Ah, spring! I really do love the changing of seasons. Well, except summer. Since moving to Texas I do not like summer. The past couple weeks we have had idyllic spring weather. Not too warm and not too cold. The trees and plants look to be mostly recovered from snowpocalypse in February. Only the Crape Myrtles still have us wondering. We have one VERY large one and will be incredibly sad if it didn’t survive.
I don’t think I’ve ever introduced Lilybet on the blog. She hails from North Hills Hunt in Nebraska. Her mum is a Welsh Foxhound so has a wiry coat and her dad is a Deerhound mix. Lilybet is about 50lb and much taller than a foxhound, but lean like the Deerhound. She is nearly 2 years old now and is starting to fill out and look like she’s done growing. She adores romping around in the grass with her dog friends and occasionally getting into trouble chasing goats.
Lilybet
I got some new bedding to use in my LQ trailer. It is called Beddy’s and I learned about it from my blog friend Hillary. I’ll do a separate post later all about it and if I like it, but it arrived in the mail last night. Linda approves, at least so far.
Linda trying out the new bedding for the LQ.
We have 6 total cats and 5 are barn cats. This is Black Caviar (all cats except 2 are named after racehorses). We have lost SO many of our barn cats to coyotes and hawks and owls so I make most of them stay in the barn rooms at night. When they get out in the morning they run and find places to hide from the dogs. The hay wheelbarrow is often a favourite spot for hiding.
Black Caviar safe in the hay wheelbarrow
Gene has grown a LOT since he arrived late last August, but when I look at pics like this I’m reminded how small he is compared to my horses. He turns a year old in May and I’ll do a string test (explanation will be forthcoming on that) to estimate how tall he will be at adulthood. His co-owner is hoping for right at 14.2h because that is the size of a large pony for horse shows. I selfishly want him to be more like 15h because then he’s a better size for adults to ride. Regardless, he’s well loved and is an adorable pony!
Coco on the left and Gene on the right after breakfast
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and gets to be outside in lovely spring weather!
As of a few weeks ago we have a new house hound! Meet Brazos Valley Tuffy!
The sweetest hound face!
Tuffy hunted with the pack for one full season and part of a second, but his disposition is not suited for hunting with the pack so we got the privilege of providing him a retirement home. We have had him long enough to get to know his personality and he is a bit of a lone ranger. We have 7 other dogs and while he’s fine with them, he seems indifferent to the pack, which is likely why hunting with the hound pack just wasn’t his thing.
He went off property at one of the hunts this season so I got to go pick him up in my car.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s most definitely a hunter! He will spend hours in our pastures patrolling the perimeter and I’m pretty sure he’s run off a few coyotes and definitely some owls and stray cats. He has an amazing voice!
Tuffy in his Rambo blanket.
He’s still at his “fighting” weight so when it is colder than 45F he has to wear his Rambo blanket outside in an effort to save his energy for putting on weight rather than keeping warm. He’s gotten to where he seems to like his blanket and will put his head through it to help get it on. It also means he gets to go outside, which he loves.
Finally using the dog beds
At first we had to barricade the dog door so he wouldn’t run outside and stay outside all the time. It was quite cold for a few days and he would go stand in the backyard and shiver because he was too timid to stay in the house. Often the younger foxhounds have a harder time adjusting to house life than do their older retiree counterparts and this has been true for Tuffy. And Tuffy does NOT like the TV. If the TV is on there is no chance he will stay in the house, so we are avoiding having it on altogether. The only other hound we have right now is Catfish and they were never in the kennel together so Tuffy didn’t know to follow Catfish’s lead on being a lazy house hound.
Hound snuggles.
However it appears that they are bonding pretty quickly. We lost Peaches shortly before Christmas and Catfish stayed with her almost 24/7 for the last 3 or 4 days, so it was nice to see him snuggling with Tuffy recently. Catfish wanted nothing more in his life than to always share a dog bed with Peaches, but she just wasn’t having it and would bite at and growl at him. Catfish is also blind so he runs into things often, which also often results in getting barked, growled and bit at by the other dogs. Tuffy doesn’t seem to mind any of this about Catfish and for the past three nights they have shared a dog bed. I know the photo looks like Catfish is a bedhog, but Tuffy just doesn’t know how to share it yet!
It has been cathartic to have a young hound in the house after losing Peaches. She had a good long life and was very well loved!
Our sweet Peaches. I’ve never had a dog who loved babies of all kinds like Peaches loved babies! Here she is with one of her MANY kittens.
This was a relatively quiet week at the farm. The weather is heating up to typical Texas summer temps, which makes me kind of sad. The spring and fall here are delightful, but the summers really are brutal!
Sweet little Harriet had her first heartworm injection this week. She was quite lethargic the first day, but has pepped up since. She will have two more injections in a month and hopefully will then be cured and ready to be adopted!
I can’t even with these two! This is no less than 150 pounds of dog on one dog bed. Never mind that there are at least two other same-sized dog beds they can use.
This is Mickey, our most recent foster from the Fort Worth shelter. He is your typical 6 pound dog who acts like he is 60 pounds! He is also heartworm positive so will be starting treatment soon. In the meantime he is trying his paw at goat herding.
Pardon her closed eyes, but this is Coco modeling her new fly sheet. She is a solid 16hh so I have mostly bought her sheets and blankets sized for a horse that tall, which is generally a 75-78 depending on their body type. Well, Coco has a very compact body and she was tearing up her size 76 fly sheet because it was too big and didn’t fit her correctly. This sheet is a 72. She is so petite!
This photo is a barn evening in a nutshell! Peaches asleep in the middle of the doorway. Quila chasing chickens trying to find eggs to eat and chickens wandering in the barn aisle and pooping on the floor.
Happy weekend y’all!
