It's snowing.................

We were told yesterday that it was coming and it came!  We have lots of it. I'm not too keen on snow now, but there was still that little moment of excitement this morning when I wished we had a sledge!
The horses and dogs enjoyed it though.

My two boys

I rode Remy today and it just felt right. I don't mean the training, I know we have a long way to go and I still have doubts about my ability to train him. I mean that for the first time it really felt that I had MY boy with me and it was an 'us'. It gave me a great feeling.
As I was walking him back home, I saw Obi playing and rolling in the field, obviously blissfully unaware that he's on borrowed time. It's obviously an emotional day and they got the better of me. I felt a sudden terrible sadness that I'm going to lose him and was immediately crying my eyes out. I'm crying now as I'm writing and he's looking at me from the kitchen with that big daft grin on his face. It makes me smile, I'll take it, it'll have to do.

Obi and Anky and the Vets

It's been a bit of a stressful day. Obi went off to the vet first thing for his tumour removed. The vet said to ring after lunch to see if we could pick him up. As it turned out, she rang us at 11.30 to say we could, if we wanted, pick him up immediately as he 'doesn't settle here'. The reality of it was, he was howling the place down and they'd had enough of him. He came home bright as a button, big relief all round.
The vet came to see Anky. I'd booked him for a full work-up for the beginning of next week, but Anky's been so down with very little improvement over the last few days, I rang him this morning and he came over immediately. A friend came over for support and I couldn't appreciate it more. Not only is she very caring and supportive, she's also very knowledgeable, the perfect person to have around at times like this. A big thank you Andrea!
Anky was sedated and then the vet perfomed a rectal exam, an internal and external ultrasound, checking ovaries, uterus, large and small intestine. He took a blood sample and a peritoneal tap, all to be sent off for analysis.
He discovered fluid around the large intestine and ceacum, and thickening of the wall of the small intestine. Possible indicators of inflammation and/or infection. I really hope that the blood test and tap can lead us to a more definitive answer. He's left me with an anti-inflammatory/painkiller and at least this should make her more comfortable.

Obi

Obi had what looked like a stroke last night. The vet called it an 'accident vasculaire cérébral' and, of course I know what that is because it's what Jim had last year. It was late, but we rushed him to the vets and they were really good with him.
She explained the options and said that it could be a 'one off' vascular event, an infection in the brain, a brain tumour or possibly a problem with his vertebra putting pressure on his spine or causing inflammation.
After a couple of injections we brought him home, wobbly and scared ( me and Jim also) with an appointment for today. It was a case of watching and waiting, so it was a long night and we emerged all of us tired but Obi showing some signs of improvement.
He had x-rays today of his lungs and neck, firstly the lungs to see if there were signs of tumour ( any signs of spreading from a brain tumour are most likely to show up first in the lungs) but they were clear. His neck, to check the vertebrae for any sign of changes, and there was a narrowing between 2 of them which could have caused a problem but it wasn't conclusive. He has lost a little weight recently and this is a worry also, so it's a case of  keeping up with anti-inflammatories and antibiotics and close monitoring.
I hate my beautiful boy being so scared and confused, but he's more like himself today and we'll just have to wait and hope.

Wintry walks....

...with Obi.
Over the last week or so I've been taking Obi for walks around the tracks. I'm not much of a walker, but I thought it may help to get me fit and Obi needs controlled exercise to strengthen his back legs - he's a heavy dog and not getting any younger  (like the rest of us). It's lovely countryside around our place and I find that I really enjoy it (whatever happened to the girl who used to drive to the corner shop!). This is our walk today.
Down the track through our fields

 towards the lakes

 I don't think our neighbour is going to freeze this winter

 the largest of the three lakes

heading back towards home, a place to rest

 and another

 nearly home

 time for a hot brew

  A lovely morning, nice lunch with a couple of 'winter warmers' (hot cherry liqueur and red wine), just the way to tackle the weather.

Normal-ish

Jim came home yesterday and things today were pretty normal-ish. He's keen to get back to normal too, perhaps too keen and was helping out with the horses this morning. He used to do a lot of walking so he's going to get back to that, his plan is to walk with the dog and get him fitter at the same time. I'm not sure that's going to be too relaxing though as Obi's not used to walking on the lead!

