spoke too soon....

The weather last weekend was pretty awful again. I managed to squeeze in lunging and long reining Fi, and lunging Rosie on Saturday. Then lunged again on Sunday and also "lunged" Dudley while mum worked Rosie from the ground. Dudley was a little bolshie - just bracing his neck and barging off. He did improve, but I think the weather is finally getting to him as well.

None of them have been shod yet - we have our fingers crossed for Saturday. Fi's (shod) front feet are very long now and she really needs sorting out or she is going to pull something or go lame from all the stresses and angles being wrong :(

There is more dressage planned for mid Feb. I am a bit concerned about madam's fitness, but they have made an effort to squeeze me in - so prelim 12, here we come !

I finally managed to order more Flexivite for Fi. We were getting down to the last dregs and I'd had a few goes at using the online shop but just got errors. In the end I picked up the phone - their site has had problems for a while. Ordered the 2.5 litres and prayed it would arrive in time. Mum was draining the last out of the existing lot today, and an enormous lorry turned up with the new lot :) That may be 'just in time' but a little tight for my liking. Still the bigger container will mean I have longer before needing to reorder..

finally....

I had this silly idea that I might get away from work one afternoon last week and get out on the horse. It actually wasn't that silly until I managed to convince myself that I had a meeting on Wedsnesday afternoon (it was at 9am) and so scuppered the main opportunity. So at that point I emailed the organisers and withdraw from the rescheduled dressage.

Probaby a good thing too. Saturday dawned clear but windy so I bunged the western saddle on Fi and took her down to the arena to see what happened. As always I started with ground work and biy did she need to move !

Normally on a Saturday she has itchy feet (not literally) and can't stand still when we first get to the arena. She has to move for a few minutes before she can actually manage to stand e.g. to tighten the girth.

This Saturday she had more than four weeks of "itchy feet" to work off and I just kept with the ground work until I could see the energy levels and state of mind getting better. She wasn't being naughty - she just needed to DO something !

And if there was an unexpected noise, movement (like her pals in the field having a quick canter), the energy levels went up and so did she - buck, leap, change direction (like she was cutting cows !).

Towards the end of the session I hopped on and did some walk work, at one end of the school. But she was pretty puffed, but still jumpy - so I took the safe option and didn't do too much.

Then mum worked Rosie from the ground while I worked Dudley. Dudley also needed to release some energy - and even Rosie was enthusiastic !!

I was expectin Sunday to be another wash-out but it was actually less windy, so Fi and I had another good session. The ground work was so much calmer so I was in the saddle much faster. We did walk, trot and a little canter work on both reins. She was still not 100% focussed, and still had enough energy that when something distracted her it felt like I was sitting on a wound up catapult :o But she was a good girl.

After that we tacked up Rosie and Duds and did a little "follow my leader" in the school. Dudley had spotted that the wind had blown various water troughs and compost bins down by the school fence - and first time round his energy just went sky high and he was all ready to exit stage left. So I hopped off and walked him up and down past them rather than risk a catastrophe with mum and Rosie on their first ride for maybe 6 weeks. He was fine after that.

When he gets worried about something, you have to give him just anough space to handle the situation and give his brain time to kick back in. If you "force" him past whatever is causing the issue he just gets more into "fight and flight" mode and less into "its not going to eat me mode".

Rosie was a good girl. She also still had a fair amount of energy and mum commented that it was hard for her (mum) to relax. But they both did some good work and we called it a day at that stage. The more we can do where Rosie gets the idea that if she does the right thing life is fun and nice... the better.

Fi's feet are very long but neither her nor Duds have lost a shoe yet. Fingers crossed for the farrier being able to see them quite soon after his return.

Fi is getting barley with dinner - and now with breakfast as well - as the weight tape shows her at 511, which is at the low end of her range, and she has no "gutter".

Duds and Red are still also at the low end of their ranges on the tape. Red had been struggling to finish some of his meals, so instead of getting the mix and barley he needed, he was only getting maybe half. By cutting out some of the fibre he gets, he is now back to finishing feeds so is getting more of the nutrition he needs. He gets hay and eats whatever of that he wants - and is out on the longer grass for a good 3 hours a day. So his diet still has a fair amount of fibre in it. But at 35, we have to do what we can to maintain his condition even if it is not completely "by the book".

Rosie of course is resolutely maintaining her weight.

