Chicken

Well, it's been an interesting couple of weeks. Wolfie is back in work, not as consistently as I'd like, still due to the unpredictable weather, but I've managed to get him doing something every other day. I've just been hacking around the fields, walking and increasing the length of time we're out. It would appear however, that my little horse has returned after his winter off bigger, stronger and more opinionated than ever. Last week I took him for a short hack on a route we've taken loads of times. As we were approaching a farm house, we were just wandering along. Wolfie was looking at something but didn't seem too anxious. Then he just span 180 degrees and bolted. When I say bolted, I mean that flat out, dangerous blind panic, sheer flight reaction. I managed to pull him up, he stopped dead stuck his head between his knees and bucked for about 2 minutes. Just as I was thinking this is it, he's going to have me off, I managed to get his head up and he stood rock still, the adrenalin pumping through both of us. He scared the living daylights out of me. He's never reacted so violently to anything and I couldn't even see what had caused it. We're still on a huge learning curve and the main thing with him at the moment is it's all unknown. I don't know quite how far he will go or how far I can push him. I managed to get myself together and began to try and ride him back down the field. It's a fairly steep hill and I have to traverse across it. Wolfie just wanted to gallop down it. Crossing back towards the house, he spooked again, reared and ran backwards down the hill. Eventually we made it down and he relaxed and walked home on a loose rein.

In hindsight, it was very cold, I should have put an exercise sheet on him, it was quite windy and the light was poor. I went over and over it in my mind, trying to work out what had happened. I spoke to my friend who told me that the people at the house have recently got chickens and when they are out, they scratch behind the hedge. Maybe Wolfie could hear them and that's what caused the spooking. Anyway, we both agreed that the best course of action was just to forget about it. I hacked him the next day, taking him on a different route. He had a mild spook and buck, but it was more freshness and him looking for a reason to be silly than anything. We passed the bottom of the house, I didn't go right up and turned him on my terms to head for home. Apart from that, he's been pretty good. We're ready to start building up the trot work. So far, I'm pleased with the new bit. Wolfie's keen to play with it and he doesn't back of it as he did with many of the others I've tried.

Wolfie has always been bottom of the pecking order in the field. He's turned out with 5 other geldings and he's the youngest. When he was first introduced to the field, he was only 2 and he had a pretty rough time of it. He wouldn't stand up for himself and would just get out of the way. He's now decided, that the time has come for him to move up the line. He's changing the herd dynamics and at the moment he seems intent on world domination. He's been getting himself in a few scrapes. He loves to play more than anything, and the others often find him annoying. Yesterday when I arrived at the yard, he was playing with one of the other geldings. It looked pretty friendly until I heard that deep groan, the one they make if they've been hurt. I went out to check on Wolfie. I immediately looked at his legs and couldn't see anything. I was standing at his head when I noticed blood all over the sleeve of my jacket. I looked at his face and he's been bitten badly on his top lip. I brought him in and it was bleeding a lot. It was one of those, will I, won't I get the vet. The problem with Wolfie is that he detests the vet. It's unfortunate, but a combination of everything he's been through and the only time he sees the vet is for a jag or if something is wrong. I have faith in my vet, but the last time I called them out for a cut on Wolfie's leg, they had to look at him from the door. I had already cleaned it, so the vet just left antibiotics and bute as a precautionary. They aren't able to physically touch him unless he's sedated. I also don't like to compromise him with antibiotics unless really necessary. He's had more than a lifetime's worth of drugs put into him. I flushed the cut on his lip with saline solution. It stopped bleeding. I just decided to leave it and see how he was. He was a bit subdued for a while, but still managing to eat. It must have been stinging, but he didn't seem too bothered. Just need to keep it clean and see how he goes. Hopefully in that area, it will heal quickly. I got him some echinacea to add to his feed, to try and keep his immune system boosted. The other horse had a completely skint nose. Horse play gone too far. Note to Wolfie, please keep out of trouble.

We're back in the game!

