The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence......until it snows

I had a good ride on Wolfie last Sunday.  I went up to the yard early, tacked him up and headed down onto the old railway line. He hasn't been down there in a while.  He was very good going along the road, just a little looky.  One of the fields has been turned over and is absolutely covered with potatoes which caused a little spooking and snorting.  There was a clear plastic bag snagged in one of the trees which was rustling in the wind.  He screeched to a halt, head up, neck rock solid and started backing up.  I managed to get him into shoulder in and ride past it with his head and neck flexed slightly in the opposite direction from the 'scarey' bag.  We approached the bridge.  He stopped, but didn't back up.  Now the leaves have fallen from the trees, the visibility is much better.  I managed to walk him to the edge of the bridge and he walked calmly over it.  I've noticed that if I can get him to the egde of the bridge, he will cross it, so it's obviously what he can't see or what he's anticipating on the approach which scares him.  No wonder after all the frights he's had in the past.  He had a couple of silly moments, spooking and leaping sideways at the old bath in the field, ending up procariously near the edge of the river.  No need for that as he's passed that bath loads of times.  He was desperate to get going, normally I would have at least had a few trots, but I knew he was looking for more than trot, the line was busy with people cycling and walking dogs and I didn't want to risk him taking off and barrelling into someone coming around a corner.  That's my own fault, since I started cantering and galloping around the fields towards the end of summer, he seems to think now that we just go everywhere in canter.  With the ground the way it is though, we'll be sticking to walk and he'll soon realise again that we're not going to be hareing around and will settle.  I hope.

The boys got shifted into their winter field during the week.  We weren't given any notice that they were being moved and when I got to the stables on Tuesday night Wolfie was in a comatosed state standing at the back of his stable obviously having gorged himself on an afternoon of grass and he's been like that pretty much all week since.  If I hadn't known that they had been out in that field, I would have been seriously worried about him this week.  I haven't ridden as he's been in no state to go anywhere and not to mention the increased chances of laminitis and colic.  Although there's not much goodness in the grass now and they will have it eaten in a couple of weeks, a horse like Wolfie can't be exposed to it.  He knows what it is like to be hungry, although it was early on in his life, he hasn't forgotten and he will just eat and eat until he's fit to burst.  When I got Wolfie, he had spent a winter surviving on gorse bush, his teeth were all worn completely unevenly from trying to eat it.  He's a bit more relaxed about it now, but it takes thought and management to ensure he has enough to eat to stop him becoming stressed and destructive without overloading him with calories.  So in a way, I was glad to see the 3 inches of snow which fell on Saturday night.  That should kill the grass and whilst it is lying it makes it harder for the horses to get at any grass underneath it.  My mission this year is to slim Wolfie right down before heading into summer.  He's clipped and only wears a rain sheet during the day.  He's on completely soaked hay with just a fibre hard feed and a balancer.  He was on the right track up until last week and had already started to drop a little weight.  Hopefully we can get back on track soon.