That'll Be One Less Snow Plough In Georgia, Then...

I just had to share this.  Talk about a bad day at work, this is one of those where you can imagine the poor bloke ringing his boss can't you??

Scream

This is how I felt when I got the bill for Merlin's latest escapade in the field.  

One kick to leg = £ = one long, long scream.

A timely reminder of respect...

You'll notice I've not been around much on the Blog...this isn't because I've fallen into some Blogging Black Hole, no, its because Merlin, whom I'd been admiring so much the night before, got kicked on the inside of a back leg and had to go to horse hospital.  This was after the vet said 'I don't like the look of this', so of course when I got home I looked up the things it could be and spent the night sobbing.   

I got Merlin to the hospital the next day, where he made a nuisance of himself by pulling out his IV line several times before they tied his legs together - no actually, sedated and put in a special padded stable.  
A number of days later I was told to take him home where I could continue nursing, though that was easier said than done - it took ages to get him up the horse-box ramp and then when he got up there, he careened into me, crushing my chest and specifically my sternum and rib-cage right up against a thick steel bar.   I actually shrieked in pain, though I have no idea where the noise came from, and they guy who was doing the driving went quite white.   By the time we'd finished manhandling him into the truck I was sobbing (again) and I couldn't drive home because I was in too much pain.  At that moment, I would willingly have sold him for 50p.

Got him home, both of us upset, got him settled, went home.  Everyone kept saying I should go to casualty but you know I just couldn't face the 5 hour wait just to be told there was something cracked which they couldn't do anything about; I figured that if it had been anything really catastrophic I wouldn't have been able to breathe, and I WAS still breathing.   This was 2 weeks ago and I still have massive bruising and it hurts when I cough or laugh.   I had hiccups last night and that wasn't much fun either.

Merlin continues to recover, back to his normal sweet and lovely self, though keeping him quiet and confined was impossible - he has started to go out in his own field - next to the other horses whilst his leg is still in the healing process .

Despite having taken all the precautions I felt I could at the time (I was wearing thick jeans, my steel-toecap boots, my hardhat and my gloves), I still got nailed to the side of the horse-trailer, and that made me realise how often we put ourselves at risk.  Merlin is the sweetest horse you could wish for, he can be a bit spirited but never once have I found him mean or nasty. 

He was upset, probably in a bit of pain and didn't understand I was taking him home.   I   should have insisted on his being sedated to minimise the trauma, I know that would have made things easier for him.   It has reminded me how much respect I need to have for a large unpredictable animal who weighs more than half a ton (as I well now know) and that I should always, always, expect the unexpected.

Braver than brave

This is Oscar from Jersey who came to grief last October under the blades of a combine harvester whilst snoozing in a field; in a terrible state, his human rushed him to his vet who had read about state of the art prosthetic limb surgery. Oscar was referred to Noel Fitzpatrick, a veterinary surgeon in Surrey who agreed to make him the first subject of his ground-breaking plans to fit mechanical implants into bone.

The three hour, £4,000 operation was a world first; his new paws were developed by a

How to Ride A Horse Upside Down

What a beautiful sunny day!! Perfect for a ride...Mark came with us on his birthday bike and we had an hour or so out an about on the Moss behind the stables - Merlin and I did some trot and we were even brave enough to canter a little, though the bravery did not last too long...I've been having trouble with my saddle slipping and sure enough, when I was coming down a bit of an incline my saddle went sideways and I went with it - I was lucky that Mark managed to grab my arm before I ended right under Merlin - and Merlin, bless him, did not turn a hair despite me hanging off his neck going down a hill with his saddle round his belly - most horses would probably have run for the hills. I think its to do with my left side being so weak because of my RA, but I have a tendency to run the saddle to one side despite it being girthed properly - its definitely not Merlin's fault and I have to occasionally shift it over a touch to stop it turning turtle; it has been properly fitted and all, I think its just rider discrepancy!!