Paula’s Blog - Oh no, not the dentist again!
Bob visited the dentist for a dental examination and an x-ray last week and sadly it was the news I was dreading; the poor boy needs to go in to have his tooth removed! He has an appointment next week, and the vets have been brilliant as they are letting me bring him in early to avoid all the rush hour traffic and stress for him (and me!). I went to their open evening last week by chance, as I had spotted it advertised and thought it a perfect opportunity to look round where he will have the operation, plus, there were treats and an informative talk on lameness on offer too.
We were the first to arrive, allowing us to have a private tour of the property which was great, as we were able to speak to the vet that came out to do the x-ray and the vet who will be assisting him when extracting the tooth. Watching the x-ray was interesting as we had the vet and two assistants setting it up, as I had never seen this before. Bob put up a fight and needed three lots of sedation as he kept waking up! I wish I had taken my clippers as after it was happening - he was so dopey and sleepy I could have clipped him. I’m hoping it’s a simple procedure for him as they also want to look at another tooth that is showing a tiny shadow on the x-ray. I did ask how long he may be out of work for as it could be up to four weeks, which is disappointing as we were making great progress.
I took Bob out to the next pole clinic run by my instructor, which was in an arena at a new venue this time. We arrived a few minutes late as the naughty boy decided he didn’t want to be caught, but I got him and he loaded and travelled brilliantly again. On arrival he took it all in but stayed calm and as soon as we got in the arena, he behaved brilliantly. We had two other horses in the arena with us and he wasn’t fazed. All the pole work was done superbly and even the grid fences too. He got distracted by a tractor two (yes, two!) fields over for one of the grids on the approach, so he managed to take three out of the four fences down! But there was no panicking or rushing. We were last to go for the final grid and just as we turned off our circle to go down the line, I noticed my naughty instructor had whacked the final fence up just for us! Oh well, we went for it, but as I passed her, I said, ‘you’re so mean’ with a laugh and she gave us a chuckle! Safe to say Bob loved it, every fence cleared beautifully including the final and although it was bigger, I felt in full control and balance with him. I’m disappointed we will miss out on this for the next four weeks, but we will be eager to get back to it!
Autumn and I took part in the Pass Wide and Slow ride locally with our pal and her Neddie. It was great fun with lots of country lanes and polite drivers. We also got to go for a good blast up the hill on the battle ground, which was amazing, as well as a gallop stretch in the country park. We all loved it and would definitely do it again. We are now looking at the bridle way routes round that area to explore next!
Autumn sadly put herself hugely into the bad books since the ride, it could have been her way of distracting me on Merlin’s anniversary (which still hits me so hard!), but I would rather her do it another way. Yesterday morning she decided to have an out of the blue meltdown bronking and kicking at Aria whilst in the yard. Poor Aria seemed ok, until in the darkness (it was only about 6 am), I noticed her sniff her leg. As I looked, I saw the blood trickling down her leg – Autumn had cut her. In no time I had it washed and bandaged to stabilise the blood flow. I left her for ten minutes then checked it again and rechanged the bandage and gauze. On checking it again in the evening it seemed to have helped and the cut had seemed to ‘stick’ back together. She did have swelling above where fluid seemed to have built up, so I left the bandage off overnight but covered the cut with cream. Luckily, she is walking fine on it and it seems to be healing Just as I’m bringing her back to work this happens argh! – well she can have some rest time then she will be back in training!
Horses… who would have them?
With things getting off to a rocky start – I think I read this is the worst rainfall in over 50 years! – what better pick-me-up than the “Fred & Rowena Cook: A Life After Racing” rehoming service contacting me about the most precious four-year-old gelding, who was looking for a new home straight from the British Racing School (BRS)?
The trio have been keeping me busy these past few weeks: Freya has had a saddle fitting, Bob’s had a lesson and Autumn’s been out with a new friend exploring lanes not too far from our yard.
Diva (Melland Queen of Scots) usually gets her summer coat quite early compared to other horses and ponies, but this year she has been holding onto hers for a lot longer.
Is it spring yet? It’s been teasing us the last few days, going from a few dry days when I could walk across most of the field and it felt like spring, to heavy downpours, including hail, which reverted the field back to a quagmire. I didn’t let it put me off too much, though, and I’ve now managed to get all three horses back into work! Eek!