Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain

Is it ever going to stop raining? Last week I gave up trying to battle the elements and decided to give Wolfie a holiday. I was going to give him a few weeks off at the start of the New Year, but riding has been impossible with this weather, so his break has come early. Seeing to the horses is never a chore, there's nothing I love more, but weather like this makes even simple things more difficult. With the combination of wind and torrential rain, Wolfie has been as high as a kite. I was hosing his legs yesterday and he spooked at something, half reared, bolted forward and managed to smash a pile of plastic feed buckets, which didn't belong to us. Nice one Wolfie. Noticed tonight as well that he has managed to rip his new fleece rug, he's only had it on a few weeks.

The dentist was here. Wolfie was brilliant. For some unknown reason, he loves the dentist. He stood with the spectrum on without being held and didn't move a hoof. He had a few sharp edges and his canines are coming through. I felt them and you can see the lumps on his palette, but they haven't erupted yet. The dentist said it could be a few months before they are through. We went over his mouth conformation: he has got a bit of a fleshy tongue, not unusual, his palette is slightly low, but that's common in young horses. All in all, the dentist said he had good mouth conformation, so nothing to worry about there. It's still an uncomfortable time for him, with teeth coming through, but it's a case of persevering and finding him a bit which he will be comfortable in. As the dentist so eloquently put it 'he's a really nice horse, you don't want to p**s him off!!'. I am going to pick up a second hand myler comfort snaffle on Ebay. They seem to have really came down in price. However, the bit I really want is the Sprenger Dynamic RS D Ring 14mm mouthpiece. Sprenger state that the Dynamic RS has been produced as a result of the latest veterinary research in Hanover. Their research shows that there is even less room in the horse's mouth for a bit than first thought. Through working with x-rays and scans, it has now been scientifically proven that the horse's tongue entirely fills the mouth cavity. It's quite similar to the KK Ultra and is also made of aurigan metal. Now for the downside, the cheapest I have seen it is £103.50 from a seller on Ebay. So, it's on our wish list at the moment, maybe after Christmas.

Buttons also had his teeth done. He wasn't great, but I thought he could have been worse behaved, so he did well. His teeth were very, very sharp and there were hooks and edges everywhere. He has been chewing on only one side of his mouth as the teeth on the other side were too sharp and his cheek was lacerated as a result. The dentist said that after he had got rid of all the sharpness, his cheek would heal within a few days. He's definitely a lot more comfortable now.

It was discovered when the dentist was here that my friend's horse had fractured a tooth. He was referred to the vet school and had surgery last week. They had to remove a large part of the bone in his face to get in and remove the tooth. The bone was replaced and he was stitched up. He looks a bit like Frankenstein's horse. It must have been very very painful. Hopefully, he will be coming home tomorrow.

Wolfie was supposed to get his new Equilibrium shoes yesterday, but they weren't delivered to the farrier, so it will be his next shoeing after Christmas when he gets them. Buttons just got his usual trim. I wish I had taken photographs of Button's feet when we got him and now. The improvement is incredible. With just regular trimming to restore the hoof balance and a little care, he almost looks like he has a new set of feet. He's certainly a lot more comfortable on them.

Sprenger Dynamic RS

Clip Clop

My clippers have arrived. I'm really pleased with them. I ended up getting a pair of second hand Liveryman Mustang clippers. They are quite loud, but are in really good condition and I got three sets of sharpened blades with them. A couple of my friends have asked me to clip their horses and will pay me, so the clippers will pretty much have paid for themselves. I started clipping Wolfie yesterday. He was very good to begin with and stood well. He's not scared of the clippers, just a bit wary. However, after about 15 minutes he got bored. When Wolfie gets bored, it's pretty much game over. It's different when I'm riding as you can keep his mind focused on different things, but standing still isn't one of Wolfie's strong points. He started just shuffling around and pawing and then started leaping sideways away from imaginary monsters. When that didn't work he managed to reach the box of the extension cable and pick it up and started swinging it around, cable going everywhere. I called it a day, so Wolfie is now sporting a very strange half clip until next weekend when I have enough daylight to finish it off. I don't mind doing it in stages and I'm pleased he's accepted the clippers. I've not been able to do much riding this last week due to the torrential rain. The dentist is coming on Friday. Wolfie and Buttons will both get their teeth done. Don't really know what Buttons is going to make of that or if he's ever had his teeth rasped before. Buttons is so hairy, he looks like a mammoth. He wears a foal size headcollar which just fitted him in the summer. It's now too tight because of the amount of hair he has on his head. He's loving being stabled at night and now just wanders up to the field himself in the mornings without being led when the other horses are being turned out. My niece came up to ride him yesterday and he was full of beans. It was a nice day and he was in very good spirits. He knows his job and he likes to get on with it. No hanging around with him either. Need to get some up to date hairy winter photographs of Buttons and some of the now not so hairy Wolfie.