Goals

Lets see what we have here...

January Goals:

1. Keep Allie's wound infection-free. Help it heal 100%

This one has gone really well! Here is the wound after two days:

And here it is today (1 whole month after the injury):

 (White stuff is from the elastoplast)

I’m very happy with it. Last night when I got home from work, Allie’s bandage had become so soaked with sweat that it was all bunched up around her knee not covering anything at all. (It’s been absolutely scorching this week, yesterday reached 40^o Celcius and we got to 42 ^o Celcius today![104-108 ^o Fahrenheit]. Hence the sweat). So I didn't bother bandaging it again because I’m having trouble keeping it on and I don’t really think it needs it anymore anyway. The vet said to wrap it for 4 weeks. It’s been just over. I’m just chuffed. She had her first day back in work today! More on that below...

2. Put some more weight back on Allie.

Also success. It’s been hard though, because of the heat and they still didn’t settle to eat their dinner for ages. But I have sourced some (expensive) top quality meadow/rye mix hay that they are eating every skerrick of. Good quality forage helps! She is at the point now where more weight is not needed really, but some muscle building and she needs some nice cool days so she isn’t so tucked up! When it’s hot she becomes tucked up, it makes her look worse. She drinks plenty (I have a webcam on them all day that I can log in and check to see how often they drink, which is plenty...) so that can’t be it. I’m rambling now. Onto the next point.

3. Teach Allie to lower her head on command. She is not bad about it, just she is a very tall horse when she wants to be!

Fail. I didn’t even do one training session on this. Instead I taught her how to trot up while being led, like if I were to trot her out for a judge or vet. She had NO CLUE how to do it before. It only took one session! Good girl!

4. Tie-up training with Allie. I am thinking of getting one of those Blocker Tie Rings to help.

Semi-win on this one. I am REALLY reluctant to just tie her to something solid and let her work it out. She has become so much better about being ‘tied’ (i.e. I wrap the lead around something, but if she pulls hard it will give her slack, like the idea behind those tie rings I mentioned). She hasn’t once pulled back or panicked while using this method. And I leave her to go grab the brushes from the shed or grab my phone when it’s ringing for example, and she has been fine. I still want the tie ring, but she’s doing well with my el-cheapo solution. Also, she is so good about standing still when not tied anyway, I never tie her to hose her off and she barely takes a step, I hardly ever tied her to do her bandages, so I’m really only worried about it when I eventually take her out.

5. Teach her to pick up her feet on cue. She is quite bad at actually picking up her feet.

Win. She is very good with this now, just from me picking them up every day in the paddock and not even having a proper schooling session on it.

Ok, goals for February:

1.    Continue to build up fitness and muscle slowly. Hopefully get back on by the end of the month (this will be easy, I’m itching to get on, even if it’s just bareback!).

2.    Teach her to lower her head, for bridling especially. I noticed she is a bit narky with this, raising her head when the bit comes toward her teeth.

3.    School her to have manners when being trimmed. She was a monster last time!

4.    Borrow a float and have a floating lesson or two if possible. I want both of them self loading!

5.    Have a lesson myself on a school horse. I am so so so rusty, and my only real talent before was the ability to stick to a horse’s back! I want my toes especially to FACE FORWARD! They currently feel like they are forward, but both toes turn out a ridiculous amount when I ride. It’s embarrassing!

So today, Allie had her first day back at work. She only had a very short, 15 minute marching-walk-sedate-trot session on the lunge, and it was still pretty hot so she was an angel. The worst thing she did was not come back to walk for almost a full circle from the trot, but she was stretching and feeling herself and trying very hard to be a good girl so I was very happy with the session as a whole. She tracks up so much in the walk! Even when she is walking along almost asleep. Me likey.

Little shit put up a small resistance to being caught though. She does this hilarious thing where she will do a little squeal and jump into trot or canter to get a few strides away from you when she doesn’t want to be caught. She gives up pretty quick if you persist though. I’ll have to try to film it, it’s adorable (but naughty!). She hardly ever does it though, so I’m not complaining.

Alright, enough words.

My adorable little staffy Chakra. She is 11 this year!

After a hose, which is why she looks so dark.

Itchy face!

Looking so much like a TB.

Um???

Having a pick.

Two peas in a pod.