Bonnie Blue and Sox 7/6/2013

Bonnie Blue and Sox (Socretes) are doing well and enjoying the mild summer we have been having. We have been blessed with adequate rain to keep the grass growing and fresh.

Sox and Bonnie Blue enjoying summer grazing.

Vernell Falgout is Bonnie Blue and Sox trainer. She comes to the farm once a week to train them and us. The horses are the better students for it is hard to teach old humans new tricks. But we are all trying and are making some progress. Bonnie Blue has been working on ground training while Sox has been focused on adjusting to being sprayed for flies and not resisting having his hooves cleaned. The horses seem to enjoy the challenge of doing something new and know that Vernell is a good, fair but firm teacher. We have all benefited from her working with us.

Vernell and Bonnie Blue working on ground training with Sox in the background.

Sox has been with us for three (3) months and continues to gain weight and confidence. His estimated weight is 779 pounds and his Body Condition Score (BCS) is a 4+. With an additional 30 to 50 pounds, he should be nearly ideal. His coat has nearly all turned brown with the lower legs, mane and face remaining black. His coat is slick and shinny and he has started running for what seem to be the joy of running. Thanks to all of the kind folks that have helped him since he was found abandoned in a cemetery and left to die, he is now in very good condition and far away for that cemetery and deaths door.

Socretes (Sox) three months after adoption.

One of the cash crops here in south Mississippi is watermelon. The crop is good this year with the regular rains and relatively mild summer temperatures. We have been purchasing and enjoying good melons for about the last two weeks or so. We have been sharing some of the meat of these melons with Bonnie and Sox. The first time they tried them their response was interesting. The taste was great but the texture was strange. When they would chew the melon, the juice would run out into their mouths and this was a lot different than the dry foods and carrots they were accustom to eating. Bonnie, who eats carrots much faster than Sox, eats watermelon very slowly and keeps all of the juice in her mouth. Sox, on the other hand, chews  fast and has juice and slobber dripping every where. Both of them love a juicy, sweet, cold slice of melon on a hot summer day. (Please don't think we would ever spoil these horse. We don't even take the seed out for them :). Life is pretty good these days.