December 18, 2018- Papi has been here a little over a month now.


I separated Charli from Papi as it's just easier to keep him on his feeding schedule without having to separate her from him each time. She now lives in a paddock next to him. Both horses seem fine with this arrangement.


December 25, 2018- Merry Christmas! Papi got a new red halter for his Christmas gift. It looks pretty spiffy on a black horse!


December 28, 2018- Papi was in the barn with the rest of the herd last night as we are once again getting deluges of rain (SOP every weekend for several months now... it's getting real old). I had to take a picture of him in his fancy remodeled stall. Jim sent the door and stall bars (which he built back in 2001 when we had Adiel's Casino Gold on lease) off a month ago to be powder coated, and they finally came back. He just finished varnishing the wood as well. Papi respects the stall guard but I don't leave the door open when I'm not there. I wouldn't worry about him getting out/with one of the mares so much as what could happen if he and Roadie met up. Roadie still thinks HE'S the man ;-)


January 1, 2019- Our new year got off to a scary start on New Year's Eve. On the advice of friends I decided to add beet pulp to Papi's diet, to increase fiber and hopefully aid in weight gain. I soaked a small bit overnight and gave it to him with his lunch time Senior. Within an hour he was on the ground colicking. My regular vet was out of town for the holiday so I gave Papi 6 ccs of Banamine and waited for his backup to arrive. The whole time I was thinking "this is it! He's almost 30! OMG he's going to die". The experience was just terrifying. It turned out to be nothing but a bit of gas colic, probably caused by the beet pulp. Here is Papi the next day, grazing like I'd never seen him graze before. Jim's comment: "he just had a near death experience. He's decided he better get out and enjoy life". LOL!


January 15, 2019- Papi has really picked up his activity level and his weight is improving by the day. In late night chats with my friend Amanda Hewitt Pruett she mentioned a slow feeder ball she has for her mare. Since Papi can't really chew hay I was looking for a way to slow feed him his pelleted hay, and this seemed to be a good idea (thank you, Amanda!). It dawned on me that we had a slow feed ball for one of our dogs about 20 years ago. Jim found it in the basement and we tried it out with Papi. He figured it out quickly! Since it didn't hold very much feed, I ordered a horse version made by Shires. I put it in an empty water trough so the feed doesn't get lost in the dirt. Papi loves it! We can hear him banging it around in his trough from the house, and that way we know he is happy and eating. It takes him several hours to completely empty the thing, a much better alternative to him gobbling it all up in ten minutes. It holds about two scoops (6 pounds) of pellets. I ordered another one so I always have one filled and ready to drop in his feed trough. Best $20 I ever spent! Here is the one we have- Tractor Supply carries this same ball, as well.


February 2, 2019- Snoozing on warm winter day. He has put on almost 50 pounds in the last month. I hope that once the grass starts growing that I will have to put him on a diet!


February 7, 2019- The temperature was over 80 degrees today, so I decided to give Papi a much-needed bath (he was not enthused). It's hard trying to get a picture of a wet horse while hanging onto the lead rope- and all he wants to do is roll! He is filling out nicely and it's easier to see when he is wet.


Turned the old man loose and he put on quite a show!


Talking to Charli over the fence.


"I smell a mare!"


Back in his own pasture, and the inevitable happens!


March 19, 2019- The rye is coming on strong, and Papi is taking full advantage!


March 29. 2019- Papi is finally looking "round"- I love the seamless transition from point of hip into flank he now has. He is grazing so much he is ignoring his soaked alfalfa, so I've cut that from his ration. He still gets one scoop a day of alfalfa pellets in his feeder ball along with his 3 and a half scoops of Senior, split into 4 feedings. He seems very happy, and that makes me happy too!


May 10, 2019- A few weeks back we had a bit of a crisis with Papi. I had to remove Charli from the paddocks next to him, as the green grass is too risky for a metabolic mare, and Papi was just lost without her. He started pacing the fence. This went on for a few days and Papi was not the only creature stressing out! We almost took him back to his previous owners, but literally as Jim was getting ready to hitch the trailer, I decided to try putting Rosie in the paddock beside Papi. She was conveniently in heat, and that sealed the deal. Papi now has a new friend and is settled again. He is looking spectacular is SOOOO shiny black and SOOOO dappled right now, I just had to grab a few pictures. He is not groomed, these are just on the fly shots.


September 8, 2019.


October 17, 2019- The scene from our back porch on our first chilly fall morning of the season. Hard to believe it was a record breaking 97 degrees two weeks ago! Foreground is my much-loved 25 year old Morgan mare Rosie and behind her is her old(er) man, 30 year old Papi. Color test results came back on Papi this week and he is heterozygous for the W20 gene. I knew all that white might mean something! He was negative for all the other white pattern genes and I did test him for all of them, just out of curiosity.


December 31, 2019.


March 21, 2020- Papi will be officially 31 in a few days, on April 1. He has been enjoying the bounty of spring rye in his pasture.


