Well where do I start?!?!
Ive got no idea and its probably impossible to recap so much has happened so I'll do a summary of the happenings with my world.
I'll start with Ali,its not been great;/
Not sure if I blogged to say he wasnt right towards the end of the winter,just didnt feel right when ridden and looking uncomfortable on the lunge, he then blew a huge abcess out of his hind so attributed the problems with this.
We had a very rough winter major snow so didnt do a lot of months,or so it felt?
Anyway when the weather improved I still didnt feel he was right,despite everyone telling me he was fine. Got the vet out and after nerve blocks and scans the diagnosis was suspensory desmitis of the right hind-not good!
So Ali has just come to the end of three months of box rest, he's also had three lots of Shockwave therapy, he's quite the star at the vet practice as they have all fallen in love with him and cant believe what a good sensible boy he is.
Towards the end of the box rest I had to handwalk him which turned him into a snorting/rearing stallion for a while,in the middle of this we moved yards,more about that in a bit!
He has had a rescan which showed signs of improvement with the lesion so as of approx three weeks ago he's been out in a small paddock reunited with his best pal Polo which they were very happy about.
Last week I had to make the paddock a bit bigger as he started boinging about,vet agreed he's better with more room to wander rather than getting frustrated and silly.
So he's a much more contented happy boy at last and I have a little bit more time and am not quite so demented trying to keep a boxrested horse happy.
I can bring him back into work in September if I want to but the longer he has off the less chance this has off reoccuring so im not intending on doing anything with him until next year,he's young im in no rush.
The yard move came about as things gradually got unbearable,YO's started dealing in horses and running a riding school (who needs insurances and licenses?!?)
They over ran the yard with cheap dutch imports then moaned about the haylage use which was *supposed* to be in with the price for grazing but then suddenly wasnt. Then they sold some of the horses,many of which were lame, to some of the novice liveries and their friends. The final nail in the coffin came when YO started making insulting comments about my horses. Basically because the horse's he bought to competed on started going over backwards to dump him his ego took a hammering so obviously felt the need to put down my two exemplarly behaved horses!
Also the school never got resurfaced as was promised so was boggy and horrible most of the time,possibly could have contributed to Ali's injury?
Polo also dropped a lot of weight of the winter which was a huge worry to me as this has never happened before so I decided this winter he would need the option of being stabled more.I had one stable for them to share on the old yard but simply couldnt afford to pay for two as the yard was pretty pricey for DIY and grass livery.
The boys have been on the new yard just over a month,its opposite my old/old yard:))
It has lovely posh stables ,they've got one each,good fencing and a fab large school..not that ive got anything schoolable right now...and is 5mins from home so closer,haylage and straw is included and all at £10 per week less than the old place.
Polo is in light light work ie a hack or two a week,see how he goes,the move has stressed him but he seems to have settled down more since Ali joined him in the field.
Dog news now I think:)
Still showing although im definitely scaling it back next year...the *face judging* seems to be very apparent this year,many mutterings around the ringside about it all.
Im finding it very frustrating because outside the ring I get such nice comments about the boys. I have judges telling me how much they like them,even had this in the ring twice for the judges to then place them 5th which is good at a Champ show but why say how much you like them when judges rarely say anything, to then place 4dogs above them!Most recently a big *name* in the breed who has written books and judged all over the world was apparently gushing over them and came to tell me how she thought Buster was sublime. Now I was chuffed to bits about it particularly as the judge that day didnt look at any of them twice, but I dont see the point of keep spending lots of money on entries to constantly get chucked out of the ring?
Im not under any illusions that we should be getting CC's or winning week after week but I do think they are better than the placings they are getting...but I suppose im biased:))
Ted has been very consistant and barely gone unplaced but its very frustrating as I cant seem to get a high enough placing at a Champ show to qualify him for Crufts!
Buster seems to either win or do nothing but has had a 1st champ show which means he has qualified.
I did get a rather huge trophy at the beginning of the year for best newcomer,which was won after accruing points from one of the breed club shows which was totally unexpected.
Finally me news!
Im sure ive mentioned on my blog in the past how tired ive been and sore etc well after chatting to someone who seemed to recognise the symptoms and mentioned a condition called Sjogrens.
After doing some internet research the symptoms seemed to be uncanny so have been having tests. The schirmer eye test was strongly positive but unfortunately that doesnt seem to be enough to get any treatment so im having a lip biopsy done next month which im dreading as I hate needles but things are beyond putting up with now.
This is the main reason ive been absent from blogging etc,im just too tired most of the time, and obviously been pushed to the limit with Ali and the boxrest,I have been keeping track of most of your blogs albeit quietly:)
Anyway im off for the summer so im trying to relax as much as possible and catch up with all the things im too tired to do the rest of the time,I will try and blog a bit more frequently!
