I blame the lack of activity in this blog on a number of factors, mostly involving being busy at work and unparalleled levels of crapness. Also, we've had some ups and downs which hopefully are now put to bed at least for a while.
Tigre wasn't quite right for a couple of weeks in his right hind stifle, just as we were rocking along very nicely. He's back on form now and back in work; we've got some catching up to do but it's so nice to be riding him again.
Also, Gualter came in with a fat fetlock last Sunday evening, absolutely hopping lame. Quick call to the vet and we established with some flexions that it was not a fracture (argh the very thought) and could wait for Monday morning for callout. It's one of those fundamental rules of horse keeping that these things always happen at the weekend. Come Monday there was too much swelling for the vet to see what was what so she left us with a course of bute and vowed to return on Thursday. I'm so glad we put in that all weather rubber area because the stables are really too small for him and mum and he needed to be on restricted turnout, so it was ideal for that.
On Thursdsy the swelling was down but not as much as hoped, so he was given further course of bute and another week on restricted turnout, which meant everyone coming in and a really messy shelter to deal with every morning. However, the swelling was going down steadily and today he got the all clear to go out again, so the vet and I stood and watched as the four of them tore it up around the field to the theme tune of James Brown "I feel good". Hoping there will be no further problems from it - fingers crossed.
We're all set for winter now, with deliveries of haylage, bedding and feed over the last few days, and the corresponding drainage of the bank account. Still, record cheap vet fallout today - £36!
Thursday 22 December 2011
Friday 4 November 2011
More on the lower field
So the updated to do list:
* installing a gate - DONE
* fencing the eastern boundary to get the neighbour's horses off it - DONE
* installing water to the two new paddocks DONE
* sorting out the drainage in the lower field :) DONE
* digging out the pond DONE
* removing all the dead wood from the pond - DONE
* harrowing (and harrowing and harrowing) - DONE
* clearing out the bottom ditch DONE
* fencing the remaining boundary, the pond and across the middle DONE
* digging out the field shelter DONE
* layingstone and rubber matting in said field shelter TO DO
All of this is good, except that the field now looks like an absolute bomb site.
* installing a gate - DONE
* fencing the eastern boundary to get the neighbour's horses off it - DONE
* installing water to the two new paddocks DONE
* sorting out the drainage in the lower field :) DONE
* digging out the pond DONE
* removing all the dead wood from the pond - DONE
* harrowing (and harrowing and harrowing) - DONE
* clearing out the bottom ditch DONE
* fencing the remaining boundary, the pond and across the middle DONE
* digging out the field shelter DONE
* laying
All of this is good, except that the field now looks like an absolute bomb site.
Saturday 15 October 2011
Mostly concerning the lower field
It's been a while - am considering giving up blinking because three months seem to go by every time I do so.
Lots has been going on and I haven't wanted to blog about it until all the dotted lines were duly signed upon lest anything go wrong, but now that is done I can reveal the big news which is that we have after protracted machinations procured an additional five acres - hurrah! Really thrilled, as it takes the pressure off somewhat but also means that there is another whole raft of things to do:
* installing a gate - DONE
* fencing the eastern boundary to get the neighbour's horses off it - DONE
* installing water to the two new paddocks
* sorting out the drainage in the lower field :)
* digging out the pond
* removing all the dead wood from the pond - DONE
* harrowing (and harrowing and harrowing) - DONE
* clearing out the bottom ditch
* fencing the remaining boundary, the pond and across the middle
* digging out the field shelter
* laying stone and rubber matting in said field shelter
So as can be seen there's a lot to be done as the land has been overgrazed and neglected, so there's weeding to do as well as discing and re-seeding in the spring. We've been out there all day today (and what a beautiful day for it) armed with chain harrow, axe and chainsaw, and it already looks a lot better. We've taken out the old boundary fence, redone the electric fencing across the access gate, chopped down the old dead wood, piled up all the old shit that was left lying around (including numerous pallets and tractor tyres), harrowed (and harrowed), and planned the next stages of work with young Pheel and his Pitt-alike colleague Richard who I've mentioned before and who'll be here on the 24th to start all the digger work, of which there will be about a week's worth. Noodle will be thrilled :)
Meanwhile the horses are all well, getting their winter woollies and enjoying lolling about in the sun while we all toil away on their behalf.
Lots has been going on and I haven't wanted to blog about it until all the dotted lines were duly signed upon lest anything go wrong, but now that is done I can reveal the big news which is that we have after protracted machinations procured an additional five acres - hurrah! Really thrilled, as it takes the pressure off somewhat but also means that there is another whole raft of things to do:
* installing a gate - DONE
* fencing the eastern boundary to get the neighbour's horses off it - DONE
* installing water to the two new paddocks
* sorting out the drainage in the lower field :)
* digging out the pond
* removing all the dead wood from the pond - DONE
* harrowing (and harrowing and harrowing) - DONE
* clearing out the bottom ditch
* fencing the remaining boundary, the pond and across the middle
* digging out the field shelter
* laying stone and rubber matting in said field shelter
So as can be seen there's a lot to be done as the land has been overgrazed and neglected, so there's weeding to do as well as discing and re-seeding in the spring. We've been out there all day today (and what a beautiful day for it) armed with chain harrow, axe and chainsaw, and it already looks a lot better. We've taken out the old boundary fence, redone the electric fencing across the access gate, chopped down the old dead wood, piled up all the old shit that was left lying around (including numerous pallets and tractor tyres), harrowed (and harrowed), and planned the next stages of work with young Pheel and his Pitt-alike colleague Richard who I've mentioned before and who'll be here on the 24th to start all the digger work, of which there will be about a week's worth. Noodle will be thrilled :)
Meanwhile the horses are all well, getting their winter woollies and enjoying lolling about in the sun while we all toil away on their behalf.
Saturday 1 October 2011
Since my last update..
.. I have been mainly very busy, and lots of things have happened.
The Good
All the horses now have a secure area of rubber-covered all-weather turnout outside their stables/shelter. Whatever the weather, they'll be able to get outside and stretch their legs without being confined to barracks. There'll be no more hacking out a safe path along the driveway from the stables to the picadeiro to get the boys out for an hour in times of deepest snow and ice, no need to confine mares and babies to stables or worry about paddocks getting trashed when they get waterlogged. Better for them by far and also better for us in terms of husbandry during those rancid winter months when everything is such bloody hard work and even the most steadfast and dedicated of owners start to wonder WHY they put themselves through it.
All the stables and the shelter have been rubber matted so we can cut down a bit on bedding and mucking out will be easier.
The younglings are doing extremely well and are a delight to behold.
The mares have had their first appointment with the dentist and were extremely good. I always wonder what they must think when they have the gag fitted and someone grubbing around in their mouths with a giant rasp which, let's face it, must set up some impressive reverberations inside their heads, but they were model patients and we were delighted. Needless to say, some very sharp teeth were in evidence and now they are no more. Which is nice.
Little Nom has had his first farrier appointment and other than the bit where he opted to keep flinging himself on the floor rather than submit to standing for said farrier (during which I gave thanks for the freshly laid rubber floor), it went really well. He is a precocious little swine wrapped up in the world's cutest foal body and although unsettling for all concerned at the time I think he learned a powerful lesson that flinging oneself around in a pre-teen strop does no real good. Gualter stood like a pro for his second every trim, bless him.
Q continues to do well on his regime, which now involves having his muzzle on during the day and free access to his paddocks overnight. Unfortunately lessons with Mandy have been thin on the ground lately due to conflicting schedules but we did come 4th in the dressage at home series she did (E44) without the benefit of the third and final effort during which we were primed to correct all the things we learned during the process.
T is doing really well in his ridden work even if there isn't enough of it and we had our first canter under saddle last week, very lovely and soft.
We had another Bento clinic, where Q was much calmer second time out.
Knickers is doing well in her weekly work with the boys and it's a huge help to know that they have good sessions three times a week. This is a godsend generally and will be particularly so when it's no longer light by the time I get home.
The Bad
About three weeks ago the boys were both extremely unsettled on the Saturday afternoon, especially Q, who was pacing and completely sweated up in the evening. I brought him in at dusk as usual to his winter paddock and closed the gate, just as I had for the previous couple of weeks. Only this time he either didn't register or didn't care that the gate was in the way and tried to gallop through it. Result: one stallion-shaped dent in the 12' metal gate :O and a very bad nose bleed. I've never dealt with an equine nosebleed before and it was quite horrifying - blood was literally pissing out of his nose and within moments of bringing him in, the yard looked like a scene from a gorn movie. Arggh.
No sooner had we reassured ourselves that we had stemmed the flow than a giant ripping noise emanated from T's field and we found that he was charging around with his shredded rain sheet flapping around his legs. Took a while to get near him to get it off, by which time we were wondering what the bloody hell was going on and what in dawg's name might happen next. We took a walk down the neighbouring fields to check on their horses and see if we could see anything that might be causing the disturbance, tooled up with our pack of dogs and a number of implements for self-protection just in case, but there was nothing obvious other than what looked in the pitch black like a foal that was yelling its head off, in the nearby camp of our travelling friends across the way.
I discovered the following weekend that the "foal" was in fact a shetland pony stallion who'd been liberated by persons unknown from a field a few miles away and mysteriously ended up at said camp. Turns out he was such a handful that they ended up calling the owner to come and fetch him the next day. So the general conclusion is that it was the presence of a small but forceful new stallion presence in the environment that set our boys off and caused the ruckus. Luckily no major harm done and I was both shcoked and extremely relieved that Q suffered nothing worse than the nosebleed and a couple of scrapes on his legs.
The Good
All the horses now have a secure area of rubber-covered all-weather turnout outside their stables/shelter. Whatever the weather, they'll be able to get outside and stretch their legs without being confined to barracks. There'll be no more hacking out a safe path along the driveway from the stables to the picadeiro to get the boys out for an hour in times of deepest snow and ice, no need to confine mares and babies to stables or worry about paddocks getting trashed when they get waterlogged. Better for them by far and also better for us in terms of husbandry during those rancid winter months when everything is such bloody hard work and even the most steadfast and dedicated of owners start to wonder WHY they put themselves through it.
All the stables and the shelter have been rubber matted so we can cut down a bit on bedding and mucking out will be easier.
The younglings are doing extremely well and are a delight to behold.
The mares have had their first appointment with the dentist and were extremely good. I always wonder what they must think when they have the gag fitted and someone grubbing around in their mouths with a giant rasp which, let's face it, must set up some impressive reverberations inside their heads, but they were model patients and we were delighted. Needless to say, some very sharp teeth were in evidence and now they are no more. Which is nice.
Little Nom has had his first farrier appointment and other than the bit where he opted to keep flinging himself on the floor rather than submit to standing for said farrier (during which I gave thanks for the freshly laid rubber floor), it went really well. He is a precocious little swine wrapped up in the world's cutest foal body and although unsettling for all concerned at the time I think he learned a powerful lesson that flinging oneself around in a pre-teen strop does no real good. Gualter stood like a pro for his second every trim, bless him.
Q continues to do well on his regime, which now involves having his muzzle on during the day and free access to his paddocks overnight. Unfortunately lessons with Mandy have been thin on the ground lately due to conflicting schedules but we did come 4th in the dressage at home series she did (E44) without the benefit of the third and final effort during which we were primed to correct all the things we learned during the process.
T is doing really well in his ridden work even if there isn't enough of it and we had our first canter under saddle last week, very lovely and soft.
We had another Bento clinic, where Q was much calmer second time out.
Knickers is doing well in her weekly work with the boys and it's a huge help to know that they have good sessions three times a week. This is a godsend generally and will be particularly so when it's no longer light by the time I get home.
The Bad
About three weeks ago the boys were both extremely unsettled on the Saturday afternoon, especially Q, who was pacing and completely sweated up in the evening. I brought him in at dusk as usual to his winter paddock and closed the gate, just as I had for the previous couple of weeks. Only this time he either didn't register or didn't care that the gate was in the way and tried to gallop through it. Result: one stallion-shaped dent in the 12' metal gate :O and a very bad nose bleed. I've never dealt with an equine nosebleed before and it was quite horrifying - blood was literally pissing out of his nose and within moments of bringing him in, the yard looked like a scene from a gorn movie. Arggh.
No sooner had we reassured ourselves that we had stemmed the flow than a giant ripping noise emanated from T's field and we found that he was charging around with his shredded rain sheet flapping around his legs. Took a while to get near him to get it off, by which time we were wondering what the bloody hell was going on and what in dawg's name might happen next. We took a walk down the neighbouring fields to check on their horses and see if we could see anything that might be causing the disturbance, tooled up with our pack of dogs and a number of implements for self-protection just in case, but there was nothing obvious other than what looked in the pitch black like a foal that was yelling its head off, in the nearby camp of our travelling friends across the way.
I discovered the following weekend that the "foal" was in fact a shetland pony stallion who'd been liberated by persons unknown from a field a few miles away and mysteriously ended up at said camp. Turns out he was such a handful that they ended up calling the owner to come and fetch him the next day. So the general conclusion is that it was the presence of a small but forceful new stallion presence in the environment that set our boys off and caused the ruckus. Luckily no major harm done and I was both shcoked and extremely relieved that Q suffered nothing worse than the nosebleed and a couple of scrapes on his legs.
Thursday 1 September 2011
Good news and bad
Two vet visits over the last 24 hours have given us both good and bad news.
