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.

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.

A little whicker

I got to spend unlimited time with BG this morning which is lovely, and the best advantage of using up holiday from work. She was waiting by the shelter for her breakfast and, having eaten, nodded peacefully over the shelter door whilst I gave her a thorough groom. She had a couple of times recently when she has retreated to the back of her stall to avoid having the lunge rein clipped on, but she has been better about this the last few weeks; I am insisting she has it on to be led out into the field whether she is being worked or not, just so she learns it doesn't always mean work.

Today I did lunge her though, well, in a sense. She is back to only lunging on the one rein, so I have set up some tyres and poles in a diamond shape in the hope that I can encourage her to lunge on her 'bad' rein again. The idea is I stand within the diamond and she learns to walk outside the obstacles. I then retreat to the centre of the diamond so she becomes independent and learns to lunge again. She got more independent, walking a couple of metres away from me a couple of times, but it is still a work in progress. On the other rein she was as good as gold.

The strangest thing was, when I went to take off her head collar afterwards, she gave a little whicker with her nostrils flaring slightly. She is not a very vocal horse. Occasionally in winter she will call out when we go up to feed her; she has a very deep voice. I have never known her whicker to us at any other time though. She stood for a while once I let her off too, letting me rub her all up around her ears, it was lovely.

On another note last night I stayed out of the way and sent my husband to put down her tea and put her headcollar on. He has done it a few times but always with me stood there too. I must admit, I felt very left out not being with her to see how she responded. Apparently she pulled back the first time he put it on her nose, but he did get it on her, which is great as neither is 100% confident about it.

Far too long

It's been far too long since I have put an entry on here, but then when I look at my last entry not a lot has changed. The ground is still bone dry and BG is still moulting. Her coat now has dry skin in it so I am wondering whether to bathe her, especially with the hot weather we have been having, but don't know if I am best off leaving it until all her winter coat is out.

I have continued to lunge her a couple of times a week. She was going very nicely, but the last couple of times she is totally refusing to lunge on her 'bad' rein, so it'll be back to bascis, but her stubborn streak is kicking in at times so we might have a battle on our hands. The hot weather probably hasn't helped, no one wants to do too much in this heat. Plus, the flies are out now and annoying her, so we are back to applying fly spray too. It seems rather early to have the fly spray out.

BG has continued to be good about being caught, but not in the field, only in her shelter.

On the first of April we moved BG into the far section of field again, and have added a walk way from that to her shelter so she can get out the sun and flies if she wants too. She is obviously feeling the heat as her water bucket needs constant topping up, it means it's easier to keep cleaning it to, which it needs as the birds seem to be using it too so it is getting messy. End of this week we will probably be moving her to the mid-section again, a month on each bit seems to be working.

We are having to keep an eye out for ragwort now and remove it as the rosettes pop up in the field.

BG now has a friend in the field next door, although they aren't grazing near each other yet. I led her over to say hello over the fence to him the day he turned up, they gave each other a brief sniff but both were more interested in the new grass either side of the fence.

So, that's a quick recap on the last month. Lets hope I can keep this a bit more up to date in the coming months, but BG will have a new challenge to overcome. How will she take to a tiny baby up the field with her when I am around? I am expecting and due in three weeks, hence why I have only been lunging her (I have been banned from doing much in-hand with her since I fell trying to take her over the jumps). BG is still going to be as important a member in our family as ever, there will just be another person to love her too.

Spring is here

Unfortunately not the beautiful lush spring you might think of, with thick grass. Instead everywhere seems to have gone bone dry. I've started putting water on BG's hooves to try and keep some moisture in them. Then, about a week and a half ago the dreaded coat moulting begun. You can brush the same part of her again and again and again, and the hair keeps coming off, building a little mountain on the floor, but you can't see where it has come from as her coat is still so beautifully thick. It is a never ending task, every time you look at her you see more loose hairs, and every time you go up you can see where she's been rolling and they've come loose, sweep your hand over her body and you've got another handful on the floor.

Having said that, much as the moulting coat is hard work, it is also the time of year you get to appreciate just how long her coat has grown. So many parts of her body have beautiful long hairs on them in a variety of colours. There are so many sections on her body that you think 'how wonderful', like the tops of her front legs.



The nicer weather has meant the field has dried out, but also that I get to do more with BG. The next time I lunged her after the jumping incident (of me falling over) I thought I would lunge her over the jump again as she had seemed to enjoy it before. She refused on her 'bad rein' though, then refused to lunge at all on that rein, so we had to go back to basics just to get her to lunge properly in that direction. She lunged fine on her 'good rein', and popped over the jump on the lunge on that rein too. My husband has since led her over the jumps with no issues, and she has lunged twice more (no jumps) very nicely.

