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.
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