THE BAD NEWS
neither of the girls are pregnant :(
After all the effort (not to mention expense) this is extremely frustrating and disappointing. We're now at the end of the season so there's little we can do and the vets can offer little in terms of why we didn't have more success. We've used the best stud in the area for the boys and the most recommended amongst Luso breeding friends for the AI work but alas it was not to be. There are a few possibilities that I can think of, having discussed it with a number of vets and colleagues:
1) There was possibly some low level uterine infection present which would have made conception difficult. Our vets do not routinely do endometrial swabs (they will certainly be instructed to do so next year) and the absence of fluid is no indicator of itself as to the presence or absence of infection. However, Newmarket vets swab every cycle - ok this is related to live cover considerations but interesting nevertheless.
2) There was some problem with the AI process. The practice in question has a 60% success rate over the season.
3) There are some mares who typically only conceive every other year, and these are likely to be the very maternal ones. As it happens both girls are extremely maternal
4) They weren't good candidates for frozen semen. They were AI'd last year but fresh semen was used.
For next year we are going to install a dummy at home, do an AI technician course and collect the semen ourselves. The only good thing we have got out of it all is that the boys have been trained to the dummy. It will also mean that we can offer chilled as well as frozen.
Interestingly with the girls, the first vet who did their scans had to sedate Xacra, but the second vet didn't find it necessary. It was the first time I've been able to be at home for the scans but Noodle said the first one was quite impatient, which might explain Xacra's reticence. The second vet however was excellent. He also said often he finds horses are less well behaved when the owners are present, which I have heard before from the stud vet. As an owner I'd be mortified if that were the case. Both girls were excellent throughout.
THE GOOD NEWS
Q is back to normal :)
The vet who saw him last week was back today and the difference was immediate when he was turned out in the arena - trotted over to the mares straight away and with a quick free school was markedly better and back to normal in his paces. He also had no reaction to the hoof testers.
He's also lost some weight as a result of the following regime: out with the muzzle during the day, allowed to graze for an hour without in the afternoon and in restricted paddock with the least grass overnight, with a week's course of bute. We'll continue this for another couple of weeks (sans bute) and blood test again after a month to see what the inflammation markers are like. He can be back in work now too.
The farrier is coming tomorrow and the chiro next week.
So, disappointing re the mares but extreme relief that Q is back on track. The vet was very complimentary about him in terms of stallion behaviour, which was lovely.
And Sod's Law being what it is, both boys are now back in work and I have a lurgy. Splendid.
THE BAD NEWS
neither of the girls are pregnant :(
After all the effort (not to mention expense) this is extremely frustrating and disappointing. We're now at the end of the season so there's little we can do and the vets can offer little in terms of why we didn't have more success. We've used the best stud in the area for the boys and the most recommended amongst Luso breeding friends for the AI work but alas it was not to be. There are a few possibilities that I can think of, having discussed it with a number of vets and colleagues:
1) There was possibly some low level uterine infection present which would have made conception difficult. Our vets do not routinely do endometrial swabs (they will certainly be instructed to do so next year) and the absence of fluid is no indicator of itself as to the presence or absence of infection. However, Newmarket vets swab every cycle - ok this is related to live cover considerations but interesting nevertheless.
2) There was some problem with the AI process. The practice in question has a 60% success rate over the season.
3) There are some mares who typically only conceive every other year, and these are likely to be the very maternal ones. As it happens both girls are extremely maternal
4) They weren't good candidates for frozen semen. They were AI'd last year but fresh semen was used.
For next year we are going to install a dummy at home, do an AI technician course and collect the semen ourselves. The only good thing we have got out of it all is that the boys have been trained to the dummy. It will also mean that we can offer chilled as well as frozen.
Interestingly with the girls, the first vet who did their scans had to sedate Xacra, but the second vet didn't find it necessary. It was the first time I've been able to be at home for the scans but Noodle said the first one was quite impatient, which might explain Xacra's reticence. The second vet however was excellent. He also said often he finds horses are less well behaved when the owners are present, which I have heard before from the stud vet. As an owner I'd be mortified if that were the case. Both girls were excellent throughout.
THE GOOD NEWS
Q is back to normal :)
The vet who saw him last week was back today and the difference was immediate when he was turned out in the arena - trotted over to the mares straight away and with a quick free school was markedly better and back to normal in his paces
He's also lost some weight as a result of the following regime: out with the muzzle during the day, allowed to graze for an hour without in the afternoon and in restricted paddock with the least grass overnight, with a week's course of bute. We'll continue this for another couple of weeks (sans bute) and blood test again after a month to see what the inflammation markers are like. He can be back in work now too.
The farrier is coming tomorrow and the chiro next week.
So, disappointing re the mares but extreme relief that Q is back on track. The vet was very complimentary about him in terms of stallion behaviour, which was lovely.
And Sod's Law being what it is, both boys are now back in work and I have a lurgy. Splendid.
Friday 26 August 2011
Autumnal doings
I may have mentioned that Q was a bit of a slug when I rode on Sunday, but that's not unusual. On Monday we free schooled him and he looked a bit choppy in front. It does happen occasionally, usually when he's been doing star jumps in the field. We were due to box out for a lesson at a nearby yard on Tuesday but he still wasn't right so I cancelled and gave the vet a call, who came out on Wednesday. She found a slight reaction with the hoof testers so it's possible he's had a mild attack of laminitis :(
The problem is that we can't keep him in without him weaving incessantly so agreed to put him on restricted grazing and a course of bute. This was ok at first but this morning I found he had worn a path along the fence line :sigh: so in an effort to keep movement to a minimum I've got two options: 1) try Zylkene, a natural calmer and/or 2) put a grazing muzzle on him and let him wander at will. On balance I think he will be less stressed if he can move about to keep an eye on the mares as normal but not stuff himself with grass, so we'll try that.
We had a blood test done which showed a slight elevation in the markers which indicate some inflammation, so he's got a week's course of bute and we'll reassess with the vet next week. Argh - I hate it when there's something wrong with any of the creatures.
Meanwhile, I rode T this morning who was clearly full of vim and vigour. Not one iota of relaxation was to be had in the in hand warmup but I decided to ride him anyway since if we are going to move forward I can't just rely on only riding him when the planets are aligned. Besides which if I have faith in the new-found levels of trust building between us then it's as good a test as any. So he started piaffing as soon as I got on but settled (ish) to a rather animated walk and we put hoof prints all over the school with circles, serpentines etc followed with some lateral work. Up to trot and he was full of beans but listening, though I can't say he ever really relaxed through his back or stretched out to the contact as with previous rides; instead he was a bit sucked up throughout but the tempo was easily managed and he was good. It's quite a thing having all that energy to play with (!), strapped to half a ton of very animated stallion.
Knickers then appeared with the wheelbarrow and he decided it would be a good thing to show off to her (?) and immediately launched into a passage which we might still be doing even now if it were up to him, and I must confess I did enjoy it. Even a slight firming of the lower back gave a transition to piaffe - man he's sensitive! - but I couldn't let it go on even if I was rather enjoying it as he's not really that fit, so pushed him forward into trot. We had a couple of canters on the spot followed by the nearest approximation to a stretchy trot that we were going to get, and I left it there, pleased to have ridden the Rocket Man through it but not wishing to push it too much.
Otherwise, it's raining, and raining and raining. I brought the girls into their shelter so that the younglings could lie down in the dry, which of course has set Q off wanting to know where they are. It's a juggling act and sometimes you just can't win.
Meanwhile Xacra, who has been making good progress in the hind feet picking out stakes, nearly kicked my head off the other night. It's always that right hind and always when she fears losing her balance, so I am going to ask Tessa to look at her and see if there is any adjustment to do. I think a course of Zylkene will benefit her for this and the forthcoming farrier visit next week, as he couldn't get ner her hind feet last time and they really need a trim. I just need to determine that it's safe for nursing mares.
Final meanwhile: after a Super Noodle effort, all bar two stables are now rubber matted and the dog pen is finished. Once Pheel comes to do the work on the remaining two stables we can finish them off and get the shelter done. Then all that remains is to get two more loads of hardcore in (9am tomorrow) so that the boys can come and finish off everyone's all weather turnout areas.
Never boring is it.
The problem is that we can't keep him in without him weaving incessantly so agreed to put him on restricted grazing and a course of bute. This was ok at first but this morning I found he had worn a path along the fence line :sigh: so in an effort to keep movement to a minimum I've got two options: 1) try Zylkene, a natural calmer and/or 2) put a grazing muzzle on him and let him wander at will. On balance I think he will be less stressed if he can move about to keep an eye on the mares as normal but not stuff himself with grass, so we'll try that.
We had a blood test done which showed a slight elevation in the markers which indicate some inflammation, so he's got a week's course of bute and we'll reassess with the vet next week. Argh - I hate it when there's something wrong with any of the creatures.
Meanwhile, I rode T this morning who was clearly full of vim and vigour. Not one iota of relaxation was to be had in the in hand warmup but I decided to ride him anyway since if we are going to move forward I can't just rely on only riding him when the planets are aligned. Besides which if I have faith in the new-found levels of trust building between us then it's as good a test as any. So he started piaffing as soon as I got on but settled (ish) to a rather animated walk and we put hoof prints all over the school with circles, serpentines etc followed with some lateral work. Up to trot and he was full of beans but listening, though I can't say he ever really relaxed through his back or stretched out to the contact as with previous rides; instead he was a bit sucked up throughout but the tempo was easily managed and he was good. It's quite a thing having all that energy to play with (!), strapped to half a ton of very animated stallion.
Knickers then appeared with the wheelbarrow and he decided it would be a good thing to show off to her (?) and immediately launched into a passage which we might still be doing even now if it were up to him, and I must confess I did enjoy it. Even a slight firming of the lower back gave a transition to piaffe - man he's sensitive! - but I couldn't let it go on even if I was rather enjoying it as he's not really that fit, so pushed him forward into trot. We had a couple of canters on the spot followed by the nearest approximation to a stretchy trot that we were going to get, and I left it there, pleased to have ridden the Rocket Man through it but not wishing to push it too much.
Otherwise, it's raining, and raining and raining. I brought the girls into their shelter so that the younglings could lie down in the dry, which of course has set Q off wanting to know where they are. It's a juggling act and sometimes you just can't win.
Meanwhile Xacra, who has been making good progress in the hind feet picking out stakes, nearly kicked my head off the other night. It's always that right hind and always when she fears losing her balance, so I am going to ask Tessa to look at her and see if there is any adjustment to do. I think a course of Zylkene will benefit her for this and the forthcoming farrier visit next week, as he couldn't get ner her hind feet last time and they really need a trim. I just need to determine that it's safe for nursing mares.
Final meanwhile: after a Super Noodle effort, all bar two stables are now rubber matted and the dog pen is finished. Once Pheel comes to do the work on the remaining two stables we can finish them off and get the shelter done. Then all that remains is to get two more loads of hardcore in (9am tomorrow) so that the boys can come and finish off everyone's all weather turnout areas.
Never boring is it.
Sunday 21 August 2011
Lifestyle stuff
This probably deserves its own entry as it's been a bit of a revelation, as well as completely unexpected.
It all started at the Bento clinic I attended back at the end of July, where there were many exhortations from the great man to develop my ridden position, as well as opportunities to discuss with mates the perils of hitting that particular time of life where you can no longer eat as much cake as you want without developing your own muffin-esque waistline accoutrements. I've no real idea what it was specifically that has galvanised me into action but the effect of it has been quite noticeable and I've ended up doing things that I never really considered as applying to me. I'm wondering if it is the onset of some sort of midlfe crisis and worry that if I'm not careful I may soon be driving a Porsche.
First I decided (after some years of cogitation along the lines of "ah yes, I really should get my beans in a row to do this..", it must be noted) to join a Pilates class for general posture and flexibility. So I looked into the available options and decided that the only feasible way I could cram it in would be to attend a class at the gym at work. It didn't really occur to me that actually joining the gym would be a realistic course of action until I weighed up the financial options, which it turned out were stacked against me:
1) Operate on a pay as you go basis, paying £5.50 per class plus a £25 "admin fee", or
2) Join said gym at a cost of £26 per month
As the people who run things at the gym know very well, two classes per week @ £5.50 a pop make little economic sense, so I was forced to conclude that joining would be the way forward. I tried to persuade a number of friends and colleagues to come along with me but in the end was forced to conclude that I was on my own and must therefore grow a pair and go on my own - feeling, it must be said, like a mildly wobbly fraud at the very idea. So off I toddled, completed the relevant paperwork, handed over my fee and booked my induction.
Meanwhile, back at the clinic my friend Susan was telling me all about how her own Pilates adventures had transformed her riding and how she had consulted a nutritionist to discuss dietary changes to help both lose a bit of weight and gain some much needed energy levels. She's in the same position as me in that she works in London, commutes a long way by train in order to fund the lifestyle, only to find she has very little energy to devote to her homestead and horses by the time she gets home. Hmm. All sounds very familiar, Rachibum, does it not.
Anyway, according to said nutritionist, the mistake that many people make is not having protein for breakfast. Aha! Although I was feeling pretty pleased with my exisitng quite healthy granola, fruit and natural yogurt breakfasts, neither those nor my propensity to opt for a plate full of carbs at lunch were doing me any favours in the energy stakes, so an overhaul was called for. What the nutritionist recommended was this:
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=2521&prodid=2786&cid=141&sid=0
First impressions on trying it were along the lines of "Christ, that's really rancid" but in fact it grows on you, and particularly once you realise just how good it is at delivering both energy and satiety for a good few hours. Result!
