Fall on an Eastern Washington farm.

The Mustangs love the sound that my cell phone makes when I press the keys. I was trying to take a quick picture of Echo but he wanted to press his nose up against my cell phone to hear the funny little sounds it makes.



Here's his cute little legs.



He's just a little sweetie. Although I can only touch his nose, he is so eager to come when I ask him to and step up right up to me. I've never been around many horses that eager. His hooves aren't strong like Wildairo's. They keep breaking off. When he arrived here I noticed his hooves had very big chunks missing from them and now I see why. I haven't met very many mustangs, but I have a feeling he might not be a typical Beaty's Butte Mustang because of his hooves, size and hotness. (I'm not just talking about those cute little legs either). lol

I noticed our cat, Andy follows the sun around the house. Here he is taking advantage of some east facing windows in the morning. Oh to be a cat!



Every year the Sugar Maple I planted turns beautiful colors. But not this year. It's a grayish color. Instead the English Oak I planted 12 years ago is looking very pretty. Usually the leaves turn brown and hang on most of the winter.



Not as pretty as some trees for autumn foliage but he's giving it a jolly good try this year.

We sold the calves on Sunday. The first time mother cows cried for a couple of days. The older cows were glad to see them gone because they know they always come back as newborns in the Spring.

Here they are doing some grazing to drown their sorrows.



The cow to the left is the one who was the most upset. They are looking pretty good because, except for Dandylyons (not in the picture) who turns 18 in March, the cows are pretty young. Our old skinny cows have all finally gone to the big open range in the sky. Primrose died last in March just as she turned 20 years old. She died like she lived, guarding her place at the feeder.

Davenport horse auction.

This morning I thought Wildairo was out. If I'd have got the binoculars I would have seen he was on his side of the fence. In my panic I grabbed a plastic bag and filled it with grain to lure him back in. He was where he should have been and I was so relieved because my legs had gone all wobblely because I thought he was on the loose.



The other part of his shelter is Brad's wood working shop. The panel is sturdier that it looks. Wildairo spotted the bag of grain and wanted it.



Wildairo had no problem walking into the shop for the first time. Nothing really bothers him, except strangers. I loved the clip clop sound his hooves made on the cement floor. It brought back memories of cobblestoned stable yards in England.

The BLM called yesterday and left a voice mail, wanting to know how the mustang I adopted was doing. I have two of the little darlings! I have a call in for Angela Link.

Saturday we went to Spokane and while driving past the livestock sale yards, I saw many horse trailers parked outside and had to go and see what was happening. They were having a horse auction. We stayed for a while and watched. A man was leading ponies and mini's in and a woman was buying them really cheap. They were going for $25 and $30. Some of the regular size horses were going for $800 or $900. I liked the way people would ride their horse in and show them off. The auctioneer would give them as much time as they needed to tell us what their horse could do. One guy was showing off how clever his horse was (or he was) with roping and he roped one of the auction workers head to prove it. A little girl was sitting on her horse backwards and the horse stood calmly. When she took his saddle off the auctioneer reminded her she should have undone the back cinch first. A lady was trying to sell her professional pack mule. Even though he had no steering she attempted to ride him. It was all pretty good fun.

I was concerned about some of the horses fates. There was a very good looking grey Morgan cross mare with a lovely conformation and very pretty head. She seemed very easy going and very well behaved while being ridden. She went very cheap, I think under $200.

One teenage girl tried to sell her unbroken 6 year old gelding. He was a tall palomino. Her mother yelled out she wasn't interested in him anymore and told her to pick up his feet. The girl would only pick up his front feet and I think she was scared of him. The top bid was very low, $150 I think, so they said 'no sale'. Thank goodness. I hope she pays someone to break him before she tries to sell him again.

I'm going to avoid these auctions because I can see myself buying something and I've decided from now on the only horses I'm going to acquire are going to be BLM mustangs because I just love them so much.

Cowslip was a good cow.

Cowslip, our elderly blind cow, has died. She was down about five days before she peacefully died.




Cowslips Story.

Many years ago when we were rebuilding our herd we used to exchange bull calves for heifer calves with our neighbor. The last time we did it we got three heifer calves whom I called Bluebell, Snowdrop and Cowslip.

