Have I finally done it?

 

My horse does not like to eat that much. She is the only horse I have ever met that just doesn't care about food. The first thing she does with her feed bucket is pick it up with her teeth and fling it across the paddock, spreading her feed everywhere and stomping it into the dirt and mud, where she leaves it. What a waste of money.

I have been trying different solutions - heavier feed bucket, big rocks in the feed bucket, pouring the feed onto hay (she just poops in it then), and now I have gone to the bucket wall (fence) brace. For two nights in a row now she has actually settled to eat her entire dinner by the morning, only leaving barely a mouthful. Have I finally won the Allie vs. Lisa great feed standoff?

God I hope so - she is burning a hole in my pocket that leaks straight into the feed store's bank account.

So proud!

Yesterday we loaded the girls up for the second day in a row and took
them over to ride with some old friends at the agistment property we
kept our first ponies at years and years ago. We then all went out on
a road ride around the suburb I grew up in. I was feeling very
nostalgic!!
I was so.very.proud of them! Allie was rock solid all day - not one
hissy fit or tantrum or anything! She was even carrying the saddle
bags for the first time and after a little lunge with a couple of
leaps she didn't worry about them flapping on her flanks for the rest
of the ride. They had cars, dogs, lawn mowers, kids on bikes, idiot
drivers in cars beeping and yelling things at us, skateboards, soccer
and footy training and a score of other distractions and potential
mind blowing things to think about and process and Allie just took her
ques from the other older horses and like I said, she was rock solid.
I felt like I had a much older more experienced horse under me. :D
Gracie and Nat had a harder day. Grace was very good for Grace, but
the first bike blew her mind - I think we were all too worried about
how she would react to so much stimulation when we should have just
let her deal with it by herself. Poor Nat was tense too. Gracie was
much better when she was way way out infront but when she was behind
or had to stand still she just lost patience, head shaking, stamping,
tail swishing, spinning around, pushing into and ignoring her handler
(when Nat led her and when we stopped for a rest next to a busy
shopping centre and skate park) and generally being a brat. BUT when
she was being good (which was most of the time) she was very very
good. Nat said at first she didn't feel like there was much horse
under her, and she was tense for quite a while at first. Gracie is
just too smart and her little mind ticks over very quickly and as a
rider you need to keep her mind on the job otherwise she has to think
about everything else going on and it blows her mind. I am super proud
of Nat though for sticking it out. It was a hard ride on her but they
did get some really nice, relaxed stuff out of it (like in the video
below). I do have to mention though that if any other horse but Allie
got in her (enormous totally unreasonably sized 20m circle) personal
space bubble then Gracie would make faces, and twice she leapt in the
air and kicked out at one poor adorable pony (Allie tried making a
face at him too, she followed Gracie's lead, it was kind of cute).
But all up, a satisfactory day. And I never though we would be able to
ride Gracie on the streets past motor bikes and trucks on main roads,
through parks and reserves with kids playing soccer or footy, over
pedestrian crossings and through tiny park fences, crossing main
roads and dealing with dogs, and and and she really is a super mare
for keeping her head for most of the day. She is a difficult horse but
I am so proud of them both.
Here is the the video and a couple of pics:

Ready to head off.

Wondering where we are going today!

We are off!

About half way through the ride, next to a main road.

 

The video (link - couldn't get it to embed)

She is looking at the kids playing footy in the park. This is her thoroughbred pose.

Belle, Glitter (the poor pony Gracie hated), Eddie and Chelsea outside the shopping centre waiting for Maccas cookies.

Back from the ride before we loaded up to go home.

They were so tired they didn't even fight about being tied to the same tree.

Two pooped ponies!

Wake up, time to go!

Just a quick one for now...

Just quickly, I wanted to celebrate the fact that I have finally accomplished the almost unaccomplishable - I can now reverse a float around a corner and into tight spots!! I am in no way a modest person, so yes I am tooting my own horn here but I am so bloody proud of myself lol.

