Blue-Green Algae

Phantom is well on her way to settling in at Fat Camp. She is becoming friends with the cool kids, so she's putting herself in a good position. She still gets a bit worried when she gets turned out again after I have her in for a bit, but then I see her with the others not long after so I'm not too worried.

Phantom is the gray on the left. The cool kids are behind her.

She did pull a shoe (of course). For once I actually managed to find it - she usually hides them down the gopher holes. Well, that has to be what she does with them because they never get found. It should be getting tacked back on on Monday (yesterday) so I can get her going again.

She's still not impressed with me though.

I started her on spirulina. It's algae. It looks disgusting, it smells bad, and it probably tastes worse.

Black lipstick is not attractive.

Spirulina is considered a superfood. It has anti-inflammatory properties, and has been used for COPD type issues. It has also been found to help horses with equine metabolic syndrome, which is something that I worry Phantom might be prone to.

In the US it can be gotten in a pellet form that is actually palatable. In Canada, no luck so far finding it in anything but a powdered format. So I am mixing it with applesauce in a syringe and squirting it in Phantom's mouth.

I'm quite certain that when mixed with the spirulina the taste of the applesauce is no longer detectable. And it's in a huge 60cc catheter tip syringe, which is hard to use when you have small, child-sized hands. So it is not going smoothly at this point.

Note the squirt on the wall under her halter.

On Sunday, day 3 of squirting it in her mouth, I brought out the good cookies. She was a bit better about me squirting it in her mouth, then she took a cookie, and re-squirted, and she had another cookie, until the big syringe was empty. I'm surprised she ate a cookie with seaweed all over her tongue, but I'm going with it.

I've had to scrape dried chunks off of her forehead. She has blue-green stains on her legs where she's rubbed her mouth. This stuff is gross.

I'm really hoping it does something useful!