Aucune leçon aujourd'hui........

..............parce qu'il y avait un divertion qui, comme la plupart des divertions ici, vous prennent si loin que possible et puis rapportez-vous seulement 50 mètres davantage en haut la route.

Le temps a été affreux aujourd'hui, pluvieux et venteux, donc nous avons fait quelques travaux dans la maison et Jim a remplacé la fenêtre dans la grange.
Assez du français.........
........we had an afternoon of DIY - I'm not very good at DIY, firstly because I'm too lazy and secondly because I don't really have any talent for it (perhaps that's a bit of an excuse). I'm more in the DDIY camp, but I spent the afternoon rubbing down cracks in the kitchen walls ready for painting. Jim gave me a tube of filler, and like a little kid with a new toy I went around filling every little nook and cranny I could find.
Jim changed the old plastic sheet covering the window in Remys stable with a sparkly new piece of transparent sheeting. I didn't give it a thought until I brought Remy in from the field.  He's a sensitive soul (ahem-wimp) and he stopped halfway down the passageway to eye it up. I suppose from his perspective it was very bright and spangly and was reflecting quite a lot of light into the stable. He followed me in and stood up to his full height snorting at it like it was a portal to a world full of horse eating monsters. I stood next to it and asked him to walk towards me. He reached out and touched me with his nose, wanting some reassurance so I touched the sheet and then asked him to touch it. He took a step towards it, so I clicked and rewarded him and then he walked up to it and touched it with his nose. I clicked and rewarded him again and then he just turned towards his feed and started eating.  I love my boy. He's a bit sucky at the moment, he whinnied to me from the field today and I just love the way he looks to me if he's unsure about something.

Die, tick, die!!!!!

We treated the horses for ticks today. I used a product called Butox, which I got from the vet. His instuctions were to dilute it 60ml Butox to 240ml Water per horse and to sponge it all over. I expected it to be horrible stuff, and hopefully it is to ticks, but it was fine, easily applied and virtually no smell. Each application should protect them for about a month which is great. I've nothing against ticks really, although they are horrible, parasitic things, it's just that the disease piroplasmosis that they can pass on to horses is pretty nasty and can be fatal.
We've sectioned off the edge of our top field for a super duper playground for our chooks ( I know, we're completely mad) so Jim's put up a temporary fence to keep the horses out. This afternoon I took, first Remy and then Bonbon, a walk in there just as an exercise of taking them away from the others. They were both pretty chilled about it, Remy had a bit of a look at the new fence posts lying at the entrance, but came through ok and Bonbon was predictably unfazed by any of it. 
It's been forecast to storm tonight so the horses are in ( it was great, we didn't bring them in until gone eight as it was still light) but it seems pretty calm out there, you can't really trust the forecasts here. Now I've written this down I'll probably have to eat my words when the storm arrives later!!

Wet, wet, wet

It's been a miserable, wet weekend. After our initial optimism with leaving the horses out overnight, we've had to bring them in again. Even though it was forecast to be fairly dry last night, the sky was very heavy with clouds and, in fact, it did rain most of the night. It's rained all day too, so having watched the horses mooch around the gate in the mud all morning I relented and brought them in. It's starting to brighten up a bit now, so if it stays dry I'll put them out later and hopefully they can stay out. What is it that makes horses stand around in mud when there's a lovely grassy, mud free- field 25 yards away?
Anky's been ok.
We took her off alfalfa a few months ago when the vet said she may have an intolerance to it, but with a lack of any noticable improvement and it's excellent buffering effect in the stomach, I've decided to start her back on it in the form of Dengie Hifi lite and if she stays ok I'll then move her onto Alfa A oil.
I've been doing further research regarding sugar beet, which is a good high fibre feed for horses, but also has beneficial affects on horses with ulcers. It remains in the stomach longer than other types of feed and also doesn't require a functioning small intestine for absorption and is well-tolerated - this will definately help if she has an inflamed bowel.-it also contains high levels of pectin which has been shown in studies to help combat ulcers. Apparently in one trial, feeding horses 300 grams of pectin per day resulted in marked decrease in ulcer score or healing in 10 days compared to unsupplemented. This amount of pectin can be obtained from feeding 2 to 2.5 pounds of beet pulp.
So, she's now on unmolassed sugar beet, she likes it (a lot!!) and seems to be doing ok.
A few trot strides on the lunge - an achievement for me and Remy.

A brit on the podium winning the Melbourne Grand Prix - well done Jenson!!

I love Spring.........

