alternating horses...

last night Charlie, tonight Monfils...

It was funny last night; i called charlie .. Monfils came, when normally he doesn't i have to go get him .. so he was quite miffed when i led Charlie off for some work!

Charlie lunges nicely  - not as nicely for me as for Gaynor, as i'm out of practice and of course a slightly different technique...

last night i put the roller and sidereins on, but half wished i hadn't...IMHO needs a pad under the roller, and couldn't decide what i thought correct length for the sidereins should be...

he went much better left than right...

and when i turned him out, Monfils wasn't too far away and pleased to see me

tonight, M by the gate so not too far to get him

in hand work again, not as successfully as at the weekend....

and when i turned him out, Charlie ignored my calls and i had to go up the top of the field to check him...

my hands?  well, bloods showed nothing wrong at all, so i'm being referred to rheumatology...

I did mention to the doctor my theory about possible allergy to the giving up smoking stuff, and she didn't poo poo that thought   . so we'll see..

and my mother's been moved to a different hospital near her home, miles away from me, so can't see her as often (which at least means i'm not rushing round like a headless chicken any more, has to be a good thing...)

good lord i did something!

with TWO horses...
in hand work with Monfils....

when he decided he didn't want to go forwards, i said, fine, in that case, you can go back! (which he did)

lunged Charlie, what a pleasure, LOL

in the meantime, between turning M out and getting C in, had to check someone else's horses out as he was lame and the sharer wasn't sure what to do...i think it's probably an abscess, so owner was rung and she will decide

the hands?  it occurred to me yesterday morning to wonder if i was allergic to one of the ingredients in the anti smoking lozenges, so have stopped taking those and we'll see what happens... in the meantime, blood results on thursday and crossing fingers (when i can, LOL) and touching wood that they remain unswollen in the meantime...

ibuprofen and paracetamol 4 times a day in the meantime....

Rode!

Last night

not for long but at least i got on

then the right hand started hurting overnight and i am writing this at the gp's surgery waiting for appointment  - came in at 0800 to get an urgent one this morning

after the heat

more rain...

did think the hand might have recovered enough to think about doing something with the boy today, but the rain got in the way .....it teemed down from about 1 pm...and we discovered we need a roofer out :-(  thought at first we needed a plumber, but when the rain stopped and the leak stopped with it, it became clear that the issue is with the dormer roof in the bathroom...

Good turnout

To see Liz off at saltwell crematorium. All seats in chapel full three deep round the walls standing and doors open for the people still outside.

Afterwards the heavens opened and it pure.

And i am in A & E left hand swelling and very bad pain for no apparent cause. :-(.

a thought

i had tonight watching confused Geoffrey (horse) in the field....

we think about the effect a horses death has on its owner, but don't often think of the effect owner's death has on horse  ... geoffrey was liz's horse and must have known she was ill (they do...) but doesn't know she's died.....he's confused as the pattern has changed... he will get used to the new pattern with new owner (arrangements were made before Liz died, of course!) but still...

my friend Fay had a pony whose behaviour changed totally when her original owner died.

both long term partnerships.

3 inches

isn't a lot in the scale of tings, but it certainly is when dismounting!

Rode Charlie yesterday, the difference is amazing  - height, chunkiness, etc....

giving monf the rest of the week in case the abscess isn't fully gone...

that was a week!

monfils was very bad about having his dressings changed, very bad indeed.  last night i put my hard hat on to take the previous dressing off (it had been on two days, and had given way) and there was no way he was letting anyone put another one on .. been practising the art of snatching his foot away at the strategic moment.

and why the hard hat?  caught on side of head by hock (I think) tuesday, specs went one way, i the other - happily no damage done.... that was while i was taking previous dressing off, and whilst he was lashing out the scissors caught him... not good!

he went back into the field last night, seems sound enough still tonight

all of that not assisted by my stress levels of course...

Wednesday night a lovely lady at the yard, Liz, died - her 4th go round with cancer and sadly this time it won :-(.  lots of crying, not working, being done round the north east on thursday morning as the word spread

the day was much alleviated, however, by Charlotte Dujardin's amazing test and Individual Olympic Gold.....the WEEK was much alleviated by the Team Gold!

thus proving that you don't need Rollkur, you just need good riding/foundations..

sadly, not watched it.  broadband is pants in this neck of the woods...

and mother?  still not recovered.... much hospital visiting happening..

bad weekend got worse....

monfils lame

only an abscess, but when we found him we thought it was a lot worse than that...

i said to G as we walked up the field, all i need now is for monfils to have something wrong .. and he did... and i burst into wailing and tears....clearly i was more stressed than i thought....

a bad day....

not horse wise - well yes, horsewise, I never made it to the yard....

but mother broke her heel on Thursday and the hospital didn't spot it....

not good...

last one there on a friday...

well, last one tacking up to ride, so i did 10 in the arena whilst another owner finished up giving her horse tea, etc before turning out, then went back round... i'll do a lot of things when i'm last person there, but ride is never one of them.

but that 10 seemed profitable - got some lateral steps (need to try and remember how I did that, LOL, not something that i ever established for myself, let alone my horse!) and a start on rein back....couple of steps of that...

all tacked up

but nowhere to go...

not strictly true, but i'd no sooner got him tacked up than phone rang with the news that my mother had been taken to hospital....

some time on phone later untacked him & turned out again, and went off to seek said mother who had refused to stay in hospital and been taken home by taxi

can't say i'm overjoyed by that - she should have been kept in, really - but when i got to hers she was reasonably ok...