I want to take you to a hay bar

I shall resist all puns, but oh – what a big fat fuss! We know Fraser is quite change averse, and we knew the new hay bar was always going to be a challenge, but what a challenge it was.

Brought Fraser is from the field as usual; walking across the yard he spied the monstrosity in his stable (fair enough, it is bright purple…) and stopped to have a snort. Eventually plucked up enough courage to approach his door and be tied up. When ready to go in, opened his door and led him in when “WTF IS THAT IN THE CORNER OF MY STABLE?!” *SNORT SNORT BACK AWAY* Eventually Nina pulled small handfuls of hay out of the top, to show the big gallah what was in there, and he stood eating at arm’s length. I had no idea a horse could do such a good impression of a giraffe! He is so special…

Fraser and Mac really do seem to have established a bond. Fraser really trusts Mac, and it is so funny when we are both standing outside the stable. Fraser glares at me then smiles at Mac. I might start spitting in his dinner…

Spig's eye view, or should that be ears..?

Click photos to enlarge.




The speck in the sky in the middle photo is a Chinook helicopter. It appeared to spot the hi-viz and circle round the horses :)

If at first you don't succeed...

The first time Nina rode Fraser out alone, he whinnied the entire time and was very tense. That would be around six months ago. This morning, as Mac is tied up with the bathroom refurbishment (plumber coming tomorrow so no slacking!), it was Nina ride the fuzzy one or nothing at all. She decided to see how he was going up the road again, and he was much better. He whinnied a bit, but she actually got him over the bridge. He started to get a bit silly just before it, so she rode him over and waited until he had calmed down before heading back. He was fine with that, but got in a total lather (literally!) when Nina rode Toffee out. Not sure Corbett is actually achieving anything in the babysitting stakes.

Toffee is a class act

I went for a walk this afternoon with my neighbour (and her toddler, baby in pushchair and both our dogs). As we were on the way back Nina headed out up the track on Toffee, and from where we were we could see them at a standstill. As we have a water leak, and there was a large hole in the track with a man in it and two vans parked alongside (on the track, not in the hole), we assumed that this was the issue. No. She walked past the man in the hole, the man on the track and the two vans with no hesitation. The problem? A child's toy puschair left at the side of the track near our neighbour's house. She really is a very special pony :)

Harmony!

Enjoying a mild winter morning and some company. Who would have thought...

Can't remember last update

Half horse half human:



All these vet visits are blurring into one now, but he came again yesterday. Eye is progressing well but still oozing, so more Baytril. Toffee is sound on two Danilons a day, so we are cutting down to one per day and he will assess her again a week on Friday. The weather has been so mild that Fraser was out last night without a rug! Corbett has grown an enormous amount of lagging already, and Toffee has been clipped so had a lightweight rug on. We are very much enjoying the dry weather, which is in total contrast to last year's underwater autumn.

Welcome back Mr Vet!

The vet came again on Monday, and prescribed Baytril for Toff's eye, which is swollen underneath. He picked the scab off the wound on the outer eyelid, and the next day a large amount of pus came out. Nina also asked him to look at her back legs, as she has trouble picking up her nearside hind (can't seem to put weight on the offside one). He trotted her up, did a flexion test on the dodgy leg, and said she was 1-2/10 lame before flexion, 2-3/10 after. He gave her Danilon for her eye, and said he would look at her legs again when he came back on Friday.

Today is Friday, so the vet came again. He sedated Toffee so he could flush her eye out, so trotting up was out of the question. He will do that on Wednesday, when he comes back to see her eye. Again. He flushed it out with several syringes of diluted Hibiscrub, and she is currently swaying and snoring as the sedation wears off.

We also asked him to look at Fraser. Fraser was bought as a sofa/hack, but if Toffee is going to be on long-term sick leave we thought it was worth finding out what he was capable of. The answer is: what he was bought for; hacking and a little bit of jumping. Nina feels he is a bit on the large side for her anyway (although he is certainly no more than 16.3hh, possibly a shade under)but he feels quite gangly to ride!