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.

Creature comforts

As I was driving up to the stables on Tuesday night, Wolfie spotted the car and came cantering over. As I watched him, I thought he didn't look quite level. I got him in and he had pulled a front shoe. He's only done that once before, last year. The girl that works at the stables said he had been galloping around quite a bit during the day and noising up the other horses. He seemed quite sore on it, so I texted the farrier to try and get him out asap. Luckily he was just passing the stables on his way home when he got my message, so he came up and checked his foot and put another shoe on. The shoe had came off clean and not taken any of the hoof with it. There was no swelling or heat anywhere. He was walking better with the shoe on but still seemed a little stiff. can only think he's either twisted something carrying on or given himself a stone bruise. I gave him some arnica and turned him back out. He was better yesterday, but I decided to just bring him in and stable him at night. The other horses aren't being brought in until Sunday now, but if Wolfie is bored, there's not much grass in the field, he just gets up to mischief. Hopefully, if he gets hay overnight and his breakfast, he will be less inclined to go out in the morning and cause mayhem during the day.

This last week he's been increasingly reluctant to go back down to the field at night. Wolfie's good at making his feelings known. I still wondered though, if he would take a few nights to settle to being in, but no, he seemed absolutely delighted. He had a good roll in his new bed and stood quietly eating his hay. When I went down to give him one last check he didn't lift his head as if to say 'If I can't see her, she can't see me and I won't be getting put back out'. For all he likes to be out in the field and he needs daily turnout with the other horses, he likes his comforts. Although, I think I might have taken the wind out of his sails a little tonight. I soaked his hay, just precautionary more than anything, but he looked gravely disappointed when I put it in his stable. No doubt, it will have been dragged and trampled through his bed when I get there tomorrow.

I love Wolfie's exuberance, enthusiasm and spirit. I love how he will just jump the stream instead of crossing further down, I love how he gallops around just for fun. It's part of what makes him who he is. However, sometimes when I see him galloping downhill in a muddy wet field at break neck speed, with my heart in my mouth, I think, Geez Wolfie, just walk will you. At these moments, I just want to wrap him in cotton wool, put him in his stable and keep him there. But he's a horse and he has to be allowed to be a horse. Time to get back into the mucking out routine. Summer goes so quickly.

One of the other girl's at the yard had set up some Le Trec obstacles in the school. I took Wolfie in for a little play around. He was very good, the work with the tarpaulin has paid off. He walked across it with only slight hesitation. The first time it was as though he was walking on hot coals, but he didn't back off it. We did each obstacle individually a few times at walk and tried a couple of them in trot. We then did them all as a course in walk. I really want to take him to a training day. I am under no illusion that he will complete all obstacles, even at walk as there will be too much going on and alot for him to take in, but I am sure that he will love it.

The last few days have been lovely. I love hacking on autumn days when it is quite cold and the horses are walking on crisp leaves. I've been trying not to get Wolfie sweated up this last week, not wanting him to get a chill while he's still out. With his winter coat, it's not easy, but my clippers should be here soon. Wolfie has been great fun. I love nothing better than to hack him out, he loves to explore and his enthusiasm is infectious. His ears are constantly pricked and he is so aware of everything around him. We went for a hack on Sunday with another girl from the yard. Wolfie leads all the time as he walks much quicker than my friends horse. On Sunday I was tacked up first, so I got on and was waiting for H. Wolfie couldn't curb his enthusiasm and wss bouncing around the yard in anticipation to get going. He was on his toes the whole time we were out and quite spooky. We even went into single file for a bit along the road on the way home with Wolfie still in front and he was great. Sometimes I feel like I am constantly half halting and slowing him down, but he has an incredibly fast walk. I remember when I first backed and sat on him. He would be just walking, but I constantly felt as though he was about to take off with me until I realised that he just had a very fast walk. I also can't let my mind wander for a second with him. He likes to take his own route and will take sharp turns onto different tracks in the blink of an eye.

I'm looking forward to clipping him. I don't know how good he will be. I borrowed some clippers last year and gave him a little bib clip to get him used to the clippers. He wasn't too bad, so hopefully this time won't be a problem.

The horses come in on Friday, back to mucking out.

