Busy busy busy.

Ach, I have not stopped all weekend I swear. This has actually been the first chance I've had to do any bloggage.

But anywho! Marey-moo had had a couple of days off, so when I hacked her yesterday she was a bit of a loon. I had no brakes whatsoever! She also got scared of the new horse style thingie that got put it. It took me a while to convince her that a few pieces of wood were not going to eat her. :)

I didn't think I was going to get a chance to ride her today as I had to leave the yard by 10.30 to get to my pub job, but I finished the mucking out and poo picking earlier than I expected so I took her in the arena for a bit. I think she was trying to make up for being such a silly girl yesterday, because she was so nice to ride! I didn't even have to make an effort to keep her off her forehand, there was not even a hint of leaning or overbending or anything silly.

The mud fever situation is still under control. She had a couple of scabs on her 'worse' leg, but I whacked on some more cream pretty sharpish so I'm hoping it's not going to take a hold again as bad as it did.

Happy timessss.

Lalaa. :)

Bonnie doesn't know what's hit her, I've managed to visit her every day this week so far. :)

Spent quite a lot time with her yesterday, as I managed to get to the yard a little earlier than usual. Silly mare had managed to wiggle out of her turnout during the day, she'd had quite a few layers on as it was cold and the rug she'd had on top had come up and slipped off her head somehow, with all the straps still done up?! Wish someone had witnessed how the hell she did it!

Took her for a little walk and trot around the paddocks to warm up, then took her in the arena for a bit, again concentrating on keeping her off her forehand. Did some canter poles too, silly beast tried to jump them to begin with! Also did some practice at not rushing in leg yield, she always gets lazy and just runs through her shoulder rather than actually stepping under. But we managed to do some nice ones, so I finished on that good note. :)

Then today, she had to be in all day (not that she cared, she ate through lots of haylage!) because hard standing was getting put down at the entrance to the field she goes in, so I went to go give her a quick leg stretch. Turned her out in the arena while I mucked her out, then chased her round the school a bit. Was some good exercise for us both! :P

Upon careful inspection, I discovered a new scab on her heel tonight though. I was very quick to whack out the HibiScrub, hopefully I can get back on top of it before the mud fever gets bad again.

But! I managed to get her booked in for an assessment in physio, which is gooooooood!

Baby, it's cold outside!

I'm fed up of it being cold. Really I am. My lovely walk to the yard warmed me up quite nicely though. But I nearly got run over though, walking along on phone msn, haha.

But anyway, Bonnie! She is a funny creature, who never ceases to amuse me. She's such a clever little marey, as soon as I came in the barn she was all keen to come out of her stable. So I opened her door and she just came out, swivelled herself round and positioned herself next to her headcollar for me to tie her up. Bless.

Rode her in the arena for a bit this evening, was really concentrating on riding her forwards and up, even more so than usual, now I know that her being on her forehand is not only annoying for me but affecting her physically too. She was actually very good. I was doing lots of transitions within paces to try and get her stepping through more, particularly when I did this in trot I could really feel her starting her use herself more. Annabel had set up some trot poles for her and Mayfly, so I did those too. I love how she goes over trotting poles, her legs seem to stay in the air for ages. :)

So after that, took her back into the barn to demuddify/sudacrem the legs and give her some treats and love! She was not happy I made her do some stretches for her treats tonight though, but I gave her a scratch in her itchy spot to make up for it. She is the only horse I know who prefers being itched just above her stifle to on her withers or neck or something.

Yeah, so was a pretty happy little trip to see ma horsie. I tried to get hold of the physio today but didn't manage too, will try again tomorrow. I just want to get this all sorted out!

Things are looking up?

Wow, this is actually the first chance I've had to write anything this weekend. Been a busy bunny with work and stuff. :)

But yeah, I can tentatively say things are actually improving with Bonnie rather than carrying on getting worse as they seem to have been! The mud fever is now becoming less of an issue, there's no more scabs and the skin isn't red and sore looking any more. I'll carry one with the cream I got from the vet until it runs out though, just to be on the safe side. But fingers crossed, no more fat leg!

Seeing as her leg was no longer swollen, I went for a hack yesterday with Catherine and Ben. She was a bit spooky (nearly had me off at one point) but didn't seem to be in any discomfort at all, she seemed pretty cheery really, trotting along with her ears pricked. :) She went out in the field for an hour or so after we got back with Mayfly and her new little friendy Penny, but was very keen to come in when she saw me and came galloping towards the gate. She doesn't seem to have missed being out in the field so much this week!