Brad always had a strong dislike for Bluebell. I recall long ago he was riding Foxsun trying to chase the herd through a gate that they had never gone before, so they could go across the county road to our pastures along Crab Creek. They'd never been chased by a horse and had no idea the gate existed. They just kept stampeding by the opening in the barbed wire fence. Then Foxsun, who isn't one to over do anything, decided to call it a day and take a nap.

I found Brad shouting and swearing as he fired up his old motorcycle to chase the herd. Just before he took off in a cloud of black smoke I asked him where Foxsun was and he said something rather awful and unkind about Foxsun.

As the herd raced away from the feeder and the mad man on the motorcycle, Foxsun, fully tacked, was left behind with his head hanging down looking really done in. I got on him thinking I was going to have some cow chasing fun but realized why Brad was mad at him. Foxsun was on strike.

I managed to lead him back to the corrals where I let him recharge his battery for awhile. When I started riding out to catch up with the excitement to my delight I saw a 12 year old girl on her pony Peanuts, coming to help. She lived on a ranch two miles from here. In the twenty years I've had Foxsun, I've only rode with another horse and rider four times, so I was in heaven. We talked about ponies and stuff and casually caught up with the chase. Just as we got within sight of Brad who was in hot pursuit of Bluebell, Snowdrop and Cowslip, I saw Bluebell haul off and kick Brad clean off that stinking motorcycle. I put Foxsun in top gear, (mach 5 for Foxsun, slow canter for all other horses), to where Brad was. We didn't even get close before Brad was up and on the motorcycle again chasing the three young cows. Brad ended up with a huge bruise on his shin and Bluebell ended up going to the sale at Davenport.

Several years later Snowdrop suddenly died. Cowslip stood next to Snowdrop's dead body refusing to leave until Snowdrop was buried. It was after Snowdrop died that we realized there was something very wrong with Cowslip. Our neighbor took one look at her and said she was blind. Then it all made sense. Snowdrop had been her eyes and without her old friend she was lost and afraid of the other cows and new places. Judging by Cowslips pale brown eyes, I'd say she been born blind.

Over the years we had to help Cowslip out of many bad situations. Once, while in a new pasture she was left behind. Lost and alone she gave up. We found her sitting on the side of a hill very thirsty and lost. She had no idea where to go for water. Brad led her to the creek with a handful of hay. She came to trust us to help her. She didn't know her place in the herd so was afraid of all the cows and even the calves. Besides us and her own calves, she trusted only Foxsun not to hurt her. In the winter at feeding time she would leave the herd and walk through two corrals and wait for us in her secret place. We kept her hay there for her. She wouldn't go to any place where she hadn't been years ago when Bluebell and Snowdrop led her. When the cattle went on the bluff she stayed behind. In her younger years if the cattle escaped and went anyplace unfamiliar to her, she'd return home to the corrals. She alerted us a few times to their unofficial adventures.

She used her ears and nose to get around, but many times I saw her walk into a fence post or other objects. She would walk into us if we didn't make a noise or push her away.

A few years ago I was taking a walk with Bobby. I was surprised to come across Foxsun and Cowslip about a mile from home, happily eating grass. There had been an electric fence but it had been long ago knocked down by deer. Both of them knew there should have been an electric fence there so they still respected it and stayed on their side of the invisible wire where they belonged. I stood there and looked at them in amazement. They had the freedom to go anywhere in the this county, or the next, and they were standing next to a 130 acre circle of alfalfa, yet I knew they'd never walk over to it because one was an unadventurous horse the other a blind cow who only went where she'd been before.

A few years ago when everybody predicted Cowslip would die during the winter, she made it to March, staggered off by herself, lay down and had twins in an icy puddle because she couldn't never see where she was giving birth. We had to get the calves in the house because they were near death with cold. Brad had to go out and milk her for the colostrum so we could stomach tube the calves to save their lives. Milking a blind range cow is dangerous to say the least, but Brad did it. All the memories of our years with Cowslip all come back to me. Her life was intertwined with ours for about 17 years.

Of those three heifers, it was the blind one who lived a long and productive life. On a warm October afternoon she finally lay her beautiful head down and went to sleep forever. I hope she's with her old friends Bluebell and Snowdrop again. I'll miss her, she was a good cow.

Lovely warm October days.

On these lovely warm October days I like to put the horse grain rations, carrots and apples in my back pack and go for a nice walk to see everyone.

Foxsun is looking better after having Pigeon fever.



