Wednesday, March 4, 2009

This Little Light of Mine

How many of you use a headlamp to do your chores when it is dark outside? At Farcical Farm there is plenty of light around the garage and in the goat paddock, but it is impossible to see anything in the horse paddock on a dark night. We have two Petzl Tikkas hanging by the door, and when the batteries are fresh I can see about 60 feet ahead in the swath of the beam. When the batteries are dying I can barely see my own hands. And tonight I was barely able to see that Tonka's sheath is swelling up again, just like it did in January. Sigh.



9 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

Oh no, I hope Tonka's going to be alright and not swell up so much this time.
Those lights are a good idea, all my guys would probably freak out if they saw me wearing that.

EvenSong said...

Not again! What might be the same?

Those lights seem great, cause they're hands-free. Before we got the 'lectric in the barn, we invested in a Coleman flourescent lantern--but it was pretty dim, and real awkward.

Good luck with Tonka!

Jean said...

Poor Tonka. Healing, sheath de-swelling vibes coming from here.

The headlamp sounds like a great idea. My Hitachi power drill has a flashlight component which provides awesome light (as long as I remember to recharge the batteries!), but there are times when handsfree lighting would be helpful!

Carole said...

Poor Tonka!

I second the use of headlamps - especially in the dead of winter when all the chores end up being done in the dark, both morning and evening. In December, it seems like the only time you see the horses in daylight is on the weekends.

Hooray for daylight savings time!

South Canyon Ranch

Funder said...

Headlamps are wonderful, if totally dorky. Mine hangs off of the gearshifter of my truck, but if I had backyard horses I'd definitely keep a second one in the house.

Poor Tonka ... wait, I'm sure he won't mind you slathering it with ointment and scratching his itchies AT ALL. Poor DP!

dp said...

Funder asked why I would hesitate to do a 5-day Panacur treatment on the horses, and this is why. The last swelling incident happened just after I wormed him, and this one happened after I hit him with a single dose of Panacur earlier this week. There was one worming inbetween with no such reaction so I am not sure whether the two are connected. And if they are I'm not sure if it is a reaction to the wormer or if it is a reaction to the wormer interacting with some parasitic load. When you have a horse with a history of metabolic founder you have to think very carefully about what you pump into them...

allhorsestuff said...

Oh NO! That is some kinda alergic reaction he has..man..whadya do with this?

I love headlamps..but if I wwear them too long..I get a headache.
Last summer I almost got stomped by a nutty mare we took to the beach for a friend. I went to check on her(headlamp on) and she reacted to the light as if I had an electric-zapper-stick coming off my face...just about got me!

Black Jack's Carol said...

No chores here, unless you count picking up Black Jack's tiny poo after dark. The light Bill has on the shed doesn't quite work sometimes, especially if I take my eyes off her for a second or two.

But, I'm wondering if a headlamp might light up the road for biking. Bike lights warn others of my presence, but don't do much for indicating dangers like pot holes and bramble bushes.

Interesting about Tonka's possible allergy. Sure do hope this one will abate sooner than the last one did. Catch 22 with killing off the bad stuff and not harming the host. Wondering how he's doing now.

Funder said...

How's his sheath doing? I read this article about deworming the other day and thought about you. It's not directly relevant, but I still found it pretty interesting.