lame in front!

apparently, when he came in - but only as far as the hose, where is legs were washed off, and then was sound on to the stable. we reckon probably a pebble or something..

anyway, he's staying in tomorrow, and YO is going to have a good look at the white foot in daylight and see what she thinks - i think he needs keeping in with slathers of cream against mud fever for a few days..

moving smartly on....

took monf out for a small walk off the yard this morning - down to one end of the village, back past the yard to the other end, and then back in - not long, no more than 10/15 minutes .. power walked, didn't he, LOL.

So, i guess he's bored not getting out, can't see the point of being in school, and is a morning person.

but he's going to have to learn to not be a morning person, and to work in teh school

the heading has two meanings - we're moving yards as well, end of march. Depressingly, the owner of the land is going to pull all the stables down and put houses on them. the horses are all to go in the fields until something is sorted out, the yard will still be there, and a barn is to go up for storage fairly soon, but YO has no idea when any replacement stables will appear

so i'm moving to the yard 1/2 mile down the road, back on the same estate as harbour house and blackdene; this one is called "the riding school" because it has an indoor! and easy access to blackdene's outdoor. The YM there rang me yesterday to offer me the space

plan is to use Gaynor's 4WD she's just acquired to move the stuff, and walk Monf down. at least it's downhill!

a morning person?

I think monfy might well be - would make sense, given that he's spent 7 years being worked, usually, in the morning!

he was certainly much happier to move this morning than he has been evenings lately!

we'll get there, i expect, when he eventually twigs that work at night is allowed as well!

but it was funny watching him watching the wagon this morning... guess he still thinks/expects he'll be off on his travels any minute!

is spring springing?

I might be tempting fate here, but we've just had 2 days at above 10 degrees C, with added sunshine, and no rain. the puddles are subsiding and there's fractionally less mud (although it'll be a while before there's none!). I'm almost tempted, even, to think about putting washing out on line tomorrow if this keeps up! certainly could have done so today!

in the meantime, monf got another night off after trying hard on Thursday. will do something tomorrow, not quite decided what yet (depends how much of the arena is usable, apart from anything else!)

clicking behind

a clicking sound, seems to be from his behind, when moving....

very odd....

he's starting to get the idea of moving away from pressure, and i got a bit of movement going right as well as left

but more and more inclined to put some money together to get Max out..

in the meantime, need to investigate this clicking some more...

blogger is weird

sometimes doesn't let you pot on other people's posts; tonight told me cookies weren't enabled (they are )so i just got to the dashboard a different way.. or do i blame my broadband? t'other night i ended up doing a blogger comment on facebook,, LOL

monf had a night off again tonight; i wasn't sure that i was wholly well, and in any event (being half term an all) all gone/going home. last night i was lucky there were people there! the other reason, of course, is time for him to think ..

but broad daylight when i leave the office, which is excellent, not be long before the rain is consistently absent and the mud dries up!

hopefully i'll do something tomorrow night

good diagnostics

in that the doctor agreed with my analysis - Xray then physio. so have to wait for Xray appointment and then physio after that.

and it being a dry night i took monfy into the arena. he mildly didn't want to but the pressure halter won that debate quickly. he was very good - two ponies going over a small jump didn't phase him at all.

got some movement in hand going left but wouldn't budge going right. walked him over the jump - i could step over it - you wouldn't think he'd seen a pole before, which of course he will have

rather think I'll have to hone my click/treat skills as food is a motivate where tapping with sticks not

then went for a swim

snowing again!

not heavily and not lying, but persisting.... not surprising, it's cold

but what was that i said about consistent work for the monf? Noooo chance...

early morning

brought on by early daylight (before 7) so was at the yard before anyone else, about 7.30.

Took monfy in the arena with the rope circling equipment and worked on him moving away from the spinning rope.

He did get that he was to move away from it ... now I need to work more on move away and out onto a circle.

but it was a start, thinking about the first time I did that when he just looked at me blankly!

fingers crosses the weather holds so it's NOT raining evenings when I'm there, need some sensible weather as half the problem is lack of consistent work due to crap weather...

testing testing

think he's at that point where he's testing me. ended up having someone hold him while i went back to stable to get pressure halter and line as he was planting heading tote arena.

I'd started off planning in hand work on the yard concrete; he wasn't cooperating so decided to go down to arena, and that wasn't in his game plan either, at which point i got the halter.

gave up on the idea of in hand and worked on moving away from pressure and in due course did get him to move away from the spinning rope. sadly, towards me, rather than round me, but since last time i tried that wasn't happening i suppose it's about progress.

but he's a stubborn one when he doesn't want to move!

stephen tompkinson

a northern actor who we've seen a lot of on the telly one way and adnother.

tonight saw him live at Live Theatre in Faith & a Cold Reading - excellent play, excellent actor!

