Harry horse & Charlie adventures! Horse chat & much more! Everyone welcome!

[Yorkshire Coop]

@rebrascora

Any flags this week Barbara? Non here yet but I’ve been on my own at the farm as nearly everyone has gone down to Equifest at Peterborough or gone on holiday so their horses are on full livery and I’ve been looking after what’s left at home. Alright for some! Thankfully the last really hot day was Tuesday so it’s not been too bad since then. I’m sure I would have been complaining more had it been 30c all week!

Hope all is well at yours and that Arthur and his wound is/are doing well

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Kim.

No more flags for me either I'm afraid. They are still quite unsettled about being moved to the other field. It is away from home and access is onto a busy main road so less easy to get them out and the ones that are left get very wound up. MeMe has made a friend in the adjoining field though. She has never really had the opportunity to socialise with other horses before because this was Cora and Rainy's field up until last summer when he died. She has always been down in the village with her brothers and there were no horses in the field above earlier in the year when I put them up there for a few days. It must be a mare because the lads would not tolerate her hanging around with another male.... they are incredibly protective of her. When I go up to check on them on a night she screams and comes galloping full tilt and screaming all the way across the field to me with the lads close behind and Cora hobbling along behind although she is still managing to canter. All my horses are quite vocal but she really is quite funny, like she hasn't seen me for months! I should video her. We are going to Lowther show tomorrow. It is one of the major driving trials events of the season and all the top competitors will be there. My sister and I love to watch the Marathon section with the obstacles. My young friend and Ian are also coming. I am trying to get Ian interested in Driving Trials as I think Zak would be much more suited to it. He likes to canter in harness which is frowned upon in the show ring. Sunday, we are doing another club drive. We went to one last Sunday, but Zak had an unhappy tummy. He was stamping and swishing his tail when he came out of the trailer but there were no flies and he scoured most of the way round and when we stopped at half way to give them a rest he was stamping and kicking and definitely unhappy, so I suggested to Ian that we would just make our own way back to the trailer and take him home. I think it helped that we were able to just take it steady and go at our own pace and he was definitely a bit better when we got back to the trailer. It turned out one of the neighbours had topped their grass cuttings and a whole load of weeks into the field and he had been seen eating them. Thankfully he has been OK since. Funny how mine get grass cuttings all the time and are fine and eat straw and are fine but a bit too much spring grass and they are colicky! Rainy always colicked with new hay, but the others were fine.
Arthur is doing very well although he has started getting a bit full of himself recently..... too much good grass and not enough work. I was leading him down the field past Ian the other day and he started pawing out with each foot as he walked just like the Spanish riding school horses. He clearly was protesting at me because he didn't want to go in that direction. It was very strange. I did a bit of long reining with him and he clearly hasn't done much because his steering is limited shall we say. His wound is getting there thanks. I think the Stockholm Tar was probably a mistake. It stopped the flies but he has chewed all the fur off his leg below the wound, I am assuming as a result of using the tar.... not sure if it was irritated or he just liked the taste and it is pretty much impossible to clean off!
Think that is all my news. Hope you have a good weekend. I hope you don't have too much extra work to do at the yard with everyone being away. Look forward to seeing a flag from you soon. X

 

[TwoCrows]

Sorry to interrupt the horse chat here, but my Lollie (dog) has to go in this coming Monday to the vet for more teeth pulling. I am so disappointed as I had really stepped up his oral care this past year and thought I could stop his tooth loss. But I guess you can't beat genetics. I am going to be a nervous wreck all day on Monday!!

 

[rebrascora]

Oh dear Leyla, I'm so sorry to hear that. Poor Lollie! How old is he? I can understand you being anxious! Do they have to give a general anaesthetic to a dog for dental work?

 

[TwoCrows]

Oh dear Leyla, I'm so sorry to hear that. Poor Lollie! How old is he? I can understand you being anxious! Do they have to give a general anaesthetic to a dog for dental work?

Thank you. He is 9 1/2 year old Maltese. I always knew this breed was prone to early tooth loss and gingivitis and started brushing his teeth when he was 3 months old. They say many Malteses have no teeth by the age of 2 years! Last year March, he had his first episode of teeth pulling and lost all his front, top and bottom and 2 canines. So all the brushing over the years must have made a difference?!

After last years big tooth loss, I decided to step it up and brush 2 times a day along with a spray that helps prevent tartar build up. He has little tartar now, but more loose teeth.

