pitmen painters

went to see this play tonight - at the Theatre Royal, not the live theatre, but same play - about the Ashington Group.  excellent, hilarious, true  - we wonder quite how it works in other geographic areas where pitmatic is not the local dialect - entire audience howled with laughter throughout save in the serious bits) and they got 4 encores.

the only problem with the night - it was match night, so traffic was at a standstill going in and not much better getting out, but i think the theatre was out a different time to the match

anyway, i'm going to do my month end accounts now, much easier than doing them tomorrow!

oh - and molly? since she's the point of this blog?  i went down mid afternoon, hoping to time my visit with that of barefoot trimmer that new livery has, but that had been cancelled.  given we were going out, i didn't have time to do anything with her so just groomed, massaged, fed and turned out.

saffy....

is my friend Lynne's horse; on the way back from Edwinstowe, i called (by arrangement) for a horsey afternoon as her yard is on my way back - a good time was had by all (including saffy, who will offer spanish walk at the drop of a hat!).

molly was fed her tea whilst i was still on my way back, all sorted.

back to groundwork

well, i thought rope circling, largely because i'd had a bad day, not assisted by yet ANOTHER late lunch!  i get into what i'm doing and forget about lunch, very silly!  and then at 5 pm i'd started sending a very long fax (the email with attachments that i sent middle of last week having bounced back to me today!) and it was just as well i waited as it crashed half way through (overloaded document feeder, methinks!).  so time i got to the yard i wasn't in the fettle for a long walk, and decided on a small amount of rope circling. all good, save that now she's trotting round nicely right rein, but not left... guess she's still feeling that shoulder a touch even if she does look sound, so i'd best not do that again for a while...

when we got up this morning there was no water - turned out the entire village had no water!  didn't' come back on until mid morning, who knows what the problem was!  better not happen tomorrow, i have to put the suit on and go to nottingham to see new client! 

today

She refused to go anywhere save the arena.

back to the longlining, i think!  i wasn't overjoyed, as you can imagine ...

never mind, it'll come!

but i wish the midges would go!  one got me in such a place that i had to go buy two new bras without wire....which i've always disliked. 

treeless saddles and horses backs

occasionally one reads articles about treeless saddles being bad for a horses back .. 

i thought i'd say that Molly's back has improved a lot over the last while since i've been using a treeless saddle (mostly a fhoenix or vogue, after a short spell with a barefoot)

I did that as would never have got a treed to fit molly anyway and having read up on them decided to go that route.

I think if you buy one that isn't from a reputable manufacturer/name, isn't properly constructed (i've seen pics of some horrors with e.g. cardboard where the memory foam shoudl be!) and don't put a proper pad underneath whatever you use, then yes, you'll have problems.  in the same way that if you use a treed saddle that's too narrow/wide/unstuffed/other fault you'll have problems.

but i think a properly made treeless saddle, properly fitted to the right horse with the right pad/numnah, will not be bad for the horses back and in fact will be positively good.

there are some good before/after photos about of horses whose muscles have come back to their proper form/place/state after use of a treeless

and we've all seen awful atrophy at the wither of horses ridden in ill fitting saddles...

guess I'm a convinced convert?

i don't believe they do work for all horses, and i don't believe they suit all riders...

but they're not bad for the back!

and molly?  muscling up much better than she ever has, after some good work in a treeless saddle!  i'll never get rid of the congenital asymmetry, but no more hollows and is looking good!

breakthrough?

we went round the 20 acre on our own, with a fair amount of trot, and NO signs of backing off once we'd got through the gate at the bottom of the hill out of the yard that had been left shut (I never understand why that's shut, there's no livestock either side of it and the gate at the other end is never shut...go figure)

happily, a lass from blackdene was coming the other way and did the gate (and i met her on the way back as well, as we essentially both did a circle, one of us one way, the other, the other!)

and i dropped my stick there, so whilst molly was eating her tea after i walked back down to get it.

I was WELL impressed.  whoo hoo!

i reckon this is a function of 2 things

1.  no bute & cortiflex

2.  longlining 

2 dead mice

in my carrots - the carrots hadn't lasted 5 seconds anyway due to the heat, and needed binning, but 2 dead mice, looked as though they'd fallen asleep actually but hadn't.  

