I can't believe it's already nearly the end of October. This year seems to have flown by and winter is just around the corner. The lovely sunshine we had over the summer has spoiled me and I'm finding switching to the winter routine, the mud, the rain and the lack of daylight difficult. Wolfie already resembles a hairy mammoth with a thick winter coat. I normally clip him in October however I've held off this year. He had some horrible skin thing over winter last year and we never got to the bottom of the cause of it. I don't want to clip him and expose his skin to anything as he does have very sensitive skin and has had clipper rash before. He's feeling well in himself although he is driving me insane with the electric fencing. I spend vast amounts of time checking the electric fencing to make sure it's up correctly and electrified. Wolfie has taught himself to dismantle it. He systematically pulls poles out using his teeth, he then picks the top of one pole up and walks backwards pulling the fence until more poles come out of the ground and the tape slackens and eventually comes loose from the poles. And then he walks over it and goes on his merry way into a part of the field he shouldn't be in. I couldn't understand how he was managing to get through, several people told me they had seen him picking the poles up, but I laughed out loud and guffawed. Thinking he's smart, but not smart enough to know how to take down fencing. I still wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself on Saturday. When electric fencing works, it's fine, but when it doesn't, it can be incredibly dangerous. I don't want him in the wrong part of the field, if he takes the fence down the ponies can get out (although so far they seem to have stayed on the right side of the obliterated fence even though they could have easily stepped over it) and I'm terrified they get caught up in the tape. There's a mare fenced off across the main fence line from him. She's being kept in a small dry area at the moment as she has an abscess. Apparently Wolfie has been leaning over and pulling the poles to her fence out enabling her to get out. I don't know what to do. I've got all 3 batteries on the part of the fence where he seems to prefer to take down. It won't be long though before he realises that the rest of the fence doesn't have a strong current going through it though. I was going to get some anti cribbing stuff and try and paint the tops of the poles with it. Maybe a horrible taste might put him off. I've never used anything like that before and the rain might just wash it off. I'd love any suggestions from anyone. Horses eh,. Sometimes I think I'd be better off with a goldfish.

Some horses come into our lives and quickly go, others stay a while and make hoofprints on our hearts

Somewhere, somewhere
In time's own space,
There must be some sweet pastured place....
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow,
Some paradise where horses go.
For by the love that guides my pen,
I know great horses live again.

I haven't blogged very much this year at all.  This has not been due to having nothing to blog about, we have had a lovely summer together, Wolfie, the ponies and I and we have been busy.  My beautiful pony Honey was put to sleep on the 3rd August.  A blood test in January showed she had elevated liver enzymes and the following months involved a liver biopsy, more blood tests and a lot of soul searching on my part.  I didn't feel I could blog this part of our journey, although Honey remained symptomless right up until she was put to sleep, by writing down all my thoughts and fears would have made it all seem too real.  I will write about it in more depth on the ponies blog.  We have taken another pony, a new companion for Buttons.  She is a 3 year old black Shetland mare called Bess.  I miss Honey very much, I was devastated at losing her and she will never be replaced, but Bess deserves this chance now at a happy safe life.  So we carry on and begin the next chapter.    

Quick Catch Up

I haven't posted in ages, but Wolfie and I are keeping busy, having fun and enjoying the good weather we have been having.  Hopefully, I will get back into blogging regularly again. 


Wolfie found fame in an Irn Bru Advert :-)

Wolfie does a spot of photo bombing

Wolfie is mastering the John Cleese Funny walk :-)

 

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow

A week of dry weather and I have finally managed to wash and re-proof 3 of Wolfie's turnouts and wash a couple of his fleeces.  The rugs have taken an absolute hammering over the last year and I'll probably have to think about replacing a few of them this year.  I also need to get him a fly rug.  He does have one, but he's never actually worn it, as it has an attached neck which is far too big for him.  He wouldn't be able to see if he was wearing it.  The vet is up today for Honey's blood test and he will have another look at Wolfie's skin.  It seems to start clearing up and then flares up again.  I am getting quite frustrated with it and am desperate to sort it out before the flies appear.  He is totally fine within himself apart from getting himself into some amazing positions to scratch.  He's very flexible!

He has a new brow band.  Very bling!

A couple of weeks ago, I took him for a quiet ride around the fields.  We were wandering along when I noticed all the gates were open between the fields and I wondered where the sheep were.  5 seconds later I realised as I turned around and about 200 sheep were running towards us folowed by the sheep dogs and further behind the farmer on his quad bike.  It turns out, ironically, that they were being taken up to the sheep pens to be drenched (they belong to a different farmer).  Wolfie bolted and began galloping flat out across the field with the sheep.  The sheep began to pile up at the gateway to get through, Wolfie jumped the wall.  Heading across the next field, the next fence was a huge sheep fence covered by a solid hedge.  All I could think was 'he'll stop at that fence, he'll stop at that fence'.  No, he didn't.  The sheep were blocking the gateway again, he took off around 2 strides away and soared over it.  I managed to turn him up a steeper hill in the opposite direction from the sheep and pulled him up.  He then stuck his head between his knees and started doing his best rodeo horse impersonation.  I was hanging on by a thread and it was getting to that point where I just wished I would fall off, so that it would be over when Wolfie heard the quad bike and stopped.  The farmer was so apologetic, it wasn't his fault, he hadn't seen us.  He showed me his phone, which he had in his hand.  He'd already enetered 999 into it and was already to phone me an ambulance once he'd found me (obviously expecting to find me on the ground somewhere having fallen  off and been trampled by sheep :-)).   Once he realised I was still in one piece, he said he wished he had filmed it as he would have made a fortune on You Have Been Framed.  He then asked what Wolfie was wearing on his head.  He had his new browband on :-).  Give Wolfie his due, he walked calmly back down the hill, home.  I take great pride in the fact that Wolfie is the only horse at the yard that can open and close every gate within a 10 mile radius of the stables ridden.  Next time we are up there Wolfie, we will be going through the gate.