Next step was to ditch the lunch time carbs in favour of a salad and some protein, which also helps. As a result I have found that my appetite has been steadily shrinking to more manageable levels so I'm eating a lot less at night, too, and what's more I find I am tending towards more healthy suppers, give or take the odd pizza or kebab. I never thought I'd see the day and it reminded me of a "health and wellbeing" course that I attended at work last year which cited all these things - healthy diet, exercise, not so much cake, yadda yadda yadda.
What's more, I've been going to the gym three times a week and really rather enjoying it. Of all the things I might reasonably be expected to blog about, this wasn't one of them. And it's spreading! Sid is becoming a firm fan of shakes, having discovered that if you whisk them well they are much more palatable, and as a family unit we are starting to favour them even as weekend breakfasts for the energy and general good feelings that they engender. Who knew it would come to this? It's very obvious if you then have something like a bacon butty instead just how much of a sap in energy levels that gives by comparison.
So if I sound like a religious zealot expounded the virtues of my new found godhead then so be it, I don't care. It's helped me no end through the weekend's rubber humping endeavours, I can tell you. And I'm writing this not only as an aide memoire should I slip from the path of virtue, but also to spread the good tidings to anyone who, like me, suffers from a lack of energy and really wants to do something lest they bury themselves under a compensatory mountain of cake and coffee.
It all started at the Bento clinic I attended back at the end of July, where there were many exhortations from the great man to develop my ridden position, as well as opportunities to discuss with mates the perils of hitting that particular time of life where you can no longer eat as much cake as you want without developing your own muffin-esque waistline accoutrements. I've no real idea what it was specifically that has galvanised me into action but the effect of it has been quite noticeable and I've ended up doing things that I never really considered as applying to me. I'm wondering if it is the onset of some sort of midlfe crisis and worry that if I'm not careful I may soon be driving a Porsche.
First I decided (after some years of cogitation along the lines of "ah yes, I really should get my beans in a row to do this..", it must be noted) to join a Pilates class for general posture and flexibility. So I looked into the available options and decided that the only feasible way I could cram it in would be to attend a class at the gym at work. It didn't really occur to me that actually joining the gym would be a realistic course of action until I weighed up the financial options, which it turned out were stacked against me:
1) Operate on a pay as you go basis, paying £5.50 per class plus a £25 "admin fee", or
2) Join said gym at a cost of £26 per month
As the people who run things at the gym know very well, two classes per week @ £5.50 a pop make little economic sense, so I was forced to conclude that joining would be the way forward. I tried to persuade a number of friends and colleagues to come along with me but in the end was forced to conclude that I was on my own and must therefore grow a pair and go on my own - feeling, it must be said, like a mildly wobbly fraud at the very idea. So off I toddled, completed the relevant paperwork, handed over my fee and booked my induction.
Meanwhile, back at the clinic my friend Susan was telling me all about how her own Pilates adventures had transformed her riding and how she had consulted a nutritionist to discuss dietary changes to help both lose a bit of weight and gain some much needed energy levels. She's in the same position as me in that she works in London, commutes a long way by train in order to fund the lifestyle, only to find she has very little energy to devote to her homestead and horses by the time she gets home. Hmm. All sounds very familiar, Rachibum, does it not.
Anyway, according to said nutritionist, the mistake that many people make is not having protein for breakfast. Aha! Although I was feeling pretty pleased with my exisitng quite healthy granola, fruit and natural yogurt breakfasts, neither those nor my propensity to opt for a plate full of carbs at lunch were doing me any favours in the energy stakes, so an overhaul was called for. What the nutritionist recommended was this:
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=2521&prodid=2786&cid=141&sid=0
First impressions on trying it were along the lines of "Christ, that's really rancid" but in fact it grows on you, and particularly once you realise just how good it is at delivering both energy and satiety for a good few hours. Result!
Next step was to ditch the lunch time carbs in favour of a salad and some protein, which also helps. As a result I have found that my appetite has been steadily shrinking to more manageable levels so I'm eating a lot less at night, too, and what's more I find I am tending towards more healthy suppers, give or take the odd pizza or kebab. I never thought I'd see the day and it reminded me of a "health and wellbeing" course that I attended at work last year which cited all these things - healthy diet, exercise, not so much cake, yadda yadda yadda.
What's more, I've been going to the gym three times a week and really rather enjoying it. Of all the things I might reasonably be expected to blog about, this wasn't one of them. And it's spreading! Sid is becoming a firm fan of shakes, having discovered that if you whisk them well they are much more palatable, and as a family unit we are starting to favour them even as weekend breakfasts for the energy and general good feelings that they engender. Who knew it would come to this? It's very obvious if you then have something like a bacon butty instead just how much of a sap in energy levels that gives by comparison.
So if I sound like a religious zealot expounded the virtues of my new found godhead then so be it, I don't care. It's helped me no end through the weekend's rubber humping endeavours, I can tell you. And I'm writing this not only as an aide memoire should I slip from the path of virtue, but also to spread the good tidings to anyone who, like me, suffers from a lack of energy and really wants to do something lest they bury themselves under a compensatory mountain of cake and coffee.
Catch up
You'll be unsurprised to learn that things at Luso Towers have been very busy. In the last entry I mentioned that we had collected two trailer loads of rubber matting a couple of weeks back, which was followed the next morning by another trailer load delivered courtesy of Pheel's boys. So that's three loads of matting, and in case you wondered how much rubber matting it is possible to fit in to one 12 x 12 stable, the answer is three trailer loads - so long as you don't plan to close the stable door afterwards. That's a lot of rubber.
Over the last couple of days we have hauled, humped and dragged what must be several hundredweight of the stuff into stables and spent equivalent amounts of time power hosing it down, with the result that six of the nine stables are now fitted out. Which is nice. Plus we all now look like Geoff Capes. We can't do the others until the mods are finished, but it looks as though there will be enough left over to do the shelters and the dog run (!).
Our little herd is all back together after their sojourn at the vet clinic and I am trying not to think about whether, after the injection of (a) a bucket load of cash and (b) several doses of frozen semen, the girls are indeed pregnant. Argh. Plenty of distractions, not the least of which was the final push to get all the forms signed off and completed to send off for the younglings' passports. Only time will tell whether Gualter's passport will arrive in time to take him and Alfama to the breed show.
Meanwhile preps are under way to bring T up to fitness for the proposed classes, and he has been going very well indeed. Each ride finds him more relaxed and with progress to report - less tension on the left rein and trot work really going very well. Hitherto I've been pleased to get some softness during the course of the trot but today for the first time we kept it through transitions and changes of rein on both reins, and I really feel we are starting to gel. He is an extraordinary horse to ride and I can't express what joy it is to finally feel I am getting somewhere and that he is really enjoying his work. Knickers is working both boys three times per week, which is a huge help, and she is really enjoying it. Good lads they are.
We're trying to get a rider over from Portugal to present him at the breed show but logistics all need to be worked out, so I've been busy trying to work out what is possible too. And best of all, I now have a week off work to immerse myself in horsey doings, and hopefully get Pheel to start on the outstanding work to finish off the all weather turnout areas, convert one of the stables into a cross tie bay and the other into a larger stable for possible weaning or foaling. Not to mention ideas to try to convert an area into a covering room for a dummy.
In other news Franklin D. Husky has had his plums whipped off and was feeling very sorry for himself, but is bouncing back with the amazing powers of recovery possessed only by the young and vital. He's confined to walks on the lead for a few days but coping pretty well.
Over the last couple of days we have hauled, humped and dragged what must be several hundredweight of the stuff into stables and spent equivalent amounts of time power hosing it down, with the result that six of the nine stables are now fitted out. Which is nice. Plus we all now look like Geoff Capes. We can't do the others until the mods are finished, but it looks as though there will be enough left over to do the shelters and the dog run (!).
Our little herd is all back together after their sojourn at the vet clinic and I am trying not to think about whether, after the injection of (a) a bucket load of cash and (b) several doses of frozen semen, the girls are indeed pregnant. Argh. Plenty of distractions, not the least of which was the final push to get all the forms signed off and completed to send off for the younglings' passports. Only time will tell whether Gualter's passport will arrive in time to take him and Alfama to the breed show.
Meanwhile preps are under way to bring T up to fitness for the proposed classes, and he has been going very well indeed. Each ride finds him more relaxed and with progress to report - less tension on the left rein and trot work really going very well. Hitherto I've been pleased to get some softness during the course of the trot but today for the first time we kept it through transitions and changes of rein on both reins, and I really feel we are starting to gel. He is an extraordinary horse to ride and I can't express what joy it is to finally feel I am getting somewhere and that he is really enjoying his work. Knickers is working both boys three times per week, which is a huge help, and she is really enjoying it. Good lads they are.
We're trying to get a rider over from Portugal to present him at the breed show but logistics all need to be worked out, so I've been busy trying to work out what is possible too. And best of all, I now have a week off work to immerse myself in horsey doings, and hopefully get Pheel to start on the outstanding work to finish off the all weather turnout areas, convert one of the stables into a cross tie bay and the other into a larger stable for possible weaning or foaling. Not to mention ideas to try to convert an area into a covering room for a dummy.
In other news Franklin D. Husky has had his plums whipped off and was feeling very sorry for himself, but is bouncing back with the amazing powers of recovery possessed only by the young and vital. He's confined to walks on the lead for a few days but coping pretty well.
Sunday 7 August 2011
Long weekend, ups and downs
The vet came on Wednesday to scan the girls, only to find that Alfama had a particularly ripe follicle necessitating that we got her in for AI at our earliest convenience. As a result I took a couple of days off and arranged to take her and Gualter in on Thursday. It took a bit of convincing to get Gualter on the trailer and judging by the way he leapt up into it I believe his issue to be that he doesn't want to step on the ramp. It was quite a sight seeing a gazelle-like leaping colt heading straight for me, but he managed to miss both me and the ramp, at which feat I was personally very impressed.
On arrival at the vets we took them straight into the barn for Alfama to be scanned again. This was particularly intersting to me because although the girls have been scanned many times this season, it was the first time that I've been on hand to see what a ripe-ish follicle looks like. We turned them out in what might now be considered their usual paddock, and drove back home. Most of the rest of the afternoon was taken up transferring wood to the new wood pile and taking the dogs for a long walk. By the time I'd finished I was too battered to ride - I really should learn to ride first then do other jobs afterwards, because thinking "oh I'll just..." really Does Not Work. In the evening we had a chap round to discuss some land matters, at which point T decided to put on a show for him involving flat gallops, caprioles, pings, star jumps and flirting displays to the mares, and I'm really not sure whether it was T or I who were the most surprised that the chap took No Notice Whatosver. Funny.
We had a very busy day on Friday, cleaning up the garden, putting the roof on the wood pile (involving standing on tip toe on top of a ladder, banging nails into onduline sheets at precarious angles) etc etc. Knickers went off to do some stuff with a friend at 2ish so all that remained for me was to work both boys, hump more wood and walk the dogs, what with Sid pulling 16+ hour days and being effectively welded to his laptop. It was the first time the dogs had been out with only one of us and, aside from the incident with the rotten rabbit's head that Frankie was particularly wanting to protect at all costs, it went really well and they were very manageable on the lead. Interesting that they stayed closer and were more attentive than when there are two of us out walking them.
Saturday was also extremely busy. Pheel had called a couple of days before to see if we wanted enough rubber matting to fit out all the stables at a very good price (yes please), which necessitated being round to his with the trailer for 8am to follow him to the place where we were to get the rubber, waiting while his boys loaded the trailer then driving back and unloading it into one of the stables. For anyone out there that has never unloaded a trailer full of heavy duty rubber matting, I can tell you that it is bloody heavy, and hard work. One trailer load done, I went back to collect the second load, return and repeat in between a visit from Tessa; chiropractor, adviser on all things vegetable garden, dogs and all round good egg. I can advise that unloading two trailer loads of heavy duty rubber matting is even harder work than doing one. And it had to be done, because I gave Xacra her prostaglandin injection on Wednesday evening and we had to take her to the vets that afternoon, so we needed the trailer.
So with no pause for anything so civilsed as a break, we loaded up Xacra and Golfinho and undertook the hour's drive to the vets to drop her off. Again we took her straight to the stocks to be scanned (follicle not developed enough) while Golfinho took the opportunity to investigate everything, knock things over and generally cause a ruckus. Our little herd were reunited with much nickering in the paddock while we did the necessary paperwork, then loaded up Alfama and Gualter for the journey home. Very pleased that Gualter loaded much better this time, and even deigned to put foot to ramp, if only for milliseconds before clattering into the trailer at speed. Another hour back home, by which point it was about 4:30. Ordinarily we'd have had a lighter evening of it but had invited our excellent neighbours round for a barbie and had all the preps to do, so there followed a period frenetic activity to get it all done, and we were just back on top of things as they arrived (phew). Had a really lovely evening which was much more civilised than our last get together, when we all got completely battered on the last of our sloe gin and spent the evening dancing wildly on their lawn.