The boys are losing their coats like it is going out of fashion. They are still quite itchy so got allowed to go out rugless as the weather was relatively mild.

doncha just love winter

well we were supposed to have a dressage competition this Saturday.

I was getting increasingly cold feet (literally !) as the week went on. Not only had madam only been ridden once in the last three weeks (when I fell off), but the weather has continued to be horrendous - more snow, more high winds, more rain...

In the end Saturday dawned with a hard frost and I was trying to convince myself that I was NOT being a wimp if I backed out - when the phone rang to say the event was cancelled as their arena resembled an ice rink.

They are rescheduling for next week, but I still haven't got out with Fi so I am in two minds about whether going is clear sign of insanity.

The weather has stirred up the others as well. Red took Rosie on a walkabout into the neighbouring wheat field (well the gate was open - so clearly he was meant to do it !). The day after the weather was so bad that the 3 bigger horses did not get let out on the longer grass. Red registered his disapproval of this move by letting himself out when they went to fetch them all in - and leading them a merry dance before consenting to come in for his dinner.

Fi's weight seems to have levelled again, but we still need to keep an eye on the boys. The boys are still itchy despite being treated with a pour-on treatment last week. (We couldn't see any livestock but figured it was worth doing anyway to eliminate that as a cause).

Fi is going to need to be shod soon, and our farrier is away in Gambia for another week or so. The normal alternative is already up to his ears in customers. I checked the register of farriers - according to the farrier register, there are over 600 horses for every registered farrier in our county ! (The paper does suggest the stats for horse population may be over-stated - but still quite worrying).

rain/wind/snow stopped play

isn't it just the way it goes - you have two weeks off and the flamin' weather scuppers all plans to play with horses :(

Since I finished work for Christmas it has rained, blown a gale, and now snowed. So all I've managed to do is ride once, and long rein once - oh, and I fell off when I rode !

The weather was, unusually, clear and still. So it seemed like a good time to ride. Only there are geese flying about - and the local farmers are keen to stop them settled on their land so make efforts to scare them off. Everything started well, but then farmer A started clearing the geese that had settled on the next door farm. The geese flew up and across the sky from one side to the other.... only to return a few minutes later... and then get scared off again.... and then fly back again.

Fi had been working well and I was just finishing off by practicing Prelim 1 - which starts with trotting up the centre line (without halting ;) ) and then tracking right. Only just as I was committed to the right, Fi spooked and went left. Needless to say I split the difference and ended up on the floor at C ! It wasn't a major spook - she was more worried when I came off. So I hopped back up again and started working through the test again. Quite soon into the test you change the diagonal in trot and then ask for left canter between the quarter marker and C. I asked for it late as Fi has started to anticipate and canter *at* the quarter marker. Only this time she cantered one or two strides and then bunched right up...

clearly all was not yet well... it was as if all her feet were randomly going in different directions ! (like Bambi on ice :o )

so I stopped her and walked her down to the A end of the arena. As we came towards the quarter marker there, the geese caught her eyeline again and I could feel her start to panic again - legs all over the place. I hopped off and worked her from the ground for a few minutes til she was calm and listening, and then called it a day.

We worked Rosie and Dudley from the ground. Dudley was full of the joys of life and proceeded to act like a maniac. I think the horses have been so limited by the mud and rain that they all had unused energy to burn off.

As I was going to be driving south for new year, we just long reined Rosie and Fi on Sunday, and lunged Dudley. They all went nicely.

But my return from New Year's Eve was accompanied by snow - so no more exercise since. Rosie got to go out on the big field with the others for the day and was delighted (because of the snow and weather). Bringing them in yesterday both Fi and Dudley wer getting snow built up in their front (shod) feet. Luckily it's mostly melted now - with every step I was worrying about tendons

Fi has now been on Flexivite for a couple of weeks. I bought it at the Scottish Horse Event at the beginning of December and she went on to it when she finished the Cortaflex HA. I have to make a decision whether to stick with it or not.

Weight-wise Red and Dudley are on the light side, Fi is stable but losing a little. Rosie is stable and not losing. So everyone other than Rosie is now getting some barley rings with their dinner.

I also got some spot-on lice treatment today. We can't spot any sign of lice on the boys but they are SO itchy we have to try something ! Two years ago Red get mega itchy and we used lice shampoo to treat him. But shampooing TWO ponies at intervals in this weather is not my idea of fun. So we'll treat them all with the spot-on and see if that helps.