                                                      Hmmm, wonder where the sheep are

                                                                           Behind you!

Wolfie's hedge.  He jumped it to the left hand side of the gate.  It doesn't look too big in the photo, but when I standnext to the gate, it's level with my forearm.  One thing I really need to do,is get a new riding hat.  My hat really doesn't fit and would probably cause me additional damage if I fell on my head.  Nothing like waiting until the horse has bolted!

Zoe came up on Sunday and she had a little sit on Wolfie.  I don't give her the reins on him, o she held onto the latigo around his neck and I led her around the school.  Interesting to see how responsive he is to the slightest pressure on the latigo as she managed to halt him, straight into rein back and gave him sort of aid which he interpreted as turn on the forehand.  He was a very good boy.

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. H. Borland

For some reason this winter seems to be lasting an eternity and I am so over it.  I can see the days starting to lengthen, the horses are beginning to shed their winter coats and then we are hit once again with temperatures of -6.  It has been an exhausting winter, but it is amazing what a little sunshine can do to lift your mood and increase your energy levels.  Renewed hope that winter really isn't going to last forever.........even though it seems that way at that moment.  I haven't blogged in a while, the last time I posted the vet was coming to take bloods.  He had a look at Wolfie's skin when he was there.  Some sort of skin infection he said, hmmm that's very helpful.  I had already told him that even very diluted hibiscrub was too harsh, so he gave me some sort of iodine solution.  I'm very dubious of anything iodine related so I diluted it right down and patch tested it on his neck.  It brought him out in a rash, so I haven't used it.  He began rubbing around his muzzle area, there is nothing to see, whereas on his body there were tiny little lumps.  He's been getting flammazine on his face and this seems to have settled it enough to stop him rubbing and hopefully now the hair will grow back.  I've had a good look at his feeding and spoke again with some feed companies.  I've decided to change his balancer.  He is fed the same maintenance balancer as the ponies.  They do very well on it, I just don't feel it is providing Wolfie with everything he needs.  Wolfie's blood test results came back unremarkable.  The full haematology was carried out, so it was good to know at any rate, just as a check up.    I haven't been riding, due to the weather and lack of daylight.  Wolfie is becoming very bored, he always does at this time of year, he's had his winter break and he wants to be back in work.  I'm going to start long reining, I want his skin to have fully healed and hardened up before I put his saddle on, it doesn't matter though, long reining is a good way to bring him back into work.  



 

It's Snow a Fluke

We had our first proper snowfall on Friday, luckily though it was all gone by Sunday.  After the initial rolling and yee ha around the field, Wolfie was like, this is rubbish, where's the grass.  

One of the horses on our yard was recently put to sleep.  He was very old and had a number of conditions.  However, it was discovered during his autopsy that he also had liver flukes.  I had heard of liver flukes in cattle but had never associated them with horses.  We have regular worm counts down, but apparently fluke eggs are not seen in a normal worm count and you have to get a specific fluke test done.  Wolfie and the ponies are being blood tested today for a liver function test.  Then depending on the results, decisions will be made with regards to any treatment for the Flukes.  There is no licensed product for the treatment of flukes in horses.  Wolfie will also have his skin looked at today.  It has got better, although last night he started scratching again.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know of Wolfie's hatred of Vets.  I'm not looking forward to this visit today.  If anyone has any experience of liver flukes in horses, I'd be really interested to hear of it. 

Wolfie's heart shaped top lip is very evident in this picture.  I would like to read Getting in Touch, Understand and Influence Your Horses Personality by Linda Tellington Jones which details how to determine your horses personality characteristics.  I have read it before and I worked at 2 week long clinics with Linda Tellington Jones whilst I was working in America.  I'd like to read it again and profile Wolfie and the ponies. As fa as I can remember a heart shaped upper lip, is an expressive, curious and extroverted nature.

January so far has been a quiet month.  The weather is now more consistent with winter.  It's been pretty cold but at least we don't have the huge amounts of snow that have engulfed England, although the forecasters are saying that it's heading this way tomorrow.  We haven't really been up to much, a little bit of ground work when we can and yesterday I tacked Wolfie up and rode him around the yard.  I haven't been on him in about 3 months.  He stood at the mounting block like a rock whilst I got on and waited to be asked to walk on.  Normally after Wolfie has had a lengthy time off like this, he needs reminded, but he was very good.  The nights are beginning to get longer and I really can't wait until there is enough daylight to ride at night.  It was lovely to be back on him yesterday and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself even though it was just 5 minutes wandering around.  Although I would like to apologise to him, for not warming his bit up before I put it in his mouth.  I didn't realise just how cold it was until I touched it as I was putting it in his mouth.  Sorry Wolfie, I won't do that again.

Happy New Year!!!!

We hope you New Year is filled with health and happiness!!