All of that was the good stuff, but the bad news is that we lost one of the goats, Gerry, on Saturday night :(
Not sure what it was but the goat sanctuary have also been losing quite a number of their MoD goats of late - she was always the least vigorous of the three, as well as the oldest. Poor old girl :(
Needless to say, losing an animal that is classed as livestock requires different handling than losing a pet, so we had to call round to find a licensed carrier to dispose of her body because it's against the law to bury it. We had to wrap her in a tarp and drag the body to a collection point for the lorry, which is coming tomorrow. Very sad business, but at least she had a nice life with us for a few months as part of T's posse of goatie girlies. RIP Gerry :(
On arrival at the vets we took them straight into the barn for Alfama to be scanned again. This was particularly intersting to me because although the girls have been scanned many times this season, it was the first time that I've been on hand to see what a ripe-ish follicle looks like. We turned them out in what might now be considered their usual paddock, and drove back home. Most of the rest of the afternoon was taken up transferring wood to the new wood pile and taking the dogs for a long walk. By the time I'd finished I was too battered to ride - I really should learn to ride first then do other jobs afterwards, because thinking "oh I'll just..." really Does Not Work. In the evening we had a chap round to discuss some land matters, at which point T decided to put on a show for him involving flat gallops, caprioles, pings, star jumps and flirting displays to the mares, and I'm really not sure whether it was T or I who were the most surprised that the chap took No Notice Whatosver. Funny.
We had a very busy day on Friday, cleaning up the garden, putting the roof on the wood pile (involving standing on tip toe on top of a ladder, banging nails into onduline sheets at precarious angles) etc etc. Knickers went off to do some stuff with a friend at 2ish so all that remained for me was to work both boys, hump more wood and walk the dogs, what with Sid pulling 16+ hour days and being effectively welded to his laptop. It was the first time the dogs had been out with only one of us and, aside from the incident with the rotten rabbit's head that Frankie was particularly wanting to protect at all costs, it went really well and they were very manageable on the lead. Interesting that they stayed closer and were more attentive than when there are two of us out walking them.
Saturday was also extremely busy. Pheel had called a couple of days before to see if we wanted enough rubber matting to fit out all the stables at a very good price (yes please), which necessitated being round to his with the trailer for 8am to follow him to the place where we were to get the rubber, waiting while his boys loaded the trailer then driving back and unloading it into one of the stables. For anyone out there that has never unloaded a trailer full of heavy duty rubber matting, I can tell you that it is bloody heavy, and hard work. One trailer load done, I went back to collect the second load, return and repeat in between a visit from Tessa; chiropractor, adviser on all things vegetable garden, dogs and all round good egg. I can advise that unloading two trailer loads of heavy duty rubber matting is even harder work than doing one. And it had to be done, because I gave Xacra her prostaglandin injection on Wednesday evening and we had to take her to the vets that afternoon, so we needed the trailer.
So with no pause for anything so civilsed as a break, we loaded up Xacra and Golfinho and undertook the hour's drive to the vets to drop her off. Again we took her straight to the stocks to be scanned (follicle not developed enough) while Golfinho took the opportunity to investigate everything, knock things over and generally cause a ruckus. Our little herd were reunited with much nickering in the paddock while we did the necessary paperwork, then loaded up Alfama and Gualter for the journey home. Very pleased that Gualter loaded much better this time, and even deigned to put foot to ramp, if only for milliseconds before clattering into the trailer at speed. Another hour back home, by which point it was about 4:30. Ordinarily we'd have had a lighter evening of it but had invited our excellent neighbours round for a barbie and had all the preps to do, so there followed a period frenetic activity to get it all done, and we were just back on top of things as they arrived (phew). Had a really lovely evening which was much more civilised than our last get together, when we all got completely battered on the last of our sloe gin and spent the evening dancing wildly on their lawn.
All of that was the good stuff, but the bad news is that we lost one of the goats, Gerry, on Saturday night :(
Not sure what it was but the goat sanctuary have also been losing quite a number of their MoD goats of late - she was always the least vigorous of the three, as well as the oldest. Poor old girl :(
Needless to say, losing an animal that is classed as livestock requires different handling than losing a pet, so we had to call round to find a licensed carrier to dispose of her body because it's against the law to bury it. We had to wrap her in a tarp and drag the body to a collection point for the lorry, which is coming tomorrow. Very sad business, but at least she had a nice life with us for a few months as part of T's posse of goatie girlies. RIP Gerry :(
Thursday 28 July 2011
Registration
So today the boys had their papers done for passport registration and to become fully paid up members of Club Lusitano. Well most of them anyway - reading through the breed society paperwork last night I realised that we hadn't received a covering certificate from the breeder which includes the third (!) outline diagram to be completed by vitnery. Why there always has to be something noticed only at the last gasp defeats me, but there it is. Certificates en route from stud sec and we'll get those done asap.
We decided to put Golfinho's headcollar on this morning before I left for work, so he wouldn't associate it with being jabbed with a large and scary needle (microchip) and a smaller one (tetanus). And just as well. Gualter of course was the uber colt, standing for his doings like the fabulous little big man that he is, while little Nom was having none of it! Knickers had to call in reinforcements (Sid) and the two of them kept him still long enough for the jabs to be done and his whorls and markings appropriately inspected. Vitnery reckons he will stay that colour, which I am delighted about. He is such a little swine :)
Meanwhile the girls have been scanned, and we've just missed Xacra's season. Even surrounded by stallions, she shows no signs of heat whatsoever *sigh* so we are faced with the choicce of a PG injection to bring her forward again, with the increased risk of a haemorrhagic follicle, or wait and be really quite late in the season. Argh. Alfama is due in about 10 days, and we have two doses of frozen semen from each of the boys on standby at the vet clinic.
Yesterday Sid had occasion to call in the AA to take his poorly car to a specialist garage, and it turned out that said AA man was a keen breeder himself and dedicated stallion owner, so rather randomly the two of them spent the best part of an hour exchanging notes and ideas about stallion handling, breeding and general horse management. Who'd have thought?
Also yesterday we took delivery of some 15 tonnes of rubber, which will be used in the all weather turnout areas for everyone. The next step is for young Pheel to come round with his giant tool and spread it all over the hardcore.
In other news, Frankie is settling in very well; we took them out for an hour tonight and played hide & seek in the long grass. I thoroughly recommend this as a de-stressing exercise after a busy day, but caution fellow hay fever sufferers that it's probably better to take your antihistamines beforehand than afterwards, when your eyes have puffed up and and you nose is simultaneously blocked and running.
Looking forward to the weekend and the Bento clinic - report to follow. I stopped in at Frogpool on the way home tonight and availed myself of a new black saddle cloth with gold piping - s'nice.
We decided to put Golfinho's headcollar on this morning before I left for work, so he wouldn't associate it with being jabbed with a large and scary needle (microchip) and a smaller one (tetanus). And just as well. Gualter of course was the uber colt, standing for his doings like the fabulous little big man that he is, while little Nom was having none of it! Knickers had to call in reinforcements (Sid) and the two of them kept him still long enough for the jabs to be done and his whorls and markings appropriately inspected. Vitnery reckons he will stay that colour, which I am delighted about. He is such a little swine :)
Meanwhile the girls have been scanned, and we've just missed Xacra's season. Even surrounded by stallions, she shows no signs of heat whatsoever *sigh* so we are faced with the choicce of a PG injection to bring her forward again, with the increased risk of a haemorrhagic follicle, or wait and be really quite late in the season. Argh. Alfama is due in about 10 days, and we have two doses of frozen semen from each of the boys on standby at the vet clinic.
Yesterday Sid had occasion to call in the AA to take his poorly car to a specialist garage, and it turned out that said AA man was a keen breeder himself and dedicated stallion owner, so rather randomly the two of them spent the best part of an hour exchanging notes and ideas about stallion handling, breeding and general horse management. Who'd have thought?
Also yesterday we took delivery of some 15 tonnes of rubber, which will be used in the all weather turnout areas for everyone. The next step is for young Pheel to come round with his giant tool and spread it all over the hardcore.
In other news, Frankie is settling in very well; we took them out for an hour tonight and played hide & seek in the long grass. I thoroughly recommend this as a de-stressing exercise after a busy day, but caution fellow hay fever sufferers that it's probably better to take your antihistamines beforehand than afterwards, when your eyes have puffed up and and you nose is simultaneously blocked and running.
Looking forward to the weekend and the Bento clinic - report to follow. I stopped in at Frogpool on the way home tonight and availed myself of a new black saddle cloth with gold piping - s'nice.
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Back in the saddle, and other matters
On Saturday I decided that it was time to ride T for the first time since his injury, which has kept him out of action for almost six months now. The trot work in hand is building up nicely and there's less evidence of the very slight unlevelness we saw after he came back from stud, so I'm feeling confident that we can continue building him up slowly. Besides, if he keeps himself sound out in the field 24/7 throwing shapes for the mares the I'm pretty sure he is doing ok. Spent about 10-15 minutes riding, looking for stretching and relaxing over the back and a few steps of SI. Well, I’m not sure there was much in the way of relaxation; plenty of energy bubbling up though contained, he did feel like an unexploded bomb with a tendency to curl up in front, but then it was his first ride in ages. Amazing to be back in the saddle again and I am looking forward to developing the relaxation levels with him as the work progresses. We've also recommenced the Rachen-Schoenich (or however you spell it) straightening work which is helping him hugely, as I found during my second ride tonight which found him much more relaxed and apt to stretch to the contact. He's enjoying being back in work and is back to his calm and mannered self with a liitle routine to intersperse the Wild Man of Kent lifestyle he's been living.
I might add at this juncture that updating one's blog with laptop held in crook of an arm while typing one-handed on account of the presence of a cat on one's lap can best be described as "sub-optimal". Isn't it Slim.
In other news, the farrier came on Friday and the girls were done in the field. Gualter stood for his second ever trim completely at liberty - at the tender age of 3.5 months old. How cool is that? Golfinho had his first look over from Robin and lifted his legs very politely (again at liberty) but hasn't had a trim yet. The next thing for them will be the vet visit to do the forms, take the DNA sample and microchip them so that they can get their passports. As for the girls, Alfama was an old hand but Xacra had the wind up her tail and was very antsy about her back feet – I suspected this might happen as she relies on me very heavily mentally and I kind of knew she doesn’t yet have that relationship with Knickers that allows her to lean on her quite so much in times of need. She oscillates a bit with her back feet and recently we had a couple of moments of concern as little Nom would come and nibble my head while I was doing a hind foot so I ended up fending him off while doing her feet and it got a bit much for her, shaking her fragile confidence and meaning that we've had to regroup a bit. We’ve taken to leaving the three of them in the corral while we do her feet in the field, which is fine until little Nom starts throwing shapes along the fence and winding everyone up :) How he fits all that personality in such a little body defeats me.
I might add at this juncture that updating one's blog with laptop held in crook of an arm while typing one-handed on account of the presence of a cat on one's lap can best be described as "sub-optimal". Isn't it Slim.
In other news, the farrier came on Friday and the girls were done in the field. Gualter stood for his second ever trim completely at liberty - at the tender age of 3.5 months old. How cool is that? Golfinho had his first look over from Robin and lifted his legs very politely (again at liberty) but hasn't had a trim yet. The next thing for them will be the vet visit to do the forms, take the DNA sample and microchip them so that they can get their passports. As for the girls, Alfama was an old hand but Xacra had the wind up her tail and was very antsy about her back feet – I suspected this might happen as she relies on me very heavily mentally and I kind of knew she doesn’t yet have that relationship with Knickers that allows her to lean on her quite so much in times of need. She oscillates a bit with her back feet and recently we had a couple of moments of concern as little Nom would come and nibble my head while I was doing a hind foot so I ended up fending him off while doing her feet and it got a bit much for her, shaking her fragile confidence and meaning that we've had to regroup a bit. We’ve taken to leaving the three of them in the corral while we do her feet in the field, which is fine until little Nom starts throwing shapes along the fence and winding everyone up :) How he fits all that personality in such a little body defeats me.
On Friday evening I had a lesson with Mandy, first time since being back from Portugal. We did a fair bit of lateral work based around the milling exercise, moving into shoulder in while keeping the collect afforded by the milling, and working that into a stretch, looking for mouthing of the bit, which we got on the left rein but not the right. We then worked on transitions within the trot, using school shapes to assist but always looking to keep the throughness. We finished off with some canter work to maintain straightness and impulsion.
On Saturday it was Noodle's turn to have a lesson on Q, so I rode him first to make sure he was settled and ready. He was a bit skittish and spooky, deciding that the floating heads of Mandy and Knickers outside the school were quite scary so we had a good canter to settle him and from then on he was fine. Noodle spent the first ten minutes off the lunge doing some basic turning work, with Q very politely ignoring little Nom who was taking an interest along the fence. What a good lad. Noodle has a lot of trust in Q as well which helps her confidence hugely and she knows she doesn’t have to worry about him. I think this is really remarkable in all sorts of ways and is a testament both to that marvellous Luso temperament and Noodle's level of comfort in working with him. Afterwards back on the lunge to work on her rising trot and I must say she has come on in leaps and bounds, so very pleased with how she did.
On Sunday we found ourselves going to look at a dog that needed a new home, against my better judgement. I know I know, but I blame Sid and Noodle. I’ve decided not to let the two of them out on their own again as this is the second time this has happened. The story was that a couple were looking for a home for their Husky x Collie (!) 5 month old puppy as their young son is highly allergic to him. Of course, I knew that if we went we’d end up coming back with him, but I made sure I agreed with the owners that we would take him on a trial basis to make sure he was ok with the cats. Anyway we brought him home and he (Frankie) was an instant hit with Dora and Willow particularly, and they have formed a happy trio in no time flat. His first introduction to cats was a pasting from Binky and Poppy, neither of whom take any prisoners, so he has been very polite – even lying on the kitchen floor while Slim and Binky took up residence in his bed :) Since then he has settled in very well and the signs appear to be promising. So now we have:
6 horses
3 dogs
5 cats
3 goats
10 chickens
That's 27 creatures.
