There is a book which enables you to unravel your horse's personality. I took the quiz for both Wolfie and Buttons.
Buttons was..........
The Steady Eddy
If you are a novice or amateur, this is the horse for you. They are quiet and predictable, loving and engaging, willing to learn new things, willing to hang out with you and do nothing. This is not your big ego, career - oriented horse. They are happy just to be. Consistent and loyal, all you need to do is enjoy.
And Wolfie was.........
The Goddess
The Goddess is loved by most of the other horses and most people. They are expressive and sensitive and emotional. You will know how they feel. They try very hard to please and will worry and be anxious if you are not happy with them. In the negative they can have scattered energy that is hard to get focused. this personality can be loved on as much as you want.
That's true for Wolfie, he certainly wears his heart on his sleeve and lets you know everything he's feeling.
Good fun.
Wolfie the Wonder Horse!
Wolfie, 24/02/08
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
It's a knock out....
Shortly after my last post, Wolfie had another 'incident' in the field which resulted in him having his lower right incisor tooth knocked out. There was alot of bruising around the gum, but it wasn't bothering him. I called the dentist who told me just to leave it, keep an eye on it and if there was any tooth left in the root then this would have to be removed at a later date. Once the swelling went down, I managed to feel an edge of tooth, so there is still something in there. It's not bothered him at all, but i decided to give him some time off work, really just to see what was going to happen. The upper tooth will have to be rasped accordingly to compensate for the missing tooth on the bottom. He's not long had that tooth, so we certainly didn't get our money's worth out of that one.
I brought him back into work last Monday. I rode him every night last week as there is more daylight and the weather has been good. I finished work on Friday and headed for the stables, feeling really positive and looking forward to riding. As I walked up the driveway Wolfie came thundering down the field to meet me, nothing unusual as he always does this. As he got to the fence I walked over to give him a pat, when I noticed blood all over his legs, his chest and as he turned his head, there was blood all over his cheek and his right eye was completely swollen shut and massive. He looked like he had done ten rounds with Mike Tyson and lost, badly. I ran up the driveway grabbed his headcollar and by this time he was at the gate. I brought him in and attempted to have a look at his eye. He had a small cut on his eye lid and had obviously been kicked. The eye was continuing to swell and looked horrific. I couldn't get near enough to examine it closely as he started rearing and thrashing around. I called the vet who was there within 20 minutes. It was a new lady vet to the practice and I was very impressed with her. She gave him a thorough examination, she didn't want to sedate him, but did a good job of hanging onto him and getting out of his way. She hoped that it was a bad hematoma and if this was the case then I should start to see the swelling going down within 2 to 3 days. He got a penicillin and pain killer injection (both in the right side of his neck and both times the needle was in with no fuss as he couldn't see her coming with the needle out of the eye). The vet managed to get antibiotic cream into his eye, which was no mean feat and she advised me to call again in a few days if the swelling wasn't going down. The pressure of the hematoma meant that he couldn't put his head down. He wouldn't eat and was in a great deal of pain and distressed. I'm ok in a crisis as long as I can clean a wound or bandage it or hold the horse. But my little horse was hurting badly on Friday night and there was absolutely nothing I could do to make it better for him. I was standing in the stable just looking at him, he was standing up the back of the stable, I was on the verge of tears, I felt so helpless when he slowly walked over and pressed his muzzle against my cheek and nuzzled me for a few minutes. I don't know if he was trying to comfort me or if he was just letting me know he was hurting, but Wolfie never does that. Wolfie shows affection by pulling your hood or taking your hat off. He's more likely to pull your hair than nuzzle you. I didn't sleep much that night and was at the yard first thing the next morning expecting to see little improvement and dreading having to look at the eye again. However, although still very swollen, it was dramatically improved. The vet had wanted him turned out to get him out of any dust in the stable, but with no chance of him suffering any further trauma to the eye, so he went out in another field with his friend Jake. For all Jake pulls the grumpiest of faces, he's a very good baby sitter and very tolerant. The weather was nice and this seemed to lift Wolfie's spirits. He hadn't eaten hardly any of his hay on Friday night and he ate his breakfast on saturday morning, but still seemed dull and not the normal boisterous Wolfie we know and love. However, by Saturday evening the swelling had gone down markedly and the cheeky boy was back. If I didn't think so before now, that horse has a guardian angel. I cannot believe how quickly his eye has healed, considering how bad it was and how much pain he was in on Friday. Obviously the site of the injury contributed to his distress as when it was at it's most swollen, he couldn't see. He's been turned out with Jake since and unless you knew, you wouldn't be able to tell which eye had been injured.
What's going on in the field. It's not like he's being bullied, that's not the case at all. I think it's more that the horse that Wolfie has picked out as being next in line in his pecking order, kicks. He doesn't think twice about it and he almost always hits the target. It's not just Wolfie, he kicks at everyone. He plays, but gives no warning that he's had enough and kicks. How did he get kicked in the eye? I'm not sure, but he does pull their feathers and I have seen him nipping them on the legs when they are rolling. He's going back in the field with the boys tomorrow. He's now on half day turn out and will be brought in every day at lunch time. There's no grass in the field, so the hope is that Wolfie will go out in the morning, stretch his legs and then be brought in before he gets bored. Fingers crossed this will keep him out of trouble until the grass starts growing again and they are too busy with their heads down eating to bother with anything else. I am aiming to keep Wolfie in as consistent work as possible, keep him tired so he hasn't got the enrgy for any carry on.