Today was all horrible and cold and rainy so she didn't go out in the field, but I did stick her in the arena for a bit of a leg stretch. She was mental! Apparantly she was feeling a bit full of herself, and went leaping about, rearing and bucking and galloping and generally looking like she was enjoying herself. She also really surprised me by passaging along one of the short sides, I never knew she had the ability! I wish I'd had my camera.

After that I went with Annabel and Catherine on Mayfly and Ben for a bit of a hack. It was a bit cold and rainy, but it's nice to be able to get out of the arena. I have to make the most of it, it's so dark in the evenings after school all I can really ever do is school her.

Tomorrow I'm going to phone and try and sort out the physio coming to do a proper assessment of these muscular problems. At the minute I'm just so unsure of what I should be doing with her, she needs exercising obviously but I don't want to push her and aggravate anything. The sooner I know whats definitely up with her the better! :)

Ho hum.

Well, where to begin.

The physio came to see Catherine's horses yesterday, and while she was there she had a look over Bonnie. Turns out she's suffering from some physical problems which I had never been aware of, for example in the base of her neck and pelvis. I feel so bad, she's probably had these issues for ages and has been struggling on, jumping and schooling for me regardless.

So basically, I'm going to be looking into sorting out these problems through the physio. But I'm going to need to see whether I can get a proportion of the cost covered by her insurance, as I really can't afford the £30 odd a month it's going to cost me otherwise. Oh, horses. :(

Went to go and see the lovely marey tonight though. She'd been out in the field so I had to spent a while cleaning up her leggies, then I took her for a bareback walk/short trot around the paddocks. She was a bit lively bless her, she tried to canter off one of the short trots I had so she can't be feeling too bad. :)

So yeah. That is that.

Same old same old. :)

Oh, the routine is so exciting with Bonzo these days.

Sorted out the leggies, gave her a walkie and a graze in hand, then showered her with love and polos. :)

But, on the plus side, her leg does seem better today. I'm going to go and buy some Vaseline or its generic equivalent to smother her leggies in for turnout so hopefully she'll be able to go out in the field again soon. Will save me having to walk her about, I'd forgotten how boring it was. I've gotten pretty pro at walking her and playing Quadrapop on my phone at the same time though. Because I am so talented. Hah.

Lalalaaaa.

The leg is less fat than it was yesterday, but still huuuuuge.

Lucky mare got me visiting her twice today though! She seemed a little confused to see me reappear.

Went to go see her at like 10 this morning. Cold hosed her fat leg, did some Hibiscrubbing, took her on a walkie up the drive for half an hour or so, then chucked her in the arena for a mooch while I did some painting. Then I actually went and got a bit of education (hah!) before popping to the vets after school, then going to see her again for another walkie and some lovage. :)

They prescribed some new and exciting antibacterial-y creamy stuff at the vet and gave me some advice about treatment. They recommended I give it a week for the swelling to go down, if it doesn't then it will be call-out time. Also, they said I should try to 'walk off' the fluid building up in her leg rather than cold-hosing, just to keep her legs drier. So that means lots more walking for me, haha. I should've got a dog instead!

:(

Poor Bonzo has a huuuuuge leg.

She seemed a bit iffy when I lunged her yesterday, but I checked her legs and they didn't seem to be swollen or heated. But today, her near fore was HUGE. Like, all of it. Her whole leg.

So that killed our lesson plans for today. Poor mare was unhappy about not being allowed in the field. I took her on a couple of walks and she tried to run off, haha. And she wasn't happy about walking past the gate, did a little mini rear to show her disapproval.

I turned her out in the school for a little bit to let her have a roll whilst I sorted out some things in the yard. Beastie really is good at keeping me on my toes! For a start, all of her stable rugs are disgusting because she seems to love lying in her own poo, so I did a bit of cleaning. Then, silly mare managed to tip over her water bucket and soak all her nice clean, mucked-out bed! Ah well.

Well, what can I say. I'll go see tomorrow and hopefully her leg will have improved a lot. If not, might be time to give the old vet a call.

Operation Mud Fever!

Today I got serious with the mud fever situation, and went and bought Hibiscrub and Sudacrem to begin the war on the bacteria. :)

Poor beastie was not very happy about me touching her sore leggies, but she was very brave and let me get most of the scabs off. She gots lots of treats and a nice groom for being such a good patient.