Friday 15 July 2011
Go Noodle
We had a really nice session with the boys this evening: Q first, who is a little plump sausage of Luso loveliness from enjoying the grazing far too much whilst Noodle and I were away. We both need to embark upon a fittening programme in time for our forthcoming Bento clinic, where I fully expect us both to boil our bananas off if we do not sharpen ourselves up a bit.
In any event we had a very good session and it is always the greatest of pleasures to sit on him again after riding other horses, however splendid or well trained they happen to be. Afterwards I gave Noodle a lunge lesson and she has made excellent progress over the last couple of weeks - rising trot is unrecognisable for one thing but more than that she had her first canters on Q! Really pleased with how it went for her, nice and balanced back to the trot again too, and of course Q was the consummate schoolmaster, expecting only adoration and kisses for his forbearance :)
Worked T again, who is looking much better and in very good shape - well covered and happy to be doing something. Well - I say that but when I went to fetch him he was in his stable and wandered off up the field when he saw the headcollar. I wandered off after him, he stopped and looked around, then trotted off into the next field before stopping to look again. Seeing me still in pursuit, he cantered off to the furthese point in his summer paddock to exchange pleasantries with Q, and waited for me to approach before cantering off again back to his winter paddock. Seeing me still in dogged pursuit, he clearly thought "oh alright then" and walked up to me to put his nose in the headcollar. It's the Vicar of Dibley "no, no, no, oh alright then".
Meanwhile the girls have been scanned and Alfama is not pregnant, so we are considering whether live cover mightn't be such a bad thing after all. We can fashion a teasing wall easily enough and use the picadeiro for covering, so we are currently considering our options.
In any event we had a very good session and it is always the greatest of pleasures to sit on him again after riding other horses, however splendid or well trained they happen to be. Afterwards I gave Noodle a lunge lesson and she has made excellent progress over the last couple of weeks - rising trot is unrecognisable for one thing but more than that she had her first canters on Q! Really pleased with how it went for her, nice and balanced back to the trot again too, and of course Q was the consummate schoolmaster, expecting only adoration and kisses for his forbearance :)
Worked T again, who is looking much better and in very good shape - well covered and happy to be doing something. Well - I say that but when I went to fetch him he was in his stable and wandered off up the field when he saw the headcollar. I wandered off after him, he stopped and looked around, then trotted off into the next field before stopping to look again. Seeing me still in pursuit, he cantered off to the furthese point in his summer paddock to exchange pleasantries with Q, and waited for me to approach before cantering off again back to his winter paddock. Seeing me still in dogged pursuit, he clearly thought "oh alright then" and walked up to me to put his nose in the headcollar. It's the Vicar of Dibley "no, no, no, oh alright then".
Meanwhile the girls have been scanned and Alfama is not pregnant, so we are considering whether live cover mightn't be such a bad thing after all. We can fashion a teasing wall easily enough and use the picadeiro for covering, so we are currently considering our options.
Portugal visit
We arrived on Wednesday eve to balmy weather: how wonderful to be back in the hallowed land after a three year hiatus. Drove to Sobral in our ridiculous little rental car, which required us to take a run up to each of the numerous hills & hope for the best, but even then still having to chuck ballast out of the windows in order to make it to the top. Had a great evening catching up with our dear friend Antonio.
Day 1
On Thursday we went to a tack shop in Porto Alto where I acquired a presentation bridle and whip, some spurs and a hat for Noodle. Quite restrained I thought. Had a late lunch at a little place which used produce from its own farm; dropped Antonio off and prepared for outing no. 2.
Next was a trip to Quinta da Ferraria, the other side of Santarem. We met up with Teresa, one of my Facebook buds and all round fabulous person, to go and look at a mare I'd had half an eye on for some time.
The quinta was awesome! Huge, very well presented, lovely place. The mare herself was extremely sweet and latched on to us straight away - arg. She is very well put together, good lines and moves really well, graded at 72 points though she has not had any babies yet. She is small at 14.3h but is ridden by children so very calm and giving temperament. If we bought her we'd have to have more land first. Anyway here she is:
The breeder has offered to put her in foal to a stallion called Zico, so we had a look at him too. He was a gorgeous silver at about 15.2h, very compact and well put together. We saw him in hand, at liberty and ridden. This is Zico:
So a lovely day, awash with sun, Lusos and bonhomie. Marvellous. As evening drew on we made our way back to the car park, frowning a little as I was quite sure the car wasn't where I had left it. Hmmm. Walked up and down a bit until forced to conclude that yes, the car was Definitely Not There. Difficult to relay the range of emotions that washed over us at this point, but probably best summarised by "oh fuck".
So. Car gone, what to do. Got hold of a number for the car park admin; "fala Ingles?" One quickly realises that the smidgen of Portuguese one relies upon for the basics of restaurant ordering and kindergarten-level pleasantries will really Not Do in this sort of situation. Car park people didn't have it. Called the rental company, got a nice lady called Silvia to ring around for me, who thinks it's very unlikely to have been nicked. It's about now that the realisation washes over me that this was now a PAYING CAR PARK and guess what, I hadn't noticed. I could blame it on all sorts of things but what it comes down to in the cold light of day is utter blondeness. Fuckwittage even. A monumental cock up, the price of which we were about to embark upon paying during the course of the next few hours.
Silvia calls back to inform me that the car has been towed, gives me the details and advises me to get a cab to the car pound to reclaim it. The good news is that it's not too far away and it's open til midnight. We spend a pleasant half hour trooping around to find a cab, and eventually flag one down near the stadium. Off we tootle to the area reported to contain the car pound; no pound to be found. Engage in animated conversation with a number of cab drivers and eventually alight upon one who knows where it is, and gives us directions. On arrival at said pound, I am asked to produce my documents which, luckily, I have on me. I suspect we would still be there if I hadn't. That's 120 Euro please. Resigned, I hand over my card. Sorry, we don't take that type of card, they said. Please try anyway, I said, tiptoeing by now around the brink of a yawning chasm of desperation. Needless to say, it didn't work. Natch. Find the nearest Multibanco, the nice lady advises. Where is that? I ask. In the zoo, she replies. Of course!
We troop back the way we came, into the zoo and track down the Multibanco. Back to the pound, at which stage a queue of fellow fuckwits/miscreants/blonde people has formed and we are obliged to wait while they are dealt with in a fashion which can only be described as glacial. Arg. Arg. Finally, our turn again, I hand over the wedge and eventually we are shown past the array of burly security men through the tall gate with spikes and barbed wire on it to our trusty steed. Well, I say we but Noodle is impelled to wait outside. Perhaps they were concerned that she might try to make off with another of their prized impounds, as though we are a pair of hardened car thieves and not just a brace of incompetent Johnsons.
Finally, the ordeal is over and we can worm our way out of Lisbon feeling, it must be said, battered and beleaguered by our three hour epic contrived entirely from our own stupidity, back to Sobral and the sanctity of Antonio and Joao's house, wondering all the while if a freak tsunami would thunder through the streets of Lisbon at any moment and wash us away, or whether a rogue asteroid would hurtle from the sky and bury itself in the roof of our car just to add the cherry on top of the pile of steaming doodoo. As it was none of this happened and we made it back, somewhat frayed but with the black humour reserved for these sorts of occasions fully restored.
Day 3
In the morning Noodle got a riding lesson with Antonio and Lusitano, which went well aside from a spot of panic at the canter. Not entirely surprising since it was her first one since she last rode as a kid and fell off on her first canter.
Another afternoon at the festival, only this time without incident. We eschew our planned feasting at the fabled Jockey club buffet in an effort to make up ground on the previous day's unforseen expenditure, and tuck into another bifana. And some cake. Spend the entire afternoon watching an array of classes and manage to arrive home again unmolested by any sort of disaster. Not a huge number of breeders present but the crowds were healthy and it was also gratifying to see that not everyone is intent on breeding Lusosauruses.
Day 4
Another lesson for Noodle on Lusitano, regrouping confidence and developing her balance at the trot. Lusitano was such a good boy and really looked after her. We decided to go to Obidos with Antonio and Joao instead of spending another day at the festival, to see a bit more of Portugal. Obidos is a very old town near Torres Vedras and the fact that it is the centre of Ginja production only mildly influenced our decision to go there. Ginja is an excellent liqueur traditionally served in chilled chocolate cups. We enjoyed mooching around the town and catching a couple of tunes from a band dressed in mediaeval clothes playing funky mediaeval music. I imagine the belly dancer represented Portugal's strong Moorish influence but in any case she was really good and it all hung together surprisingly well. We also found a boyfriend for Knickers.
Day 5
Morning: lessons for Noodle and I. I rode a large but quite sluggish Luso stallion called Astro and Noodle had a lunge lesson on a dun gelding, during which she gained top marks for really finding her balance in trot and making her first steps towards conquering her cantering fears. Go Noodle! We also met in the flesh the sires of our boys, Assirio and Galheteiro. We watched Assirio being worked and he was fabulous - hopefully I can post a video clip soon. Galheteiro was so sweet - an old boy at 23 but still strong and secure through his back and very nicely conformed, along more traditional lines.
We didn't have long afterwards for pleasantries as we were due to drive over to the Alentejo for a visit to the Coudelaria Monte de Tramagueira, near Teja. Let me tell you it's a long drive straight after a lesson and with no time for lunch or coffee, during which time I learnt that woman cannot survive on pasteis de natas alone. Still, it was all well worth it as we had THE most fabulous time meeting the utterly charming Filipe, owner of this magnificent 300+ ha farm and the delightful Angelique who works with Filipe and is doing some fantastic work there with horses. The yard and boxes were immaculate and all the horses had a constant supply of hay. Don Soberano is a truly spectacular stallion and I look forward to seeing how he develops in his career. We spent a wonderful couple of hours meeting all the horses, and I quite fell in love with a one year old Assirio daughter and a two year old colt who is exactly the stamp of horse that I like. Good job my pockets and wallet aren't as capacious as I'd like them to be. All of Filipe's horses are really friendly and well conformed, and of course schmoozing with Lusitanos is one of my all-time favourite pastimes, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I realise I have used what might be considered an excessive number of superlatives to describe our afternoon, but it really was that good.
Day 6
All that remained for day 6 was to make our farewells and depart for the airport. We caused some consternation to the TAP staff when presenting the whip for travel, and ended up having to wrap it up in newspaper before they would allow it into oversized luggage, while the agent told us all about how he rides once a year and invariably ends up with a sore bum because he doesn't do it often enough. Grinning at both the shared experience of sore bums and the incongruity of the conversation in that particular setting, we went our separate ways and headed off into the bowels of the airport - where we waited, and waited, and waited, for 5 extra hours in fact. Yep, the plane was delayed "for operational reasons". So instead of getting home mid afternoon and looking forward to catching up with everyone at leisure, in fact we arrived home about 10pm, just over 12 hours after we left Sobral.
Day 1
On Thursday we went to a tack shop in Porto Alto where I acquired a presentation bridle and whip, some spurs and a hat for Noodle. Quite restrained I thought. Had a late lunch at a little place which used produce from its own farm; dropped Antonio off and prepared for outing no. 2.
Next was a trip to Quinta da Ferraria, the other side of Santarem. We met up with Teresa, one of my Facebook buds and all round fabulous person, to go and look at a mare I'd had half an eye on for some time.
The quinta was awesome! Huge, very well presented, lovely place. The mare herself was extremely sweet and latched on to us straight away - arg. She is very well put together, good lines and moves really well, graded at 72 points though she has not had any babies yet. She is small at 14.3h but is ridden by children so very calm and giving temperament. If we bought her we'd have to have more land first. Anyway here she is:
The breeder has offered to put her in foal to a stallion called Zico, so we had a look at him too. He was a gorgeous silver at about 15.2h, very compact and well put together. We saw him in hand, at liberty and ridden. This is Zico:
We also saw some daughters of Zico and the rest of Luis's mares, not to mention a drop dead gorgeous young stallion called Cofre - Tigre in a bullfighting body. Wowee.
Afterwards we spent a very pleasant hour chatting to Teresa, catching up on all things Luso and in the process finding a rider for T for the next breed show, so very excited about that. Thank you Teresa for a wonderful afternoon; it was a true pleasure to meet you.
Day 2
With much anticipation Noodle and I set off to Campo Grande for the festival on Friday. So nice to have the festival back at what many consider to be its true home and more to the point back in the place where it was when I first went back in 2000. Not to mention where we first met Q. Let it be said that a combination of circumstances caused us to arrive (a) later and (b) more turgid of bladder than planned, but that was soon forgotten as we met up with fellow Luso enthusiasts and enjoyed a beer, a bifana, coffee, cake and lots of Luso eye candy. I quickly lost count of the number of Spartacus sons and daughters on display. We nosed around the stalls and I availed myself of the opportunity to acquire a programme, a pair of chaps and a very nice portrait of Filipe Graciosa replicating a glorious passage.So a lovely day, awash with sun, Lusos and bonhomie. Marvellous. As evening drew on we made our way back to the car park, frowning a little as I was quite sure the car wasn't where I had left it. Hmmm. Walked up and down a bit until forced to conclude that yes, the car was Definitely Not There. Difficult to relay the range of emotions that washed over us at this point, but probably best summarised by "oh fuck".