On a more positive note, the days in between tooth and eye which i managed to ride, he felt great. I schooled him 3 days, really just working on going forward. Wolfie finds it very easy just to drop behind the contact and the leg in the school. The school is quite small and I find that we are at the corner before I'm prepared or have set him up for it. Wolfie loves to learn, but is not so keen on practicing what he already knows (this is boring) so it's down to me to get more interesting and make his work more exciting. He loves to explore and interact so I have to use our hacking to my advantage and as an extension of our schooling sessions. I had hoped to go to a Kelly Marks winter series Trec training day at the end of March, but that's not going to happen now.
I brought him back into work last Monday. I rode him every night last week as there is more daylight and the weather has been good. I finished work on Friday and headed for the stables, feeling really positive and looking forward to riding. As I walked up the driveway Wolfie came thundering down the field to meet me, nothing unusual as he always does this. As he got to the fence I walked over to give him a pat, when I noticed blood all over his legs, his chest and as he turned his head, there was blood all over his cheek and his right eye was completely swollen shut and massive. He looked like he had done ten rounds with Mike Tyson and lost, badly. I ran up the driveway grabbed his headcollar and by this time he was at the gate. I brought him in and attempted to have a look at his eye. He had a small cut on his eye lid and had obviously been kicked. The eye was continuing to swell and looked horrific. I couldn't get near enough to examine it closely as he started rearing and thrashing around. I called the vet who was there within 20 minutes. It was a new lady vet to the practice and I was very impressed with her. She gave him a thorough examination, she didn't want to sedate him, but did a good job of hanging onto him and getting out of his way. She hoped that it was a bad hematoma and if this was the case then I should start to see the swelling going down within 2 to 3 days. He got a penicillin and pain killer injection (both in the right side of his neck and both times the needle was in with no fuss as he couldn't see her coming with the needle out of the eye). The vet managed to get antibiotic cream into his eye, which was no mean feat and she advised me to call again in a few days if the swelling wasn't going down. The pressure of the hematoma meant that he couldn't put his head down. He wouldn't eat and was in a great deal of pain and distressed. I'm ok in a crisis as long as I can clean a wound or bandage it or hold the horse. But my little horse was hurting badly on Friday night and there was absolutely nothing I could do to make it better for him. I was standing in the stable just looking at him, he was standing up the back of the stable, I was on the verge of tears, I felt so helpless when he slowly walked over and pressed his muzzle against my cheek and nuzzled me for a few minutes. I don't know if he was trying to comfort me or if he was just letting me know he was hurting, but Wolfie never does that. Wolfie shows affection by pulling your hood or taking your hat off. He's more likely to pull your hair than nuzzle you. I didn't sleep much that night and was at the yard first thing the next morning expecting to see little improvement and dreading having to look at the eye again. However, although still very swollen, it was dramatically improved. The vet had wanted him turned out to get him out of any dust in the stable, but with no chance of him suffering any further trauma to the eye, so he went out in another field with his friend Jake. For all Jake pulls the grumpiest of faces, he's a very good baby sitter and very tolerant. The weather was nice and this seemed to lift Wolfie's spirits. He hadn't eaten hardly any of his hay on Friday night and he ate his breakfast on saturday morning, but still seemed dull and not the normal boisterous Wolfie we know and love. However, by Saturday evening the swelling had gone down markedly and the cheeky boy was back. If I didn't think so before now, that horse has a guardian angel. I cannot believe how quickly his eye has healed, considering how bad it was and how much pain he was in on Friday. Obviously the site of the injury contributed to his distress as when it was at it's most swollen, he couldn't see. He's been turned out with Jake since and unless you knew, you wouldn't be able to tell which eye had been injured.
What's going on in the field. It's not like he's being bullied, that's not the case at all. I think it's more that the horse that Wolfie has picked out as being next in line in his pecking order, kicks. He doesn't think twice about it and he almost always hits the target. It's not just Wolfie, he kicks at everyone. He plays, but gives no warning that he's had enough and kicks. How did he get kicked in the eye? I'm not sure, but he does pull their feathers and I have seen him nipping them on the legs when they are rolling. He's going back in the field with the boys tomorrow. He's now on half day turn out and will be brought in every day at lunch time. There's no grass in the field, so the hope is that Wolfie will go out in the morning, stretch his legs and then be brought in before he gets bored. Fingers crossed this will keep him out of trouble until the grass starts growing again and they are too busy with their heads down eating to bother with anything else. I am aiming to keep Wolfie in as consistent work as possible, keep him tired so he hasn't got the enrgy for any carry on.
On a more positive note, the days in between tooth and eye which i managed to ride, he felt great. I schooled him 3 days, really just working on going forward. Wolfie finds it very easy just to drop behind the contact and the leg in the school. The school is quite small and I find that we are at the corner before I'm prepared or have set him up for it. Wolfie loves to learn, but is not so keen on practicing what he already knows (this is boring) so it's down to me to get more interesting and make his work more exciting. He loves to explore and interact so I have to use our hacking to my advantage and as an extension of our schooling sessions. I had hoped to go to a Kelly Marks winter series Trec training day at the end of March, but that's not going to happen now.
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