'Luke' Returns & Babysitting 'Rose'

'Luke' is back at 'Buttercup Farm' after having been away all winter. He wasn't handled much during the winter months and is now back so that 'Lillian' can begin working with him again. 

She isn't particularly looking forward to it due to the previous year's 'bumpy ride' (see earlier post back in July I think).

Meanwhile I am most pleased so see 'Luke' return and so is 'Mr F'. I have from the very first moment been fond of 'Luke'. He behaved impeccably and very readily accepted my private space when being handled. I was surprised when people suddenly began to warn me of him "You got to watch out around him." - "He once jumped the fence and ran off into the village until his hooves bled" And apparently he knocked over 'Jane' and trod on her calf, making 'Jane' limp for weeks. This they tell me after I had already spent all last summer looking after him while he was with 'Mr F'? My reply was: "Well, I have never had a problem with him. He just needs time to 'think' about things. And he needs clear instructions. I don't know what the fuss is all about."

 'Luke' is back after having been away all of winter

'Rose' is also back with 'Mr F', temporarily. The others are now in the big front field but 'Rose' finds coping with the big field while wearing a rug difficult. She is happy to be back with 'Mr F', who in turn is rather irritated by it. 'Rose' clings to 'Mr F' and it is getting on his nerves at times.

And of course, we are straight away back to the old 'hey, it is I that is supposed to get all the attention' game between 'Rose' and 'Mr F'. I never expected to find something similar to jealousy among horses ...

 'Rose' enjoying the sunshine - without rug for a short while.

Quick Catch-up - Mud Fever Relapse

A very very busy time for me and therefore not much time to write for this blog but here a quick summary for my own reference later:

Hoof care:

The postponed trimming of hooves has now taken place on Wednesday 12th February 2014.

First sunny day - the calm after the storms:

Blessed with a  beautiful sunny Sunday I went with my camera to take photographs of moss growing on stones.

'Mr F' is still recovering from his mud-fever and had a relapse 2 days ago: he got himself a bit in a state while 'Lillian' was dealing with his stable mate 'Jess' and took her out for a walk. 'Mr F' wasn't at all happy being left behind alone and was charging around in the deep mud like a loon, aggravating the already sensitive skin.

I did not get far with my photographs as 'Mr F' wanted to spend time together in the sun and so we did, wandering around the field examining the fence and stone walls and just generally enjoying each other's company:

 'Hello, what are you up to?' - Although he is clearly not comfortable.

But he still follows me around which is good. If he didn't I would know things are bad.

The mud ... be gone!

Not at all comfortable.

Leaving 'Mr F' to it, sunbathing ...

Here is hoping for more dry weather, this mud is not helping at all.

From the inside out - Part II

'Mr F's new feed from 'Thunderbrook Equestrian' has arrived just over a week ago. I was expecting some big bags as we usually get when buying comercial feeds.  Not so.

The delivery consisted of a 20kg of 'Base Mix' in finely ground form and a bag with Calendula (marigold) flowers to support healthy skin with the aim to help with the recovery and improvement of his skin.

I smiled because what was in front of me looked like a bag of cooking spice with some potpourri!

Upon reading the feeding guidelines I went to portion up his new feed so I would not need to fiddle with the weighing scales each time.

'Mr F's new feed - packed into individual feed portions.

'Mr F' has been on this now for nearly two weeks and the one thing I have noticed is that his droppings look very healthy. While on his own feed he would have a lot of scouring before the actual droppings appear. Now it is just a clean, straight forward 'business' in small spherical shapes. And this without balancer.

'Thunderbrook' do offer balancer depending on the horses' needs, aiding with cushings / laminitis / performance energizing / allergEase / Calmer.

The calming balancer won't be required with 'base mix'. I am considering getting 'Mr F' the AllergEase balancer to help with his respiratory system and skin. 

The scent when mixing up his feed is pleasant and natural. Hopefully I will see some improvement in his hooves, too, eventually. 

So far so good!

Pedicure February - Delayed

I had to postpone 'Mr F's pedicure by a week due to his legs. The skin on the back of his pastern is still thick and scabby and he feels uncomfortable if I 'bend' his hooves to clean them because of the skin being so hard.

I change his bandages twice a day after removing scabby skin each time; spending a good three hours each day trying to keep on top of it all. Meanwhile 'Mr F' is enjoying all the extra grooming and company and so do I. I have tried all kinds of things to keep his legs mud free. The back entrance to the cowshed is covered in a thick, deep layer of mud. In fact the entire area at the back, the small orchard, is one big mud swamp. It goes well above my ankles when I step in it and I am no 550kg. But there is nowhere else I can put 'Mr F'. This is the first time where I am learning that having a horse at a yard that is not yours is a matter of constant compromises.

In addition, I don't have a huge budget to just throw at things. Which in a way makes me learn more as I have to do research to find my own solutions. If things do go out of control of course the vet will be called.

I have found a way of bandaging 'Mr f's legs so that they stay clean during turnout in deep mud.

The bandages survived an entire night and have kept the affected skin clean.

To assist recovery I use Iodine solution and Sudocream. The skin irritations are improving and he is much less itchy. I doubt this is mud-fever but perhaps more an allergic reaction to mud. Or rain scald. Short of taking a scrape off his skin and sending it off to the lab, it's impossible to diagnose. I don't fancy having his skin scraped, we seem to be getting on top of it so I hope nature will sort out the rest.

 Please summer ... hurry up! We all have had enough of this rain and mud!