Monfy? did all the jobs this morning, and asked YO to see him right (not that a lot needed doing apart from take the lid off his tea!) - wouldn't have had time, i thought, and i was right.

sadly, the forecast is horrid for tomorrow...

of haynets and haybars

i have a haybar in the stable but need to use haynets to move hay from big round bale into it. monfy thinks it good to remove hay from haybars to eat off floor and strew round and roll into bed. alternative is leave in net which i don't like as bad for his neck and teeth. hum. filling bar would be easier with small bales in slices but we can't get any.

in the meantime, monfils had his feet done yesterday and trimmer was very pleased with his feet. and then i had to rush off for a late meeting in newcastle.

and my wrist has been twinging all week so not happy about that and more painkillers

late winter return?

the forecast was for "white cloud"

what we had, first thing, was frost on the cars and thick fog, followed by mizzly rain and cold cold...

i managed to do something painful to my wrist (probably filling haynets again!) and so didn't go swimming.

didn't work M as it was raining again, overall not a nice night

but DID remember to ring the doctor's! appointment next tuesday morning (possibly could have got in sooner, but want an appointment convenient for me, LOL)

another day to forget

in that i ended up going to my mother's after lunch, having received a call that she hadn't turned up at a friend's as expected, and not answering the phone - happily she was fine, and thought she'd cancelled...

so again, not really in the mood for working with Monf, but did hose his legs off and give him a groom - amazingly, he WASN'T covered in mud today!

thought i'd start hosing due to the mud fever, gives me a chance to have a look, and reapply cream as necessary in the morning before he goes out again.

Plus, someone when it was frosty put a load of used bedding at the field entrance, so i hate to think what brew they're standing in when loitering round the gate! cue for skin infections, certainly, if not kept an eye on. i could see the sense at the time, as the field was THEN bone hard and horrid and slippy .. but....

gym balls?

is one of the suggestions for helping sort the hip out.

This morning was about dismounting, and getting me sorted out so i can!

amazingly, i did eventually manage to dismount properly - that old exercise of putting ones knees up to the front of the saddle eventually unlocked the hip enough that i could get off again.

I learnt a lot about what is going on with the hip and MUST ring GP, get xray done just to check for any bony damage, and then get physio organised.

in the meantime, a gym ball was suggested - i know other people have used those for openeing the hips up so that's something to investigate.

And where did we do this? in the stable! which is very high, i wasn't in any danger, although it ws a shade disconcerting. pony stood like a rock eating his hay, couldn't have cared less (although, no doubt, he was somewhat puzzled LOL)

we're thinking I'll go out riding on that pony with the RI - riding will of course open my hips, and then i get more practice getting off.

She thinks i should learn to get on/off from other side, but i don't quite have the confidence for that - not sure the body's working properly to try it! odd, you'd think it woudl be easy to think about that, but i couldn't wrap my head round it and think i need more flexibility both sides to do it.

It's odd in one way i can get on no bother, but as i said, getting on you have the added impulsion of pushing off with the other leg and hand to help you on your way, and that's sufficient impulsion to get the right leg up and over...

i guess the swimming has helped a bit as well, if only in a small way.

And Monfy? turned him out. it was raining anyway. but an odd lot, those geldlings this morning. They can walk down to the lower field which has grass and much less mud, but did they? no, stood about loitering near the gate, daft things.

in the yard...

never mind the arena, which was not only full of two horses, but was also a pond - any horse worked in there today needed a bath afterwards after last nights rain.

so i thought, who needs arena for in hand work, when you have a concrete dryish yard (the odd puddle only), so we worked in the yard

he's a good lad!

save that he loves a roll - got all the mud off, but as usual, first order of business is put it all back on again (in spades!)

he's got a touch of mud fever in a very odd place - the white foot, as i expected, but at the front! weird. so that foot is clagged up with aromaheel, everywhere else with mud fever prevention.

we wondered if he's caught himself on something/some other horse, can't think otherwise how you get mf at the front, not the back!

and it turned into a lovely day, so a lot of pruning got done - the apple didn't get pruned last year, and you couldn't half tell - it's had a good opening up, the buddleia chopped right back, and a couple of others trimmed up, - but ran out of time to shred it all, so hoping it stays dry tomorrow.

incandescent

that's me, with rage, most of the day .... something went very awry with a case at work, after sterling efforts on my part over a year to prevent precisely what went wrong - ggrrrhhhh so had to spend the day putting together the stuff to put it right again, and at least i gave everyone fair warning as to potential costs consequences well in advance of the event...so we should recover the costs of putting it right and costs thrown away in consequence. from whom, is not currently clear, but should get them...

so i didn't feel much like doing anything with monfy, not in the right frame of mind at all for that!

a good night

no wind, not that cold, arena still boggy but never mind, a nice night weather wise for february.

