Thursday, February 28, 2008

in the dark

amazingly, i could just about see to muck out this morning - vaguely dawn, and light from the tack room next door (there's a big hole in the wall high up...); it won't be the best ever mucking out but at least i could do it!

not so easy to groom tonight though (can't tie up outside, there's only room for one horse, blake was already there and even if he hadn't been they'd have got at each other over his door!) so decided to do some rope circling. that was a good move, she was maintaining the pace by herself much better than she has in the past and was listenign to me well - not perfectly, but well. She still likes to come in to me when i haven't asked her.

i'd just pulled the gate to, rather than shutting it properly, and a smallish gust of wind blew it open - so she started looking at that but didn't spook.

I found myself wondering if there isn't something wrong with her right eye - because, when she stands, she always looks at me with her left - does not face me straight on as she should - and since i can move her legs where i want, move round, back etc, i did start to wonder....

and whilst i was answering emails just now i nearly burnt dinner! just catching on the base of the pan! oops.

4 comments:

cptrayes said...

Mmmm - are you goign to get her sight checked. We know from experience how it can upset some horses not to be able to see. Do you know the blink test - try that first.

C

Claire said...

no, don't know that one.... tell me please!

it is just a thought at the moment, struck me tonight...

Jean said...

Claire, you wave your hand in the area of Molly's eye to see if she reacts by blinking. You can move around a bit to see if there is any place your hand might move that she doesn't react.

Don't scare her with your hand, though. She mustn't think you are going to hit her.

cptrayes said...

Take your hand and point your finger. Hold it nine inches to a foot away from her eye. Jerk it quickly towards her eye, stopping at least six inches away from the cornea. As if it is wet and you are trying to shake a drop of water off the end into her eye. She should blink. If she's sensitive, she may only do it the once, and then "freeze", but she should always do it the once. It's a standard test on a 5 star vetting.

C