warm!

so warm, i rather wished i'd taken his rug off this morning before turning out, even though it's a very thin on...

changed it to a thin stable rug for the night....

anyway, took him in the arena to try the lunging again, and actually got some movement! didn't do as well as gaynor did, but better than i've done in a long while, so pleased with myself!

swopped horses

for lunging.

which proved to me, at least, that it's not my ability to lunge that's an issue, since lunging Charlie was not a problem.

Gaynor eventually got Monfils going

she said, he's very like Charlie when she first got him (he was 2 going on 3 at the time, and had done nowt) - an interesting thought, as we'd already thought Monfils hadn't been established on the lunge before being ridden when first brought into training, so perhaps he did even less than we thought...

anyway, roll on the morning and they can go out again. they'll be pleased!

proper winter routine

starts today, with worming weekend. we all hate this weekend, horses and people, and it happens twice a year. horses have to be off the land and in their stables for 10 am Saturday, get wormed, and not allowed out to graze again until Monday morning. Apparently Monfils was bucking in his stable after i left this morning, and Charlie Definitely was this evening - wouldn't have been so bad but horses being walked up and down in front of him didn't do his head any good!

i took monf into the arena in hand, no point trying for anything ridden i don't think... so tell me, RI shakes a noisy something at him and off he goes, i do the same and he doesn't? I did get a bit more movement than usual, in that he moved away in walk and did a few steps, but that's about all that can be said for this afternoon.

and then it started raining, quite hard...

two to do...

Gaynor had won a ticket to go to a ball! so i was getting both of them in ... they were no where near the gate, and not at all bothered about coming in (just as well, as i was/am concerned whether my wrists would be able to cope fetching 2 in if one/either/both kicked off!) - and i had to fetch both together as they were the last two out..... don't think they were too overjoyed, TBH, but tough....

Had I had the energy, i could have ridden, but it had turned into a black coffee afternoon (two cafetieres full to keep me going after lunch! i practically never need to do that) plus, as is normal for a Friday, everyone going home....

hopefully, will get something done tomorrow...a nice ride out would be good! but have to be up early for early turn out and get back in again for 10 am

in overnight again....

Gaynor & I had assumed that everyone would keep theirs out overnight until saturday morning, at which point

1. it's worming weekend and they all have to be in from 10.am saturday morning until monday morning turnout

2. it's the end of overnight turnout until the end of April

But it turned out that all the other owners of horses in our field were bringing theirs in overnight from tonight. not wholly sure why, but the end result is that ours are now in as well... i did think we could have left them out, they would have had each other for company, but G reckoned charlie wouldn't be happy - he was first at the gate when i went out to get him, but not over impressed to be in, so he's conflicted. and Gaynor had to come back, having been, done and gone home again!

Monfils wasn't over joyed to be in either, despite the fact that it was wet

but, they'll all settle when they realise they are all in....

we were just hoping to be able to stave off the extra early rising until sunday!

before and after shots...

of the feet - we haven't got any.

trimmer came today, and we both agreed we should have taken photos of his feet at the start of the year, as the improvement to the feet he has now is fantastic - lots of concavity, developing nice thick soles, and nice thick walls, and no apparent issues at all. excellent

and he was fine - so it must have been just a case of rushing about yesterday afternoon....

best laid plans

went when i got monf in from the field - had clearly been running about, was very hot and sweaty - in fact, i was slightly concerned, put his cooler on and walked him about in hand to cool off..... but not colicking, it seems, just had been running about and it was quite warm at that time.... dried off and cooled enough to have his tea, and was then very keen to be out again! a tad worrying, though.

better in hand work

after yesterday's lesson

not brilliant, but moving, which is a start...

doubt we'll get much more done this week, weather is forecast to be went and windy again...

a good but wet lesson

it started raining as i left the house..... :-(

but Monf, RI and I were the only ones who got wet, it had dried up by the time gaynors lesson started.. :-(

Anyway, ground work as planned, and RI did some ridden schooling as well, useful for her (to know how he goes, what's his stiff side, etc ) and for him (to work out what's wanted before I try, LOL) and for me, watching and trying the in hand again myself.

by the end of the lesson he looked like a much happier horse

she thinks, and this is probably right, but i hadn't thought about it, he's very easy to block due to being very sensitive... but it's clear that it's me been blocking ... less hand, claire, less hand!

on the coligone, di, the idea is that use something like this as an initial diagnostic, and only go the whole expensive hog of scope and gastrogard if the results of the coligone lead you to think that you were right in thinking of ulcer...

coligone

link in heading...

is the stuff we're trying him on, arrived today - gloopy red stuff, he was quite happy to have me squirt it into his mouth (once i'd acquired a big enough syringe with which to do so!).

