The Wars

Whichever barsteward it was that said bad things come in threes was correct, and I'd like to ask them if they could just keep any further observations to themselves in future. Kthx.

It's been a very turbulent few days here at Luso Towers. On Sunday night we really thought Alfama was going to pop, so quickly rigged up a temporary CCTV connection to the TV while we await the arrival of the PC and capture card. By the time it was done and we had sat, gripped, agonising over every tail lift and glance at her belly, for a suitable period, it was 1am and way past bed time. Knickers volunteered to take the first foal watch and off we went to bed. Next morning up as normal and was just going for a final look before leaving for work when I noticed she was looking very unsettled and her belly had dropped noticeably. "This is definitely it this time!" I thought, for the five thousandth time. All you experienced equine midwives out there will doubtless be sniggering at this from behind your cloak of nonchalance, but I can tell you for the first timer this is nerve-wracking stuff. I just couldn't leave, convinced I would miss all the action, and my boss kindly allowed me to work from home. It was rather nice actually sitting there on the sofa, beavering away and having only to glance up and see how she was doing. At least until they went out, anyway, but even then just a glance out the lounge window confirmed all was still respolutely un-popped. Argh.

Monday evening I took the dogs for their constitutional around the field and Willow managed to bash her leg jumping over a fence, to then run around howling on three legs. Oh God. I know she's a wuss but even so, I was worried she'd done herself a real mischief. Took her back indoors and went to finish off the yard, wondering why Jim wasn't back yet. Went out and called for him, then saw him lying next to the garage, which is unusual. It quickly became apparent that he had done himself some damage again and was barely able to walk :( so we reassembled the crate from last time and put him in there. I was able to get him to the vet next morning and promptly burst into the tears as soon as the vet said "so what's he done then?". I could feel the wave of emotion heading my way like a giant truck, powerless to stop it in spite of how much I clenched my teeth or gave myself a talking to. The vet thinks he has bashed himself again and rest and anti-inflammatories is the best thing. Poor Jim, I really can't bear it. He is a good patient though and has been to the loo, so I am keeping everything crossed. We may need to consider keeping him inside or making a pen for him to go outside if he is going to continue to be susceptible to these types of injuries. We'll just have to see.

Next, the afternoon off to take T to the vet clinic for his work up. In spite of not having been anywhere for ages he loaded and stood on the trailer like an old hand, and travelled really well. He was an excellent patient during the three hours we spent at the vets, submitting to nerve blocks and x rays and finally only having to be sedated to keep him still for the ultrasound, as he was getting bored and a bit restless by then. The upshot is that he has a strain in the fetlock area and is prescribed 4-6 weeks' box rest - in the first instance. So the good news is that it's soft tissue and treatable, but the bad news is the box rest. I really hate keeping horses in and he's now used to being a free spirit, so it will be hard on him. I'm reliably informed that he was caprioling in his stable today so resolved to investigate anti-boredom devices. We have a polished steel mirror that was originally intended for trailer but which has now been commandeered for his stable. Not unexpectedly he found this quite exciting and spent some time alternating between levade and capriole while sporting a giant stiffie but when I left him he was standing more quietly by it, so we shall have to see if it helps or hinders.

Tonight Jim is a little better so I am hoping that rest will be the thing for him. Willow has made a full recovery and is galloping around like normal, so that's good. Someone did however have a very dodgy (and if you're eating, I advise you not to read this next bit at the same time) arse and this morning when I arose at 5:30am I was greeted by not one or two but Three Lakes of Diarrhoea, one of Loch Nessian proportions, all over the kitchen floor. The only good thing one can say about such a predicament is that at this hour, one can proceed pretty much on auto pilot for the clean up operation.

Fingers continue to be crossed for Alfama, who is plainly very uncomfortable; for Jim, who is at present stoic on crate rest; and for T, that he can cope with his box rest.

New season

I love this time of year. Spring is sending out new shoots of growth and the prospect of longer, warmer days to enjoy. At this point of the year it all stretches gloriously ahead into the far distance; the memory of wintry unpleasantness all too fresh in our minds and making the promise of the next few months even more delicious. Everyone feels like this, of course; it's the natural order of things, but it all has a particular piquancy for horse owners, and more so after the sort of winter we've just had, where record numbers of otherwise dedicated horsey folks have been questioning why the hell it is that they do what they do and whether it is all worth it. Undoubtedly, it is but I'm as glad as anyone to be emerging from the other side.

Yesterday, the last day before the clocks went forward, was very busy once again. Pheel came on Friday to roll and harrow the fields, which was nice. The restorative qualities of a good roll and harrow are not to be underestimated. By the time I got home on Friday evening it was a bit too dark to see much so the first order of business was to walk out around the paddocks to inspect developments. I also fenced off a bit of the spring paddock for the girls who were positively gleeful, kicking up their heels for about twenty seconds before settling down to the important business of grazing.

