3S Homestead

07/19/2026

Thoughts on this form of weed/pest/biosecurity control…

…genius? risky? worthwhile?

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1GdHJpDL33/?mibextid=wwXIfr

07/19/2026

The pony made it through the night.
Thank heaven!
She didn’t eat or drink much overnight; which has the vet staff concerned. Upon seeing her stall when we arrived for her visit, I immediately saw the problem. They had a stall waterer (fancy)(which she has never seen)(and doesn’t know how to use) so they gave her a bucket but the water was too high for her to reach (duh, ponies are shorter than quarter
horses). I clipped her bucket just above the floor and she took a drink immediately-problem 1 solved.
She ABHORS slow feed nets. Our horses are given free access to grain and hay and grazing. I requested a ground feeder and they filled it with some hay and she went right to eating-problem 2 solved.
They fed two types of grain…a senior feed pellet and a pan of oats. We feed a textured feed and mix the oats in with minerals and electrolytes so her feed was way different. She eventually ate what they gave her but I did have to tell them she is the slowest grain eater EVER! Most ponies are easy keepers (always fat) because they are gluttons. Ours takes her time and makes sure she doesn’t share so she is always more concerned with what her companion horse is doing-a bit of a busy body-so an ICU unit with 8 stalls full of other sick horses definitely kept her attention and made eating even more slow!
We are still dumbfounded by a CHF diagnosis and are weighing her quality of life with the fact that it is only July in Texas and we haven’t seen the scorching temps of August that would significantly decrease her inability to breathe under stress or have her heart keep beating overall. Having another sentinel event and losing her suddenly is a very real scenario. Her not coming up to the barn and having to go look for her across 20acres and not knowing if we would find her before scavengers…it’s a lot. These are hard decisions without factoring in a little person’s love and utter devotion. We trust God’s plan and are walking forward in faith!!!

07/18/2026

The pony’s breathing was erratic and chaos ensued.
We had to go grab a trailer and get back home. Chaos!
We had to get her out of the barn without her companion horse loosing all her marbles (and possibly hurting herself). Chaos!
We had to get her loaded in the dark in a new trailer. Chaos!
We had to pay a hefty deposit to get her seen at the equine vet after hours. Chaos!
We had to get to the vet with a trailer that the lights didn’t work. Chaos!
We get her in the stocks at the vet and sedated by 1:28am. Chaos!
Pony has to have an IV, get her sides shaved so the ultrasound will work better, have an endoscopy to check her heart/lungs. Chaos!
Pony gets a bath and is admitted to ICU for CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) and diagnosed with having had a heart attack but hasn’t died yet! Chaos!
It was really hard to say goodnight-praying and assuring a little girl that it wasn’t going to be good-bye!

07/18/2026

We had a bit of a scare with our pony! I took this video around 4:30pm as her breathing was not normal…we weren’t sure what was wrong so we watched her for a few hours…she was stomping her back feet at 7:30pm…..then actively kicking by 10:30pm so we made the call to our local equine vet and a cascade of chaos erupted.

07/18/2026

Would you walk up on this beauty in the pasture? You should! She loves neck scratches! She will keep you on her toes as she can be a bit mischevious! She will, however, do ANYTHING for a handful of grain or a horse treat!!!
Her non-social friend in the background will also do anything for a treat but she is going to judge you the WHOLE time-hence the backend she has placed toward the camera!

07/16/2026

Yes! We are going to try this on a crack in the pony’s hoof! Stay tuned!

07/12/2026

A horse or a goose or cow or bottle fed sheep…any farm animal to be honest…makes any day better!!!!

IYKYK ✨

📸: Ashley Mikael