Bit by Bit

I haven't posted in a while, but Wolfie and I have been keeping busy. I'm still having issues with the bit. I've been riding in a Sprenger KK ultra augarian metal bit which has been OK, but I'm still not happy. Having tried various bits including snaffles, happy mouth, french link and rubber, I settled on this. I may be being slightly pedantic here, when I say he's not happy, I just feel he's not entirely comfortable. He's not in real discomfort, he readily accepts his bit and will work willingly. It's so slight that on the ground, it's probably not that noticeable, but I can feel it. Wolfie's a chewer by nature. If he's not chomping on the bit, he will chew his reins. But it's the same problem that I've felt since he first started being bitted. I don't want to go down the road yet of putting a flash or drop noseband on him to just clamp his mouth shut. I think he has got a low palette and he does have a big lump of a tongue and just doesn't have much space for the bit to sit.

I've been getting advice from the Myler people (who have been very helpful) and am considering getting a Myler bit. Firstly though, the dentist is back out in November so whilst he's here, I'm going to ask him to give me a full oral anatomy of Wolfie's mouth. His mouth will have gone through a lot of changes since the dentist was last here, so I really want him checked.

I've been back riding in the Dually halter and am going to buy a bitless bridle. I don't really have a problem riding bitless, if that's the way it ends up, but it irks me about the rules of competing - bitless bridles are illegal for many disciplines. Wolfie works well in the Dually and I'm confident hacking him out in it - most of the time. A couple of weeks ago I hacked him up the hills, asked him to canter and he rodeoed like a professional. It was early in the morning, there had been a drop in temperature and he was just in high spirits, but he came close to getting me off. The next day he performed a lovely canter pirouette and then half pass in excitement when two unknown horses trotted past us. His athletic ability astounds me sometimes. The half pass was perfectly executed and he felt so strong and powerful crossing over behind. Unfortunately at that time we were supposed to be trotting forwards, but he made me laugh ........ once I regained some control.

Wolfie's winter coat is growing thick and fast. I want to give him a blanket clip in November and am looking at buying some second hand clippers on EBay. I've never bought anything electrical from EBay, so I'm a bit apprehensive they won't work. I also need to get a move on and get him kitted out with a couple of stable rugs and a thicker turn out. Wolfie had outgrown most of his rugs by last winter so I have to replace them. No bargains to be found on EBay, looks like everyone has the same idea.

Buttons already has such a thick coat he looks like a little bear. He's settled in nicely, actually you would think he'd always been there. He seems very happy and contented. He loves to be scratched and he will happily groom you back. I got Buttons a little turn out rug. I don't really think he needs rugged, being a sturdy shetland, but he hates the rain and being wet. It's just a sheet to keep him dry. I tried it on him and he freaked Wolfie out wearing it.

Only another few weeks and the horses will be in for winter. I love crisp autumn days, I actually prefer it to summer. The aim for winter is to keep Wolfie in as much consistent work as possible, weather permitting. Schooling and ground work during the week and hacking at the weekends when it's daylight. I'm aiming to do a couple of the Kelly Marks winter Le Trec training days, give us something to work towards.

Buttons!

This very cute little horse with the crazy hairdo is Buttons. His own family suffered a terrible tragedy and were unable to care for him. As a result, and regretfully, Buttons has not had the easiest time over the last 18 months. He's now come to stay with us and he's quickly become part of our family. He's backed, loves kids and knows his job, so he is now my 4-year old niece's pony. Buttons does have a strong, cheeky personality, but he's not bolshy like many Shetlands have the reputation as being.

The original idea was that he would be turned out with the boys (the mares and geldings are kept separately) however things didn't go quite according to plan. Jake, who is at the top of the herd, fell instantly in love with Buttons and wouldn't let any of the other horses near him, even to meet him. Wolfie was so excited, he stodd bouncing on the spot. He has a strange fascination for small animals, including sheep and dogs, so he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a miniature sized horse! For some reason, one of the other geldings took an instant dislike to Buttons, and it all became too rough. For his own sake, we took Buttons back out again. He was so upset, he's been on his own for over a year and was desperate for company.

There is a pet sheep at the yard, so Buttons stayed with her for a few days to allow the other horses to see and smell him. We then turned him out with the mares, which seems to be working out fine. Buttons now thinks he's the man, being in with all the ladies. He really wants to be everyone's friend and is just glad of the company. The mares seem a bit bemused by their new pint-sized friend, but Buttons is clearly loving his new life, so it's all worked out for the best.