So BG has remained in her quiet mood so she's obviously still feeling bruised on her hooves. They haven't always been hot, but they have had a pulse and she is definitely tender when turning on a tight circle or on the rutted ground.
Sunday night I went to lead her out of her stall and she just stood there looking out, obviously knowing if she stepped out it would hurt a little. So I used some of the shavings we had bought to make up a soft bed. It looks a little odd as I put islands of shavings in her field shelter rather than over the whole floor. She doesn't normally need to stay in for many days and the shavings get very dusty so I try to be careful and only use as much as she needs so as not to waste it. She has her favourite spots to stand in the stall so you can be selective where you put the bedding islands.
I left her out Sunday night as I don't like to put her in over night. I would rather have her in during the day, if I were to put her in over night she has to go longer between visits so I worry that she won't have enough hay for the night.
Monday morning she was still sore, and remained in her quiet mood, even letting my husband make a fuss of her in the field whilst I made up her food. Normally she'll turn her back on him and walk away.
When she entered the shelter she was very selective to stand on the shavings and not move off them, little things like that are good indications of how she is feeling. So she spent Monday in her shelter. I put up a hay net for her when we put her in in the morning, and then my husband very kindly gave up his lunch time break at work to pop back and put up another hay net. That night though her back legs had swollen round the ankles with fluid where she hadn't been moving around as much as if she had been out grazing.
She had Monday night out but was no better on her hooves on Tuesday morning although the swelling had gone. Rather than keep her in all day again, as I didn't want the fluid build up, I put up a hay net to encourage her to stay in on the soft bedding, but also gave her access to a small section of her field so she could move around and graze. Wednesday she had the same. I think she believes we should be spoiling her more since she is so sore, she still stands along the electric fence looking at us as if we should move it out to give her more grass, or follows me back to the shelter as if I should give her another hay net, even when she is out at night.
She is very sweet when she is feeling tender in her hooves, much more loving and stands alongside you looking for some tlc. It is a little bitter-sweet though as you know it means she is hurting.
Thursday I spent a fair chunk of the morning up there. I gave her a good groom and then cleaned all the water buckets and rearranged the electric fence in the far section of the field. I have split it into two so part can recover. She has the lower half and the small section outside of her shelter now. It meant I kept her in for a while on the bedding whilst I sorted it all out, and then I let her out on her newly restricted grazing for the day.
And it rained!!! I was so glad to see the rain, and I think BG was too. She was in a much perkier mood last night and the ground was softer underfoot so I think that helped. She still let me head collar her in the field (I am making the most of her being quiet to try and get her back into the habit) and then followed me all the way back into her shelter once we had let her out (cheekily hoping for hay). We gave her her first fresh section of grass (a couple of feet) for the first time in a week.
This morning she was looking so much better too. Head collar in the field again and then I led her in for breakfast. She was much better on the tight circle in her shelter and her hooves were cold with no pulse. She still looked a little sore but so much better, lets hope we are over the worst.
My husband stood and gave her a good scratch this morning whilst I was mucking out. She obviously enjoyed it a lot as her neck started straining and her lip quivering as she tried to turn and groom him back. It was very heart warming.
Friday 27 May 2011
Sunday 22 May 2011
A little quiet
BG had the farrier out yesterday. She needed the visit due to her hooves starting to crack in the dry weather and on the hard ground. Its only been about eight weeks since they were last done, but I was amazed at how much the farrier actually managed to take off, almost a centimetre on some hooves. They look so much neater and tidier now.
I was a little worried about catching BG beforehand. As you know from the new water bucket introduction, anything unusual she thinks is some sort of conspiracy, so she would know something was up when we went to visit her half way through the day. Luckily she was good about coming down and being caught, and then just dozed in the sunshine till the farrier arrived.
BG stood nicely for the farrier too. Except when she was doing her off-fore when I think BG had a fly annoying her on her belly so she got a little jittery.
