Last time the "hoof-man" was here giving pedicures, he kindly informed Xena that she was entirely too fat and simply MUST lose some weight. I finally convinced her that she'd never fit into that summer bathing suit if she didn't take heed. (Believe me, when I say this horse was fat... I mean you could hardly see her legs!! The girl simply sniffs food and blows up like a puffer-fish.) She was also getting more and more lethargic and not moving around well, so we knew we had to do something fast. First we just severely limited her grazing time. She was only allowed 3 or 4 hours of grazing every morning. I felt so bad for her though, being penned up while the other horses got to go party all night, and I also wasn't really feelin' the whole deal of getting up at 5 am every day just to let an "overly nourished" pony get a few hours of feeding time. (I always have weird dreams if I get up early and try to go back to sleep for a little bit.) So, we went to diet Plan B. I ordered her this handy little device called a grazing muzzle. I've seen days when I should have been wearing one myself! I'm thinking, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, for starters... Xena isn't at all impressed with her Darth Vader mask, but it gets the job done and she's dropping weight like a soon-to-be-bride! I can nearly feel her ribs again! (No joke.. I couldn't poke my fingers deep enough into her sides to find them a month ago.) The muzzle has this quarter-sized hole in the bottom where all the grass has to come through before she can eat! Poor girl... is this cruel or what?!