........walking around the garden today, the daffodils are out, the ornamental cherry's almost ready to blossom and everything's coming alive after the most tiring of winters.
We planted our kiwi trees today and an acacia that we simply couldn't resist that we saw at the garden centre, it's beautiful dark green leaves and bright yellow flowers shouted 'buy me' from the other end of the shop. 
I still haven't mown the lawn,but I have put down my strawberry bed, complete with membrane, so hopefully they'll have a weed free time this summer.
Anky's been ok the last couple of days, still haven't got the blood results through though, I think it's a case of the 'french' oui, la semaine prochaine, meaning I'll probably get them sometime in the next 3 months!
I spent some time with Remy and Bonbon in the stables this mornng. I practiced some flexions with Remy and he's becoming much more relaxed with me handling the cavesson. I did the same thing with Bonbon, asking for slight flexion each side and stretching down  and she's very easy with it, happy to play and I'd say, less resistant than Rem. I really enjoyed it, just interacting and spending time with them.

This and that.

Didn't have chance to do much with the horses yesterday thanks to french lesson and musical afternoon, but I did do a little flexion and stretching work with Remy in the stable which I continued today.
They've had two nights out now and were all a little sleepy this morning. Anky seemed quite perky and tucked into her breakfast.
The vet arrived at 10 am and I gave him her full medical history, hopefully making it clear that we really DO need to find out what's going on. He took full bloods which hopefully will be back tomorrow. I discussed the gastroscopy and he doesn't have the equipment - hopefully he'll be able to get the equipment (not sure that's a good sign-has he ever done one?He must have, surely.), otherwise it's a trip to Bordeaux (may be the better option?). After all the treatment Anky had for ulcers last year, he's dubious that she will have them now, but I've done a lot of research and this has been shown not to be the case. Many horses have a recurrence and , in fact, need to be on a maintenance dose of Omeprazole to keep them clear. She does have some symptoms of ulcers, but as he said, it may be a damaged gut,a fatty tumour which would cause partial blockages, constrictions or f**k knows what! None of this can be confirmed unless they open her up and have a look. God I hate this confusion and uncertainty, not knowing! She's seemed fine all day, but she was lying down in the field tonight. We brought them in and she ate her tea but is now lying down again looking miserable. We'll see what the vet says when we get the blood results. We've left them in tonight as a storm's been forecast, but there's no bloody sign of it. I'm tempted to put them out anyway, she needs to be moving around. Talk about obsessed, a little objectivity wouldn't go amiss.

Managed to sort out a few of my tubs and plant a few bulbs this afternoon, we've planted our olive tree and the veggie plot is rotovated ready for planting. The daffodils are out, the fields are greening up nicely and the lawn is ready for it's first mowing of the year.Yay

Yipee, it's T-shirt Weather!!!!!

The day dawned sunny and warm this morning and after a lovely afternoon yesterday with Trudi, Bev and Lydia I felt refreshed and ready to take on the week - thanks guys!

I took Remy up to the school. He was pretty chilled until he was spooked by pigeons nesting in the little wood at the far end. After that he was quite distracted, but no worries, I just tried to keep his attention by tutting, and clicking and rewarding when he returned his attention to me. He spooked a few times and we had some impromptu lungeing (well, running around me) in trot, not very pretty, but he didn't take advantage of the situation and once he'd calmed down we did some nice lungeing at walk with some good halt and walk transitions. We finished really calmly with a walk around the school,weaving in and out of the jump wings and over the poles. 

Anky's been a little better this last couple of days. The jaundice is gone, her gums are pinker and she's been eating well, no stretching or lying down in the field. She passed some intestinal lining on Saturday and immdiately looked and I'm sure felt better. After doing some research, I'm sure the jaundice was caused by the toxicity in her bowel, putting her liver into overload. The vet is coming on Wednesday, so we have lots to discuss. He will take bloods and, hopefully we can arrange a gastroscopy. Anky obvously has an inflamed/irritated bowel, whether that's caused by ulcer recurrence or something else, I don't know, but I do hope we can find out.

I wanted to ride Corky, it was such a lovely day, but somehow time got away from me, hopefully soon though :-)

We brought them in early for their feed as it's their first night out tonight, so had a little trailer training session, first time with the partition in. Bonbon first, led her to the ramp let her have a look inside and then led her in. She took absolutely no notice of the partition, walked in and stood nibbling the hay at the front. I then led her out the front ramp. Remy next, did exactly the same with exactly the same result. Brilliant!!

C'est la vie

La première entrée pendant quelque temps.
Cela a été un temps mauvais, Je n'ai pas été très bien, Il y a eu beaucoup de désaccords, et depuis les 3 derniers jours, Anky a été très malade. Nous croyons qu'elle a un problème avec son foie. Elle a la jaunisse et a tous les symptômes pour la maladie de foie. Le vétérinaire fera des analyses de sang, avec optimisme nous pouvons arranger un gastroscopie pour déterminer si elle a ou n'a pas les ulcères gastriques et si (comme je suspecte) elle est très malade, nous saurons et nous pouvons nous en occuper.

Je dois faire du jardinage, je dois planter tous mes bulbes et des chevaux qui ont besoin d'un peu d'attention. C'est la vie!!!

Il y a de bonnes nouvelles!

Anky est un peu mieux aujourd'hui, je suis un peu mieux aujourd'hui et le soleil brille! Je crois vraiment que le printemps est arrivé.