Pheel came back yesterday to fertilise the summer paddocks but we've decided to wait a bit until the winter ones are done as I didn't want to keep the horses in. Glad of that now as today is positively glorious and it would have been criminal to have to keep them stabled. Also, it seems that T does better ambling about outside than being confined so has been out grazing with his posse of goatie girlies all day, emanating that peaceful enjoyment and oneness with all things that horses do so well. We're taking him to the vet clinic on Tuesday for a work up to see if we can determine what is wrong. Depending on what happens he will then go to stud to learn to be collected in early April, the plan being that we can then get a chilled semen sample in time for Alfama's foal heat. Q can then go a bit later on with the same hope that we can time a good sample for Xacra's foal heat.

Q and I had lessons with Mandy both days this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed them. One of the exercises I particularly enjoyed was to go from E in travers, through to A on a half circle while maintaining the travers, then back on a short diagonal to E maintaining the travers and then at E renvers for a few steps, straighten and collected trot. The challenge was through the half circle to get the stretch and bend while keeping the lateral aspect. There was an interesting moment today where we heard a lot of noise, shouting and fast trotting emanating from two sets of our travelling friends thrashing their trotting ponies down the road at one hell of a whack. The girls took off, all the neighbour's horses took off, and I sat there on Q, feeling his heart beating very fast between my calves, thinking "hmmm". Bless him, he stood stock still throughout as they came into view momentarily and went thundering past the front gate, then carried on as normal. He is the world's most excellent stallion.

We celebrated Earth Hour last night with candles and a fish curry, followed by the best cheesecake I have ever tasted, courtesy of Knickers. It was a marvel to behold  and ambrosia for the taste buds. Marvellous.

The CCTV installation in the foaling boxes is on hold as Sid is feeling rancid, so hopefully Alfama will keep her hind legs crossed for a while longer until that can be finished.

There's been such a sense of peace and contentment about the homestead today; the sun is shining and there are creatures everywhere. The new chickens have settled in and we've installed them in a new pen on the yard. Most of them stay put while the self-styled three amigos eschew the electric fence and escape daily to conduct their preferred hours and hours of free ranging about the establishment, scratting here, terrorising a puppy there, taking a dirt bath where they fancy. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them wearing bandannas and pootling about the yard on mini Harleys.

Developments

As Alfama's belly waxes like the harvest moon, so our preparations are gearing up for the blessed event. Largely this involves significant expenditure on the acquisition of CCTV equipment and other bits and bobs. Some 600m of coax cable, a base unit with video capture card, several cameras and related accoutrements suitably purloined, we were nevertheless missing some female BNC connectors which necessitated a trip into Maidstone for me this morning. I was feeling rather "sub-optimal" as it was and very much dislike driving around Maidstone town centre what with its baffling one way system, the perennial difficulty in finding a parking space near to where you want to get to and general Maidstoneyness. Put simply, it's a skankfest. Add to this a throbbing head and a bladder best described as "turgid", and it rapidly became an exercise in irritation. Still, said connectors were acquired and I hoofed it home with no idea of the time since the battery on the car died, the clock has not been reset and I didn't have my Berry with me, but with a growing sense of urgency as I thought I was due a lesson with Mandy at 1.30.

Got home at 12:30 to find the boys had arrived (that is, the boys who work with Pheel; our boys had been there all along) to fence off part of the mares' field which, in the fullness of time, is going to be covered with an all weather surface and adjoins to the picadeiro, giving them an all weather turnout area that attaches to their shelter, but also gives on to their grazing via another gate and thus allowing for all combinations of circumstances. We must be getting on for 15 gates now - erk. Made them a cup of tea and rushed to get changed and start on Q who, having been out naked for the morning had fully availed himself of the ability to roll and roll and roll, and was thus a complete horror to groom. Made it into the arena with 20mins before lesson, very quick lunge to make sure he was ok with the chainsaw and general banging going on nearby, then rode. And rode, and rode, and thought "hmm, not like Mandy to be late". Upon re-checking our text conversation, it transpired that we'd arranged a 4.30 lesson for today and the 1.30 one was for tomorrow. Gah! So we convene tomorrow.

Meanwhile Sid and Knickers were cabling up Alfama's stable with the camera and accompanying hundred metres of cabling back to the junction box in the feed room. There was soldering and crimping to do so it took some time: tomorrow will be cabling back to the house. I took T down the field to hand graze him for a while, which was nice and he was surprisingly good, confining himself to a range of Timotei moments to express his irritation at not being allowed to run free. We stood for a while at the bottom of his paddock, watching one of the adjoining mares in a lofty, flirty trot across the field. He stood nickering at her with his neck pumped up and looked absolutely glorious.

