7 days

since the last of the coligone (waiting for new stuff) and one can see the difference in the faces being pulled tonight when saddle went on!

that plus the new grass in the new field....

he refused to go out - turned out to  be just as well, as i learnt that someone had been shooting down by the ford, lord knows what they were shooting, not pheasants yet....but that wouldn't have been good...

new stuff expected soon (vet wants some for his own horses, so is hurrying them up)

will look at omeprazole once the coligone has had a more than 10 day trial... something lengthier, methinks! before i invest massively in the other....

we got movement!

with a little help from a friend who brought her pone in to walk round on my request (cooling off after hack anyway) and that assisted on the motivational front..

TBH, had I not been short of time (horrendous traffic jams leaving work), AND minus fly mask (which had gone missing in the field, we were left with one that doesn't work over bridle) i would have gone out - but from what i learnt later, glad i didn't (someone has left random white bags full of pulled weed in silly place...)

but anyway, we did get walk both reins, we did get trot both reins, trot started off wholehearted but then stopped in it's usual random unexpected way...

we are also waiting for a new, larger, supply of medicine...

interestingly, G says he was pinging and boinging on Sunday, you'd never have guessed that today!

glendale show

was the plan for today; had a lovely afternoon (once we'd wrestled with some awful traffic jams, and avoided the one on  the A1 which was back to Newcastle from at least Morpeth... and somewhere north of there...

but didn't get back with time to do anything with M

this is where we were....looking out over the showground from the carparking area..

dry work!

it's rained most of the day and whilst it wasn't in fact raining whilst i groomed, it had been when i'd been bringing in and would again....

i decided on in hand work... started raining properly as i went round to the arena..

the farm machinery that is usually under cover in an open sided but roofed barn type thing next to the arena, is not there...

so i worked in there!  concrete surface, but for walk who cares, we stayed dry, he worked nicely, and i even (drum roll) got a touch of SI ... shame i don't know how i did it!

but adjusting my postion don't work in the arena.

That was last night.

is it that he's bored with it?  not as if he's there all the time...

is the footing? wouldn't surprise me.

anyway, was a total waste of time, really ...

tonight i had to go to mother's unexpectedley.

tomorrow, i shall try going out again  ... and the other good thing (for him, anyway) is they move to another field with enough grass to sink a battleship - the one they're in gets rested and then presumably in a month or so we all move to winter fields (not that our winter field has been rested, it currently is divided in two with mares in one half and the "mixed herd" of 6 in the other half...would like to think it will get  a small break, at least)

the new field is not good for us owners, though, as it's a further up the hill, and you can guarantee that they won't want to  come in!

big grins!

went out ...

first attempt aborted because i'd "come undone" - hadn't clipped the hit air jacket on properly, it fell off at the first trot, happily i wasn't far from the yard.... had to go back, find it, get off to retrieve it, lead back to yard, get back on, clip on properly!

set off again..

down the back drive, THROUGH THE FORD ON MY OWN a  big event, first time i've done that ever, turned left, along, up the side of blackdene field and along the road to blackdene yard (another yard on the land) where, fortuitiously, friend (and next door at home neighbour) and her mate were just about ready to go out, so went back to my yard with them...

excellent.

even more excellent, of course, as M hasn't hacked out with those two before, of course, and one of them is a just backed 3 year old who was  a total star! leapt less than M did at random pheasants, I think....

the only thing i shouldn't have done was go through the 20 acre, still long grass and M not happy, but at least he was in company so it was bearable...

the from afar we could see people jumping the fence into the filed, or trying to, and i said, that's what gates for, surely, (going through!).  turned out there was a problem with the gate, they couldn't get it open but we did -albeit it was a tight squeeze

visualize two gates next to each other - one large metal one, can fit a tractor through, one small one can fit horse through.  large metal one chained up, fair enough - but round the pole and hinge supporting the small one.  result. whilst it could be opened, it could not be opened fully and it was a very tight squeeze!

lean back

to move forward?

weird.....

ok, so i may not be totally upright in walk (arguably possibly slight forward lean) but i can't believe i need to lean back as much as i did ...

but, he moved.....

very very strange....