So. Car gone, what to do. Got hold of a number for the car park admin; "fala Ingles?" One quickly realises that the smidgen of Portuguese one relies upon for the basics of restaurant ordering and kindergarten-level pleasantries will really Not Do in this sort of situation. Car park people didn't have it. Called the rental company, got a nice lady called Silvia to ring around for me, who thinks it's very unlikely to have been nicked. It's about now that the realisation washes over me that this was now a PAYING CAR PARK and guess what, I hadn't noticed. I could blame it on all sorts of things but what it comes down to in the cold light of day is utter blondeness. Fuckwittage even. A monumental cock up, the price of which we were about to embark upon paying during the course of the next few hours.
Silvia calls back to inform me that the car has been towed, gives me the details and advises me to get a cab to the car pound to reclaim it. The good news is that it's not too far away and it's open til midnight. We spend a pleasant half hour trooping around to find a cab, and eventually flag one down near the stadium. Off we tootle to the area reported to contain the car pound; no pound to be found. Engage in animated conversation with a number of cab drivers and eventually alight upon one who knows where it is, and gives us directions. On arrival at said pound, I am asked to produce my documents which, luckily, I have on me. I suspect we would still be there if I hadn't. That's 120 Euro please. Resigned, I hand over my card. Sorry, we don't take that type of card, they said. Please try anyway, I said, tiptoeing by now around the brink of a yawning chasm of desperation. Needless to say, it didn't work. Natch. Find the nearest Multibanco, the nice lady advises. Where is that? I ask. In the zoo, she replies. Of course!
We troop back the way we came, into the zoo and track down the Multibanco. Back to the pound, at which stage a queue of fellow fuckwits/miscreants/blonde people has formed and we are obliged to wait while they are dealt with in a fashion which can only be described as glacial. Arg. Arg. Finally, our turn again, I hand over the wedge and eventually we are shown past the array of burly security men through the tall gate with spikes and barbed wire on it to our trusty steed. Well, I say we but Noodle is impelled to wait outside. Perhaps they were concerned that she might try to make off with another of their prized impounds, as though we are a pair of hardened car thieves and not just a brace of incompetent Johnsons.
Finally, the ordeal is over and we can worm our way out of Lisbon feeling, it must be said, battered and beleaguered by our three hour epic contrived entirely from our own stupidity, back to Sobral and the sanctity of Antonio and Joao's house, wondering all the while if a freak tsunami would thunder through the streets of Lisbon at any moment and wash us away, or whether a rogue asteroid would hurtle from the sky and bury itself in the roof of our car just to add the cherry on top of the pile of steaming doodoo. As it was none of this happened and we made it back, somewhat frayed but with the black humour reserved for these sorts of occasions fully restored.
Day 3
In the morning Noodle got a riding lesson with Antonio and Lusitano, which went well aside from a spot of panic at the canter. Not entirely surprising since it was her first one since she last rode as a kid and fell off on her first canter.
Another afternoon at the festival, only this time without incident. We eschew our planned feasting at the fabled Jockey club buffet in an effort to make up ground on the previous day's unforseen expenditure, and tuck into another bifana. And some cake. Spend the entire afternoon watching an array of classes and manage to arrive home again unmolested by any sort of disaster. Not a huge number of breeders present but the crowds were healthy and it was also gratifying to see that not everyone is intent on breeding Lusosauruses.
Day 4
Another lesson for Noodle on Lusitano, regrouping confidence and developing her balance at the trot. Lusitano was such a good boy and really looked after her. We decided to go to Obidos with Antonio and Joao instead of spending another day at the festival, to see a bit more of Portugal. Obidos is a very old town near Torres Vedras and the fact that it is the centre of Ginja production only mildly influenced our decision to go there. Ginja is an excellent liqueur traditionally served in chilled chocolate cups. We enjoyed mooching around the town and catching a couple of tunes from a band dressed in mediaeval clothes playing funky mediaeval music. I imagine the belly dancer represented Portugal's strong Moorish influence but in any case she was really good and it all hung together surprisingly well. We also found a boyfriend for Knickers.
Day 5
Morning: lessons for Noodle and I. I rode a large but quite sluggish Luso stallion called Astro and Noodle had a lunge lesson on a dun gelding, during which she gained top marks for really finding her balance in trot and making her first steps towards conquering her cantering fears. Go Noodle! We also met in the flesh the sires of our boys, Assirio and Galheteiro. We watched Assirio being worked and he was fabulous - hopefully I can post a video clip soon. Galheteiro was so sweet - an old boy at 23 but still strong and secure through his back and very nicely conformed, along more traditional lines.
We didn't have long afterwards for pleasantries as we were due to drive over to the Alentejo for a visit to the Coudelaria Monte de Tramagueira, near Teja. Let me tell you it's a long drive straight after a lesson and with no time for lunch or coffee, during which time I learnt that woman cannot survive on pasteis de natas alone. Still, it was all well worth it as we had THE most fabulous time meeting the utterly charming Filipe, owner of this magnificent 300+ ha farm and the delightful Angelique who works with Filipe and is doing some fantastic work there with horses. The yard and boxes were immaculate and all the horses had a constant supply of hay. Don Soberano is a truly spectacular stallion and I look forward to seeing how he develops in his career. We spent a wonderful couple of hours meeting all the horses, and I quite fell in love with a one year old Assirio daughter and a two year old colt who is exactly the stamp of horse that I like. Good job my pockets and wallet aren't as capacious as I'd like them to be. All of Filipe's horses are really friendly and well conformed, and of course schmoozing with Lusitanos is one of my all-time favourite pastimes, so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I realise I have used what might be considered an excessive number of superlatives to describe our afternoon, but it really was that good.
Day 6
All that remained for day 6 was to make our farewells and depart for the airport. We caused some consternation to the TAP staff when presenting the whip for travel, and ended up having to wrap it up in newspaper before they would allow it into oversized luggage, while the agent told us all about how he rides once a year and invariably ends up with a sore bum because he doesn't do it often enough. Grinning at both the shared experience of sore bums and the incongruity of the conversation in that particular setting, we went our separate ways and headed off into the bowels of the airport - where we waited, and waited, and waited, for 5 extra hours in fact. Yep, the plane was delayed "for operational reasons". So instead of getting home mid afternoon and looking forward to catching up with everyone at leisure, in fact we arrived home about 10pm, just over 12 hours after we left Sobral.
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Back from the vets
A day off today to take Xacra and Golfinho to the vets for her AI. We tried loading in the field at first and although Xacra walked straight in, Golfinho took to galloping around yelling in his tiny foal voice, causing mum to panic as he hove out of view at speed. It soon became obvious that a change of tack was called for, so once again we took the gate into the corral off its hinges, rolled out the telegraph pole from its spot under the picadeiro fence and reveresed the trailer tight up to the entrance. We left them for a while to have a sniff, during which pleasant interlude the gate fell on Knickers' head and very nearly brained her, then got Xacra back on board and kept her calm while Golfinho faffed around and Knickers encouraged him back towards the trailer. Within a few minutes he appeared at the ramp and with mum's encouragement clambered on like a good boy, just as the heavens opened and down it came.
Pheel arrived just as we were mooching down the drive ready to go, to do a quick inspection of the hard standing at the back of the boys' paddocks and discuss next steps. It was only as we were on our way to the vets that I realised that while I was nodding and smiling while he spoke, I actually had no recollection at all of what he'd actually said, so resolved to call him once we got home.
The journey to the vets was straightforward and made better by the fact that this time I wasn't going to make the mistake of driving up the wrong street, the narrow one with the cars parked along one side; the one that requires very careful reversing down while anxious car owners look on. The vet came to take Alfama and Gualter for her final scan before leaving, and we unloaded Xacra and Golfinho in the car park and put them in the paddock. Golfinho trotted off through the long grass in a very high-kneed fashion, every inch the mini Luso. Sweet. Meanwhile Gualter was looking MAHOOSIVE! The car park was awash with lorries and trailers, which meant that a number of random people were on hand to coo over him and remark upon how lovely he is :proud mum: Alfama loaded straight away and after a bit of hesitation and the help of two assistants each with an arm around his bum, Gualter loaded in a few moments as well. Splendid.
The trip home was uneventful and once restored to their paddock the two of them spent a pleasant half hour charging around and catching up with all the news. Very glad to have them home.
At this rate we'll be collecting Tigre as well as Xacra & Golfinho on Saturday, and then our reasonably sized collection of Lusos will be restored to their rightful place at the homestead.
Meanwhile, the pixies had been and flattened the last load of stone in Q's winter paddock, leaving the unavoidable conclusion that one further load was going to be needed. So if anyone out there is wondering how many lorry loads of stone are required to make two lots of hard standing for small all weather turnout areas, the answer appears to be 4. The mind boggles at how much rubber will be required to finish it off.
Pheel arrived just as we were mooching down the drive ready to go, to do a quick inspection of the hard standing at the back of the boys' paddocks and discuss next steps. It was only as we were on our way to the vets that I realised that while I was nodding and smiling while he spoke, I actually had no recollection at all of what he'd actually said, so resolved to call him once we got home.
The journey to the vets was straightforward and made better by the fact that this time I wasn't going to make the mistake of driving up the wrong street, the narrow one with the cars parked along one side; the one that requires very careful reversing down while anxious car owners look on. The vet came to take Alfama and Gualter for her final scan before leaving, and we unloaded Xacra and Golfinho in the car park and put them in the paddock. Golfinho trotted off through the long grass in a very high-kneed fashion, every inch the mini Luso. Sweet. Meanwhile Gualter was looking MAHOOSIVE! The car park was awash with lorries and trailers, which meant that a number of random people were on hand to coo over him and remark upon how lovely he is :proud mum: Alfama loaded straight away and after a bit of hesitation and the help of two assistants each with an arm around his bum, Gualter loaded in a few moments as well. Splendid.
The trip home was uneventful and once restored to their paddock the two of them spent a pleasant half hour charging around and catching up with all the news. Very glad to have them home.
At this rate we'll be collecting Tigre as well as Xacra & Golfinho on Saturday, and then our reasonably sized collection of Lusos will be restored to their rightful place at the homestead.
Meanwhile, the pixies had been and flattened the last load of stone in Q's winter paddock, leaving the unavoidable conclusion that one further load was going to be needed. So if anyone out there is wondering how many lorry loads of stone are required to make two lots of hard standing for small all weather turnout areas, the answer appears to be 4. The mind boggles at how much rubber will be required to finish it off.
Sunday 19 June 2011
This year's breedings
We've hemmed and hawed for some time now over arrangements for this year's breedings; we knew which stallion we wanted to put with which mare, but having opted for AI, it remained to determine how that would be achieved. Initially we didn't want them to have to go away but realised this was the only practical solution, especially when using frozen semen for one of them and the attendant need to have the mare scanned every six hours. That would make for a pretty meaty vet bill in no time flat, and AI is not a cheap option. If we could drop everything at a moment's notice to get the boys off to stud so that we could use fresh, it wouldn't necessarily be such an issue, but we don't, and so it is. Live cover starts to look increasingly appealing :)
We had the mares scanned on Friday, with the aim being to try and coordinate the girls being inseminated at near enough the same time. Alfama was nearly ready and Xacra a while off so the vet left me an injection to bring forward her season to give yesterday, and arrangements were made to take Alfama (and by association, Gualter) to the vet's today, and Xacra on Wednesday. Made arrangements with Madeleine for chilled semen from Tigre (for Alfama) and frozen from Q (for Xacra) to be delivered tomorrow, and dashed about getting a single breast bar for the trailer etc yesterday in preparation.
Alfama loaded like a pro this morning but Gualter wasn't having any of it. We tried everything during the course of a pleasant few hours but in the end called in reinforcements (thanks Dan!) to bodily lift him on to the trailer. Once in he was fine and they travelled really well. I can now say, as a result of my maiden voyage with such newly minted and precious cargo on board, that I can clench my butt continuously for a whole 50 minutes or so that it took to get to the vets, while studiously ignoring the long tail plume of followers we accrued while negotiating some truly appalling road surfaces. I can also reverse the trailer down a narrow road with parked cars along one side when the sat nav sends me up the wrong street, with anxious neighbours looking on who are well accustomed to horse boxes reversing carefully down their narrow road with their cars parked along one side while they look for the clinic.
Alfama has been scanned again and pronounced ready; the semen will arrive tomorrow, so fingers are crossed that all goes well. And I look forward to doing the same again with Xacra and Golfinho on Wednesday.
Meanwhile back on the homestead things have been busy and productive. Knickers did her first complete solo lunge session with Q and did beautifully, so I am almost as pleased with and for her as she is with herself :) Q was an absolute superstar too. That boy is worth his weight in gold. Sid is finishing off the logo and the web site is coming along. We shall be spending a good deal of time trailering horses around in the next few days; T remains at stud next week having more semen frozen down, and we collect him on Saturday. I guess we will be collecting Alfama and Gualter on Friday evening, and Xacra some while later.
So, fingers crossed that all goes well and that the girls can be confirmed in foal without too much ado!
And oh yes, there is the festival in Lisbon to look forward to in about three weeks' time; 5 days of sun, Lusos, friends and stud visits to wallow in - bliss!
