Tuesday 18th October
Well it is with a sad heart that I have to say our beloved Fortune was peacefully put to sleep yesterday. She went with dignity and grace and our vet was stunned at how quick and quiet it was.
Fortune had been with us for nearly 10yrs and although lame from an accident with her previous owner (who died) which left Fortune lame for life, she never let it hold her back. She kept up with the herd no matter what gait and was very spirited and opinionated and so much fun with a cheeky sense of joy about trying to pick pockets, opening gates and picking up her feed bowl when she'd finished eating ;-)
She was 2nd in command in our herd of 5 until the beginning of this year when the boys Stormy and Solly decided that she needed to go down the ranks due to her lameness getting a bit worse. She went to 2nd from the bottom and made a niche in the herd with her sister Tara in that place. Tara and Fortune were often to be seen together away from the herd and more so this last month.
We knew that last winter was a bit difficult for her, our paddocks over winter are smaller and the herd moved her around alot and she slipped badly on the ice when it was very bad. This year she has been moving about well and had a couple of sessions where she galloped for sheer joy with the herd but it's taken it's toll on her body. The last month she has been looking very sad, laying down and sleeping a lot and not coming up the hill for water or feed. She also has a look of laminitis about her (thick crest, puffy eyes, slightly swollen lower limbs) and we knew that lack of exercise was not doing her any good but with her initial lameness this isnt' something that could be controlled in a dignified manner.
So, Mark and I made the joint decision that she would not have to suffer another cruel, hard winter (believe me there is snow on the glenshee mountains already...in October!!!) and the kindest thing would be to put her to sleep and so we called the vet on Monday am and he came out Monday afternoon.
She was surrounded by her herd (although we made sure they didn't see her actually going down) and they kept a vigil over her body last night and today over the grave. Holly and Solly intially were very worried and ran about a bit, Stormy was worried but then very curious. Tara seemed to understand that it was Fortune's time and didn't come over at all although she was watching and looking from a distance.
Today Holly was very quiet and her eyes shone with knowing sadness. Stormy was very curious still but Holly kept him close. Tara was away from the herd a bit but kept with them when they went for breakfast. Dear Solly seemed to have taken it the hardest, Fortune was after all 'his girl' and he seemed to be wanting to 'be' with her...they all watched as our friend put her in her grave and covered it all. They all went and sniffed the place where she had lain overnight and Solly was licking the mud scrape that the digger had made. They all looked over the muddy grave and watched, pensive, often lowering their heads and then 'flehming' a lot as if to take the last essense of her into their souls.
It was a very moving experience and very sad. We have thousands of happy memories of Fortune with us, walking through forests and fields, grazing her in-hand at tasty spots and walking miles with her when we moved one time down this very glen we are in now. We are very glad that the estate we live on gave us permission to bury our dearest heart in the field where the horses live, where she will always be with the herd in spirit as she was in life. We are going to plant a wonderful tree and herbage over her so that her body can live again in the shape of the tree, bear fruit and make other trees, support birds and be a good part of nature again although she is gone in the guise of a horse.
