Small cut, big bandage!

Poor horse no longer fine and unbothered! Didn’t like having his leg faffed with, so vet sedated him. Anyway, Fraser is now all droopy and a bit grumpy, to be honest. Wound has been shaved, bathed and dressed and horse has been jabbed with anti this and anti that. Better to be safe than sorry!

Interesting...

Leg bit puffy now, so vet coming this afternoon to take a look. Horse is fine and unbothered.

Dentist came to see Toffee on Saturday, and while he was here he checked Fraser. His teeth were fine, but the dentist said the canines had been finished in a manner that is only done by two dentists. He told us who they were, and the area they are from, so we are a bit closer to tracking down Fraser's origins! Watch this space...

The self-harmer strikes again

How? How does he do it? Was in the shower this morning when heard mobile ring; Nina was trying to staunch the bleeding on a cut on Fraser's front leg. She hosed it but it still bled profusely, and she wasn't sure if it needed stitching. Went and had a look, by which time it had stopped flowing but was a nasty wound. Amazing. He had apparently spooked at something when she went to catch them, so presumably caught his front leg with his foot - ? I am baffled. We are all baffled. Thank heavens he had his tetanus jab! He now has some Gamgee held in place with sticky bandage and tape. Will reassess this evening and see if it needs the vet. He also managed to skin his hip. We have checked the field for potential hazards (bearing in mind no other horses have injured themselves in there in the last 10 years) but remain baffled. *sigh*

Tuesday 16th June

This morning Nina took Toffee to Keysoe for dressage (Prelim 7 and 14). She was a little star, coming 6th in the first test and 7th in the second. Kim was there with one of her pupils, so it was nice to catch up with her. I'm sure Toffee recognised her voice LOL!

This evening Nina hacked Spig alone again (well, we went on foot), and got a bit further before he stopped listening. They were both much more relaxed than the first time, and may hack with Sophie tomorrow. We shall see. Both horses are stars!

He really is...

...very, very special.

(Click to enlarge).

Of course...

...if I wasn't always in such a rush, I might crop the pictures before I posted them on here. *sigh* Am also forgetful... Remember, you can click on them to make them bigger.

Fraser's busy weekend

It’s been a busy few days for Spig. On Friday, Sophie came round after work and hacked him out again, with Nina on Toffee. On Saturday, Nina hacked him on his own. Mac and I went on foot with the Moog, but Fraser wasn’t happy, or listening to Nina. He was more interested in what Toffee might be doing back in her stable (nothing much, as it turned out), and he whinnied a lot. Nina was concerned that he wasn’t listening to her, so that is something we need to work on.

Sunday he went to his first party – the Rushden and District Riding Club show at Keysoe. It was a gloriously hot and sunny day – hurrah! We wanted to see how he behaved at a show, and Nina was planning to do the clear round jumping on both him and Toffee (who was 19 yesterday – happy birthday!). Sadly the clear round was scrapped, and the showing classes were running about two hours behind schedule, with ones suitable for him not starting until after 2pm. By 1pm, having been there about three hours, we had all had enough hanging around and decided to go home. It was lovely though, because we bumped into people we hadn’t seen for ages, including the sister of someone I used to live next door to when I first moved to this village in 1977! She recognised my voice *blush*. Someone else had another horse called Frazer (he was bred by Frazer Hines), also a large bay horse, and it was his first show since coming off the track four years ago. I will try and find out how he got on. He was very nice, but not as handsome as our Fraser. (Naturally). It was a bit of a learning curve for me, because with Mac out of action, I had to lead Fraser, and I haven’t had much to do with handling horses since my op over a year ago. I was a bit apprehensive, especially as he tried to nibble me and kicked out at a passing horse (it was very close, but all the same…), but apart from that he was as good as gold. Nina rode him and popped him over a practice jump, then I led him when she rode Toffee. I think he likes things going on around him, and apart from being fascinated by the Tannoy loudspeakers, he didn’t really take much notice of anything. They both loaded into the trailer with no hesitation on the return journey, and both backed out with no problems. I love the way he smells. I am amazed that a horse who can produce such a vast quantity of smelly poo, can himself smell so lovely. :D

Can you guess what this is...?

Everyone's a comedian.

Mine, apparently...

9th June - Massage time!

Nina organised a visit from Claire, a sports physio, for both horses, which they both enjoyed – a lot! Toffee had been seen before, but it was a first visit for Fraser so he had a more thorough work-up. He walked, then trotted up, turned tight circles, was felt all over and pronounced fairly straight and flexible, with reasonable muscle coverage. Better than we thought, anyway! There is a strange lump on his chest which we had wondered about, and Claire said it is where his pectoral muscle has been damaged in a previous incident. Quite possibly something fairly traumatic, such as being impaled, as it has damaged the attachment to the chest. It means he won’t be able to do high level XC, which is really not an issue in our case! She recommended Mac see an osteopath, so after his next visit to a chiropractor we may change horses, as it were. He really isn’t much better.

New saddle, new rider!

Hip hip hooray - the horrible Harry Dabbs saddle has gone (is that libellous?), and has been replaced by a lovely secondhand Kieffer, altered to fit Fraser's template. Owing to having a trapped nerve/muscle spasm Mac cannot ride yet, but is planning to sit on Fraser this afternoon to see how it feels. Providing he is not busy building an ark - the rain here is quite spectacular. The saddle is on approval for a week (thanks, Martin Wilkinson), but Nina says it is 'lush', so I suspect it may be staying. Straight swap = result!

Yesterday Mac was (thankfully!) up to enjoying his birthday treat - tickets for a day trip to Brussels on the Eurostar. He gets terrible train envy when he travels to St Pancras on the Bed-Pan cattle trucks, and wistfully spies the lovely Eurostar wafting off to its exotic destinations. Well, something like that. Anyway, while we were hurtling across Europe and tucking into delicious grub (well worth the upgrade!), Sophie hacked Fraser out with Nina on Toffee. They had a couple of canters and he was as good as gold. She managed to make him walk at Toffee's speed, so it is good to know he can do that. Also good for him to be ridden by someone more experienced, and to get some feedback. I think he enjoyed a change of routine.

He does still love his under-the-leg scratches - pulls some very comical faces! :D