**Révisé pour ajouter;

Je savais que c'était une erreur à écrire au sujet du soleil, il pleut maintenant ! !

Et pourquoi font les gens français croient que les gens anglais sont assez stupide pour croire tout qu'ils disent ? ?**

Aaaaaaaaagh!!!!!!!!!

Here comes the sun.....

It has been beautiful today, sunny and warm.
I started the day by taking Anky up to the school again. A short lungeing session including the trotting poles and a little in-hand work. She is a good girl.
I'd decided to give Remy a day off so I took Corky out for a hack. It was so good riding out with the sun warming my back.
A friend had offered me a rug for Bonbon, she's outgrown all hers and this one was going spare, so I went round to collect it this afternoon. I thought it may be slightly too big as it's a 6ft 9in, but it fits her like a glove.
We actually managed to do some gardening this afternoon, planting bulbs and tidying up the shrubs, it felt like Spring has arrived - god I hope it has!!!

We had a short trailer session when we brought them in. Bonbon first, straight on the trailer, standing for a while whilst Jim put the back ramp up. She jumped when it closed, but made no attempt to move so we stood for another few minutes and then I led her down the front ramp.

Remy next, we thought we'd leave closing the ramp until next time, all I wanted was for him to walk straight on, and he did, so we stood for a few minutes and then I led him off the front.
I'm really pleased with them both, all this steady work seems to be working.

Tripping poles :-)

Overcast this morning, but dry at least.
Bonbon's eye was much better this morning, most of the swelling has gone so panic over.
I took Anky up to the school for a lungeing session, same as yesterday but introduced some trotting poles. She was nice and relaxed and seemed fine.
I then went up with Remy. He was a mixture of couldn't be bothered and distracted today. He didn't want to go forward, yet was quick to spook at whatever he'd seen or heard down the field.
He had a bit of a spook away from the long side, but came straight back to me and halted calmly in front of me. After a short leading session with halts and changes of direction he was pretty calm and we managed to lunge on each rein with short bursts of trot. He was quite tense in the trot, but not naughty, just lacking forward.
I introduced him to the poles and we walked over them without a problem, but didn't bother to look at them. I'm not quite sure he knows where his feet are most of the time. :-)

Le Printemps est arrivé?

Jour de leçon français, aujourd'hui. Une bonne leçon, nous avons causé de notre semaine et avons fait beaucoup d'exercices sur le passé composé.
Nous allions à Bevs pour l'après-midi pour aider avec les écuries, donc Jim est venu à la classe dans le camion et nous sommes allés directement après la leçon.
Heureusement pour nous ils avaient déjà été enlevés de la clôture quand nous sommes arrivés, donc nous avons passé un après-midi en causant et en cherchant des seaux d'eau à Gamme Vert.
Quand nous sommes revenus à la maison, nous avons apporté les chevaux du champ. Nous avons remarqué que Bonbon avait fait mal à son oeil. Il est un peu gonflé, donc je l'ai baigné et j'espère que ce sera mieux le matin.
Aujourd'hui a été si ensoleillé, je crois que le Printemps est arrivé!

A new week, a new season.

According to the weather men, today is first day of Spring and at some points today, I could believe them.
There was no wind this morning and the sun was making a valiant effort to show itself. I took Remy out for a short lungeing session and then wanted to start the exercises in-hand that I've been doing in the stable. These are preparatory exercises at halt, including the stretch down and to the sides and flexions both sides. I soon discovered that it is a whole different ball game outside and Remy couldn't understand the need to stand at halt while I fiddled about at his shoulder. He wasn't naughty, just confused and a little impatient, so definitely something to work on.
As the weather was so nice after our horrible weekend, I took Anky up to the school for a lungeing session. She looked fairly relaxed on both reins, and offered a nice relaxed canter, something that she's never done on the lunge. At one point she had a little squeal and a kick of her heels, but nothing too melodramatic. Between changes of rein we did giravolta  and the steps were measured with good crossing over. She's made my day.
The trailer is now back on the yard so when we brought them in we had a trailer loading session. It's been a while since our last session so we brought Corky and Bonbon in first and Jim led Corky through and I followed with Bonbon but let her stand inside nibbling the hay for a few minutes. I then led her through without Corky as a lead and , no problem, she just followed me up the ramp and inside. Again, stood calmly while she nibbled the hay and then led her out the front. Brilliant.
We then brought Anky and Remy out and did the same, Jim led Anky through and I followed with Rem. He followed me in without any hesitation and we stood calmly for a few minutes letting him nibble hay. I led him down the front ramp and he was really calm. Next job was to load him without Anky's lead. After his previous inability to work out how to put his feet on the ramp I wasn't sure what to expect, but I walked round to the back ramp and walked up it expecting him to follow me and that's what he did, no problem at all. We stood in the trailer for a few minutes while he sniffed the front and nibbled hay and then I led him down the front ramp.  Double brilliant!  I was contemplating riding Corky for a full house, but it started raining quite hard so thought better of it.