His top line is still boney and his muscles are sparse, but he's on the mend. He wanted me to go with him to his little house so he could get his grain. Foxsun's forelock and mane stopped growing when he was two, so he looks like a bit of a dork because it's so short and stunted.



I had a nice visit with Dandylyons. She misses her horse husband. We did some girl stuff. She quickly learned that if she moved her head too much my BLM cap would fall off it. So she followed me around keeping her big old head very still.






I opened the little door so the chicks could venture outside for the first time. It took a couple of hours but one finally came out as the others looked on in horror.




After awhile 7 managed to be brave enough to come out and they were scratching around in the dirt like grown up hens, then a Red Tail Hawk flew over and screeched. The chicks bolted back into the hen house leaving just a little cloud of dust behind. I told them they were just a bunch of chickens.

Echo and I are friends again. I realized why he was acting like a jerk on Wednesday, it was because I was gone all day Tuesday at the doctors in Spokane. So, Wednesday he was cold towards me. Thursday morning he was nicer and we made our peace. Thursday afternoon I was fully forgiven because he wanted to 'step up' and do his 'fully trained' horse routine. Yes, he's really got eating a pound of baby carrots down pat. One day I'll train him to take them out of my left hand not just my right. Ha ha everything scares him. I let the empty plastic bag fill up with air in the breeze and he stepped back and stared at it with very big eyes. That's not the funny part though. While he was staring with his big eyes, head up high and nostrils flared, he swooshed a fly with his tail and when his tail came up over his back he whirled around to see what was attacking him! Oh Echo!

So much for being wild vigilant horses though. I walked right up to Wildairo and Echo while they were asleep and they never even woke up. Wildairo was down on the ground looking like he was dead and Echo was fast asleep standing up with his bottom lip hanging down. I stood right there with them. When I turned on my camera, the loud noise made Wildairo wake up, but Echo snoozed on. I yelled his name and he woke up forgetting to reel in his dried out bottom lip. Very unattractive.

Here's a rare sight; The two old men cats cuddled up together on a love seat. Ha ha BUSTED.



Max is on the left. He's about 10 and a Manx. He never hunts but likes to sit on peoples laps all day. Andy is on the right. He's 13 and part Siamese. He also loves to sit on laps but loves to do a lot of killing. He drags home rabbits even.

Here's an old photo of Andy with our pet rabbit. Everyone loved Bunnie Boy, even the Airedales.

Random thoughts and pictures.

I finally got a diagnoses on what is wrong with me. Yesterday the doctor told me I had Sarcoidosis, causing arthritis and soft tissue swelling, he also called it Granulomatous Disease. I can't pronounce it, so I call it Sarcastic Granny Disease because I am sarcastic and a granny. My muscles are weak and painful. I also have horrible (painless) lumps all over. I can't walk very well or far because for some reason my legs don't seem to want to go along in a regular fashion. My calf muscle never did return to normal after my ankle replacement in March. I take prednisone and hydrocodone for pain. I will also be taking gabapentin for nerve pain. Instead of a disease that makes me all lumpy, I'd have preferred one where I was all slim and stuff. Just my luck.

Here's some pictures of my 18 month old granddaughter, Amelia. She's a very cheerful little girl, I really love her.









I kept 13 of our 25 chicks I bought. Brad gave the others away at work. They are about 5 weeks old now and so Sunday we put them outside in the little hen house. They had been living in my office. I was very worried about them getting cold during the night so I kept going out to check them. They are doing great. I haven't let them out of the hen house yet. Here they are today.



The mystery chicken is fatter than the rest. We'll have a lot of eggs the spring. Our 13 mallard ducks are locked up every night in the next pen.

Here is a picture of our blind cows calf having a snack on the lawn. He's the white thing in the background. He is allowed out to graze anywhere because his mother never had much milk. Poor Cowslip (his mother, named after an English wild flower) went down Sunday. Her legs gave out finally. She couldn't chew her cud anymore and is in terrible shape. She's very old. We take her food and water. I give her a nice rub down and tell her what a good cow she is. One day I'll tell her story.



I don't like Echo right now. I think he's become arrogant and disrespectful. It's a game for him to avoid getting touched because he started to back away and shake is head at me. He's taken advantage of me and he's a little creep for doing so. I gave Wildairo two apples, half a blueberry muffin and a kiss on the nose to make Echo jealous, like that 'good for nothing' cares. What Echo doesn't know is, there are other people in this world besides me who can straighten him out. I plan to have a pro to the job. I can't wait to see the surprised look on his face. For a wild mustang he's very hot blooded and high strung.