Then we went for a nice little bareback walk/trot around the track. There was a very scary tractor but she went past it without much fuss. Bless me pony. :)

Lalaa.

The school wasn't as flooded today, so I was slightly happier. :)

Bonnie was a bit of a pain though, for some reason she kept trying to do flying changes all the time in canter which got me a bit frustrated. Ah well, she's getting better at halting and not getting angry about it!

Her mud fever is looking really sore though. I feel so sorry for her. :(

Rain rain go away...

I hate riding in the dark. I hate riding in the rain. So today was not the most happyfying schooling session ever for me. :)

Bonnie seemed pretty mellow about it all though. She wasn't particularly keen about the puddles in the arena, but she was quite obliging when it came to being vaguely well behaved for me!

Love my pony. :)

Hmm...

I think I might need better brakes.

Jumped Bonnie today, seeing as I hadn't done that in a while. We did some interesting things, did the 'arms' and then through the middle of a helicopter jump, and a corner, and a skinny. She was off! As soon as I turned her up to any jump, she would just run at it. Then if I tried to take a slower approach, she started doing that annoying thing where she kind of twists herself sideways.

I think it may be time to whack out the martingale and dutch gag for jumping again. :/

Also, this whole bucking when I use my leg any stronger than a little tap business has to stop. She was being a bit lazy with her walk to canter transition so I just gave her a bigger nudge with my heels, and she did this huuuuuge buck then buggered off to the other end of the school (we were doing transitions on a circle). Silly horse. :)

Lalalaaaa.

Hmm, I forgot to post anything on Thursday. Obviously I've been so engrossed in homework or something, cough cough. :)

She was so lovely to school that evening, all lovely and round, not leaning, carrying herself yadda yadda. And she did an awesome medium trot, and she actually did a square halt on the centre line! :O

And then today, she was craaaaazy.

I usually let her trot round on a loose rein when I first warm up, just 'cause I find she's more willing to soften after she's had a stretch. So I did, and then she just took off in one corner. Once I stopped her, I shortened my reins up, then when we got to the same corner again she just started leaping randomly on the spot?! Words actually fail me sometimes to describe her. :)

So all in all, I left the arena not feeling quite as cheery with my pony as I did on Thursday night. :) I managed to get her to behave fairly sanely in the end, but it took her about 15mins just to chill out!

I might hack her tomorrow, maybe if I can let her let off some steam she will behave nicely next time I school. :)

It's dark. :(

Had to use the lights in the arena for the first time since moving Bonzo. How depressing. I really hate riding in the dark. I don't know why, it just doesn't make me a happy Phoebe.

Bonnie was apparantly a happy Bonnie though, she seemed very full of herself today. Apparantly everything had to be done at speed: she couldn't walk, she had to jog; pretty much all trot had to be medium, and canter was an excuse to loon off around the arena and try to change legs a lot. She is a funny one. :)

Her mud fever seems to be getting worse though, on her near fore in particular its starting to look really sore and the area's a bit heated. Ah well, I suppose I will just have to keep diligently cleaning, drying and Sudacream-ing.

Nakey-time!

Yeah, Sarah came to clip Bonzo for me today. :)

She was a very brave girlie, but still didn't let us get particularly near to her head, despite the ACP! Ah well.

Hacking... and clear rounding. :)

Didn't get a chance to do any bloggage yesterday as I was busy 'celebrating' Halloween. Hehe. :P

Anywho, we went for a jolly hack yesterday. Annabel and her friend took Delami and Mayfly, and it was all pretty amusing. The mud was horrendous though, poor Dels sank in half way up to his knees! There were some minor traumas, some oh-so-scary wheelbarrows and logs and flappy tape yadda yadda. But we all got home in one piece, which was a plus! :D

So, today. Catherine and I went to a little clear round thing at Fenning Farm with Ben and Bonzo. It was a good fun little outing! The jumps were only 2ft3-6ish max but it was nice to take Bonnie somewhere different and to do a course, as we don't get to do that at 'home' anymore like we did at Hadham Mill. Silly horse failed to pick up her feet when we did the 65cm clear round and knocked a few, I think she was trying to tell me they weren't big enough for her! Then we did the 75cm a couple of times and she livened up somewhat and flew round them all. I was very proud of her for going over the scary fillers, she had a bit of a wiggle and a look at some white and green ones but she never really seemed like she was going to stop. So we got two nice little clear round rosettes to add to our collection. :D

So all in all, a productive outing I would say. More milage for the Bonzo in a new and 'scary' place. :)