I lunged.  I think she's fine so will ride tomorrow!  hurray!  thinking i'll try round the 20 acre just, we'll see.

but I think we all need those old fashioned veils ladies used to wear - would keep the d*** midges off!

about 2 miles

is what we did tonight, i think, judging by how long it took us .. longlined out the yard, under the willow, along to the ford, over the bridge at the ford, turned right along track immediately past there, right along to the end, then turned round and came back.. was going to go through the gate, but there were cows immediately the other side of it so i allowed molly to turn round there.  She had previously shown a desire to turn round twice, but i'd kept her on the line i wanted... was a good night!

not much done tonight either...

because i went down to wait for the farrier; i went early (you never know) and he turned up late.  so that was 3 hours gone between us, and i had to come home and do some work that i hadn't done ....

but the good news is, i slept until the alarm went off this morning!

because i woke up at 04.30

for some reason (pain in my neck, tingling in my fingers, overheating badly) and then started working at 5 (nothing else to do when awake at that hour, and not wanting to wake partner) i was totally knackered by 5 pm .. no energy to do anything with molly, so didn't, just fed her and applied cream to another wound on her flank.  and didn't notice the skinned inside aspect of her off hind until after i'd turned her out again!  the mind boggles how that happened, but it is just skinned, no wound, no bleeding etc.  i'll have a closer look tomorrow.. but if i'd groomed her i probably wouldn't have noticed until i got kicked for touching it!

hopefully i'll get a good night tonight; i've changed my pillow, think partner had put the wrong one on last time sheets changed...doesn't help.

looking ok, i think...

lunged as planned, and she seemed ok - i reckon, if you've forgotten which leg it was, there's not a lot wrong!

didn't do ahuge amount, maybe 15 minutes if that.

if the weather is ok, i'll longline tomorrow.. it rained a lot today, and is raining now!

i'll get fit

if i keep this up LOL

today we went down the hill and longlined roundthe 20 acre and back along the track.  I led her down the hill, as I wasn't sure about the very narrow track to get down to it - they've fenced off part of what is usually a wide track with electric wire, not sure if it's on, probably not, but it leaves a narrow gap to walk down, and then to get into the 20 acre there's a gate and i'm never sure if it's going to be open or closed.  so the plan was to start the longlining once through that gate.

as it happened, i was pleased i'd led down, as, as we got to the gate, there were 2 horses being cantered towards us ... and the lady in front was struggling with brakes!  happily all ok, molly didn't fret about it and we set off in good style.

and half way round she suddenly went left in front of me to take a different line, whilst still going straight on, and i couldn't understand that .. someone had left a white tub in the middle of the track. probably the gamekeeper, it looked like something he'd have kept pheasant feed in, but silly place to leave it.

when we got back to the track, molly wanted to trot up, but i'm no way fit for that!

and when we got back i made her go through to the arena area, i don't want her in the habit of napping to the stable just because we've got back to the yard, and she was ok with that.


tomorrow i think i'll try lunging, means i can actually look at the shoulder! 

edited to add: this was AFTER we'd had a blackberry picking walk this morning, and it was a gorgeously hot day..

as suggested yesterday

I longlined.

started in the arena walking round both directions.

then put her on a circle round me still in walk; left rein ok, but i wasn't wholly convinced by right rein.

then decided to go out!

back through the yard, prevented her napping back into the stable, through the opening out to the drive and then to go under her bogy willow to the back drive and along to the ford.

she really didn't want to go under the willow!  took me 2 goes, first time she turned round back towards the yard so i had to turn her back and we did get it.  i was very pleased with both of us.  me for having the control to do that, her for doing it.

my thinking - having been reading larri's blog, where she's starting a youngster - is that if i can get her longlining out nicely in front of me, which puts her in the lead, then when i come to start trying to hack out again it SHOULD be a lot easier to get her to go these routes she hasn't wanted to.

this was all bitless; i decided that if we did have a problem, i didn't want to end up with her cutting her mouth as happened once a couple of years ago when everything went totally pearshaped one day.  i'm better at it now, but i think longlining we are better without a bit generally at the moment.

when i got back, saddle agent was there - new livery on the yard has 2 fhoenix's she wanted the fit checking on her horses so had arranged visit for today,  so i spent the rest of the afternoon helping with that (and learning some more ont he subject as well!).