he wasn't quite so happy at the idea of ground work

never mind, lesson tomorrow, and groundwork is the lesson for both of us (but mostly, i think, him...). it will be interesting, cos he's a stubborn old soul with that but i DO want to get it cracked...

frost to cloud

therefore freezing to overheated.... they got lighter rugs on tonight

I'm not going to do anything with him until the stuff from the vet turns up - hopefully tomorrow! have a lesson booked for Sunday, though, that i don't want to cancel, so i reckon in hand work for Monfils & I will be the way to go

cold cold cold

but the horses still want to be out at night because the grass is good ....

so they got thicker rugs on as they were starting to feel cool (it's going to be 2 degrees C tonight, apparently) but otherwise were good to go

still waiting for the stuff from the vet's, the courier sent it to the wrong place :-(

interesting!

Vet says movement of left leg is often an issue with ulcers - and considering the difficulty getting Monfils to go left when ridden ....

So he agrees with my assessment, that it may well be, and when he gets fresh delivery of what they use as a diagnostic, on Wednesday, I'll get some and then assess - only go the scope/gastrogard route after that further trial.

but he IS an ex racehorse, and the high likelihood is that he will have, at the least, low grade ulcers in there if not

and he's out tonight - the stable doors etc had all been coated with creosote stuff, and stank, and i couldn't leave him breathing that in (plus, there's loads of grass). Gaynor said they'd both wanted to be out again last night, Charlie had had a party in his yard and been stressing all night, and whilst Monf hadn't gone that far (bed not trashed, hay all eaten) he was keen enough to go out again.

The needs of his airways took priority tonight, i thought!

mmmmm

we had a standstill tonight, some movement, but a struggle...

he has been off the supplement for his gut for a couple of weeks....i ran out ... and didn't get any more, thinking, we'll see what happens....

might there be a link?

i would have to think so.....

but, he was going ok for gaynor last night, so may not be .. but on the other hand, second day on decent grass....

so mmmmm

lovely day....

for all sorts

the horses, of course, had a great day filling themselves with grass ....but it turns out that, in fact, they were not supposed to move last night - not sure what happened there, mixed messages somewhere i guess

anyway, Gaynor and I had schooling sessions

firstly, she on Charlie, using my saddle, and trying various combinations - panels without shims, panels with shims, smartpanel.

panels without shims resulted in saddle dropping slightly in front, so Gaynor felt tipped forward

with shims - worked better on the horse, but she didn't like the bulk under the thigh (TBH, nor do i much)

smartpanel (the replacement for the suberpanel) was the preferred option - interesting, as earlier in the week she didn't like it, but now does.

the point of all this, of course, is that she needs a new saddle, and we are trying to find her a second hand Fhoenix, so sorting out what works for her and Charlie...

then Monfils & I - only in walk, but he was walking on a lot better than previously in the school. Then Gaynor got on him - she hasn't ridden him before, kept saying how tiny he is, but i don't think he is - probably, narrower than Molly was at this point, but i wouldn't have said he was smaller, really - he went well for her, better than for me :-( - but then i haven't done as much riding since our last lesson, what with my wrist and all the bad weather.

Anyway, my wrist was good, hurray! I have the appointment for the MRI scan, and the follow up with the hospital (the day before the next appointment with the wrist specialist in Newcastle) but TBH i don't really think I need the follow up appointment, and not at all sure i need the scan, but think I'll go for it anyway - there has to be some reason the bone moved! and i guess we need to know, but would rather Paul Stuart had a look (that's the Newcastle chap) whereas the Durham chap is really a knee man

and to close the day - partner was supposed to get the 20.00 train from London kings Cross, arriving at Durham 2300 - missed it! it was going to cost £110 to get the 21.00 - so has gone back to her friend's, and will get a coach tomorrow....apparently they were held up in traffic (she did in fact have train ticket to get her back into London, but i guess they thought being driven back meant more time at friend's ...)

grass....

at 16.50 this afternoon, people were told that the horses were moving fields tonight, into their winter quarters - which at the moment has grass! hurray. bit of a rush though, time i got there from work Monfils was already in - don't know why we weren't given any notice, but everyone is pleased about that as all the geldings were well hacked off where they were - and very jealous, no doubt, of Monfils & Charlie

no doubt, however, we'll not be able to catch them tomorrow night!

dry!

well, monf was, and had not rolled, which was quite impressive as he does so most days - i rather think he found the weight of mud yesterday a bit too heavy!

so i got the dry off his neck and head

the wrist is feeling heaps better, it would seem that chip of bone has settled back to where it was .. thinking, should I ride at the weekend?

happily, monf seems to be the sort of horse you can leave for a few days, get back on and have a reasonable expectation of being ok (she says, hoping she hasn't tempted fate)

appointment has arrived for MRI scan, and then appointment with consultant or his registrar (probably his registrar). however, THAT is the day before my next appointment with the wrist specialist in Newcastle about my left wrist = and i have to say, my preference would be for him to see the right wrist as well!