It seems like the spring has luckily not got to BG so much that she is starting her summer stubborn season. She is still happy to be caught, my husband even put her head collar on a few times, for which she had to be very patient as he fiddled with it in the shelter. I have been catching her in different parts of the field to try and teach her it is perfectly safe, ready for when she does become more difficult. The issues with this is at the moment she is so good when she sees us she is normally down waiting for us by her shelter, and once her head collar is on she can be a bit of a pain being caught to have it taken back off.

BG has also had the farrier out this week, on Monday. I held her in the field rather than the shelter so there was more light. Except for an initial snort she was very good. There was actually a fair bit to be trimmed off, and the hoof around her crack has been nicely smoothed down. Even better, despite the trim, the hard ground and the spring grass (there is some, I can't see it but BG is still finding plenty to eat) BG has stayed sound.

Lovely Sunday

Sunday was another lovely morning with BG. I didn’t give her too thorough a brush as her coat was looking remarkably clean, so I just gave her a light brush to get the dust out and any loose hairs. Then I picked her hooves out. She tucked the near-hind up under her belly but didn’t kick it out this time so obviously just needed the stretch. Other than that she was very good with all her hooves. I am beginning to think she is only funny in the evening’s because she is impatient for her hay, rather than she is in pain or she is trying to be naughty.

I put out four poles in a row to trot BG over, four strides in-between them seems to be a good distance for her. I walked her over first, for which the strides aren’t quite right, but it gave her a chance to look down at them and step carefully over. Then I trotted her over them and she was bounding over them, almost jumping each with both front legs over at the same time. I popped the second and fourth up a tyres height each and ran alongside again so she could go over them. I would say she did really well, but I didn’t give her a chance too, my body went too fast for my legs and I fell onto my knees as she jumped the second! I think she spooked a couple of steps side-ways and then stood waiting, looking at me as if to say ‘are you okay, that was strange’. She was very well behaved all morning.

The second and third times I managed to avoid falling flat on my face and she stepped over them, but didn’t feel she needed to jump them.

Then I removed the first pole, popped the second back on the ground and the fourth went up to two tyres height. She was as good as gold again and went over with a slight jump that was only just more of a jump than a step over. She looked like she was enjoying herself as sometimes I wonder if she does like jumping.

I gave her a fifteen minute lunge afterwards and she was nice and active, quite happy to trot several circles when asked. I left one jump up, only one tyres height, to include on the circle sometimes. Normally BG will run around the poles if she can, she is very good about avoiding them if you give her the slightest chance too. I only intended to take her over it at a trot, since I thought it was raised too much for a walk, but she herself steered towards it and did exaggerated steps over it in walk, and on her ‘bad’ rein.

I trotted her over it a couple of times and she took it really nicely. Then I switched reins. Seeing as she thought it was possible in walk I asked her to go over it in walk but she just caught it on the way over, she stood very patiently whilst I put it back up though. When I asked her to trot over she did so very nicely, for a moment it looked like I might even get a canter out of her (I have yet to get her to canter on the lunge). I was tempted to put the jump up another tyre again but decided I had better finish and not push her too far. She had been a little super-star already.

As a reward she got her paddock lick whilst I mucked out and tidied the jumps away.

*******

In the evening my husband tried to put the head collar on her. I think he has done it once so far in the two and a bit years she has been with us. She was very patient, he had to have two attempts as the first time he took it back off her nose. She stood very patiently whilst he tried to get the strap over the top of her neck and then struggled to do the buckle up in the fading light. She was so patient and good though, you wouldn’t think she was the same pony that sometimes refuses to have it on at all and swings round on you.

Sunny Friday

BG was funny with her hooves again last night. She wasn’t as bad as before but she had my husband stood at her head the whole time. Just going to be time and patience to get her back to being good again I think. The farrier is due in the next few weeks, although I have yet to have a reply to my attempt to get an appointment. Monday will be ten weeks since she last had her hooves trimmed, they don’t really look like they need doing, but I worry a little due to the crack on her near-fore. I was hoping for an appointment around 12 weeks.

After putting BG’s net up last night I gave her an evening hug around the neck – her coat is so thick and soft it is gorgeous. One of those feelings you just wish you could capture.

This morning we caught BG in her penned off area for the first time in a while, head collar on no problem. She did look as though she would get funny about having her head collar caught afterwards to have it taken off but thankfully she was fine so we got to work on time.

It is beautiful sunshine out there now so she is probably getting a little warm. I just wish I could spend such a beautiful day with her.