Today though BG was a little quiet this morning. I was half expecting her to go lame today, since the ground is so hard and it was quite a short trim. Her manner changes when her hooves feel a little sore, she goes quiet and that is the first sign more than her coming up short at all. She walked down the field nicely and her hooves weren't overly hot, nor was there a pulse. Turning tightly in the shelter and leaving the shelter where the ground is a little rutted she was very tentative though. With that and her quiet manner I think she is definitely feeling slightly footsore, so I will need to keep an eye on her. We've stocked up on shavings so we can make her a nice soft bed if necessary for her to rest her hooves on.
This morning, after a week, she finally had a drink from her new water bucket. She still seemed a little unsure about whether it was safe to do so, and gave long glances back over both shoulders after her drink as if to check everything was still okay.
Lets hope she isn't any sorer on her hooves tonight.
I was a little worried about catching BG beforehand. As you know from the new water bucket introduction, anything unusual she thinks is some sort of conspiracy, so she would know something was up when we went to visit her half way through the day. Luckily she was good about coming down and being caught, and then just dozed in the sunshine till the farrier arrived.
BG stood nicely for the farrier too. Except when she was doing her off-fore when I think BG had a fly annoying her on her belly so she got a little jittery.
Today though BG was a little quiet this morning. I was half expecting her to go lame today, since the ground is so hard and it was quite a short trim. Her manner changes when her hooves feel a little sore, she goes quiet and that is the first sign more than her coming up short at all. She walked down the field nicely and her hooves weren't overly hot, nor was there a pulse. Turning tightly in the shelter and leaving the shelter where the ground is a little rutted she was very tentative though. With that and her quiet manner I think she is definitely feeling slightly footsore, so I will need to keep an eye on her. We've stocked up on shavings so we can make her a nice soft bed if necessary for her to rest her hooves on.
This morning, after a week, she finally had a drink from her new water bucket. She still seemed a little unsure about whether it was safe to do so, and gave long glances back over both shoulders after her drink as if to check everything was still okay.
Lets hope she isn't any sorer on her hooves tonight.
Friday 20 May 2011
Hello....and thank you
It's been a quiet week. BG still hasn't really accepted her new water bucket, she's happy with having it around now, but she hasn't drunk from it. We are still desperately in need of rain. Apparently the last proper rainfall in this area was on February the 28th when there was 6mm, which was almost three months ago. Since then there's been 5mm in March, 3mm in April and 2mm so far this month. So we are desperate for more.
BG has been a little funny with having her head collar on, normally pulling back on the first couple of attempts, but we get there in the end.
The loveliest thing this week is on Monday evening when I went to give her tea she gave me a little vocal hello. Very rare for her, maybe she was letting me know she enjoyed the lunge and attention that morning! Then I lunged her on Thursday as well. She was good on both reins again, without obstacles. When I went to let her off, give her a well done pat and give her a treat she fluttered her nostrils at me again in anticipation, almost a vocal thank you for the treat.
Tomorrow we have the joy of a farrier visit, for which I am slightly concerned about catching BG since she'll know something is up as it will be in the afternoon, and not her normal time for a visit from us. She needs the visit though, her hooves are cracking round the bottom, none of them have split off but several cracks go higher up her hooves than I would like. Some of the soles of her hooves have dropped off with the mud when I've picked them out, so it will be good for the farrier to tidy them up. I think she (the farrier) will also take off one of BG's front chestnuts that has grown rather large, the other one dropped off about a week ago.
BG has been a little funny with having her head collar on, normally pulling back on the first couple of attempts, but we get there in the end.
The loveliest thing this week is on Monday evening when I went to give her tea she gave me a little vocal hello. Very rare for her, maybe she was letting me know she enjoyed the lunge and attention that morning! Then I lunged her on Thursday as well. She was good on both reins again, without obstacles. When I went to let her off, give her a well done pat and give her a treat she fluttered her nostrils at me again in anticipation, almost a vocal thank you for the treat.
Tomorrow we have the joy of a farrier visit, for which I am slightly concerned about catching BG since she'll know something is up as it will be in the afternoon, and not her normal time for a visit from us. She needs the visit though, her hooves are cracking round the bottom, none of them have split off but several cracks go higher up her hooves than I would like. Some of the soles of her hooves have dropped off with the mud when I've picked them out, so it will be good for the farrier to tidy them up. I think she (the farrier) will also take off one of BG's front chestnuts that has grown rather large, the other one dropped off about a week ago.