I put hay in Wildairo's bucket and then stood behind him and called him. It's funny to see him try to guard his hay in case another horse was to some how get into the corral and eat it for him. He turned around to come to me to eat the apple but kept looking back at the hay and putting his ears flat back in case some ghost horse was about to get into his hay bucket. He never saves any hay for later like Foxsun does. Foxsun's manger is full of hay most of the day because he likes to go for a walk about. Foxsun is putting on a little weight. His legs are fine and he's been seen cantering across his pasture. His coat is still dull and short. I wormed him again Sunday with the stuff that kills everything but the horse. The abscess's all drained out and have gone but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets another one.

Here's Phoenix, one of William's roommates. He thought he was going to have a lot of fun being a tomcat and living with three college students, but he got fixed instead. He looks like a different cat here. He was just a crazy orange blur the week before.

Invisable Halter Training.

I have found another way to have fun with Echo. I have been looking for a way for him to be gentled that he is comfortable with that is on his terms.

I pretend he has a halter and lead rope on him. By motioning my hand and saying "step up" I can get him to stand with his nose up level with my shoulder. With my hand under his chin I can turn him and lead him. Sometimes he lags behind, but always catches up. Yesterday I was blown away by how well he was doing so I added 'back' to the routine. By putting my palm towards his chest, saying "back" and stepping forward, I can get him to step back. The trick is not to have him turn away while backing but to back in a straight line. Then I step back, motion and say "Step up" and he steps up to me. I was going "WOW"! I was noticing that he was letting his nose bump on my hand more and not becoming startled.

The problem is with my training method is I have to let him into my personal space more than I should. I think that if I expect him to trust me I have to trust him. He sometimes rubs his nose on my face or very gently tugs my sweater with his lips. I stand very still and think to myself, 'please don't bit me'. Any move to stop him from touching me would set us back about a month I think. I let him look at the empty carrot bag. He was so brave that I think he even surprised himself. He let his whiskers touch the bag, then his nose. Wildairo would have grabbed it.



When Brad came home I showed him Echo's latest tricks but Echo had one eye on Brad and didn't do as well as earlier. He was very good though, so I had Brad ask him to step up and he almost touched Brad's belly (not hard to do) with his nose. Not bad considering not to long ago Echo would run off snorting when Brad went into the corral.

I then went to feed Foxsun and when I came back all hell had broken loose. A cow had shoved a calf through the feeder and Brad opened the gate to run it back in and some other cows ran out. I went up to help and stood near the gate holding Bobby's collar. I can't run or even dart about anymore, I am so thrilled just to be able to walk again. Anyway, as Brad chased cows in others ran out and he yelled, "DO something, wave your arms or something!" So I did, letting go of Bobby, who ran after one of the escaping cows and got kicked really hard. Airedales are pretty useless as cattle dogs. I was not going to stand in that cloud of dust, in the dark, in that gateway with what look like the bull bearing down on me! It turned out to be old Dandylyons coming to see me. I do love a bit of cattle excitement every now and again.

Bobby grovelled to me begging forgiveness for getting kicked. She didn't leave my side all evening. Here is the silly dog underfoot as I tried to cook dinner last night.

Views from my house.

This picture was taken yesterday morning from my back door.





A fawn followed my mallard ducks around the lawn for a while. The ducks didn't bother to fly off but just complained loudly as they waddled about in front of the fawn. I wish I could have got a picture of that.

I often see wildlife from my windows. All are welcome. Coyotes, badgers, bobcats, bunnies, weasels and many more. I have spotted bald eagles in the cottonwoods, Ospreys and Turkey Vultures on the old power pole behind our house. Sometimes I've looked outside to see cattle on my lawn. We let our blind cow's calf have the run of the place because he's so small. He often can be seen walking around the garden.

One night last winter, at about midnight I saw the motion detector light come on. There in a snow storm I saw Foxsun walking past the drive way driving a group of cows in front of him bring them back to the corrals. Some cows had got out up on the bluff and Fox followed them over the fence they broke and brought back as many as he could round up, bringing them down the step bluff in the dark. It's a short cut that goes past our house. It's happened before many times. I have to go out and open up the gate to the corrals so Fox can bring them in. Foxsun does not approve of the cattle going too far from home and runs a tight ship. I'm hoping he will train the Mustang's to be like him. I plan to put one mustang out at a time with him so he can show them the ropes. I think there's a chance the two mustangs together might try to high tail it back to Beaty's Butte.