G got the better of this weekend...

yesterday howling gales, the only calmish place to be was the arena and that was after i'd got soaked getting him in from the field - so just did 5 minutes in the arena seeing if i could move him around without a lunge line .... after 5 minutes he wanted to roll, LOL

who can blame him

more positively, still no sign of wanting to hang on to the lead rope etc, which is good...

We went to Morecambe later for a friend's birthday party - a long way to go for a party, and the weather was dire for a 100 mile drive, but eased up enough that people could go in their garden once we were there.. then drove home again, got back about 1 am....

they said, they'd made a bed up for us - but they forgot to tell us in advance that they were doing that, so we'd taken no overnight things and made no arrangements for the cats, so stuck with our plan... amazing how quiet the roads are at night!

G's day today, not had a report yet.... at least it didn't rain!

a lovely evening ride

as planned.

the tacking up went swimmingly, again, didn't even turn a hair, leta lone a head.

didn't show any sign of even wanting to attack the lead rope/tie up ring

walk out along the back drive, through the ford, up the hill, along the road and up right to the riding school (not the field, as the tractor was in it!) round and back down the side of blackdene field back through the ford and home with a little trot up the hill from the ford...

went out with fly mask on, glad i did that.... or it would have been a total nightmare...

progress progress....

need more company for more rides out...

ok some progress

after a few days for the meds to kick in

only one minor grip of the lead rope/tie up ring and even then not nearly as tense as normal

no reaction as i put the saddle on

girthing up, he didn't even turn his head

got on first time of asking with no moving off (quite pleased with this, as he had been quite "up" whilst i was putting the bridle on)

into the arena (it was raining gently and didn't know if it was to get worse or better, probably worse)

and he did 1 1/2 times round before he stopped .... which is progress from the last few times!  got him going again and some trot but then really struggled for more movement - the fact that he had company today didn't seem to help much....

hack out with a friend tomorrow, weather permitting ...

and we all stopped after not too long as it started raining quite heavily (and is currently teeming down).

more in hand an attempt at lunge

although quite why i bother to even think about trying to lunge when he won't lunge for me is beyond me...

i was, tonight, debating between in hand to the ford to get him through the ford led (there's a bridge for me!) or riding, but had to wait for friend to turn up (she was running late) to lend her some stuff for a wound on her horses neck, which, at the finish, we decided in fact needed the vet (despite being antiseptic creamed etc, the flies got to a very tiny hole which is now large :-( and infected :-( )

so last night flexions and in hand, the flexions first improved the inhand.  tonight attempt to lunge, usual unsuccesful waste of  time for me!

shall tack up tomorrow, subject to weather (forecast rain off and on) & do whatever, and Friday i have a date for a ride out....

will be interesting to see how the medicine is kicking in (which i assume it will be properly by then!)

the coligone arrived

delivered by the vet tonight on a flying "dropping drugs off" visit....

in the meantime, i'd bought something to be going on with (as not sure when the coligone would arrive) and had already fed that yesterday and today, so start the coligone tomorrow...

decided on some in hand and the like for a couple of days or so to give things time to work.

what i need is another lesson on in hand. i've no clue how to introduce such excitements as shoulder in and such and really ought to know how

but he was moving nicely tonight, was pleased

what i should try and remember, though, is to do flexions before doing the in hand work, not afterwards....

he didn't do anything yesterday due to G running out of time before her holiday, and me running out of time due to planning other things on a sunday!

reshod

a remove....

