Hole

Last weekend we were all set to take both the horses to Jump Club - I was going to attempt the 90cm with Allie and Gracie was going to hang out at the float while I did that, then Nat and I were going to go for a ride around the Camden Equestrian park before coming home.

Gracie had other ideas.

Excuse the french, but that fucking mole of a horse refused to get on the float and chucked such a massive hissy fit that she got her chest caught up on the butt bar of the float and ripped a hole in her pectoral muscle.

Yep.

No jump club for me, and a nice Sunday vet bill for Natalie.

There was so much blood. Even I was worried about the amount of blood (and I've seen my fair share of graphic horse injuries) but by the time the vet got there we had stopped the bleeding. It soaked though an entire animalintex bandage plus a couple of smaller ones too. Natalie almost fainted while trying to stop the bleeding.

The vet said there was nothing she could do - the wound was in a great spot for drainage and stitches weren't going to be a help at all. I even had my own bute on hand so we didn't even need her for that - but we are the type of people that when our horse tries to impale herself, we get a vet check.

It's been a week and a half and the wound is healing excellently. We've been keeping it super clean and it's draining really well and seems to be closing from the inside (yay!).

Vet said a good 6 weeks before she would be healed.

Damn horse.

Ok, graphic photos now, ok?

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The day it happened, but about 2 hours after the fact.

Day 2 - note some fill in between her front legs. That needed massaging but is gone now.

Day 9, after being cleaned. Looking good! No bute anymore and she's sound as a bell.

Bloody horses.

The Plan

Above is our plan for New Years Eve tonight. Specifically, avoiding what happened last year.

This year, the girls will be locked up in their stables (where they have spent the night for the last week), sedated, and out of sight of the fireworks thanks to our nifty blue tarps. They will also have some loud music playing from the radio to help drown out the noise.

We can not go through what we went through last year ever again. This will be my NYE every year for the rest of my life. Overkill? Maybe. But it is not worth the risk. Not one bit.

The neighbours had a couple of fireworks last night (maybe 3?) but they were over very quickly. The girls were already stabled away and they were fine. But that loud booming noise - it makes Nat and I feel like throwing up everywhere. I got physically sick and felt exactly like I did last year when we heard them last night.

Last year when we drove in the driveway and saw the fences down, was the absolute worst moment of my entire life up until that point. Then it just got worse and worse as the night drew on. We stumbled through the spider riddled bush looking for any sign of them. Calling, screaming, hearing hooves and soft neighs in our heads but thinking it was real. I even remember thinking "even if we find them dead, at least I know where they are".

When there was a car accident around the corner from my house about a half hour after we got home that night and I thought the horses caused it - cop cars everywhere and the cop I spoke to couldn't tell me what was going on. I swore I heard screaming horses and I envisioned my girls trapped between a car and a tree. It was really just the cop car radios distorting voices but it was all I could do to stop myself from pushing past them and running to see.

Hours of trudging through the bush, calling to them, praying to God, bargaining to just help us find them. Many many friends coming to help us look, some with their horses, some people I had never even met before, in over 40 degree (104 Fahrenheit) heat, all helping to find our mares.

And then the relief, when I thought all was lost, the relief when Andrew called me in hysterics telling me he had found them and they were safe (albeit cut up, thirsty and hungry).

Never ever ever ever again.

Oh Daylight Savings, NEVER LEAVE ME

I LOVE LOVE LOVE daylight savings. Ah sunlight, it has been such a long time!

We have done some time in the saddle this past week! Saturday we had an awesome schooling session, and then Monday my friend Casey came and took Allie and I up to Sun Valley reserve in Springwood for a ride.

Allie was a mole to get on the float. Honestly, she has been pretty good about floating but she had been in a mare mood the previous few days (just squirting urine while tied up and being a bit grumpy) but it took us an hour and a half to get her loaded up. She either would rush straight back out after walking in or she refused to walk in at all. She is so tall that she even started putting her head on the roof of the float instead of walking in!! She did end up hitting her head a few times but she didn't seem to care! I was so unimpressed with her. She did end up putting a small split in her poll but it's nothing to worry about. The poor delicate flower has been picky with her feed and not finishing it again since the whole float debacle. She even put up a fight going home, and took about 25 minutes to load. Casey said she was being a bit of a warmblood - not getting into a tizzy about the situation, but just being stubborn. >:(

The actual ride itself was awesome. It is mostly sandy or slightly rocky trail that winds through lovely bush with an awesome hill at the end that we had a big canter up! Allie did very well, was a little nappy but not too bad and she got along really well with Casey's horse Harry (a fit endurance arab who was very patient to be honest about babysitting Allie!). I did get off her to walk back down the hill after the big canter as it was pretty steep and she kept stopping because she was a bit worried about her balance. She was a little looky, mainly at holes or drops (I think she believes that I am going to bury her in any big hole in the ground we go near, she must have fallen in one as a foal!) but overall was very good under saddle. We were out for about 2 hours on the ride I think? She seemed a little pooped but as soon as she got her wind back she was happy to trot on again.


Then another schooling session on Tuesday where I mainly rode Gracie and Nat rode Allie because Gracie was in a mood. I was actually thinking twice about getting on her, she was so agitated from god-knows what, with a swishy tail, pawing the ground, snorting and twitching. She can be a bit of a little dragon to be honest, but once I was on she was happy to settle into the job. So I got to see Allie go over the trot poles and she looks so nice. She pauses almost like she is doing passage, most noticeably in her hocks. I must say, she is one nice horse to look at. Sorry to gush! Gracie did really well over the poles and is really starting to get it, she tries really hard and I love that about her. I'll have to move them soon to another spot, they will get bored with them there soon!

THEN today we did the Chain-o-Ponds loop around the block, walk trot and canter in about 50 minutes. Allie seemed to have gotten bit by the speedy-bug (probably caught from Harry!) and realised that cantering up hills is fun after all! She really enjoyed herself. Gracie was an absolute angel, was the absolute opposite of the mini-dragon that she had been the day before. Sweet, relaxed, happy to be tacked up. Stood still at the tie up, not once pawing the ground. I can't keep up with that horse's moods! I think she might be in season right now, we have noticed that she gets all sweet and easy when she is in season. Go figure.

Sorry, no pictures. My phone was too full and wouldn't let me take any but I promise now that I have deleted a bunch of songs I didn't want and have made room, I will take pictures next time.

That is us all up to date now I think.

*edited to add: Nat wanted me to add the below photo of Gracie after our ride. She was a bit pooped, she kept yawning. Cutie.

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.