I rode Wolfie today for the first time in around 10 weeks. I've been doing a little ground work during the week with him, I lunged him last weekend in an effort to let him burn off any excess energy. He had a complete carry onto himself and after 10 minutes of him cantering around uncontrollaby and not showing any signs of slowing down or tiring, I just gave up. Wasn't doing either of us any good. I was a little apprehensive sitting on him today, he's never had such a long time off work, so I wasn't quite sure how he would react. It was a mixture of excitement and anticipation though as I have been desperate to ride him. I concentrated on my breathing and keeping my adrenalin levels low. Monty Roberts talks alot about this and it really does work, it makes sense really. He was a little tense when I got on, and the walking off as I was mounting raised it's ugly head again. I had been working hard at consistently making him stand when I mounted and waiting until he was asked to walk on. He has a habit off walking off at an alarming pace when I have one foot in the stirrup. However, hopefully it will just take a few reminder sessions, it was the first day back after the holidays after all. All in all he felt brilliant. He's lost the condition and muscle he did have, but he felt strong and responsive. We only walked for twenty minutes on a loose rein in the school. He had a few hairy moments and outbursts of speed, but nothing bad. He's had his new bit in several times, just standing in the stable for 15 minutes at a time to let him get used to it, so we will see what the next few weeks bring with the ridden work. I'm just going to take it easy, walking this week, increasing the time. I'll keep him in the school and then hopefully at the weekend I'll hack him out if he's being sensible. I'm a strong believer in that you only get out of horses what you put into them. I feel so enthusiastic, excited and optimistic about this year. I want to put the work in and I have so many plans and expectations for us. One big bug bearer I'm going to have to address is the road. If I want to be able to vary our hacking routes and introduce longer rides and faster fittening work, I have to get him along that 100 yards of road safely. On one hand I was disappointed that I have been unable to work Wolfie for such a long period of time and he's not as fit as I'd have liked him to be at this stage (he's completely unfit now), however I don't think it ever does any harm for any horse to have a break, especially a young horse. He's still very green, but the basics are installed in him. We certainly haven't taken any steps back after the time off, so we can only move forward and I can't wait.

How cold my toes...................

Actually, how cold my toes, ears, nose, fingers, everything is freezing. I've had enough of the arctic conditions now, the rain and mud no longer seem quite so bad. The yard is like an ice rink. Fortunately, the longest Wolfie has gone so far without being able to be turned out is 2 days. On the second day of being confined to the stable I turned him out loose in the school. He couldn't stay in any longer. As much as I adore Wolfie, he is hard work if he doesn't get turn out or exercise. To give him his due when I took him out of his stable that night, he was walking like he was on hot coals, but he didn't pull me or drag me about. It was a bit like walking next to an unexploded bomb, but he managed to contain himself until I turned him loose. He then went bananas and managed to smash a rail of the school fence bucking and kicking out.

Christmas now seems like a distant memory. Wolfie did very well. He got a set of equilibrium all sport boots and a Thermatex rug. Note to Wolfie... please, please don't rip it. Best of all, my dad got us the Sprenger Dynamic. I have tried it on him, but have had no chance of being able to ride, so at the moment all I can do is look at it. I have many plans and goals for this year, which I will blog about later. In the short term, I just want to get Wolfie back to where he was 6 weeks ago and build up his fitness. A good few days groundwork will be required before I get back on. Wolfie has been demonstrating his famous vertical corkscrew bucks alot lately and I don't want to begin the New Year in plaster cast. Apparently this weather is to last another fortnight. I'm so fed up, I just want to ride my horse.

I got some money for Christmas, which I have decided to use to buy Wolfie a bridle. Derby House had a sale on their bridles after Christmas so I went along to have a look. I was very disappointed. Wolfie currently wears an old bridle that I have put together from various spare pieces. The cheek pieces are a different width to the head piece, and the leather has stretched so the holes are no longer even. The keepers are all broken and although it has served it's purpose, it's really time I replaced it. It would appear that you can no longer buy individual parts of bridles to make up a bridle, you have to buy the complete bridle in a cob or full size. True to form, Wolfie needs a full size bridle, but cob sized cheek pieces so I am unable to buy a complete bridle off the peg. I've been online looking at various bridles and it amazes me that the majority of bridles are sold with a flash noseband. I have decided I like the Sabre Cordoba comfort bridle with a cavesson noseband. I have emailed Sabre to ask if any of their retailers will customise the bridle and sell it with cob size cheek pieces. I really don't want to spend all that money on a bridle (which doesn't come with reins) to then have to buy another set of cheek pieces. Fingers crossed.

Buttons has been enjoying this weather. By enjoying it I mean, he likes the extended time he has been spending in his stable eating. He is designed for this and has absolutely no problem walking on the snow, ice etc. For Christmas he got two very small holed haynets. I have doubled his net in an effort to slow him down. He eats so quickly and he is still on a restricted diet. I really want him going into summer on the light side. Buttons goals for this year are to have a bit back in, continue with Zoe riding and I am thinking of teaching him to drive. It would be fun and another way of exercising him, helping control his weight. I had thought that I would ride Wolfie and lead him out, but Wolfie isn't really established enough yet to be a lead horse. He's also too sharp and I really need to have my full concentration on him when I'm riding him. Will just see how it goes.

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.