The New Normal, A Feral Pony, Football Mania, and The Top Barn Show.

 Well its all been happening!!! I got the call from Papworth to go in and have my Hickman Line fitted.  I was held captive for 2 whole weeks!!! And I mean held captive. Due to Covid, I was literally stuck in my room the whole 2 weeks, except for the day a nurse felt sorry for me and snuck me outside for 10 minutes. I was literally pacing the room (all of 3m x 5m), and was thinking how a stabled horse must feel.  Although I am pretty feral, I am after all a Human Being and designed to live indoors. However, horses are designed to live outdoors, and in a herd. I also had stuff to occupy me mentally. Reading, Binge watching Heartland, I even learned to French Knit!  But a horse does not have that luxury. If i was box walking, imagine how they feel.....no wonder stabled horses develop "vices". 

Anyhoo, I am now attached 24/7 to a pump (called Paddy Pump after my old pony). I wear it in a fetching Bum-Bag or an elasticated "pocket" at all times. It pumps drugs up a line which dives through a hole in my chest, into my heart. Its a pain in the arse, and I now spend at least half an hour a day changing the line and mixing new drugs. But I do believe I am starting to feel a little better, and am not panting like a sex phone line worker at the slightest exertion. If you are squeamish, please scroll through the next pic.  This is the New Normal.

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We had set up a track system before I left, in The 3 Acre.  Big Ponies to the right, Minis to the left.  But typically the Big Herd, couldn't wait for Jo to expand their grazing so barged out, breaking yet more expensive plastic poles. So Jo let them out into the middle ground, while poo-picking and rearranging the fence configuration. And so Charlie became feral, refusing to be caught, and spending at least one night alone in the middle knee deep in grass. He had become allergic to his headcollar.  When I came back, I childishly expected him to have missed me as much as I had missed him. In my fantasy, he galloped over, jumping up and whickering (like the dog had). In reality though, he accepted a scratch and blew through his nostrils, before returning to the more important grass.

I thought it may take a while to re-tame him. Coinciding with Football mania in England, The Trick Academy had a challenge to send in ball playing pony vids. I donned my England shirt, blew up an inflatable ball, collected my England Flag and set off to the Field to make a video with the Feral Charlie. As expected his head-collar allergy was still there, so I pottered about with the ball and flag, and his curiosity got the better of him.  Soon we were playing Football and waving flags. Charlie the Trick Pony is back!

Now I have a real challenge on my hands!! Whilst bored in Hospital, I entered the Top Barn July Competitions.  I must have been High on painkillers!!!! I have entered the Groundwork Comp, which includes lunging.  Charlie DOES NOT lunge!!! Errr...so thats 2 weeks to teach him then! Big challenge as he prefers to work at Liberty and being partially sighted in his O/S eye, he like to stick with me, rather than move away. Hmmm.  I also entered Prettiest Head. Well I think he has a beautiful head!  And then I entered Best Pony. Get pony bathed, Yup, Get Dressed Up, Yup, Walk, Trot (maybe Yup, the drugs should allow me to run a little), but before my incarceration I literally hacked off his mane in case it was blazing hot. Now I have to figure out a way to plait a thick short stubby main 😅

The Secret Life of A Box Walker and Pollys Colic

So poor little (big) Daisy seems to be recovering from her laminitis. In fact from Saturday onwards she has been tanking around as soon as we let her out. Seeing her trotting soundly across the stones, with her new lean look, I was tempted to enter her into the Grand National 😊
We are slightly scared to allow her back out full time though.  So she continues to come in at night. And she hates it.  She has taken to tossing her haynet over the door. And she has obviously been box walking.  While this has contributed to her weight loss, its not nice knowing she is so stressed.  Every day the droppings have been trodden in, and mashed up, making it a bit of a job mucking out.  Saturday night she managed to knock her water over.....Not a small bucket I hasten to add, but a full size black dustbin! Box walking is not good.....a real sign of stress.  At the end of the day horses are outdoors animals, they live in herds, they like to be able to run away.  Stabling is not natural. When the rain is lashing down and the wind is howling, you may lie in bed happy that your horse is tucked up in cosy pjs in a nice warm stable. In reality the horse is feeling trapped......its hearing all the noise of the weather, and really wants the comfort of a herd, and the ability to run from danger.....
Worth a thought.....
Anyway here are the before and after pics of saturday night water escapade....

Before....nice cosy stable


                                                                                                                                                                           








                
And after....Trashed stable in true rock star fashion....................











We had to use the trailer.....And it took 2 trailer loads to empty it.  We were seriously weighing up the pros and cons of leaving her out all night, with a grazing muzzle on.
 Anyway racing round doing the fields we noticed Polly lying down. She had been down when we arrived....not unusual first thing..Charlie and Lu are usually asleep together when we arrive. But more unusual to get up and then down again.  My colic radar buzzed. She didn't look right.  We got her up to check her out. She wasn't sweated up but she was grinding her teeth. A sure sign with Polly that something hurts. Then she went down and rolled again. We brought her in for a bran mash, which she wasn't interested in. I walked her while Jo called the vet.  Its not worth messing about with colic.  Having had a very colic prone horse in the past (Skittles) , who eventually died from a twisted gut, I have always been able to spot colic a mile away. If you are not sure, call the vet.  Signs are getting up and down a lot. Rolling. Looking at stomach. Kicking at stomach. Raised heart rate. Pinched lips. Sweating. Groaning. Not interested in grass. These have to be taken together. A horse may not show all these signs.  But if you know your horse you should be able to spot discomfort or pain.  But if it is simply having a roll, or kicking at a fly, don't panic.  I once had someone inform me one of the Rda ponies had colic. Looking out of the window and watching him calmly munching grass, I asked, "What makes you think that?" The reply was, "He kicked at his belly.  I read in a book that that means colic" Hmmmm it was summer....he was kicking at the flys. It is always worth spending time with your horse, in the field, just watching. Then you will know when its not right. 
Anyway the vet appeared....pulled out a lot of sandy droppings from Polly. We are on very sandy soil.  Unfortunately when the grass is short, and it rains, as it had Saturday night, they tend to pull the grass up from its roots, and eat it sand and all.  Some horses are fine with it.....some have slightly less efficient guts and they get a build up of sand which gets stuck.  After a shot of Buscopan and Bute, the vet tubed her.  If you haven't seen this done before, a tube is passed up a nostril and pushed down into the gut. Then about a gallon of liquid paraffin and warm water is poured through a funnel into the gut. Not pleasant,  but it usually gets things moving. Polly was a star, and didn't even need sedating. No drama there. Skittles used to fight, and rear and always had to be sedated. Then her nose would bleed and I would end up covered in blood, snot and whatever food came back up. 
All this done, it was about time to bring Daisy back in. As the shetlands had just arrived back from their holidays, we were able to stable Polly too. What a difference that made to Daisy.  Nice clean stable this morning. Both looking bright and chirpy.  They have been turned out on long grass today, and will be in tonight......And then, hopefully they can both go back out full-time.