Monday 16 May 2011
It's a trick!
Yesterday we went to stock up on food for BG, another bag of treats and also to get her another water bucket. She has one in the field, but that seems to be being used a lot by the birds at the moment and gets mucky so quickly. I thought it would be nice to add one in her shelter too; one which would probably stay cleaner and cooler. That way both could be kept half full, so I waste less water when I tip them out to clean them.
There is no water up the field so we have to take it all from home. We have two ten litre containers we use and luckily BG doesn't drink a lot so we can cope with that, but it does mean I don't like to waste too much.
So last night we took the new water bucket up, put it in the back of her shelter (in 'her' corner which she likes to hide in) and topped it up. Cue snorting from BG who was eating her tea, and then it seemed to upset her the rest of the time we were up there. It is only a new bucket!
She gave it a sniff which I thought was brave of her, but that was it. She was a pain to catch hold of once she had eaten, she was very jumpy as we tended to her. My husband led her round to show her the new bucket and she leaned away from it as if he was introducing her to something that would leap up and attack her at any minute.
Once we let her out she would then not come back in the shelter, even when tempted. I don't know what she thought the bucket would do to her but she seemed to think we were tricking her into something! Luckily this morning she came in as good as gold, snorted a bit when her head collar went on, but otherwise ignored the bucket.
==========
This morning I spent a nice chunk of time up the field with BG. I gave her a thorough groom, although she is looking a little odd at the moment which a groom just seems to highlight. Where her winter coat still hasn't come out she is looking almost black. On the insides of all four of her legs it looks like I have attacked her with a shaver and not done a very good job. The winter coat is black, the summer coat a light yellowy almost, the contrast looks very strange. Her bottom looks mottled where she has lost some winter coat but not all of it. It's just a funny time of year for her on looks.
After her groom I gave her a lunge. Last time I got her going round the obstacles on her 'bad' rein with the whip re-introduced and got a trot out of her without her playing up. This time I went straight to lunge her on her 'bad' rein without the obstacles. She tried to turn round initially but with a bit of coaxing then corrected herself and lunged on her bad rein again. Phew, hopefully that is that silly phase over with for the moment.
One reason I really wanted to lunge BG was because she has been on some new grass. She was meant to move from the far section of the field to the mid section at the start of May, but she is doing plenty well enough size wise, and I really didn't want to risk putting her on all that fresh grass. So instead we started to move the fence posts out a little on the middle section so she had a little bit new each day. She does now expect this, and stands there looking most hard-done by if we don't move the fence out. Rather than do bit-by-bit we decided the other day to give her a bigger section of the new grass and so not have to do it every day. She's definitely enjoying the new grass, but still seems to expect more every day.
We will keep pushing the mid-section out a couple of metres at a time and will fence off half of the far section. Hopefully we will soon have four summer sections, and the final third of the field we will leave resting for winter.
There is no water up the field so we have to take it all from home. We have two ten litre containers we use and luckily BG doesn't drink a lot so we can cope with that, but it does mean I don't like to waste too much.
So last night we took the new water bucket up, put it in the back of her shelter (in 'her' corner which she likes to hide in) and topped it up. Cue snorting from BG who was eating her tea, and then it seemed to upset her the rest of the time we were up there. It is only a new bucket!
She gave it a sniff which I thought was brave of her, but that was it. She was a pain to catch hold of once she had eaten, she was very jumpy as we tended to her. My husband led her round to show her the new bucket and she leaned away from it as if he was introducing her to something that would leap up and attack her at any minute.
Once we let her out she would then not come back in the shelter, even when tempted. I don't know what she thought the bucket would do to her but she seemed to think we were tricking her into something! Luckily this morning she came in as good as gold, snorted a bit when her head collar went on, but otherwise ignored the bucket.
