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.

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.

Back to work tomorrow

Last day of two weeks of hols today , which have actually felt like two weeks rather than two minutes. As mentioned we did loads in the first week and had a slightly more relaxing time during the second. We took the dogs to the beach, which was great fun in spite of the weather being "sub-optimal" with a wind that very nearly blew us off our feet and gave us a nice case of sand blasting of the face. Still, it was good to see the dogs enjoying themselves, feel the sand between our toes and finish off with fish and chips. We also went out for dinner for the first time in ages, and had the most amazimg evening with our excellent neighbours, enjoying a delicious barbecue and a great deal of drinking and dancing later on, taking the opportunity to finish off the rest of last year's home made sloe gin.

Q has had more work than he felt was perhaps strictly necessary, but was particularly splendid throughout. I've been teaching Knickers to lunge and she's coming on a treat. Q is very polite but not easy to lunge, requiring complete attention to one's body language, so she's done really well in developing both her attiude and focus, as well as the not inconsiderable task of getting to grips with managing the rope and the whip. We've also enjoyed some great sessions with Mandy, so feel we have all been making some good progress.

Speaking of progress we had the best leading session so far with little Gualter tonight. He really seemed to turn a corner and was thinking it all through as we went along, so I was thrilled with him. What a clever and sweet freshly minted little chap he is.  

When I went out tonight I heard the goats yelling from over in T's summer paddock, which is quite unusual, as normally if they wanted in they'd have been waiting at his stable. I went to investigate and discovered that one of the gates had slammed shut in the wind, blocking their route. I went down to open it, calling them in as I went, and saw them all making a run for it down the field to meet me. They seemed full of vim and vigour, as a trainer of ours used to say, and as it was we all galloped up the field together back to the yard; that is me, the goats and the dogs. I can tell you as a result that you haven't lived if you haven't galloped through a field with a herd of goats at tea time :)