We had the mares scanned on Friday, with the aim being to try and coordinate the girls being inseminated at near enough the same time. Alfama was nearly ready and Xacra a while off so the vet left me an injection to bring forward her season to give yesterday, and arrangements were made to take Alfama (and by association, Gualter) to the vet's today, and Xacra on Wednesday. Made arrangements with Madeleine for chilled semen from Tigre (for Alfama) and frozen from Q (for Xacra) to be delivered tomorrow, and dashed about getting a single breast bar for the trailer etc yesterday in preparation.
Alfama loaded like a pro this morning but Gualter wasn't having any of it. We tried everything during the course of a pleasant few hours but in the end called in reinforcements (thanks Dan!) to bodily lift him on to the trailer. Once in he was fine and they travelled really well. I can now say, as a result of my maiden voyage with such newly minted and precious cargo on board, that I can clench my butt continuously for a whole 50 minutes or so that it took to get to the vets, while studiously ignoring the long tail plume of followers we accrued while negotiating some truly appalling road surfaces. I can also reverse the trailer down a narrow road with parked cars along one side when the sat nav sends me up the wrong street, with anxious neighbours looking on who are well accustomed to horse boxes reversing carefully down their narrow road with their cars parked along one side while they look for the clinic.
Alfama has been scanned again and pronounced ready; the semen will arrive tomorrow, so fingers are crossed that all goes well. And I look forward to doing the same again with Xacra and Golfinho on Wednesday.
Meanwhile back on the homestead things have been busy and productive. Knickers did her first complete solo lunge session with Q and did beautifully, so I am almost as pleased with and for her as she is with herself :) Q was an absolute superstar too. That boy is worth his weight in gold. Sid is finishing off the logo and the web site is coming along. We shall be spending a good deal of time trailering horses around in the next few days; T remains at stud next week having more semen frozen down, and we collect him on Saturday. I guess we will be collecting Alfama and Gualter on Friday evening, and Xacra some while later.
So, fingers crossed that all goes well and that the girls can be confirmed in foal without too much ado!
And oh yes, there is the festival in Lisbon to look forward to in about three weeks' time; 5 days of sun, Lusos, friends and stud visits to wallow in - bliss!
Saturday 11 June 2011
First appointment with the farrier, and other matters
In preparation for next winter (ugh!) work has started on developing an all weather area behind the boys' stables, which will allow them some outdoor space to mooch even in the worst weather. I really dislike keeping horses confined to a stable, almost as much as the boys themselves dislike it now that they are accustomed to being able to come and go as they please.
Stage 1: bring in large digger to scrape out the back of excess earth accumulation and flatten it down. We decided that while we were about it we might as well add some drainage to their winter paddocks since these fare the worst during the bad weather. I was a bit loath to have the ground disturbed but Richard, digger driver extraordinaire and Brad Pitt doppleganger, did an excellent job.
Stage 2: we are as I write awaiting the delivery of two lorries full of hardcore, which will serve as the base for the all weather areas. Again, Sod's Law dictates that in preparation for this work we had a lot of rain last night, but hopefully the paddocks will stand up well to it as it's all still looking pretty firm.
Stage 3 will comprise the installation of a rubber surface, at some as yet undetermined future date in the next week or so. Brad will be back on Monday to flatten it.
We had a farrier appointment yesterday afternoon; the first for Gualter. God, he's SUCH a poppet. He did wriggle a bit but was very good and is sporting a nice trim all round as a result, as are the girls who had undergone quite a bit of hoof growth in the intervening period since the last visit. Alfama is fine about having her feet handled while Xacra remains a little leery of her back feet, but all were done with a minimum fuss.
Meanwhile, success for T at stud, having grown accustomed to the dummy and provided his first sample on day 3 of training. He is charming everyone with his winning ways and his unparalleled ability to get his headcollar off at any opportunity.
Next we'll build a winter pen for the younglings between the two boys' all weather areas, and convert the stable designated grooming room into a proper grooming bay with cross ties. After that we'll make an all weather area for the girls to include the picadeiro, which will hopefully allow us to preserve the fields through the winter.
I've also got to get on to the vets about having the mares scanned in preparation for being put in foal again.
Never a dull moment! Or a cheap one, come to that.
Stage 1: bring in large digger to scrape out the back of excess earth accumulation and flatten it down. We decided that while we were about it we might as well add some drainage to their winter paddocks since these fare the worst during the bad weather. I was a bit loath to have the ground disturbed but Richard, digger driver extraordinaire and Brad Pitt doppleganger, did an excellent job.
Stage 2: we are as I write awaiting the delivery of two lorries full of hardcore, which will serve as the base for the all weather areas. Again, Sod's Law dictates that in preparation for this work we had a lot of rain last night, but hopefully the paddocks will stand up well to it as it's all still looking pretty firm.
Stage 3 will comprise the installation of a rubber surface, at some as yet undetermined future date in the next week or so. Brad will be back on Monday to flatten it.
We had a farrier appointment yesterday afternoon; the first for Gualter. God, he's SUCH a poppet. He did wriggle a bit but was very good and is sporting a nice trim all round as a result, as are the girls who had undergone quite a bit of hoof growth in the intervening period since the last visit. Alfama is fine about having her feet handled while Xacra remains a little leery of her back feet, but all were done with a minimum fuss.
Meanwhile, success for T at stud, having grown accustomed to the dummy and provided his first sample on day 3 of training. He is charming everyone with his winning ways and his unparalleled ability to get his headcollar off at any opportunity.
Next we'll build a winter pen for the younglings between the two boys' all weather areas, and convert the stable designated grooming room into a proper grooming bay with cross ties. After that we'll make an all weather area for the girls to include the picadeiro, which will hopefully allow us to preserve the fields through the winter.
I've also got to get on to the vets about having the mares scanned in preparation for being put in foal again.
Never a dull moment! Or a cheap one, come to that.
Sunday 5 June 2011
Ups and downs
After much deliberation, we've decided to call Xacra's little colt Golfinho. We kept a close eye on things in his first few days, and last Saturday afternoon we noticed that he was getting very agitated when suckling. Upon closer inspection it was clear that Xacra had little if any milk - argh. Timing of course couldn't have been worse, although there's never a good time for such things - about 5:30pm on the Saturday afternoon of a Bank Holiday weekend. I made an immediate call to the vet, who managed to source some milk replacer for us; Sid and Knickers went off to get that and some antibiotics for Xacra, while I ran around trying to get hold of a bottle. The farmer across the road had one but the nipple on it was for calves and much too wide a hole diameter. Argh. Luckily the vets had sourced one for us, so we thought we were all set aside from the obvious issue of how to go about the bottle feeding.
The marvels of Facebook meant that I had recently come into contact with someone who had tragically had to deal with an orphaned foal, so I knew she would be a good person to ask. In no time at all we were chatting on the phone and she gave me chapter and verse on how to go about the bottle feeding. In short we had to corner him and make sure we got some down his neck; not a nice thing to have to do but necessary. It took three of us in the end: one to hold Xacra, one to hold the foal and another to administer the milk. It's a messy business and was an anxious time for all concerned.
My FB friend (Jess) had also mentioned the need for caution when it came to feeding a broad spectrum milk replacer such as the one we had got from the vets, and offered to provide us with a specific foal milk replacer from the stock she had in for her boy, George. In the end we all set off just after 11pm Saturday evening on the hour's journey to Canterbury to collect it, and while we were there Jess and her partner Jamie gave us a demo of bottle feeding with gorgeous George, and basically gave us all the information we needed to cope with our crisis - including a lot of reassurance which was very much needed. What wonderful people to accommodate us, perfect strangers with only our mutual love of horses and breeding in common, in the way that they did, providing us with foal milk replacer, prebioitics and such a huge amount of information, at some ungodly hour of the night - especially considering their own three hourly feeding routine for George. Not only that but following up, keeping in touch to find out how we were all doing, over the next few days. If you're reading this Jess and Jamie, let me send your way one further huge "thank you" for your incredible kindness. I know you'll know just how much we appreciate it, and if there's ever anything we can do in reciprocation, you know where to find us!
Xacra was started on her antibiotics and Golfinho was much more accepting of the Aintree milk, so over the course of the next 24 hours we were able to get quite a bit into him every couple of hours. Once he got the taste of it we could offer the bottle from under Xacra's belly, and he'd latch on and glug it down. Xacra herself was amazing through this, so patient with me grubbing about under her belly, with her son getting very bumptious in his efforts to get milk - and one might imagine how uncomfortable that would be with rock-hard teats. She is amazing. I'm sure she was well aware we were trying to help her baby.
By the time Sunday evening came around it was clear that (a) he was starting to get some milk, and (b) he had lost all interest in the bottle. We took the communal decision to let them get on with it with just one 3am check, and thereon in they went from stretngth to strength, which was good because we were completely and utterly battered on the rather meagre rations of 2 and a half hours' sleep. Adrenaline will keep you going only for so long, but when you crash, oh god. I honestly don't know we'd have coped if the situation had gone on much longer.
Through this week mother and son have been doing well, and as he's been getting stronger we've let them out in the paddock on their own more and more. He's a bolshy little so and so! Methinks we are going to have our hands full with him.
In amongst all of this we had made arrangements to take Tigre to stud on Saturday morning, Luckily for me, as I was utterly battered by the end of the working week, Sid and Knickers gave him a bath on Friday and Knickers packed his bags for him, so all I had to do on Saturday morning was hitch up the trailer and load him up. He loaded and travelled well, and confined himself to a grunt and an arch of his neck as we walked along an aisle full of stallions to his stable. The stud's incomparable proprietor has kindly agreed to set up a small paddock for him so he can continue to go out on restricted turnout, and he starts his collection training tomorrow. I cannot say enough about the amazing team at Hobgoblins.
When we got back from stud, we put Xacra and Golfinho out with Alfama and Gualter for the first time. A moment of trepidation for us given the not insignificant size differential between the two boys (whom we might collectively refer to as Biggie Smalls) but all went well. What a thrill to see them all running around together, our little herd :) Xacra was being very protective and spent a lot of time laying down the law with teeth, feet and a range of truly appalling facial expressions, but as things went on it all settled down. It'll be a little while before we leave them all out together overnight, so they are coming into the shelter overnight or the stable if the weather is rancid as now, so Alfama and Gualter can have the shelter. We brought them all in for a spell this afternoon as it was raining hard and we wanted to do some preps for the farrier visit, and Gualter led in like a little pro. He is such a diamond little bloke! He needs to work on his herd place though as I was somewhat surprised earlier to see Golfinho chasing him around earlier :O
So all in all, things are settled again and at last we have some rain.
The marvels of Facebook meant that I had recently come into contact with someone who had tragically had to deal with an orphaned foal, so I knew she would be a good person to ask. In no time at all we were chatting on the phone and she gave me chapter and verse on how to go about the bottle feeding. In short we had to corner him and make sure we got some down his neck; not a nice thing to have to do but necessary. It took three of us in the end: one to hold Xacra, one to hold the foal and another to administer the milk. It's a messy business and was an anxious time for all concerned.
My FB friend (Jess) had also mentioned the need for caution when it came to feeding a broad spectrum milk replacer such as the one we had got from the vets, and offered to provide us with a specific foal milk replacer from the stock she had in for her boy, George. In the end we all set off just after 11pm Saturday evening on the hour's journey to Canterbury to collect it, and while we were there Jess and her partner Jamie gave us a demo of bottle feeding with gorgeous George, and basically gave us all the information we needed to cope with our crisis - including a lot of reassurance which was very much needed. What wonderful people to accommodate us, perfect strangers with only our mutual love of horses and breeding in common, in the way that they did, providing us with foal milk replacer, prebioitics and such a huge amount of information, at some ungodly hour of the night - especially considering their own three hourly feeding routine for George. Not only that but following up, keeping in touch to find out how we were all doing, over the next few days. If you're reading this Jess and Jamie, let me send your way one further huge "thank you" for your incredible kindness. I know you'll know just how much we appreciate it, and if there's ever anything we can do in reciprocation, you know where to find us!
Xacra was started on her antibiotics and Golfinho was much more accepting of the Aintree milk, so over the course of the next 24 hours we were able to get quite a bit into him every couple of hours. Once he got the taste of it we could offer the bottle from under Xacra's belly, and he'd latch on and glug it down. Xacra herself was amazing through this, so patient with me grubbing about under her belly, with her son getting very bumptious in his efforts to get milk - and one might imagine how uncomfortable that would be with rock-hard teats. She is amazing. I'm sure she was well aware we were trying to help her baby.
By the time Sunday evening came around it was clear that (a) he was starting to get some milk, and (b) he had lost all interest in the bottle. We took the communal decision to let them get on with it with just one 3am check, and thereon in they went from stretngth to strength, which was good because we were completely and utterly battered on the rather meagre rations of 2 and a half hours' sleep. Adrenaline will keep you going only for so long, but when you crash, oh god. I honestly don't know we'd have coped if the situation had gone on much longer.
Through this week mother and son have been doing well, and as he's been getting stronger we've let them out in the paddock on their own more and more. He's a bolshy little so and so! Methinks we are going to have our hands full with him.
In amongst all of this we had made arrangements to take Tigre to stud on Saturday morning, Luckily for me, as I was utterly battered by the end of the working week, Sid and Knickers gave him a bath on Friday and Knickers packed his bags for him, so all I had to do on Saturday morning was hitch up the trailer and load him up. He loaded and travelled well, and confined himself to a grunt and an arch of his neck as we walked along an aisle full of stallions to his stable. The stud's incomparable proprietor has kindly agreed to set up a small paddock for him so he can continue to go out on restricted turnout, and he starts his collection training tomorrow. I cannot say enough about the amazing team at Hobgoblins.