Papi enjoys hanging with the neighbor's goats. This one is Molly.

June 6, 2020- We had a visit from Jim's friend Lamar and his daughter Mary Grace. Mary Grace had taken riding lessons growing up, but had not had the experience of being around a stallion as kind as Papi. Both Lamar and Mary Grace were fascinated by his big stallion crest.


July 24, 2020- Papi waiting up by the house, probably wishing I'd hurry up with his dinner!


November 7, 2020- Last Saturday night Papi did not meet me at the house when I went out to feed him his late night snack. He usually runs up and down the fence in excitement for food, but no... he was lying down, near his feed trough, and did not get up when I rattled his slow feed ball. He did not get up when I walked up to him. I finally had to put his halter and lead on him and force him to stand. Into the barn we went to call the vet. I worried this was the end. The vet tubed him without sedation because Papi has a Grade 4 heart murmur and he was worried the sedative would kill him. There was no reflux and the findings on rectal palpation were not abnormal. He did have a slight temp, so he got some Banamine. The next AM he was not a lot better, not really interested in eating, but would gum up some hay. Monday AM another vet from the clinic came to re check him and run bloodwork and a fecal. Fecal was clean, bloodwork unremarkable except indications of a colitis. She recommended BioSponge and Saccaromyces, which thankfully I had on hand for Ari. Tuesday AM I was at my wit's end and only sleeping in two hour snatches, as Papi still wasn't eating as usual. I decided to give him Banamine every 12 hours. The vet- who called every day to check up on him- agreed. That seemed to make Papi feel better and he started eating again, little by little. By Friday AM he was off the Banamine which was good for me because he was getting hard to catch for medicating, LOL! I know every day with a horse this age is a gift and he might not make it much longer, but as of now, he is still with us, eating and happy.


April 2, 2021- Papi's official 32 years old pictures! He is not a fan of the camera and gave me quite a workout following him up and down the pasture in my attempts to get a good picture, LOL. You can maybe read his expression of annoyance in the trotting picture!


August 4, 2021- It finally happened! Papi has sired a foal for us, a beautiful black filly we call Leelee. Here he is watching her on her first outside excursion.


October 1, 2021- Jim took this while I scrubbed Papi's feed tub... just a day earlier it was Leelee "helping" Jim as he worked on fence repairs.... well like daughter, like daddy!


October 2, 2021 was the 33rd Annual Southern Model Horse Convention, which we host each year (except 2020 due to Covid- this year, all attending were vaccinated) on the first Saturday in October. Here Papi is getting some lovin' from Johanna McClanahan and Kaylee Wood.


October 10, 2021- Long time friend Cassidy Sutherland, her Mom Rhonda, Cass's son Evan and niece Laurel visited today to meet Leelee (who was a hit!) and no visit would be complete without meeting her sire. Papi was all in UNTIL he heard my camera click. Then he said sayonara and was off- he HATES the click the camera makes for whatever reason. We lured him back with some grain and Cassidy took some pics with her cell phone... which was more stealthy (2nd pic).


November 19, 2021- My heart jumps to my throat whenever I see Papi lying down- is he ok? In this case, it was his usual after lunch siesta :-)


December 26, 2021- A warm December day brought my friend Doreene and her husband Dale over for a visit. It is so nice to have a stallion you can trust with anyone.


December 31, 2021- The horses and I had a fun New Year's Eve visit from Mary Kay Longacre (from Indiana) and her friend Stacey (from Woodstock, GA). The horses were all wet from several days of rain but fortunately we stayed dry over the duration of the visit! Thank you, Mary Kay and Stacey, for stopping by!


January 11, 2022- A cold afternoon, but with a nice visit by Sherri Larson Farmer, who is a past owner of Papi. She hadn't seen the old man since just after his arrival here in 2018, and she wanted to spend some time with her old friend and his new daughter, Leelee.


February 9, 2022- Papi gave us quite a scare a few days ago. I had fed him his dinner and went to clean Leelee and Charli's pasture. I noticed Papi seemed to "finish" his food awfully fast (it was just a half scoop of Senior, but it usually takes him 10 minutes at least) and was standing off in the middle of the pasture with his neck at an odd angle. Then he looked as if he wanted to lie down. Oh no. Colic, or choke? Checked back in with him and he had NOT finished his food but had apparently taken just a few bites and started to choke. One emergency vet visit later, choke resolved, vet advised Papi to be on soaked foods forever. He was given Exceed (antibiotic to prevent aspiration pneumonia) and Banamine. The next morning he was uncharacteristically uninterested in food and not very enthusiastic as I led him out to his pasture. Then the diarrhea started. Another vet visit the next day, bloodwork looked fairly normal, diagnosis: colitis from the antibiotic. Massive amounts of Bio-Sponge and Saccaromyces probiotic for the next week and he pulled through. This was taken from the house and is not very good, but the relief I felt seeing him just eat- priceless.