Larkwood Life: Fleas and other Pests...

Fleas...my word have we been infested with fleas the last month or so. I don't know if it is so, but we think the drought has something to do with it. The rabbit camp and the area where the horses congregate before being fed are the worst and I dread going to these two areas because I can both feel and see the creepy critters crawling all over me. Yesterday morning I couldn't wait to finish my chores outside because there were so many on me. I came inside and changed my clothes as quickly as I could, then dumped them in the wash to try and drown the things.

So today, it's me, the sprayer and the poison...
If we don't try to contain them now, before we know it the birds will be infested and that is a terrible thing to have to deal with. The chickens are usually the first to be infested by them because they are continually scratching in the sand as chickens do, so I will have to make sure I put karbodust down in their run...prevention is easier than cure...and then just to make sure the little jumping jacks don't make themselves at home here in the house, I'm going to buy some 'foggers' when I go to town tomorrow and set them up inside. Hopefully that will cover all angles and we will eradicate them - or at least get them packing their suitcases and moving on next door.

It's also that time of the year when we have to spray the horses for ticks and mite. NiQi has spoken to our vet and asked him to keep her 5 horse sickness injections...we must inject them before the rain comes and the grass starts growing.

I know that the injections aren't a preventative from them getting African horse sickness but they do help to protect them against the virus. Anyone who has ever seen a horse die from this dreadful disease will know how heart breaking it is. A few years ago we watched our two foals, Amberfield and Pippin both suffer and pass away within a week of each other. We were devastated and cried for months afterwards. They were both just over a year in age, beautiful, graceful, NiQi's 'loves'. I remember how she would spend her days grooming them and talking to them, measuring them and working out how tall they would grow to be. She dreamed of the day when she would be able to start training them and eventually be able to ride them...all these dreams were dashed within a week. I first noticed Amber was looking under the weather early one Saturday morning when I went out to feed them. She just wasn't herself and I didn't know what it was. Not wanting to alarm NiQi, I didn't say anything to her...she was going out for the most of the day and I knew she wouldn't have time before going to check in with the horses before she left, so it was safe. as soon as she was ready, I took her and dropped her off then popped in at our vet on the way home, to ask his advise. As soon as I described what I had noticed he told me it was African horse sickness. I didn't believe him purely because I knew that they had been injected with the virus, and it was then that I learned how the injection isn't a preventative from picking up the disease. The injection works along the same lines as our flu injections...they don't guarantee you won't get the flu, but if you do, then hopefully it won't be as severe. I left him armed with injections and other medicines and dashed off home. Johan and I injected her immediately and I syringed the medicines into her mouth. The fact that she had eaten that morning, gave us hope that she would pull through and survive. I stayed with her all morning and just after lunch I thought there was a change for the better in her...sadly minutes later she reeled and fell to the ground and moments later she passed away. As I sit typing this I am reliving the whole experience and have tears pouring down my cheeks. it was an experience I will never forget and hoped never to see again. Exactly a week later, Pippin went the same way...Niqi stayed with her until nightfall and then we left her in the stable, hoping by morning she would have pulled through. We were in the house eating supper and heard a tremendous crash coming from the stable area...we all looked at each other and knew. Rushing outside to the stable, we found Pippin on the floor of the stable, eyes closed, no longer with us. Since this experience we dread the summer months with the rain and the long grass that the horses graze through, because we know that in amongst all of that are these tiny little midges that fly up their nostrils and cause them to become so gravely ill. So spraying has started, we catch them one by one after their evening feed, every second day and whilst NiQi talks to them, I spray them and we hope and pray that this too will help....