G is in charge of that - farrier said she had to be there, and i could be where i wanted ...(which, as it happens, was at work)

he was, apparently, much better about having his backs done  this time than last, so that's good....we thought we might have to leave them off as proper farrier away on holiday, so his qualified about to set up on his own ex apprentice turned up ... so good.

b******* flies

despite the large quantities of fly repellent - should have put even more on and even then not sure it would have helped..

went up to top field with a friend on her pony (and friend's mother on foot) we were just going to walk round the fields and back down t'other side, a circle...

a gentle but warm breeze as we set off up the hil past our grazing field; got through into top field and wind died, and flies started swarming round and swarming round.

Basically, it's just not worth the hassle at that point as M get himself really stressed with them, plus he'd been bitten by a horse fly i think somewhere on his chest...

so, again, i got off and led him the rest of the way, and he continued to be hacked off by the flies (but at least he wasn't going too fast for me this time!)

and i'm going to get some coligone and we'll see where we are re ulcers...

schooling in the field

it was Gaynor's day today ... i went down to give her the money for the farrier, for tomorrow ... and saw them set off ... field having more space and no stones! than the arena.....

she tells me he took a while to settle

however, before that, he bit her when she was girthing up, same side he bit me in a few weeks ago - that is, his right, the offside...

mmmmmm

IMHO, he only will do that because something hurts....

so, you may well be right, jean, and i shall investigate ulcer meds...

a nice trot out

once i'd tapped him under the willow - think he'd rather have gone the other way, which would be fair enough but every time i try and do a gate i discover my wrist isn't strong enough, despite it being 3 years since injury!  and there's gates the other way.

so a trot to the ford, going nicely through some puddles (including one the full width of the track) and back

i dunno about ulcers, jean - surely if it were ulcers he'd do the same when out? and he doesn't...

wet or what?

knew it was going to as it was raining when we got up, and the forecast showed, correctly, a very large band of torrential downpour heading our way.

euch.

no lesson :-(

Bekcy HOlden was booked to come - not just to me, several other people up this way ....

her car died on the outside lane of the motorway (eek) and the AA man couldn't mend it, she had to be towed home....

been looking forward to that...

So G & I went and played with the boy anyway.....and of course, we no sooner got there than the wind dropped and we ended up a good bit hotter than we'd anticipate.d.


we both rode, me first - i wasn't at all sure how the knee was, TBH, after last week, but it was fine! (i've been keeping the painkillers going anyway) and i was please G was watching when, half way round a trot circle, M stopped dead.  and it was an active forward trot as well!  don't think she'd realised that when i said he did that, that was what he did.. no slowing down to give you warning!

but he only did it the once, thank goodness, so i had a good 10 minutes and then when i did stop did so at X  .... away from the gate, LOL.

24 degrees C in the shade

said the car thermometer, and no breeze - the breeze on the hill in the field was a hot one - so nothing much done.

I DID take him in the arena to try the lunge (thought the knee needed another day if i want it right for lesson on Sunday), but,  no breeze across from the field either, and he said "you're having a laugh, aren't you?" in a desultory, it's too hot, kind of way...

BUT we're going to have to keep an eye on off hind... perils of shoeing again, the can work slightly loose......

oops... .my knee.....

so yesterday, which was G's day, it poured down ... my plan for mowing the lawn didn't happen, and G's plan to ride didn't happen...

so i'm standing at the breakfast bar reading a book whilst my dinner cooked, as you do .....

and managed to hurt my left knee whilst standing still.....

how did i do that?  no clue, unless it was TOO straight puttin gthe knee at a slightly odd angle...

doh....

improving slowly overnight and tonight, but not fit to ride so G did today what she wanted to do yesterday (although, TBH, getting soaked was probably the better option, as it was like a sauna today with loads of flies but no rain...)

whilst i pottered off home (having given her a jar of that jam i made the other night) to make more jam (we've LOADS of blackcurrants) and try not to hurt my knee again....

hope it sorts quickly, I've a lesson booked Sunday with Becky Holden ... if it doesn't, guess G will be having the lesson, not me!