I also redid the electric fence once the boys had finished and did what I could to wrestle with the telegraph poles lying in the all weather area. We'll have to get them back with the telehandler to move the rest, as they are beyond our collective powers of influence. Had they arms, they will sit there with them folded, saying "non".

Vet visit

A day off work today for a busy morning of routine horse care, beginning with the dentist. Q was his usual excellent self, standing patiently while the dentist rasped away at his sharp bits. T had to be sedated for his as he has a tendency towards transverse ridges, so we all decided it would be optimal to do the trot up for the vet beforehand. Don't ask me why, it just seemed like a good idea. For a stallion who has been on box rest for two weeks he was exceptionally good, but unfortunately still lame, so our next step is to take him to the clinic for further diagnostics; nerve blocks, x rays etc. Bugger it :(

Next he had his teeth done under sedation, which was fine. The vet's second purpose was to gather the biohealth swabs from both boys, which requires some cooperation of the fifth leg variety. Unfortunately even under sedation T was resolute in keeping himself to himself at all costs, irrespective of any tickling or other encouragement that went on. But there's a solution to that - enter Knickers with one very heavily pregnant Alfama to wave under his nose, among much frivolity concerning French maids' outfits, frilly knickers and the like. T dropped just enough for Peter to get the samples he needed and all under the haze of sedation, so no hooves around my ears or other Black Beauty impressions - indeed not even a whicker from the poor lad. The spirit was willing but the flesh was still under a fug. We wondered whether now might be the time to conduct a study on the effect of sedation on libido in the adult stallion, but concluded that the statistical universe of one might be deemed inconclusive when submitted to the rigours of academic analysis. I might just say that the expression on Q's face, at his door to watch the parading of HIS mare, dammit, in front of T, was pure "miffed". It was bloody funny.

We decided to rope in Alfama to assist Q with his work also, and he dropped enough in no time at all to allow Peter to gather his samples. Even with Alfama right there he stopped to be given a goodie - that boy lives for his stomach! I was very proud of him and Peter was suitably impressed at his general splendour - as well he might be.

I'm sitting writing this in the intervening period between the vet leaving and the farrier arriving, so this could be considered "half time". After some discussion we have decided to leave their vaccinations until after the babies are born, as they won't get the immune protection at this late stage anyway.

We are also considering how we juggle sending the boys to stud because if we time it right we could use chilled semem in their foal heat to set them off again and therefore not have to worry so much about the timings involved with frozen. I can just see us dashing over to the Ashdown forest and coming back bearing a precious canister of boy juice to impregnate the girls with. It's a shame their due dates aren't closer together so we'll have to finalise who is put to who and go on from there. For myself I am feeling a desperate urge for a Q/Xacra baby. We have a feeling that T/Xacra will probably create some sort of uber horse that someone like me won't be able to ride one side of. We shall see.

Stud visit

This morning we drove over to East Sussex to visit a stud we're thinking of using for the boys. It's a small but well formed and peaceful place nestling in the Ashdown forest, well set up with adjustable dummy (and rather alarmingly set to "large" when we saw it - not used to giant horses any more), mare stocks and fully equipped processing lab for semen and embryo transfer. For us this is perfect and a minor inconvenience that it's a good hour away and longer with a trailer on the back, but we can get around that by offering only frozen semen. I notice plenty of stallions are available only with AI/frozen so the next stage will be to have them trained to the dummy and to see if they will indeed freeze. The training normally takes around 10 days. I'm not wild about the boys being away from home but in this case needs must given that none of us know what we're doing, but I'd be happy to leave them in the stud's care.

One of the downsides of them having such a nice life coming and going as they please at home is that things would be quite different when they have to go away. However they could have a half day turnout and ad lib haylage so I think that is not too shabby.  The next stage is the numerous biohealth checks that need doing; Coggins, EVA, EIA etc, not to mention getting T right. Luckily we have established that none of this requires a pre-ejaculatory sample: I had visions of me parading up and down with very excited stallions next to the mares' field, waving a receptacle in the direction of their fifth leg and hoping for the best.

While there we met Millenium, a GP dressage stallion who was absolutely MAHOOSIVE. Got a crick in my neck looking up at him but he was a real sweetie. I forgot horses came that big, being so accustomed to my Iberian pocket rockets.

Meanwhile the bellies are waxing and Alfama looks like a small planet, with a horse's head, neck and legs sticking out. We have to get the CCTV set up asap and I am trying to keep myself to a pleasant simmer at the prospect of our very first baby arriving Really Quite Soon. Argh. Argh.