A work of art

Buttons is continuing to do well.  On Thursday evening I took him up to his field for a walk around.  All the horses were in, so I let him off his rope to have a roll.  He lay down and rolled and rolled, just as I was walking over to clip his lead rope back on, he took off at a flat out gallop up to the top of the hill.  I think he thought the mares were over the top of the hill.  He got to the top and realised that they weren't there.  He then came haring back down the hill at a flat out gallop and proceeded to do another two laps of the field whinnying.  Buttons copes well with routine and being stabled on his own, but he gets very, very upset if he gets turned out on his own.  I suppose after living on his own for so long and then being given a herd, it's understandable.  I caught him and walked him to cool him off.  He looked alright and fortunately the ground wasn't too hard.  Yesterday I turned him out in the field with the mares for an hour.  Today we went a walk with his good friend Abbey who is also bare foot and this afternoon he got turned out for an hour. I am keeping a diary of everything that he is doing / eating daily, weather and ground conditions etc. to try and note any changes.  I will continue to turn him out, hopefully building up the length of time he is able to stay out (as long as the temperatures remain above freezing).  I think it's a case of monitoring him now and seeing what's going to work for him.  The farrier is back in just under 3 weeks to do them both, I am going to ask if he thinks that Buttons should be trimmed every 3 weeks for the next wee while.

It was my Birthday during the week and I got a lovely surprise from my sister, brother in law and niece.  A painting of Wolfie and Buttons taken from one of the photographs I had taken over winter.  It's something I have always wanted and I have very few pictures of the two of them together.  It is absolutely stunning, the artist has managed to capture both of them and the 'moment' perfectly.  The colours are wonderful and I think it is very striking looking.

A photograph of the painting.  It's acrylic on canvas.  It couldn't have been easy to get Wolfie's colouring.  He is blue and white, but is actually tri coloured and changes colour between winter and summer.  It is very special and I will treasure it.  A huge thank you to Susan, Martin and Zoe and also to the artist Jacqueline Mcateer for doing such a fantastic job.  If anyone is thinking of commissioning an artist for an equine painting, I would definitely recommend contacting her.

I rode Wolfie today.  If I manage to ride tomorrow, that will be 5 times this week he'll have been out.  I want to be able to ride him at least 5 times every week - weather, are you listening?  He was good, still very bouncey, but very good fun and enthusiastic.  We went a slightly longer hack today and he coped fine, felt as though he could easily have done the same again.  We opened and shut all the gates mounted and he hasn't lost his touch.  Good boy.