When we got back from stud, we put Xacra and Golfinho out with Alfama and Gualter for the first time. A moment of trepidation for us given the not insignificant size differential between the two boys (whom we might collectively refer to as Biggie Smalls) but all went well. What a thrill to see them all running around together, our little herd :) Xacra was being very protective and spent a lot of time laying down the law with teeth, feet and a range of truly appalling facial expressions, but as things went on it all settled down. It'll be a little while before we leave them all out together overnight, so they are coming into the shelter overnight or the stable if the weather is rancid as now, so Alfama and Gualter can have the shelter. We brought them all in for a spell this afternoon as it was raining hard and we wanted to do some preps for the farrier visit, and Gualter led in like a little pro. He is such a diamond little bloke! He needs to work on his herd place though as I was somewhat surprised earlier to see Golfinho chasing him around earlier :O
So all in all, things are settled again and at last we have some rain.
Saturday 28 May 2011
And then there were six
Last weeekend saw the final push to get the CCTV finished; thoroughly sick of the sight of coax cable, crimping tools and other cabling accoutrements. Sid worked late into the night getting the video card etc working, setting up accounts for us so when I woke next morning the first thing I saw was one fully operational control room, thus:
We also removed the partition from the shelter to create a nice large area for Xacra, which we christened "the foaling suite". All set up for the new arrival :)
On Sunday Knickers and I went to a dressage clinic with Bento Castelhano which, aside from one nice WB mare was a complete Luso fest. We really enjoyed it and found Bento to be excellent, so I would like to take one of the boys next time and take part in a lesson. Need to bring up our fitness levels though :O
Knickers had her final exam on Monday, and stayed up Monday night on foal watch, although Xacra was showing no real signs of being imminent. Feeling we had garnered a bit of experience after grasping at every tail switch from Alfama when she was due, we waited and waited for the signs that would tell us she was very close.
Except that they never came! Sid was up working in the early hours of Wednesday morning and last checked her at about 3:30am. When I got up at 6am I stumbled, bog eyed and bleary into the office and stared stupidly at the screen trying to process the fact that where there was only one horse before, now there were two. Argghhhhhh! Ran downstairs, alerting Knickers who, utterly oblivious, was feeding the smalls in the kitchen, that we appeared to have a new arrival, and raced out there to find that yes indeed, during the night the stork had brought us one very tiny little Luso baby :)
But argh! How long ago, and was everything ok? Raced back into the house to get Sid who checked back on the footage to find that Xacra had given birth, very easily it seemed, at about 3:44am, not ten minutes after he'd gone to bed. No evidence that the baby had suckled though - argh. Got a headcollar on Xacra and stood her still to let the baby find her teats and after that all was well and they were off. The vet came to check them both over; all was well. We have a gorgeous new little colt and after some lively discussion have opted to call him Golfinho :)
The two of them have the small run outsider the shelter for a few days until he has got a bit stronger. He is quite a bit smaller than Gualter was - more the sort of size one might expect for a first foal, but then his sire is smaller. On saying that they did go for a brief foray into the field - Alfama and Gualter were closed off in the other paddock and Xacra took her baby for a quick spin around the field, then back into the run. I can't wait to see them all out together, athough a bit concerned about the size difference between the two boys. However I have no doubt that Xacra will operate an iron rod over proceedings, being the unmistakeable Boss Mare that she is :)
Meanwhile, the vet came again yesterday (am considering asking them for a discount, or going the whole hog and installing one on site) to check on T who, in the midst of passaging very animatedly for the laydeez, was pronounced sound! So he will be going off to stud next weekend, which is excellent. Let us hope that he proves to be as quick a study as Q in the use of the dummy. We have to broaden his turnout horizons carefully so as not to risk a relapse, and won't start bringing him back into work until he comes home from stud.
We also removed the partition from the shelter to create a nice large area for Xacra, which we christened "the foaling suite". All set up for the new arrival :)
On Sunday Knickers and I went to a dressage clinic with Bento Castelhano which, aside from one nice WB mare was a complete Luso fest. We really enjoyed it and found Bento to be excellent, so I would like to take one of the boys next time and take part in a lesson. Need to bring up our fitness levels though :O
Knickers had her final exam on Monday, and stayed up Monday night on foal watch, although Xacra was showing no real signs of being imminent. Feeling we had garnered a bit of experience after grasping at every tail switch from Alfama when she was due, we waited and waited for the signs that would tell us she was very close.
Except that they never came! Sid was up working in the early hours of Wednesday morning and last checked her at about 3:30am. When I got up at 6am I stumbled, bog eyed and bleary into the office and stared stupidly at the screen trying to process the fact that where there was only one horse before, now there were two. Argghhhhhh! Ran downstairs, alerting Knickers who, utterly oblivious, was feeding the smalls in the kitchen, that we appeared to have a new arrival, and raced out there to find that yes indeed, during the night the stork had brought us one very tiny little Luso baby :)
But argh! How long ago, and was everything ok? Raced back into the house to get Sid who checked back on the footage to find that Xacra had given birth, very easily it seemed, at about 3:44am, not ten minutes after he'd gone to bed. No evidence that the baby had suckled though - argh. Got a headcollar on Xacra and stood her still to let the baby find her teats and after that all was well and they were off. The vet came to check them both over; all was well. We have a gorgeous new little colt and after some lively discussion have opted to call him Golfinho :)
The two of them have the small run outsider the shelter for a few days until he has got a bit stronger. He is quite a bit smaller than Gualter was - more the sort of size one might expect for a first foal, but then his sire is smaller. On saying that they did go for a brief foray into the field - Alfama and Gualter were closed off in the other paddock and Xacra took her baby for a quick spin around the field, then back into the run. I can't wait to see them all out together, athough a bit concerned about the size difference between the two boys. However I have no doubt that Xacra will operate an iron rod over proceedings, being the unmistakeable Boss Mare that she is :)
Meanwhile, the vet came again yesterday (am considering asking them for a discount, or going the whole hog and installing one on site) to check on T who, in the midst of passaging very animatedly for the laydeez, was pronounced sound! So he will be going off to stud next weekend, which is excellent. Let us hope that he proves to be as quick a study as Q in the use of the dummy. We have to broaden his turnout horizons carefully so as not to risk a relapse, and won't start bringing him back into work until he comes home from stud.
Sunday 8 May 2011
Many doings
On Wednesday evening Gualter was really quiet, not himself at all, so we called the vet. His temp was a little high, though not excessively so. She gave him a painkiller, for which he was very good, and we kept an eye on him overnight. It was necessary to keep an eye on him next day so I worked from home as both Sid and Knickers had to be in town. It's funny, I was ok while there were others around to consult re opinions but found it rather more nerve-wracking when on my own. He was quiet through the day and I nearly had heart failure each time he lay down in the field, to say nothing of when he completely disappeared only to be found in the goat shelter, but he seemed to rally through the day and by evening was pretty much back to normal.
On Friday evening I worked Q at liberty; sometimes a challenge keeping his attention when the girls and littlun wandered up right next to the fence, but he did it, and even consented to go over the raised poles at a gesture. Such a good lad. We've also been working on the girls' feet, which I admit we have been a bit slack with :badness:. Alfama was excellent but Xacra is a bit leery and needs to be romanced along, as she lost her balance last time she was trimmed and is a bit nervous about standing on three legs, while I am bit nervous about the potential for having my head kicked off. This is not at all helped by her zeppelin of a belly. Meanwhile Gualter is doing very well at having his feet picked up. He's an absolute star that boy, and SO SWEET.
On Saturday we did a load of cabling for the CCTV, and moved the goat shelter from the girls' field to T's winter paddock, which involved dragging it very slowly with the LandCruiser through several paddocks and gateways to the accompanying aroma of burning clutch and hoping it didn't get shaken to bits. I also made a goatie platform by the simple expedient of lashing together two pallets with some baler twine and nailing some chipboard on top. I was glad I opted to do this inside the shelter, as it would have been something of an arse to have had to manhandle it in there afterwards. To finish off I nailed on two broom heads as goatie scratching posts, a salt lick, a hay net and a liberal smattering of straw, and it was finished. It's ace! The goats wasted no time in coming to investigate, and gave it a thorough road test by trying out the platform and the scratching post in very short order. Needless to say that Angie has commandeered the platform, as we knew she would :) Knickers said she caught all three of them in there this morning when it rained for a while, which is grand. Next I rode Q, who was appalled by the appearance of the shelter, and horrors! at the sight of it - With Goats Inside It And Everything! The expression on the back of his head was truly priceless, but once we got working he knuckled down and we had a great session.
Today, more cabling and the small matter of trying to flatten a very poached area next to the water trough in the mares' second field, which is too dangerous to let them out into, as it has solidified into very rough ground. We have made some progress with (a) our home made irrigation system, and (b) liberal use of the LandCruiser. Needs a few sessions more but is much better and I am hoping we can let them out onto the new grass next weekend. The lack of rain is not helping new growth and we really need to rest their current field.
We had to move T's pen this morning as he was getting a bit too excited near the neighbour's mares. During the course of said move we had what might be described as an involuntary trot up and I was thrilled to see that he is much improved. Not 100% sound but considerably better. I think I'll give him another couple of weeks in the pen and then ask the vet to revisit. Speaking of vets, there seems to have been an inordinate number of encounters with them of late, what with T, Gualter, Dora turning out to have a hypoactive thyroid, Jim needing check ups to assess progress on his weak hind legs (good), the girls having their vaccinations and the small matter of Ted's abscess at the base of his tail after he got into a scrap. Sounds expensive doesn't it? It is.
Had a lesson with Mandy this afternoon, which was excellent. Q is much more consistently going to the contact and I am generally feeling improvements in all sorts of ways. Our transitions have also improved. I'm hoping to have a lesson at another venue during the week to continue our ongoings efforts to prepare to get out for a competition before I die of old age.
Xacra was much better tonight with her feet, and Gualter had his completely picked out for the first time :) God, he's such a poppet. He also had his first exchange of whinnies with Q, which was so sweet that I almost had to be scraped up off the floor.
So there we have it, another quiet weekend.
On Friday evening I worked Q at liberty; sometimes a challenge keeping his attention when the girls and littlun wandered up right next to the fence, but he did it, and even consented to go over the raised poles at a gesture. Such a good lad. We've also been working on the girls' feet, which I admit we have been a bit slack with :badness:. Alfama was excellent but Xacra is a bit leery and needs to be romanced along, as she lost her balance last time she was trimmed and is a bit nervous about standing on three legs, while I am bit nervous about the potential for having my head kicked off. This is not at all helped by her zeppelin of a belly. Meanwhile Gualter is doing very well at having his feet picked up. He's an absolute star that boy, and SO SWEET.
On Saturday we did a load of cabling for the CCTV, and moved the goat shelter from the girls' field to T's winter paddock, which involved dragging it very slowly with the LandCruiser through several paddocks and gateways to the accompanying aroma of burning clutch and hoping it didn't get shaken to bits. I also made a goatie platform by the simple expedient of lashing together two pallets with some baler twine and nailing some chipboard on top. I was glad I opted to do this inside the shelter, as it would have been something of an arse to have had to manhandle it in there afterwards. To finish off I nailed on two broom heads as goatie scratching posts, a salt lick, a hay net and a liberal smattering of straw, and it was finished. It's ace! The goats wasted no time in coming to investigate, and gave it a thorough road test by trying out the platform and the scratching post in very short order. Needless to say that Angie has commandeered the platform, as we knew she would :) Knickers said she caught all three of them in there this morning when it rained for a while, which is grand. Next I rode Q, who was appalled by the appearance of the shelter, and horrors! at the sight of it - With Goats Inside It And Everything! The expression on the back of his head was truly priceless, but once we got working he knuckled down and we had a great session.
Today, more cabling and the small matter of trying to flatten a very poached area next to the water trough in the mares' second field, which is too dangerous to let them out into, as it has solidified into very rough ground. We have made some progress with (a) our home made irrigation system, and (b) liberal use of the LandCruiser. Needs a few sessions more but is much better and I am hoping we can let them out onto the new grass next weekend. The lack of rain is not helping new growth and we really need to rest their current field.
We had to move T's pen this morning as he was getting a bit too excited near the neighbour's mares. During the course of said move we had what might be described as an involuntary trot up and I was thrilled to see that he is much improved. Not 100% sound but considerably better. I think I'll give him another couple of weeks in the pen and then ask the vet to revisit. Speaking of vets, there seems to have been an inordinate number of encounters with them of late, what with T, Gualter, Dora turning out to have a hypoactive thyroid, Jim needing check ups to assess progress on his weak hind legs (good), the girls having their vaccinations and the small matter of Ted's abscess at the base of his tail after he got into a scrap. Sounds expensive doesn't it? It is.
Had a lesson with Mandy this afternoon, which was excellent. Q is much more consistently going to the contact and I am generally feeling improvements in all sorts of ways. Our transitions have also improved. I'm hoping to have a lesson at another venue during the week to continue our ongoings efforts to prepare to get out for a competition before I die of old age.
Xacra was much better tonight with her feet, and Gualter had his completely picked out for the first time :) God, he's such a poppet. He also had his first exchange of whinnies with Q, which was so sweet that I almost had to be scraped up off the floor.
So there we have it, another quiet weekend.
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