==========
This morning I spent a nice chunk of time up the field with BG. I gave her a thorough groom, although she is looking a little odd at the moment which a groom just seems to highlight. Where her winter coat still hasn't come out she is looking almost black. On the insides of all four of her legs it looks like I have attacked her with a shaver and not done a very good job. The winter coat is black, the summer coat a light yellowy almost, the contrast looks very strange. Her bottom looks mottled where she has lost some winter coat but not all of it. It's just a funny time of year for her on looks.
After her groom I gave her a lunge. Last time I got her going round the obstacles on her 'bad' rein with the whip re-introduced and got a trot out of her without her playing up. This time I went straight to lunge her on her 'bad' rein without the obstacles. She tried to turn round initially but with a bit of coaxing then corrected herself and lunged on her bad rein again. Phew, hopefully that is that silly phase over with for the moment.
One reason I really wanted to lunge BG was because she has been on some new grass. She was meant to move from the far section of the field to the mid section at the start of May, but she is doing plenty well enough size wise, and I really didn't want to risk putting her on all that fresh grass. So instead we started to move the fence posts out a little on the middle section so she had a little bit new each day. She does now expect this, and stands there looking most hard-done by if we don't move the fence out. Rather than do bit-by-bit we decided the other day to give her a bigger section of the new grass and so not have to do it every day. She's definitely enjoying the new grass, but still seems to expect more every day.
We will keep pushing the mid-section out a couple of metres at a time and will fence off half of the far section. Hopefully we will soon have four summer sections, and the final third of the field we will leave resting for winter.
Monday 9 May 2011
Proud, jealous, lost....
BG is doing well. We even had rain the other night, at least four hours overnight and I lay in bed with a smile on my face listening to it coming down. Unfortunately I got up her field in the morning and it looked as though it hadn't rained at all, it was still pale, dry and dusty with cracks running through the earth. More rain please.
Yesterday morning we got up there to find her lying down again, only this time she was flat out. I don't think I have ever seen her lying flat out, normally she has her neck up and is resting on her chin. So I was a little concerned when I first glanced up the field to see her. Then one of her hind legs started moving as if she were galloping in her dream, I'd love to know what she was thinking of.
The biggest thing in the last few days though is watching my husband with her a couple of nights ago. I tend to go and get her food whilst she makes her way down the field and he wanders across to her shelter. Quite often recently she has paused on her way down and waited for him so she could follow him around the scary corner (I think there's some animal in the hedge and it's been un-nerving her). That night she made her way over to the shelter quite happily, but then she doesn't like him touching her and will swing her back on my husband.
Tough, she did that to him the other night so I said that she would have to like him and come near him as he was going to put the head collar on her before her food again. She went into the shelter with him, but when he tried to show her the head collar she swung round and exited. I don't know if she thought I still had the food or what, but she followed me back in and I shut the door. So my husband tried again and she swung her bottom round on him and stubbornly stared at the wall. I told him he might well have to leave with the food and re-enter to try again, and then I went to go and do another job and leave them to it. She needs to learn he won't give up and when he asks her to have her head collar on she has to do it or no food. That's the same rule with me.
I stood outside the shelter feeling a little lost as I wasn't involved and couldn't see what was going on. I could hear my husband encouraging her as she obviously made another attempt to get up the courage to have the head collar on. It sounded like she tried, then backed out again. Then he did it. It didn't take her long to come round for him at all, so perhaps I was also a little jealous that she behaved so promptly for him when I thought she was going to be really stubborn.
Lastly, once she had eaten, my husband led her back out to the field. He got out of the shelter and then switched to lead her from her right (which she isn't too confident about even now). The ease at which he turned her and the fact she respected him and kept to that side made me proud of the way the two of them were interacting. That and him getting the head collar on BG despite her protest made me proud. It is good to know she will be in capable hands if I can't make it up there one day soon. My husband is now only the third person to get a head collar on her in nine years. So I am proud of him, if feeling a little lost that I wasn't needed.
Yesterday morning we got up there to find her lying down again, only this time she was flat out. I don't think I have ever seen her lying flat out, normally she has her neck up and is resting on her chin. So I was a little concerned when I first glanced up the field to see her. Then one of her hind legs started moving as if she were galloping in her dream, I'd love to know what she was thinking of.