So Monday he will be anesthetized, the loose teeth pulled and the vet will also clean his teeth. I suppose he will slowly lose them all as he ages but I am going to try something else yet, Colidal Silver spray. Maybe this will keep the bacteria from getting under his gums and lossening his teeth? I'm not sure I can win this battle.

Either way, I will be a nervous wreck until he is back home and recovered from the anesthesia!! I have a wonderful vet I trust completely, he even knows his chickens!

 

[TwoCrows]

Here's my Lollie.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Sorry Leyla I didn’t know there were new posts here Bleeping alerts!

How is Lollie? Did it all go ok with dental work? Always a worry when they have to have anaesthetic
He’s such a little doll!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

@rebrascora

Morning Barbara! Are you recovered from the weekend? Sounds like a busy one! Hope it all went well yesterday on the drive. No flags again for me, I got caught up on jobs I hadn’t done during last week with having everyone else’s to do. Sure is a jump from looking after H and Bran to having 10 extra to do! Was glad to see them back from equifest on Saturday afternoon!

Arthur sure sounds like he’s feeling his feet. Amazing how some good scran & care can bring them on. Do you think he will turn out a bit of a handful when he starts work? Sounds like he might be a spirited creature!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Kim

Shame you didn't get to fly the flag. Bet you are relieved that they are back. It is not just the extra work but the extra responsibility to be looking after so many horses for other people whilst they are away and as we know horses are terrors for getting into trouble when your back is turned. Pleased you have been relieved of those duties and you are now back to normal.

Yes, Arthur may not be as placid and amenable as he at first appeared! As Ian says, those guys keep them on "an empty tank" for a reason... it makes them easy to work with. Zak was flat as a pancake when we got him and he can be a bit of a handful now. He decided that he doesn't like travelling alone in the trailer and is becoming more awkward about loading unless there is another horse in there first, in which case he walks in without hesitation. He seems to travel fine and comes out very calm and he doesn't kick or bang when he is in there but he will do anything rather than even look in the trailer when you are trying to load, so I'm pretty sure it is not a problem with travelling or being in a tight space, he just doesn't want to go on his own. I did work on this a couple of years ago and it looks like I will have to start again! He set his neck on Sunday morning and got away from me and we were loading him on the roadside (very minor country lane) so he headed off back to his field and somehow managed to get his lead rope hooked into his hind shoe.... we do have a long lead rope on him but how it got between his heel and the shoe I do not know, as the shoe was not loose, but it effectively tethered him. I managed to get it out and we eventually got him loaded and on the road so we didn't miss the drive but is was a bit franic to get him hitched up in time when we got there. We are taking him down to Ian's sisters in Leicestershire at the back end of this week to take their 5 year old son for a carriage drive and maybe let him have a little ride too if Zak is settled. We are just staying one night but it will be lovely to see them.

Think that is all my news. Hope you have a good week and are flying some flags soon. X

 

[TwoCrows]

Sorry Leyla I didn’t know there were new posts here Bleeping alerts!

How is Lollie? Did it all go ok with dental work? Always a worry when they have to have anaesthetic
He’s such a little doll!

*sigh*...Lollie had 7 more teeth removed. So with what he lost last year spring, (15) he is going to be without teeth pretty soon.

This time around wasn't so easy on him however, he lost all but one canine, many of the larger teeth in back, all the deep ones. The vet said there was deep infection. (dogs hide this stuff so well, he didn't show any signs of bacterial infection other than a SLIGHT odor in his mouth. Last time he did show signs of infection in his body but the infection wasn't so bad?) Anyway, he is not coming out of the anesthesia as well this time around. He was throwing up yesterday, very lethargic and still this morning he is nauseated and very very sleepy. If he doesn't start to improve at the 24 hour mark, (10am) I am going to call the vet's office.

I always worry about dogs and anesthesia, yesterday was very stressful on me. *sigh* He has to be on antibiotics for another 2 weeks along with the 1 week he had been on them presurgery, for a total of 3 weeks.

He has 20 teeth left believe it or not, but I am sure those will need to come out at some point too. Thankfully his diet is a soft one now! I had switched from a hard diet to soft last year after he lost those 15 teeth.

So today I dog sit with Lollie. I won't feel better until he starts to pull out of this. Last time at this point, he was feeling much better.

Thanks for looking in on us Kim!