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!!

'Life isn't about waiting for the sun to shine, it's about learning to dance in the rain'

Christmas is over and the New Year is just around the corner.  It is still raining.  I mentioned in my last post that Wolfie seemed to be very itchy and rubbing his tail.  I was going ahead to treat it as pinworm, however he seemed to be itching at his sides and back and not just rubbing his tail.  I had checked through his coat thoroughly and couldn't find anything and his coat looked clean, no scurf or dandruff.  I decided to clip away some of his hair and found tiny little black scabby lumps and bigger swollen lumps which looked like hives.  I ended up giving him a full body clip.  I washed him down and gave him Piriton and have been applying his skin balm.  The hives have gone down and tiny scabs have came off across his back leaving bare skin.  He does seem to be a bit less itchy but I have no idea what this is.  It came on very suddenly.  Nothing has changed in his routine, feeding or management.  His coat looked in good condition and there was no evidence of anything bug like (I did Deosect him last week just incase).  I don't use any sprays or anything on him.  I'll probably give him another Ivermectin Wormer and if it doesn't clear, I'll call the Vet.  There will be no riding for a while as it's right across his back, although we haven't been doing anything anyway due to the weather.      

Merry Christmas!!

Some very wet Christmas photographs!  Santa came to Wolfie and the ponies....the stockings obviously worked.  I hung them up, took a few photos and then went down to Wolfie's stable to give him his carrot.  When I came back, the stockings had gone.  Honey was standing in the stable.  I went in and looked over the partition and there was Buttons trying to rake through the stockings, having pulled them both off the door.  There was nothing in them, he obviously wasn't patient enough to wait until Santa had been!

Wolfie has become very itchy over the last few days and last night he was getting quite distressed.  I can't see anything on his coat, but I put Deosect on him last night and tomorrow he's getting clipped and bathed.  Poor Wolfie.  Nothing has changed in his diet or routine and he's recently had a worm count done which was fine.  I turned him out without his rug today and I thought the first thing he would want to do would be to roll, but he didn't which I thought was quite strange.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas!

This picture was taken in the summer, the only day it didn't rain I think.  Wolfie has lost a fair amount of weight since then.  First job for the New Year will to be get the saddler out and get my saddle re-fitted. 

So the ice has melted, the temperature has gone up and we now have non stop rain and flooding.  Wolfie is fine, he looks really well.  He has lost approximately 15Kg since he was last weighed.  If I could get him into some sort of consistent work now and start building some muscle it would be fantastic.  But as the weather dictates what work we do, he is currently on his winter holiday.  I have been continuing with his stretches in the stable at night and have been giving him massages (I got a really good book as an early Christmas present).  I always struggle with this time of year.  I find it really mundane, virtually no riding, it's so dark I rarely get to see the horses in daylight and spring seems a lifetime away.  It seems worse this year as the summer was so wet and miserable, the horses have been stabled at night since July. I'll need to try and get some up to date pictures of Wolfie, he's lovely and dappley this year.