly a few time, thought about rolling but then just "parked out" in a big stretch. PANIC! I ran to my trailer and got a tube of banamine and my stethoscope. I gave her the banamine and checked her vitals. her pulse was normal, gums were pink and moist, her respiration was normal though she was taking very deep breaths. And she was pooping. When I listened to her gut sounds, she had a lot of sound. As a matter of fact, almost TOO much. So, I was now quite sure this was gas colic. I did not feel I needed to call the vet at this point and stayed with her for about an hour. The banamine did help and after about 45 minutes she started to look more comfortable. in 1 1/2 hrs she started eating hay again. I keep an eye on her the rest of the day and she didn't look bad but still not quite herself. At about 8:00 pm, I checked her vitals again. All was normal except she still have hyperactive gut sounds. So, I dug around in my equine first aid kid and found some gas-x paste. I gave her this and that did the trick. Within 20 or 30 minutes, she was back to normal and mugging me for treats and wanting to scarf down every scrap of food in sight. And even trotted out of the barn and around the paddock with Louie when he went to investigate an possible mule monster he thought might be out in the woods. PHEW!!!! I checked on her a few more times before going to bed and she was fine.

Marie very interested in what Fred and Leigh are doing. 

The first tools hung on the wall of the center aisle!

The west wall of the barn........oh wait, there IS no west wall yet! Guess we still have a lot of work to do!