Wolfie the Wonder Horse!

Wolfie the Wonder Horse!
Wolfie, 24/02/08

Sunday 30 December 2012

'Life isn't about waiting for the sun to shine, it's about learning to dance in the rain'

Christmas is over and the New Year is just around the corner.  It is still raining.  I mentioned in my last post that Wolfie seemed to be very itchy and rubbing his tail.  I was going ahead to treat it as pinworm, however he seemed to be itching at his sides and back and not just rubbing his tail.  I had checked through his coat thoroughly and couldn't find anything and his coat looked clean, no scurf or dandruff.  I decided to clip away some of his hair and found tiny little black scabby lumps and bigger swollen lumps which looked like hives.  I ended up giving him a full body clip.  I washed him down and gave him Piriton and have been applying his skin balm.  The hives have gone down and tiny scabs have came off across his back leaving bare skin.  He does seem to be a bit less itchy but I have no idea what this is.  It came on very suddenly.  Nothing has changed in his routine, feeding or management.  His coat looked in good condition and there was no evidence of anything bug like (I did Deosect him last week just incase).  I don't use any sprays or anything on him.  I'll probably give him another Ivermectin Wormer and if it doesn't clear, I'll call the Vet.  There will be no riding for a while as it's right across his back, although we haven't been doing anything anyway due to the weather.      

Tuesday 25 December 2012

Merry Christmas!!







Some very wet Christmas photographs!  Santa came to Wolfie and the ponies....the stockings obviously worked.  I hung them up, took a few photos and then went down to Wolfie's stable to give him his carrot.  When I came back, the stockings had gone.  Honey was standing in the stable.  I went in and looked over the partition and there was Buttons trying to rake through the stockings, having pulled them both off the door.  There was nothing in them, he obviously wasn't patient enough to wait until Santa had been!

Wolfie has become very itchy over the last few days and last night he was getting quite distressed.  I can't see anything on his coat, but I put Deosect on him last night and tomorrow he's getting clipped and bathed.  Poor Wolfie.  Nothing has changed in his diet or routine and he's recently had a worm count done which was fine.  I turned him out without his rug today and I thought the first thing he would want to do would be to roll, but he didn't which I thought was quite strange.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas!

Sunday 23 December 2012

This picture was taken in the summer, the only day it didn't rain I think.  Wolfie has lost a fair amount of weight since then.  First job for the New Year will to be get the saddler out and get my saddle re-fitted. 


So the ice has melted, the temperature has gone up and we now have non stop rain and flooding.  Wolfie is fine, he looks really well.  He has lost approximately 15Kg since he was last weighed.  If I could get him into some sort of consistent work now and start building some muscle it would be fantastic.  But as the weather dictates what work we do, he is currently on his winter holiday.  I have been continuing with his stretches in the stable at night and have been giving him massages (I got a really good book as an early Christmas present).  I always struggle with this time of year.  I find it really mundane, virtually no riding, it's so dark I rarely get to see the horses in daylight and spring seems a lifetime away.  It seems worse this year as the summer was so wet and miserable, the horses have been stabled at night since July. I'll need to try and get some up to date pictures of Wolfie, he's lovely and dappley this year.

Sunday 9 December 2012

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance"

So it would seem that winter is well and truely here.  Wolfie has been holed up in his stable for the last 2 days, eating large amounts of very expensive hay.  The yard is like an ice rink and even if we had managed to walk the horses to the field, the fields themselves and the gateways were treacherous.  I turned the ponies out for a couple of hours yesterday, they have better grip being barefoot, but are also small enough to walk on the tiniest of verges to get some grip.  The field was like concrete and very rutted so they weren't overly impressed and I could hear them shouting as I was mucking out to go back up and get them in.  It was a little warmer yesterday and as the ice began to thaw, huge amounts of grit was put down so fingers crossed the temperature has stayed above freezing and the horses will get out today.  2 days is about the maximum I get away with keeping Wolfie in.  It's not even like I can take him out and walk him.  He is very good but if he's kept in again today, he will start climbing the walls......or the stable door.  It's not easy being a horse owner, every season with it's various weather conditions brings its worries.  Now winter, frozen grass is a concern for laminitics, frozen conditions means you can't turn them out, keeping them in can increase the occurrence of colic, you can get filled legs, the older ones stiffen up, frozen water buckets, can't soak the hay, you keep them in and then when you do turn them out they go for a jolly around the field on rock hard ground.  The list is endless.  Hopefully we will have a few milder days and back to some sort of normality.