Oppps, lack of posts again

So I haven't written anything for ages, and I could argue it is because there is very little to write as BG is still having the easy life, but then with horses there is always something to note each day, even if it is just their mood for that day.

BG has been getting very relaxed with her head collar again which is always nice, I think it is as a result of her knowing she won't be expected to do much, but it does make life easier. I have been trying to get her used to the fly spray for several weeks now too. She is very jumpy when sprayed so I normally always just spray onto a cloth and use that to wipe it on her. At the moment I am doing so little new with her I thought that the spray was something quick that I could start to get her used to. So I clip on her lead rope, use the cloth for her face, neck, underneath and back legs and then spray her sides and her back using the rope to allow her to move away a bit but not too far. To begin with she hated it; her whole body shook and she would tense as if she was going to swing her hind-quarters round. Finally though she is beginning to relax a bit more, just flinching when the spray hits her. Last night she was the best she has ever been and barely flinched or moved away at all. The down-side is I will have done all this work to get her used to it, then she won't need fly spray all winter and come next summer she will have forgotten that she isn't afraid of it.

So life with BG has fallen into a simple pattern. Each of the twice daily trips consist of headcollar on in the field shelter, food for BG, I poo-pick the field, push out the electric fence a little so she has new grass, check the waters, pop a rope on BG so I can fly spray her and then put some water on all her hooves before letting her go. She gets a quick brush too as her summer coat is all coming out and she is getting very itchy, she has started to rub herself on the shelter so her coat is looking scruffy with scratch marks and loose hairs.

One day she was very jumpy at something in her field although we never found out what, but she had a good trot round and around snorting. Another night there was a thunder storm really close by. BG was perfectly fine stood in the field, she had her back to the rain but other than that barely blinked at the thunder storm, but when I put her in her shelter to eat her tea she was spinning round and around. I think she was glad to be let back out again.

The field has been topped which is great, there is far too much grass up there for BG and it had grown so tall it had started to tower over the electric fence. It is already coming back again though, at least we should have a good amount of grass for winter.

On another practical note I am trying a worm egg count for the first time. I sent away my sample early on Friday and I am waiting to hear the result and whether I need to worm BG this time round. I hope not as she should be in a low risk environment as she is not in a herd and I poo-pick at least daily, normally twice daily.

The biggest thing of note since I last wrote is the damage BG did to her nose. It was the week after the vet had been, so on the 28th of June, I got up the field in the evening to find a gash down the right-hand side of BG's nose. I think the gash initially looked worse than it actually was as once I cleaned the blood up it wasn't too bad, and the following day only the hole at the top of the gash was visible. The worrying thing was the swelling, more so to me as it wasn't along the length of the gash suggesting it was just swelling to protect the area, but it was above it and around the hole at the top of the gash. Her face had really swollen (I will put up some pictures if I can get them off my phone). It didn't feel especially hot but I was really thinking should I call the vet for this.

I didn't call the vet, whether I should have done or not I guess is still debatable. The wound itself never looked infected but I still don't know what the swelling was. I just kept the wound clean and then put a coating of Sudocrem on to keep the flies off it. Then I kept an eye on the swelling to see if it got any worse/ when it started to get better to judge if I would need to get the vet out or not. It did take a long time for the swelling to go, but it did start to reduce and BG never seemed to be in any discomfort or have trouble eating. I would say now you would only notice the remaining sight of the incident if you were looking for it. The swelling has finally gone and the hair is growing back over the wound. It did take a long while though, but BG has remained healthy and happy throughout.