The weather has been awful for the last 24 hours, it's rained non-stop and is forecast to rain for the next 24 hours too. I relented and brought the horses in last night, they were huddled under a tree in the top field and hadn't gone down to their usual night field. When I went out to check on them they came running up to the gate so what choice did I have?
I planted some bulbs in the pots on the terrace in spring and was beginning to think they weren't going to grow but they've come out in the last week or so. They are so pretty and I couldn't resist taking a pic.

I've been pretty bored this afternoon, can you tell?

Booked for the big snip

We had an appointment at the vets today for the dogs to get their annual vaccinations. While we were there I had a word with the vet about getting Obi castrated. We've been thinking about it for a while, the main reason is that he's getting a bit grumpy and over excited as he gets older and the second is that he's completely off his head every time Elfin (our dobe bitch) comes in season. So the deed is done, he's booked in for the 2nd June. Poor boy, luckily he's blissfully unaware of what awaits him!
I just had to take a pic of this today as we've been waiting for two years for this clematis to produce a flower. Hurray!!

Obi - in the doghouse!!!!

My OH has a blog now. I've just noticed that he's told you about my Obi Dobe! Well Obi dobe bit the next door holiday home cleaner man.I haven't mentioned it on my blog as I'm ashamed of him (Obi that is) and shocked too. He's a big dog but I've never thought of him as being dangerous. After a long chat with cleaner man, I am reassured that the bite was unintentional and it was just over excitement (all the dogs were jumping up at the gate and were definately over-excited having legged it up from the bottom of the field) but that doesn't alter the fact that he did it and he shouldn't have. Apparently, Obi caught his arm, but didn't intentionally grab or hold on.
We've had a very serious discussion since then and feel that Obi deserves a visit to the vet ( not for the dreaded injection, but definitely for the removal of his favourite bits) he's being getting more and more hormonal over the last 12 months, having a bitch in season around the place doesn't help one bit. I think he'll have a much more peaceful life - yes, of course he will!!.

Mum, there's a monster in the grass!

Had a quiet couple of days, not too much with the horses. I think Anky is coming in season and I've seen her stretching a couple of times. Not the extreme stretch that she had been doing, the same stance but a much gentler stretch and for only a few seconds a time. If she is coming in season, she's certainly not showing the level of discomfort that she has in the past.

Took Remy up to the school today. A short session concentrating on keeping his attention, walking on, halting, moving him around the school.

Obi greets us every morning with the blanket off his bed and he'd left it in a heap in the garden. Coming back to the stables this morning, Remy spied it lurking in the grass and for the first time since starting working with him, I saw him react suspiciously and warily. He raised himself up and started to snort at it, it was funny, the little (well, not quite so little) love was quite prepared to stand his ground. Jim brought it over to me and I let him sniff at it, put it back on the ground in front of him and he sniffed it on the ground. No problem, he relaxed and followed me back to the yard. Good boy.

Time to think.

I went for a walk (I know, I hate walking anywhere!) with Obi up our chemin, needed time to think. Obi had a good time and it gave me time to check out my school (doesn't look much like one at the moment).

So this afternoon, the horses were up by the gate so I went in for Anky and took her straight into the "picadero" (that does sound pretentious - you know that I mean the bottom of the garden). The other three came galloping over, but Anky was really quite focussed on me. I led her and halted for several minutes and then placed my self at the side of her wth the aim of lungeing her. The rope was slack and she followed my body signals from halt, to walk, then to trot, back to walk, trot etc. She was the most focussed she has been. We were in there for about 15-20 minutes and I had her attention the whole time. To finish, I took her back to the yard, asked her to halt and stand and then just looped the rope over the tie-up whilst I brushed her off. She remained there, perfectly still.
Remy was at the gate by this time, looking for his mum, so when I put her back in the field, I brought him out (I've never taken him away from the others before) and did a little groundwork with him. He was a little distracted , mainly curiosity, I think, and quite alarmed when we went past our burning bin which was still smoking from earlier, but on the whole he was very good and most of all he was calm. So, a positive afternoon.