However, I seem to partially loose that skill when trying to function on about 3 minutes sleep and a whole day with my intestines trying to escape via my throat due to nervousness driving in heavy peak hour, truck infested Friday morning and afternoon traffic. But all went well in the end and I only almost jack knifed it.

The girls were angels. So proud of them too. :)

Nothing to report... Again.

Rain, rain and more rain has been the agenda of the week. We rode on Monday after work in the dark and it was nice to be back on my horse agin after the finger injury. Allie has been very fussy in the mouth, so I think a dentist visit is due.

This Friday I am taking both girls to another hoof clinic. I'm trimming Gracie there but I want her to just behave so I am bringing Allie along to keep her sane. I know, that's cheating, but the whole point of the day is for me to trim, and to be safe doing so. So ner.

In all this rain we have been stabling them at night if it storms and my horse will just NOT eat her dinner. She eats all her hay, and now that their feed buckets are wall mounted she doesn't poo in it anymore but she just doesn't eat it. She is too busy hanging her head over the stable door looking into the black nothingness that is my backyard. She will eat it in the morning once she is turned out no problems. :<

Chakra is good. We told the vet that we won't be treating the cancer and just keeping a close eye on her. Right now, she is healthy and happy. I'm ok too. I feel at peace with my decision and I know that it is the right one for us. Keep sending happy puppy thoughts our way though please!

Like I said, not much to report.

Chakra

So my poor little Chakra has cancer. The type of cancer she has is
treatable with chemotherapy but it is a 6 month process, and is
ridiculously expensive. I'm pretty sure we won't go ahead with that as
she is 12 years old and has been through enough in her life, but the
vet is getting a rough quote together anyway.

The prognosis is less than 2 months before it kills her.

:(

Chakra

A little update on my dog Chakra - she went in over the weekend to
have the suspicious lump cut from her lady bits. The (hot, lovely,
Irish basketball player) vet also ultrasoundered her heart for
function and the lumpy liver, lymph nodes and spleen looking for mass
cell tumours (for free!!). He showed us the pictures and talked us
through everything and basically said there was nothing there that
causes too much concern other than a small spot in her spleen but we
will wait for the results of the biopsy of the lump taken to decide
whether we will bother with the spleen thing. He's not too worried. :)

She also had a bunch of teeth removed so the poor dear is dribbling a
little blood and feeling sorry for herself (until it's dinner time,
then she perks right back up again!) so that is good.

Wish us luck/send prayers/positive energy or whatever you believe in
for this lump to be nothing please. :) She is a top little dog as
deserves years longer of excellent quality of life.

My finger and videos

I have the most ridiculous injury right now. It is preventing me from riding but not much else. Still have to go to work, still have to do house work.

I was sweeping the stables out and the aluminum (less than 12 months old barely used Oates outdoor broom that was not cheap) handle snapped and trapped the pad of my left ring finger in it, then scooped out a big chunk of flesh, most of my finger pad and down to the bone. There was blood, there was screaming, there was a very quick dash to the doctors BUT there was no needles or stitches (thankfully). The doctor just taped the flesh back down and hopefully it will graft back on. If not, then I will need to get a skin graft.

So I can't ride as my horse doesn't know how to neck rein and I can't bend my finger or risk her reefing the rein out of my hand and displacing the half attached finger pad. I've also had to postpone 4 trims this weekend! :(

ANYWAY Natalie rode both mares this morning. Gracie had an issue. Nat got on and they barely went two steps when Gracie started bucking like a bronc. Nat did a good job staying on but in the end she came off. We think Gracie has an issue with the girth, as she seems to be quite sensitive all along under her belly especially going closer to her nipples where there are strange painful lumps that come and go. We have had one vet look at them but he dismissed it. I think we need to look into it further.

Nat lounged Gracie for a good 10-15 minutes and did a little ground work, then got back on (after checking the saddle and cloth for sticks etc) and did one calm walk circle then got off. Poor kid.

Then she got on Allie for about 10 minutes but Nat had to go so it was only a very very short ride.

 

Allie and Andrew smooching while they wait for Allie's turn.

Video of Nat on Allie (I can't get it to embed, soz! Also, turn down the volume, my voice is quite loud).