RIP dearest soul Fortune. (1994-2011) Always in our hearts and minds, a spirit of pure nature embodded in the finest looking horse ever ;-)
Fortune at 17yrs old, from this Sat 15/10/11
FOR FORTUNE
May this freedom send you on your way
To the fresh fields and forests of your youth
May the air stream fast through your mane and tail
To take you back to the horse you once were
May the love in our hearts stay with you wherever you go
As you will stay in our hearts forever more
We will see you across the Rainbow Bridge
When our time comes to meet again ;-)
Sunday 16th October
Another nice peaceful dry day and down to the horses for a couple of hours. I firstly took a bucket of water down to Fortune as she's not getting up for water and she played around with the spare bucket and flipped water about which was cute to see. I also haltered her up and asked her to walk to see how bad she was with her feet and I don't think it would be fair to ask her to walk to the house (about a mile and a half away) for the vet to come out to her...funnily enough she wasn't limping (something she's been doing since she was 4 and she's now 17) so my instinctual thought was that ALL her feet/legs are hurting (maybe due to the beginnings of laminitis) and so not one individual hoof needs to be limped on!!! it's not good anyway and the other horses seem to gather around her more and more...they know she's not well or happy. We're hoping that we'll be able to dig a hole for her in this field as then the herd can say their goodbyes, mourn for her and know she's not been taken away from them ;-(
So, back to the play...Mark again took Stormy as he came trotting up to the HA arena very enthusiastic to be played with and I took Solly again. I started with some impulsion work on the 22' and then went straight into trying to film the Oct OLHA test again, there was one thing I wasn't happy about in yesterdays BUT Solly and I both felt bored doing it again...nothing bad boring but just 'we've done this yesterday...move on, sort of bored SO I stopped and we went back onto the 22' featherlite and went out into the big field to play big circles and Z5 driving with some leg yielding...it was much more fun and something we are getting to grips with more and more ;-)
Here are some piccie's from todays sessions:
Stormy sidepassing over barrels
Stormy jumping
...so that his jumping is more balanced ;)
not bad for Z5 fun
he offered this canter and I take all good offereings ;)
A nice end of session hug...he's so much happier when he's been played with,
more relaxed, flexible, non-mouthy....mentally, emotionally and physically exercised ;))
Saturday 15th Octobermore relaxed, flexible, non-mouthy....mentally, emotionally and physically exercised ;))
Today my back and leg aren't feeling too bad (taken a few days off to recouperate from osteopath visit on Weds ;-) so we went down and saw the herd. Stormy and Solly were filthy with caked on mud and they must have been rolling in it for a while to have gotten SO filthy! lol. As Stormy came up to the HA arena Mark got straight to grooming him and he looked fabulous when finished.
Mark then played with Stormy and they were very good and got into harmony better with their S2M today. Stormy picked up his feet over the cartwheel very well, stood on things, backed up over, through and under things and was generally a very well behaved boy. Was lovely to watch.
Then Holly came up and Mark brushed and played with her too ;-) She was a bit sticky over jumps and Mark asked me to try to help her with that which I did. She is a bit un-flexible on the circling game so I worked on her becomming more flexible to L&R on circles in trot and that helped her become more flexible going over the jumps...first some doubled up tyres and then the large barrels lying down. I also asked her to jump on a circle and that didn't mean stopping straight after the jump but to continue circling until asked to do something else. I asked her to DHQ about half way from doing the jump and doing it again...this gave her the incentive to carry on with the jump rather than anticipate and stop right after it ;-)
When Mark was grooming Stormy (which takes quite a time as there's plenty of him to groom! lol) I went and put my electric fence back up into the arena (Stormy had knocked about 95% of it down including my dressage letters!) and then I went and said hello to Fortune who was lying down. She's not having a very easy time at the moment but I petted her and said I'd come back later when she was standing.
I then went and walked past Solly and asked him to catch me, which he did willingly and we walked to the HA arena together. In the arena I groomed his dried mud off and then played on the 22' line with some circles, jumps, obedience, willingness, focus and transitions. I didn't play with the OLHA tasks, just played with the ingredients that make up the tasks and then Mark filmed our attempts at the course.
He actually did most of the tasks very well and I was pleased with the result apart from us trotting around the outside of the cartwheel (tyre laying down with 6 poles off it evenly laying down in a cartwheel shape). We are supposed to go around the shape with Solly trotting over the poles but he has difficulty with staying in trot, staying over the poles and staying with me rather than rushing in front of me. I am going to keep the video in case I don't get to do a better one but know that the cartwheel mistakes will take a few vital points from the results SO I'll do my best to get out there and ask Mark to video another attempt ;-)
After I let Solly back with the herd I went over to Fortune who was now standing and groomed her head to toe. I think she really enjoyed it and she looked fabulous after it. We're trying to spend lots of quality time with her as she is probably not going to be around this winter, her lameness is really playing up and she's stopped walking around so much now, laying down a LOT and generally looking tired and sad. She's only 17 (same age as her sister Tara) but has been lame due to an injury since she was around 3yrs old. It's going to be a very very sad day soon when she goes to the 'Rainbow Bridge' but she's had a lovely, calm, retirement in the herd, brought up our boisterous Stormy and been a valued member of the herd. It's very noticable how little she moves now and with not exercising so much this is the first year when she was looking fatter and more liable to laminitis.
Here are some lovely pictures that Mark took of her and me today after being groomed...