10 - 15 minutes in hand in the arena, we were doing ok i think. he seems not so difficult on his bad rein already.

i stopped when my wrist started to tell me i was doing too much!

plans awry again

as happens....

friend said did i want to go to a class with her at the gym; i said, go on then, after my riding (dismounting) lesson previously booked was cancelled by instructor; class was supposedly 7.30 pm

planned the evening with a view to having had dinner before that.....oops, it was at 6.30 - i was never going to make that.

so thought, swim as usual ... children in the pool after their witching hour of 7 pm, jumping in (not allowed) underwater wrestling (dangerous) , almost falling on me... and so on - and it wasn't quiet, a few trying to do lengths

so i gave up after 15 minutes and went round to reception (still in my swimsuit, dripping!) to complain..

if anything goes pear shaped and someone is hurt, the club can be sued, and will lose, if this doesn't get sorted....

i'm not bothered by children being in their after their time if they're being safe, not getting in the way, and being properly supervised by whoever they are with. but these were not being.

5 minutes...

in hand

the wind getting up and the arena was like a bog, so that was as much as i was going to do (and that only because rain stopped play yesterday!) - was lucky, actually, as it had been howling gale most of the day and was surprised it subsided a bit!

but he is starting to get it, i think (unless someone tells me i'm doing it wrong, LOL)

rain stopped play again..

was supposed to start on dismounting techniques this morning, but it's still raining - started not long after i got home yesterday teatime, not let up much since (but of course, it has eased now i've turned monfy out and cancelled my lesson, LOL)

in the meantime, the bbc has this photo is Monfy with Mick Fitzgerald up winning The Better People Better Business Novices' Hurdle at Huntingdon on 24th january 2007. I know that's right, his form book says so (copyright whoever took the photo and the BBC, presumably!). It was run over 2 miles, according to Betfair, he carried 11-4 and won by 1 1/4 lengths, a field of 17. good lad! He won't be doing that again, of course!

making a start

new bit in, not a problem, each way in hand, a shade distracted he was when someone went past but not too bad.....got his attention back quickly, more the good rein than the bad as recommended, very large follow the fence on the bad rein, smaller on the good --and it is a lot easier in daylight, LOL

didn't want to do more today for 2 reasons

1. my wrists!
2. build up slowly for him...

still howling

but not near as bad as queensland and we're not getting the snow the states is having...

whether it'll settle for the weekend is another matter....

hope so, plans involve putting new bit in monfy's mouth, in hand work, dismounting lessons sunday LOL, pruning apple trees and buddleia (neither of which got done last spring at all! my baaad) and none of that will happen in a gale!

the new bit arrived

But....

after a glorious sunny day (i almost nipped home to hang washing out on my way back from the post office at lunchtime ) .....

the wind got up

it rained

it blew some more

and rained some more, and still is now.

tchah.

wind and rain and pain

windy, wet, and the wrists are still a bit painful and achy - mind, i don't think the files at work help, either!

so night off

I'll do some inhand tomorrow; I've bought some painkillers

ML, not getting physio anymore, and TBH don't think that would help - i just overdid the activity levels, i think, on Sunday's lesson, combined with too much handwriting on monday (don't normally handwrite much at all any more)


Jean, you're right, inhand will help loads towards lunging, that was what Becky said as well, but i was trying to save the wrists so thought lunging would be better for them...

hey ho.

i used to be able to lunge...

but clearly don't know how anymore, despite lesson from becky sunday.

set off left rein, the easy rein, fine, got him up to trot, fine, did a few circuits. my body language got ahead of my telling him, as i was thinking, that's looking good, lets try the other rein...

so he stopped (he's good about stopping on the circle facing the way he's going without turning in).

could we get going again?

no.

on either rein.

i remembered what becky said about getting some movement, and keeping the rein tight in the direction you want to go, and so on, but nothing......

left rein slighly better but not really going again

it's difficult not to walk backwards instead of doing a small circle .....trying to watch what he's doing (nothing)...

ggrrhhh

i gave up before i got annoyed (and my wrist was starting to feel the strain ..)

guess it's in hand work tomorrow!