Mudmonster

That was monfy.

Both sides of the rug thick wet mud.Off

So he got hosed off before i took the rug off and put a dry one on.

I've heard of people having to do that but never had to do that myself before now.

the plot thickens...

in terms of my wrist.

yesterday's post was at 07.52 am.

i went to the fracture clinic for 10.55 a.m, where the man said - but that's an OLD fracture! he's ordered an MRI scan.

Now, i'd previously broken my right wrist about 20 years ago.

so when i eventually woke up yesterday evening and thought some more, i rather think what probably happened is that whatever i was doing on sunday afternoon while riding pulled a ligament or something, which in turn pulled into a new place the fragment of bone that had been loose from the 20 year old injury, pulling it away from where it had been resting and putting it into a new, very painful, place

that would account for the pain being equivalent to a break, and the x-ray looking like a break...

so the fingers now move, the swelling is subsiding, the pain is substantially reduced ....

I'm going to give it a week before trying riding again, but was able to muck out this evening with no great issue...

and in the meantime, we put my saddle on Charlie for Gaynor to try. a much improved picture of both horse and rider, they both worked well.

broken right wrist

following on from last night's post, i finally caved in to the pain and went to a & e - avulsion fracture right wrist :-(

a lovely ride out

with a fantastic feeling extended trot up the hill on the back drive

but i should not have ridden and certainly should not have trotted

the right wrist that i hurt last night grooming was, by the time i got back to the yard, excruciatingly painful.

struggled to dismount as that's the arm i normally use to support my weight, and don't know how i got the tack off.

arguably should go to hospital with it but since it can only be tendons and it's not as if they can do anything in an acute phase save provide NSAIDS, which i have, i shan't, but will ring gp in the morning

Whether i can muck out is doubtful as well

:-(

rain stopped play

it was one of those horrid mizzly days that soaks you through without actually raining. euch.

AND Gaynor had forgotten she didn't have childcare for this afternoon, so couldn't have ridden out anyway, but frankly, the horses only wanted to be in and dry!
a
and whilst getting the dry mud off from under the rug (how DO they do that?) i managed to strain all the tendons in my right wrist and fingers ....

fingers crossed

that the weather is fine tomorrow...

tbh it was a nice evening tonight - but i was getting both in (charlie as well) and it was friday and it had been a long week.. what can i say...

if the weather holds, we'll be riding out.

gales still stopping play

and the temperature has plummetted to about 7 degrees C due to windchill, mostly, and there was a vague hint of sleet tonight. mad.

so i found something to spook him...

well, nearly so

working on just getting him moving forward off my leg, without stopping when he wants... he has a nasty habit of napping towards the gate, and he can nap slowly in walk, and he can nap without warning - and since one can't spend more than half the time facing the other way ;-) - it is a nap, as he doesn't want to be in there, really...but he has no choice, it's too dark at night to be hacking out (well, dusk is cutting in too quickly to make it clever to go out!)

anyway, he's given up playing statues, so I'm getting something right!

and what spooks him? the sound of horses haynets hitting off metal gates from the other end of the yard when he couldn't see what the noise was. he was NOT happy!

gales stopped play

although quite where that came from is anyone's guess - strong winds got up mid afternoon, just started raining when I got Monfils in ... no point even trying to get the mud off at that point! but of course, by the time I'd finished my chores (which involved dismantling and spreading out loosely the bale of haylage I'd just opened! due to the heat over the weekend...) he was dry and it had stopped raining - but it's going to again, and still seriously windy... and getting very dark very early. despite this happening every year, it always amazes me how noticeable it is from one week to the next ... happily, the same noticeability applies in the spring as well..

it was supposed to have been a hot day at 20 degrees C..... mmmph.

warm rain

stopped play. it barely stopped ... but at least it WAS warm....

evently matched....

interesting this - Monf & I went out for a hack with Gaynor & Charlie. previously, before our lessons last week, Monf walked so fast, and/or Charlie was so slow, we would leave them miles behind without trying.

This week, whilst Monf will always walk faster than Charlie, we weren't leaving him miles behind and gaynor was very impressed with herself (she's been practising since the lesson, LOL) that she needed barely a touch for him to move on, AND he trotted down an incline which he's never been known to do before.

Monf was a good lad, of course - we came back up the Park, which is full of sheep and, more importantly, cows, and a bull - I had NO idea whether he'd met cattle before, and i'm still not sure that he had, but all he did was look hard and keep walking. Charlie was the opposite side of Monf as Charlie is terrified of them..

and it was sooooo hot we hosed them off when we got back - and all we'd done was walk