Then we left her in peace and I went and found big Tara....she really could do with not being in this field but she seemed very anxioius to be with Fortune, to support her in her when she's not feeling good. I know they don't know what we're planning (or maybe they do) but I know that Tara was fretting about something at the house at exactly the time when Fortune stopped walking around so much and they've been seen hanging out together and laying down together which they have never done much of in the past....they know that things are different and I know that Tara wants to be with her sister so she is staying in the field with the others for now and I will just have to get back into riding her to the village when my leg and back are feeling up to it so that she doesn't put on enormous amounts of fat or she'll get laminitis.
Here are a couple of piccie's of me riding her this afternoon...
Here are a couple of piccie's of me riding her this afternoon...
Tuesday 11th October
Well today's blog is about a horse that I've been helping out, I wanted to share his story and how well he's done as he's taken a small part of my heart, he's such a lovely boy. His name is MAX...a 15.2hh Cob (probably Welsh Cob x Dales) and he's 7yrs old. I've been calling him 'Wild Max' as he's had very little done with him...ever. He was bought by a friend of mine as a 6 month old baby when she was at a sale down in Devon and the mother was sold but he was left....bit of a severe weaning for dear Max...she couldn't let him go to the meat man and bought him and brought him home from Devon all the way to Perthshire, Scotland.
Since then she has managed to catch him and halter him (and that wasn't an easy job in itself) and lead him around, stable him and groom him but he wouldn't pick his feet up and they need looking at, not badly considering (pics in a minute!). I have been working on him in 2hr sessions and total 13 sessions up to today. He is a very sceptical horse but trusts his 'human' when that human has taken the time to bond with him and never let him down. I have been taking everything really SLOWLY as he doesn't like change, he doesn't like ropes dangling, he doesn't like sudden movements but is very good with easy, soft, sweeping movements and a very confident human ;-)
He has been very confident with his owner but strangers are a problem for him.
Over the 26hrs I've spent with him, from not being able to hold the rope long or touching him much this is what I can now do with him:
1) Bring him out of his field and walk him to the yard
2) Touch and groom him all over, including his thick tangly mane and tail.
3) Touch him all over with a folded up rope, a training stick, a farriers rasp, a glove, three different types of brushes and with gloved hands.
4) Ask him by touching or with intent (porcupine and driving games) to back up, move his forehand and hindquarters.
5) Go up to him and handle him with the rope longer and touching his shoulders, withers, neck, sides and face.
6) Picking all 4 feet up and holding them for at least 10 seconds each.
7) Rasping and cutting with a knife some excess bits and chips off his hoof wall on the front feet.
8) Holding him at the head and asking Mark to touch him all over both sides of his body.
9) Holding him and asking him to let Mark pick up all 4 of his feet.
10) Walking him back to the field with plenty of halt/walk transitions and not pulling for grazing along the verge ;-))
MISSION: To have Max pick up and start to hold his feet up for a visit from the farrier.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
(Owner now has daily homework of building up the time he hold his feet up for now and to start finding some balance on three legs. Also to get him ready to get some x-rays to his front feet to see if his pigeon toed walk is fixable ;-)
Here are some piccies I wanted to share...I've got rather attached to Max and will miss him on my daily/weekly visits.
MISSION: To have Max pick up and start to hold his feet up for a visit from the farrier.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
(Owner now has daily homework of building up the time he hold his feet up for now and to start finding some balance on three legs. Also to get him ready to get some x-rays to his front feet to see if his pigeon toed walk is fixable ;-)
Here are some piccies I wanted to share...I've got rather attached to Max and will miss him on my daily/weekly visits.
Just me and Max getting more connected at the yard ;-)
AND his feet....these are the first piccie's of his feet, he's never had his feet picked up or trimmed in his life until me ;-)
Front left
Left hindSunday 9th October
Did a few jobs at home today, sorting out the paddocks and electric fencing, some more logs to dam the river and pruning the beech hedge (the cuttings of which I took to the horses for a treat to eat). We went down to the herd around 4pm and I just did an hour with Solly playing around with the OLHA course first at liberty and then online and then just a bit of fun at liberty to finish off. Here are the piccie's from the OLHA course, some liberty fun pics and a short video of today...enjoy ;-)
FIRST: AT LIBERTY
FINALLY: LIBERTY FUN :0))
Is he watching, is he following! lol
start of fig 8's through the curtain!!!
and through the other way too
trot and canter through the weave with some fig 8's thrown in for fun
...to a fabulous stop with great self-carriage ;-)
Circling at liberty...w/t/c (left & right ;-)
And lastly I asked Sol to fig 8 through the curtain obstacle at liberty...first try, first time...done beautifully ;-)Solly doing fig 8's with the curtain at Liberty ;-))
Saturday 8th October
Looks like it's going to rain today so we get ourselves together and get out to be with the horses for a while. I set up more of the October OLHA course, putting up some Halloween weaving obstacles for a bit of fun.