The biggest thing in the last few days though is watching my husband with her a couple of nights ago. I tend to go and get her food whilst she makes her way down the field and he wanders across to her shelter. Quite often recently she has paused on her way down and waited for him so she could follow him around the scary corner (I think there's some animal in the hedge and it's been un-nerving her). That night she made her way over to the shelter quite happily, but then she doesn't like him touching her and will swing her back on my husband.
Tough, she did that to him the other night so I said that she would have to like him and come near him as he was going to put the head collar on her before her food again. She went into the shelter with him, but when he tried to show her the head collar she swung round and exited. I don't know if she thought I still had the food or what, but she followed me back in and I shut the door. So my husband tried again and she swung her bottom round on him and stubbornly stared at the wall. I told him he might well have to leave with the food and re-enter to try again, and then I went to go and do another job and leave them to it. She needs to learn he won't give up and when he asks her to have her head collar on she has to do it or no food. That's the same rule with me.
I stood outside the shelter feeling a little lost as I wasn't involved and couldn't see what was going on. I could hear my husband encouraging her as she obviously made another attempt to get up the courage to have the head collar on. It sounded like she tried, then backed out again. Then he did it. It didn't take her long to come round for him at all, so perhaps I was also a little jealous that she behaved so promptly for him when I thought she was going to be really stubborn.
Lastly, once she had eaten, my husband led her back out to the field. He got out of the shelter and then switched to lead her from her right (which she isn't too confident about even now). The ease at which he turned her and the fact she respected him and kept to that side made me proud of the way the two of them were interacting. That and him getting the head collar on BG despite her protest made me proud. It is good to know she will be in capable hands if I can't make it up there one day soon. My husband is now only the third person to get a head collar on her in nine years. So I am proud of him, if feeling a little lost that I wasn't needed.
Wednesday 4 May 2011
Early May update
On May the 1st we had to give BG her wormer again, not a pleasent task. Next time it is due I am going to investigate a worm count, they seem to be the latest fashion in wormers and the lady where I currently buy my wormer from was advocating them. I need to do some research first on the companies to use and exactly how to go about doing it, but this time round we stuck with Equest Pramox.
I didn't know what BG would be like as last time she was a bit of a pain when we tried to worm her, and this time she was just as bad. We backed her into a corner and I got my husband to use his body to block her forward movement, the idea being she then had no where to go. When she starts backing up or swinging round or throwing her head up in the air though there is a point at which we no longer block her in but give her her space for safety and then try again; walking her back to her corner.
As soon as BG felt the syringe in the corner of her mouth her head went up and she almost hit herself on the roof of the shelter, she did this several times which got me very concerned as the last thing I want is her to hurt herself.
She let my husband put his fingers in her mouth and play with the corners of it, but knew when we tried to get near her with the syringe instead. We kept attempting it, then having to walk her back round and calm her back down before attempting it again; giving her time to start chewing and lowering her head in submission. She tried to stick her head on my husbands shoulder doing a giraffe impression, it meant her head was partly stuck which might be the ideal time to attempt it, but then she might knock him out! The silly thing is when the wormer eventually went in I got all the wormer out in the one go and it was as easy as anything. BG didn't like the taste like normal, but still did not spit any out, even the bit on her lip she swallowed.
I did feel mean leaving her afterwards though, she won't eat for a while afterwards because of the taste in her mouth so she stood there in a grump in the middle of her field.
For the next couple of days after her wormer she was a bit funny in her field shelter with us. She would have her head collar on for her food, then not want it caught and would retreat to her corner. Luckily yesterday and today she has seemed slightly better.
Yesterday I spent a few hours in the morning up there so gave her a lovely long groom. She has been rubbing her bottom on something so her coat there is all dusty and rough. Her hooves are starting to get cracks in them so I have been applying cornucrecsine to them, both round the coronet band and on the cracks. It looks like she might have a few bits break off the bottom before the farrier is next due. Despite the hard ground though BG is still trotting in for her food so doesn't seem to be feeling it too much.
