Tuesday, August 17, 2010

You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours

During a normal summer, we'll have a few flies, a few gnats, and a few no-see-ums to contend with. But this summer is not normal. We're all a little buggy, and poor George is wearing a fly mask from sun-up to sun-down to control his drippy eye syndrome. Both burros take dirt baths throughout the day to ward off the bugs, and they know exactly where to scratch each other's itches.








Post-processing: 1. Crop; 2. Straighten 3. PW's Boost action at 47%; 4. MCP's High Definition Sharpening action at 39% on burros; 5. PW's Quick Edge Burn action at 15%

18 comments:

  1. Interesting how the boys take care of each other. So Alan doesn't try and take George's fly mask off? I love the last picture of your shadow sitting on the fence!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, that's really something that they would be so intuitive as to try and take care of each others itches.

    I like the last picture of you on the fence, Linda!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That looks like a pretty uncomfortable perch to photograph from. Maybe some stragically placed platforms? It IS a good angle!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love how they love each other! So who scratches your itches? Wynonna? Do the boys every try to do that to you?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cute pictures. We use fly masks every day around here. I don't know if it applies to George but our horse Blue had drippy eye syndrome. The vet cleared out his tear ducts which were blocked and he's been fine ever since.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pat, Alan tries to rip off George's fly mask...oh, how he tries. He just hasn't succeeded yet. I'll have those pictures for you later this week.

    Nancy, Hank is the one who always tries to scratch back when I'm scratching him, to the point of ridiculousness, so I try to put George or Alan between us so that Hank can nibble on them instead of me. Those pictures will be coming later this week, too.

    Grey Horse, I'm going to have the vet check George's eyes at our fall maintenance visit. I'm almost certain that it's just the flies bugging him, since the dripping stops once the fly mask is on, but you can't be too careful about these things.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll bet nothing spooks your animals. Goodness, the places you'll perch/lie down to get great shots is amazing.
    I'm glad they can help each other out. Nothing like a good friend for a scratch.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am glad the fly mask is working. Our horses rip theirs off. Do you clip George and Alan? Their winter coat looks like it is gone. Our mini is still losing his and has the long hair around his face which is helping with the flies. Our horses are starting their winter coats-they must know something is up with winter. ACK!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Carol, I don't clip George or Alan. George lost his winter coat and was all slick and handsome for about a day, then his winter coat started growing in - this was right around the summer solstice. Alan shed out a lot of his winter coat...with the help of a lot of Furminating, but is still pretty furry.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love these pics of the boys grooming each other! I'm suprised that George's fly mask is still in one piece. Russell is on fly mask #3 for this season.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love a good back scratch. Those two certainly look like they know how to do it well. *smile* I love George's racing stripe, by the way.

    Maybe the fly mask is just George's version of a disguise to keep the papparazzi away.

    ReplyDelete
  12. They look great! George's coat looks amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Bugs here, OTOH, are fewer. Because we had such an early spring I decided to move the fly predator schedule to every two weeks instead of every 3, which is the norm. I increased their numbers because of the poor quarter horse next door who lives in a corral that never gets picked up. UGH! AND, the guys have been on dirt, not pasture for 4 months since Raider foundered (a little). Last night we put them on pasture for just 30 minutes and they were happy and miserable because of the gnats in the grass. The grass is part of the devil in this case. No housefly flies though.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I can never get over how adorable those two are! Everytime I see a local burro I want to get out and a) take pictures
    b) love on them, smelliness and all.
    c) wish I had some property to house a couple of BLM Burros myself!
    d) this is all my fault for falling in love with your Blog your boys and critters and New Mexico all over again. I feel like I live right next door :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hmm. Having trouble leaving a comment. Left one this am, but didn't get through I guess.

    Just wanted to know who scratched Hank's back (now I know it's you!). Love that you have to put one of the boys between you to buffer his return affections. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for being persistent, C. Blogger changed something with the comments function over the weekend, and it looks like there may be bugs in the system.

    ReplyDelete
  17. everyone needs a buddy like that.....

    ReplyDelete
  18. They look like they are sure enjoying it!

    ReplyDelete