Here's a picture of Foxsun's sire, the famous Morgan cattle horse, Sunup Phaon.



He was a hard working cow horse besides being a stud horse. He died at age 30 a few years ago at his mum's place in Nevada. He has a farm named after him in Texas. Foxsun is very much like him, gentle on the small and young but takes no nonsense from trouble makers. Foxsun looks very much like his mother. I found his full sister still living in Colorado. She looks just like him only darker.

Echo's voice makes me laugh, it's deep and sexy like Barry White's. Last night I was calling a wayward cat home and Echo answered me (Echoing) in his deep rumbling voice. Who would have thought little Echo would sound like that. Wildairo squeals like a little girl.

Foxsun update:
Foxsun's abscess continues to drain. The swelling in his legs has gone down. He trots across his pasture when he spots me coming and is eating very well. So I'm going to let him continue as is for a while. If he doesn't keep improving or has another relapse I'll go the antibiotics route. Some vets use them for pigeon fever and others advise against them.

Two Mustangs and a Morgan.

Saturday we went to visit our son William in his new apartment in Ellensburg. He attends Central Washington University there. He just turned 20 on the 10th! Wow, my youngest is 20! He is putting himself through school and has a part time job in the theater department building stage sets. He wants to become a teacher. He has two roommates and a little tomcat called Phoenix, who badly needs to be gelded! My oldest son is 33, married to Nicky, and father of a cheeky little 18 month old girl. He's making me so proud. He's been in the air force for 14 years. He's been deployed many times to various hot spots around the world. I very concerned because he is being deployed to Iraq in February. Better stop now and talk about horses before I go nuts.

Thursday was the first time I could even feel a new abscess developing under Foxsun's belly, and it grew fast. Saturday when we returned home it was already leaking. These abscess's grow so quick that they can burst and be contaminating a pasture in just three or four days.

This is a picture of the new abscess.



The abscess is like a long ridge just in front of his boy parts. He's eating well and seems otherwise OK, besides the weight loss, dull coat, and swollen fetlocks.


Saturday night the temperature got down to 12 degrees F! Sunday morning I put carrots and Foxsun's feed in my backpack and went on my bike to see the boys. The Mustangs were lying in the warm sun fast asleep. I gave them carrots, hay and then went on to give Fox his breakfast. Later on Sunday we turned on the electric fence and let Foxsun out into his old horse pasture. It was kind of sad because he thought we were all walking back to the cow corrals together, so when we walked through the pasture he walked behind Brad like a good boy. When I couldn't keep up he looked back and waited for me to catch up, like he does with Dandylyons. When Brad opened the gate, he started to go through as well and we had to tell him he couldn't go with mum and dad but had to stay there. He was OK with it and went for a walk about. I love that horse so much. I think Foxsun and I are going to hitch a ride to the vet in Ritzville this week with a local horse owner who has been stricken with Pigeon fever as well.

I feel like Wildairo has been neglected since we adopted Echo and Foxsun has been ill. So I brushed out his beautiful mane and made a general fuss of him. I had to use some Cowboy Magic to get out a knot. He rubs his mane in one spot and gets a knot there.





I gave him lots of treats including a rum nut muffin. Brad picked up his feet a few times. He still doesn't like it but held still pretty good.

Echo considers himself a fully trained horse now. Echo has no idea there's more to being trained than standing in the warm sun munching carrots with your mum.

Dear little Echo is no closer to being halter broken than when we first adopted him, yet he steps up nice to me when I ask him. He will have his nose up over my shoulder and we'll be eyeball to eyeball. I can get him to stand straight on four legs, all without a halter or putting a hand on him. I was showing Brad what he can do and how gentle he is. Brad was impressed. We both agree he needs 'total immersion' training, as Brad put it. I know one thing, Echo is going to be a wonderful horse to train. He is so responsive, gentle and sweet. He will stand with his nose touching my belly as he eats his carrots with his eyes half closed. Not once has he put his ears back, tried to bit or kick. I think that's the reason why I can't bring myself to force the issue as far as getting a halter on him again. I can't bring myself to scare him and he really does get scared. I'll have to call a pro in to do the job.

