What did you do today?

[Nanno]

I took Napoleon in to get banded today. I tried banding him myself on Tuesday, but the little guy is so well-endowed that I couldn't come close to getting my elastrator to fit. So I had to take him to the vet so they could use one of those ratchet banders. It wasn't easy and the poor little guy screamed a lot during the procedure, but I'd brought his mama with us and she was able to comfort him once we put him back in the truck. He got some banamine tonight and hopefully he won't feel too bad tomorrow. I really and truly HATE the barbaric parts of goat-rearing like disbudding, tattooing, and castrating. But they are a necessary evil, and at least they are usually over pretty quickly.

We also took Finn and Sputnik for a little hike today. They're such good boys. Finn is funny because he doesn't always want to load in the truck and will stand there looking into the bed with a sulky expression on his face. When he finally decides to jump, it's more of a slow-motion heave. He doesn't back up at all but slowly rocks back on his hind legs and sort of steps into the truck with almost no visible effort at all--just a look of annoyance on his face at the inconvenient nuisance of it all. Meanwhile, Sputnik seems very enthusiastic about jumping in the truck but has no self-confidence whatsoever. So he backs up, crouches down, bobs his head as he sizes up the height, then makes a running leap. Sometimes he makes a couple of false starts before he finally commits, but he always seems very eager. Once we get going down the trail, Finn really perks up, but even for the ride home he's not sure he wants to bother leaping into the truck. (However, I seriously doubt he would like the alternative of running behind it!) What Finn loves most is loafing around people and getting his face and ears scratched. He's a huge love-sponge!

I think Finn's sulkiness is largely due to the fact that he's recently gotten quite overweight. He got a decent amount of exercise this summer hiking and pulling the wagon, but it's obviously not enough to keep obesity at bay. His attitude and condition were better a couple of months ago when we were taking the boys out to pull the wagon almost every day. We've been busy doing other things lately and it shows in Finn's waistline! Sputnik is overweight too, but he has a naturally leaner build than Finn, and perhaps a higher metabolism. I haven't been trail riding much this summer, but hopefully this fall and winter I can get out there on my horses and bring the boys along so they can get in better shape.