Solly was a sweetie, tried everything with his usual hardest try and made me laugh quite a few times. Mark then did the same course with Stormy which made me laugh even more...he's such a jester ;-)
Here's some pictures from the session today:
this cartwheel in trot...walk was difficult enough
so plenty of practise for this obstacle
Trying out the backing through poles!! hard one
the wind kept blowing it around!! lol
will make it scarier with some balloons too ;-)
to investigate!!
Circling at trot
He really was a sweetie today...
...and the first time really ever that he's done this wonderful
standing with me and thinking about all he's done without
trying to bite or push me...aah ;-) Bless him
standing with me and thinking about all he's done without
trying to bite or push me...aah ;-) Bless him
try to put all 4 feet on (which he wants and can do very well)
would end up with us not having a pedastal! lol
he wanted to investigate them all and try to bite them! lol
to go through it forwards first...
Tuesday 4th October
At last a couple of dry days...yesterday my good friend Carin came up to Scotland to stay over 24hrs, she walked the dogs and I rode Tara to the field to feed the horses.
Today Carin rode Tara down to the horses, I walked and once there we let Tara graze around the HA arena and I played at liberty with Solly ;-) Then I saddled and played online with him and then mounted.
I did a lot of freestyle working on making sure there was relaxation, focus,energy and balance in place...worked on circles, flexibility and seeing in our seat and mind connections were working well, we've not ridden for a week so it was good to feel him connected to me so well ;-)
So, I dismounted and then put the bridle/bit in and we did about 15mins of finesse...all went well but being in HA arena there were too many obstacles to get properly focused so we just did what we could. what was lovely was that when we did the trot/one step walk/trots to help impulsion he was offering and actually giving canter..yeehaa..how fab.
Then Mark came along and got/saddled Holly up, Carin re-caught Tara and I had Solly and up out of the field we three musketeers went,, out for a hack.
Mark led on Holly, I went second on Solly and Carin on calm, reliable Tara third. All started okay, Holly seemed calm but Solly's head was up a bit from the beginning. I did a few shoulder-in's to focus him back onto me rather than Mark and Holly but he did a few head tosses and he wanted to be right up Holly's bottom and that wasn't an option I wanted. Mark then trotted away from Solly a bit and because I wasn't happy about his high head I stayed in walk but as Mark got further away Solly got more agitated and then BAM....4 bucks in succession....Mark, in front didn't see them but Carin, behind did and I'm so lucky to not have been thrown...I managed to stay on and got off asap, my heart thumping like a bit drum!
I decided if nothing else I would walk and I did that for a bit but then Mark insisted I took Holly and rode her when I felt up to it and he took Solly and rode him. Sol gave him a couple of bucks too at one point but then settled and actually Mark gave him a good, calm ride (w/t/c ;-)
I walked Holly for a bit and then got on and rode at the back behind calm, reliable Tara. Then on the way back I got off before the usual place where Mark canters Holly, we walked a bit and once the others were done with their cantering I got on and cantered Holly back to the last gate home..it was a nice canter but my right sciatic nerve was hurting, as was my left hamstring, left knee and neck...it felt like I'd had a bit of whiplash....darn that bucking. I may have to visit the osteo again if it doesn't get better in a week.
All in all it was a good day out and riding Holly was fun out on the hack and Solly was so good in the arena. Here are a few pic's from, the hack:
Carin and Tara heading to the horses field
Solly just before the bucking....looks SO handsome though ;-)
Mark calmly taking Solly for the hack
Solly being a good boy for Mark ;-)
Solly and Mark leading, Carin and Tara middle
nearing the end of the ride back to the field
nearing the end of the ride back to the field
Me and Holly cantering for home....yeehaa ;-)