Foxsun is still ill with Pigeon Fever.

I really thought Foxsun had the Pigeon Fever beat. Tuesday morning I called the Moses Lake vet clinic and asked if the vet and the mobile van could swing by while in town, and float Fox's teeth. I went out to feed him and was a bit taken back to see his fetlocks swollen and he was acting a bit depressed. If I hadn't have called the vet I would have anyway at that point.

This picture was taken when the swelling had gone down a bit.



The vet thought he looked stocked up, I think he called it, like he'd been standing still too long in a confined space. He was puzzled because Fox has a lot of corral space to walk about in. His temp was normal and his pulse in that area was fine. I showed him where his abscess had been and asked him about antibiotics. He felt we should wait and see. He did suggest I use the wormer Zimecterin Gold instead of the Safe-guard (fenbendazole) that I was going to use this time. Zimecterin Gold gets tapeworms too. I'll wait till we get a harder frost.

Foxsun's very first dental exam went fine.





I had to hold Foxsun's head up a bit for the vet because his chin was almost on the ground!

The vet said his teeth weren't all that bad really. He didn't think they were the reason for his weight loss. There were some ulcers in the back where his teeth had been rubbing so he filed the pointy bits off.

Wednesday Foxsun was really happy and feeling good. He arched his necked, stuck out his top lip and lifted his back leg to have his belly rubbed. His teeth must have been bothering him before. He was still a little bit swollen in all four fetlocks and pasterns.

Thursday, today, I went in his little house and saw wet spots on the wooden floor. I looked under his belly and saw his abscess was dripping and had nasty gunky stuff hanging down, again. I also felt another abscess growing near his belly button. It was very painful for him when I touched it. Tonight when I went back out to wash the drippy bit I saw the new abscess had grown a lot bigger.

Here's what the first abscess looks like today.



You can see it's pretty much flat looking.

His coat is shedding on his back when I rubbed my hand on it. It should NOT be coming out in October!



I'm going to starting Foxsun on antibiotics in the next few days because I think he needs some help at this point to fight this thing.

I have been so very worried about the Mustangs getting the Pigeon fever and I don't think I have done my own health very good.

Foxsun's old cow wife, Dandylyons, really misses him. She's been wanting me to comfort her.



I'm thinking of bringing her over to the horse barn to be with him. She loves the little barn area and has lived there for most of her life but she's not very lady like in it and her big hooves and weight tear up the floor. She also will eat up all his food very fast. So maybe I shouldn't till he improves a bit.

Foxsun IS an easy keeper!

The day after I put Foxsun in isolation I was amazed to discover he'd managed to lance his own abscess. It was still dripping a bit of amber coloured fluid when I got there. He's quiet a horse. He trims his own feet as well. He was still under the weather but eating well.

I called a local lady we have sold hay to, and asked her about her horses. She informed me she has 8 horses and three of them came down with Pigeon Fever. She was worried that her mare wasn't going to make it because she lost a great deal of weight. Like Foxsun, her mare was eating well and still loosing weight. Her vet put her horses on oral antibiotics.

I couldn't decided whether to start Fox on antibiotics or not. Some vets recommend them and others say they could do more harm than good. I got some vitamin E and Selenium to inject him with. It has dexomethasone in it in case he gets a bad reaction. We have a severe Se deficiency in our soil here. I also plan to worm him again soon as his condition improves a bit more. And his condition is improving! The firmer outer part of his abscess has now gone down a great deal and he was trotting mad when I didn't give him his dinner quick enough tonight.

I have been keeping the icky drippy part clean as best as I can. At night I'd get under him with the flash light to clean him up. He wouldn't be tied up but I just touch his leg and tell him I was going under. Even though the aerosol spray would startle him he wouldn't move. He's a lovely horse.

I think he was ill from this Pigeon fever for a long time before I noticed the abscess. I believe it was the reason why he lost a lot of weight so quickly. But just in case we're going to have his teeth checked and give him the Vit E & Se shot. It looks to me like he's putting weight back on. I give him 5 lbs of a Senior Horse feed a day and all the hay he can eat. Wildairo would eat till he exploded but Fox will stop eating and take a nap or something.

I'm so lucky that I managed to spot that abscess and get him away from the mustangs the day before it burst.