I have only been making it out the barn every few days lately, partly because I have wanted to let Steen adjust to his new lifestyle without demanding too much of him and partly because I’ve just been busy. Brian and I went out on Friday, and Steen was already starting to look a little better. The hollow spots where his rib-cage met his haunches (the source of my genuine alarm in the first place) had filled in. It was good to see that change so quickly.
Then, I didn’t make another appearance out there until yesterday, and that was squeezed in before work in the morning because I knew he was low on grain and would be out before we returned from our holiday trip to the Chicago area, for which we are leaving today. So, I was only there for a matter of minutes, but I did take Steen out of his stall and make him walk around me in a circle for a while so I could look at him. He has definitely put on a belly. In fact, I believe this is the fattest I’ve ever seen him. He actually looks rather comical because he’s so fuzzy and now he’s hauling this gut around that doesn’t coincide at all with the leanness of his shoulders, haunches. etc.. With any luck the new weight will soon distribute, hopefully doing things like padding his top-line as his metabolism gets used to having enough to eat. Still, I’m thinking in another few weeks we’ll be able to start slowly decreasing his grain intake (we don’t want him getting genuinely fat), which is much faster progress than I hoped for in the beginning.
I will not be able to go to the barn again until Sunday, but I’m looking forward to seeing how he’s changed by then.