Then i asked agent to have a quick look at Moll, lady does equine massage etc as well, she was very impressed with how much muscle molly has built up and the way the atrophy she had had is filling in.. we think i can get rid of at least one thin shim.  and she suggested a rearrangement of my shimming  .. it was an "of course, doh" suggestion that i should have registered myself!  she says molly's the worst she's had to fit, and that'll be right...between the asymmetry and the TB withers, not easy!

happily the weather was great. 

what shall I do tomorrow?

lunge or longline? those are the choices ... or perhaps a bit of rope circling?  i think not that, a shade too small a circle..

i think, longline in the arena, and think about possibly going round the 20 acre...i think lunging on the circle i'll have might be a bit much unless it's walk only

anyway, certain it is that, subject to it not teeming down of course, Molly will do SOME work tomorrow.

my plan is a week of ground work of various sorts before getting back on again the following weekend... see if the shoulder is right for work before i get on, and groundwork will help me see that...

sparkly mane...

whilst molly's massage pad was doing it's thing tonight i took the opportunity to solocomb her mane (i can't pull, due to a right wrist injury .. too painful!). she was standing with the evening light glinting on her mane and i was struck by how glittery and sparkly it looked! so i took a pic before i shortened it

this isn't as good as if it had been with the proper camera, this was with the phone, but you get the idea...

visit from my mother

later than i'd expected, so i missed the post (oops) and was later than usual to the yard. Where molly was loitering by the gate waiting for me.

last dose of bute tonight, don't suppose she'll be too upset about that, so back to the normal no-bute tomorrow. and then we'll see how that shoulder is when the full on proper bute has worn off.

still fine..

but i am going to hold to the plan of giving her this full week! before starting some ground work/lunging before riding again.

it's a shame; i'd been hoping to have cracked the going out alone malarkey before the nights totally draw in, but it looks like i'll have missed that opportunity! ah well.

continuing sound

appears to be the case. hurray! i still intend to give her the rest of the week before starting to do anything with her but so far so good. at least she seems hapy to go back out again after her evening massage and tea, whcih is a good sign!

and new neighbour has a barefoot trimmer rather than a farrier; didnt' know there was one in the area. i shall investigate....costs more than farrier for a trim ...

why, for interest, do vets dig holes in horses feet when they are brewing an abcess? surely that just lets more muck in even if it does get the infection out?

flying changes

was what i saw molly doing after i turned her out.

My thinking was, she's had her week in, she seemed sound, if i didn't turn her out and then ring the vet tomorrow, I've nothing to say save that she seems ok and then i turn her out and we see what happens.

so, turn her out today ...

she enjoyed that.

when i got her in this evening she still looked sound, so fed her and turned her out again (pleased that she was happy to go, LOL, when she decides she wants to be in nights, she certainly tells me about it)

So hopefully that remains the case. obviously, at least another week off, and if she goes off again, it'll be off to the vets. but so far, so good...

and then we had a busy day, a walk round some local woods we hadn't been to before, visited a building we hadn't even known was there, and i mowed 2 lawns...

It was heritage open days in Durham this weekend, so yesterday we went to the Old Shire Hall and today, the woods and Vane Tempest Hall, which was built for the volunteer militia in 1965, now used by the community centre and war gamers (model war games, that is ... the battle of Winchester from the American Civil War was set up on a table.

haylage...

was the job for the day - up to stanley to get 4 bales of farm grown into the car! cheaper and larger than branded stuff, and its always been good quality from there. shame i don't have a trailer, but have asked a friend if she can take me up and then i can get stocked up for a while. if i could get one of his large ones, i would, but there's no way it would be able to be put into the area i have for storage - they are large, oblong, and hold the equivalent of 8 small ones, and of course work out cheaper.

molly still showing improvement. Tomorrow will be interesting as she won't be in the bull pen, so it'll be interesting to see if she shows any sign of stiffening up in consequence of having less space to move around.

although having said that, i'm not sure how much moving about she's been doing - when i got there today, she was in the stable sheltering from the heat (it's a suntrap in front of our stables, and in the heat we've had the last couple of days, roasting..)