I lunged her yesterday. Well, I lunged her on her 'good' rein, but kept trot to a minimum because of the ground and also because I hadn't trotted her on her 'bad' rein. Again I used the obstacles on her 'bad' rein to try and teach her to lunge again. Last time I did it I got really disheartened that it was not going to work, this time round it was much more positive though.
The lunge rope did go slack one time as she turned in abruptly and she stood on it and scared herself, but after that she was so much better. She started to walk at a distance from me again, only about three metres, but it meant I could retreat to the centre of the circle and stay reasonably still. I could also turn to face her rather than walking with her. She needed encouragement to walk forwards once halted but it was an improvement. I have moved the obstacles further apart for next time, and I will reintroduce the whip again on that rein next time or the time after and I think we might then be back to lunging on both reins.
And the last little note. We got up the field to give BG her breakfast this morning and she was lying down. I don't get to see that often with BG, and thought, being in a field on her own (even with the new horse over the fence) I would see it even less this summer. She had a roll before getting up to come down for breakfast; waiting half way up the field so she could walk the final section with my husband.
I didn't know what BG would be like as last time she was a bit of a pain when we tried to worm her, and this time she was just as bad. We backed her into a corner and I got my husband to use his body to block her forward movement, the idea being she then had no where to go. When she starts backing up or swinging round or throwing her head up in the air though there is a point at which we no longer block her in but give her her space for safety and then try again; walking her back to her corner.
As soon as BG felt the syringe in the corner of her mouth her head went up and she almost hit herself on the roof of the shelter, she did this several times which got me very concerned as the last thing I want is her to hurt herself.
She let my husband put his fingers in her mouth and play with the corners of it, but knew when we tried to get near her with the syringe instead. We kept attempting it, then having to walk her back round and calm her back down before attempting it again; giving her time to start chewing and lowering her head in submission. She tried to stick her head on my husbands shoulder doing a giraffe impression, it meant her head was partly stuck which might be the ideal time to attempt it, but then she might knock him out! The silly thing is when the wormer eventually went in I got all the wormer out in the one go and it was as easy as anything. BG didn't like the taste like normal, but still did not spit any out, even the bit on her lip she swallowed.
I did feel mean leaving her afterwards though, she won't eat for a while afterwards because of the taste in her mouth so she stood there in a grump in the middle of her field.
For the next couple of days after her wormer she was a bit funny in her field shelter with us. She would have her head collar on for her food, then not want it caught and would retreat to her corner. Luckily yesterday and today she has seemed slightly better.
Yesterday I spent a few hours in the morning up there so gave her a lovely long groom. She has been rubbing her bottom on something so her coat there is all dusty and rough. Her hooves are starting to get cracks in them so I have been applying cornucrecsine to them, both round the coronet band and on the cracks. It looks like she might have a few bits break off the bottom before the farrier is next due. Despite the hard ground though BG is still trotting in for her food so doesn't seem to be feeling it too much.
I lunged her yesterday. Well, I lunged her on her 'good' rein, but kept trot to a minimum because of the ground and also because I hadn't trotted her on her 'bad' rein. Again I used the obstacles on her 'bad' rein to try and teach her to lunge again. Last time I did it I got really disheartened that it was not going to work, this time round it was much more positive though.
The lunge rope did go slack one time as she turned in abruptly and she stood on it and scared herself, but after that she was so much better. She started to walk at a distance from me again, only about three metres, but it meant I could retreat to the centre of the circle and stay reasonably still. I could also turn to face her rather than walking with her. She needed encouragement to walk forwards once halted but it was an improvement. I have moved the obstacles further apart for next time, and I will reintroduce the whip again on that rein next time or the time after and I think we might then be back to lunging on both reins.
And the last little note. We got up the field to give BG her breakfast this morning and she was lying down. I don't get to see that often with BG, and thought, being in a field on her own (even with the new horse over the fence) I would see it even less this summer. She had a roll before getting up to come down for breakfast; waiting half way up the field so she could walk the final section with my husband.
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