All rugged up and pretty in pink

Visitors! Gia and Jill

Beauty is always charming to visitors. She has met Gia before, but this was her first time meeting Jill.

Rugging time

Well the winter has thoroughly hit the New Forest now, but I held off rugging Beauty as long as I could in order to give her a chance to develop a nice fluffy winter coat. Now that the winter frost and snow is here, she is back in her pink medium weight rug though.

These pics were taken just before I started rugging – note the fluff!

Beauty is happy and well and doing great

New feet!

Laura the trimmer came to do Beauty’s feet today. We had tried to get them done a couple of weeks ago, but we took so long with TigerLily that it was dark by the time we got to do Beauty. Laura therefore had to use a head torch – which Beauty clearly decided looked like a Dalek and had a big freak out over.

I think what actually happened was that the head torch interfered with Beauty’s night vision, so she got scared when she heard something in the forest but was blinded from seeing what it was by the head torch. In the end, I had to let her go because she was dancing round me and threatening to bolt off. Even that wasn’t easy – I had to try and hold her still whilst Laura came round the side of me and undid her headcollar. She then fled down the field. We just heard a thunder of hooves and a rather beautiful silhouette of black beauty against the lights of the hotel’s spa.

Fortunately, today we were doing her feet by the easy light of the afternoon. Nonetheless, fortune found other factors to throw our way…

She was great for the first half hour or so. I have noticed that – she is the quietest horse in the world for half an hour when you have her on a head collar and are having to do something with her, then she turns into a racehorse on speed! So she started having a little paddy. I walked her around a bit and tried to get her to take an interest in the hay I put put down for her. This was semi-successful. She wasn’t a nightmare, just fidgetty and unsettled.

Then things started getting a little tricky. In the space of about 30 seconds, she suddenly got stressed out by a crab fly (which are very prevalent in the New Forest and tend to upset horses that haven’t got used to them yet), then the Red Arrows did a low fly-past overhead, then the heavens opened and the angels tipped baths of water on our heads…at least that’s what it looked like, the rain was so sudden and extremely heavy!

The crab fly upset her, she wasn’t at all interested in the Red Arrows (even though they were very noisy and there was about 13 jet fighters in a big V formation! – but the heavy rain was more than she could bear!) I let her go and she tore off down the field whilst we took shelter under her rug, which was on the fence at the time. Laura had been trying to get it off the fence to put on her, but I knew we didn’t have time to get it on her properly before she was going to go.

After a while, the rain stopped, I caught her again and Laura was able to finish her trim. She had to plug 3 holes/cracks with cotton wool and purple spray, to prevent grit getting up into the hole and into the lamina, where it would cause abcess and potentially laminitic attack. These holes/cracks will apparently grow out, so it is just a matter of keeping them from doing damage til they do.

There was a scary moment when Laura said “Oh – she’s got a double sole! Oh…no…she is losing her sole!”. My blood ran cold, assuming this was a terrible thing. Losing body parts never seems like a good idea to me. She had cast the frog on the same foot (front right – the one she has had the massive abcess in recently) during the last trim. This time she was casting off her old sole – to reveal a fresh new sole underneath. Laura assured me this is quite normal after a big abcess like she had. So Laura trimmed back about 2/3rds of it to relieve any pressure and assure me the rest will just fall off when it is ready. I don’t need to do anything about it.

Her heels are still compressed, although may be decompressing a little. As her foot forms into the right shape, there will be less pressure compressing the heels and that problem will resolve. Also, the compressed heels are more prone to thrush, so that is making her heels more sensitive and uncomfortable too.

Bare foot is a fascinating subject. Every time Laura comes, I learn a little more. And every time I learn a little more, I get a bigger appreciation of how much I don’t know. One thing I am realising though is that there is a heck of a lot that can go wrong with a horse due to bad foot care. So it’s worth making the effort to get a good bare foot trimmer and get them to visit regularly. Also, when a horse is lame, it is a good idea to speak to the trimmer before speaking to a vet. I don’t get a fraction of the sense I get from Laura from a vet!

I have to say a big thank you to Laura who refused to take any money for her trim today – insisting that this was her contribution to Beauty’s rescue and rehab. That was so lovely of her!!!

Boyfriend is laughing as I write this because I have managed to spend half an hour and nearly 900 words writing about Beauty’s feet. Huh! Some people just don’t understand!!!

Reunited with fellow-rescuer, Becky!

It has been the New Forest Show this week. Living on site, this has caused a few complications. Beauty’s big field is used as a car park for the show, so she obviously couldn’t be in there – with 100,000 people driving and wandering through. The problem is, Beauty has very fixed ideas about how she spends her days. In the morning, she likes to stand under a particular tree with Abbey, the big grey horse in the neighbouring field. In the afternoon, she likes to graze down at the bottom of the big field. Any attempts to keep her in the small paddock behind the house are fairly futile. She just walks through electric fencing. Although, to be fair, it hasn’t been electrified up until now.

So I was pulling my hair out trying to work out what to do with her in the weeks leading up to the show. I considered post and railing the 30ft section between the two paddocks, but the ground is baked hard at the moment and I don’t fancy my chances of getting posts in the ground. It would probably be fairly pointless even if it were possible – as there is a long stretch of dodgy fencing down the long side of the field. Day to day she respects that fence line, but I didn’t want to put it to the test when the stakes were so high. It would be incredibly dangerous for her to get loose in the New Forest Show car parks. She could get out on to the main road far too easily – or out onto open forest.

Fortunately, the very lovely Pat (my neighbour and hotel manager) arranged permission from the New Park Hotel for Beauty to stay in the beautifully fenced (all post and rail!) mini paddock behind our houses. It was the perfect solution. So she has spent show week in a very safe but small paddock. She was perfectly happy though. She got two big feeds a day and loads of hay, so she spent the week happily munching and watching all the madness of the show trundle past her field.

The highlight of the show for Beauty was when Becky came to see her. Becky had been a major part of her rescue, back on 3rd September last year. Becky found her at the same time Shari and I did. Becky spent the whole afternoon clamped around Beauty’s neck, keeping her safe til I could dash of, get money from the bank and get back to liberate her from the grotty gypsy dealer who was planning to “get her throat cut” the next day. (Grrrr!!!!! Yep – I am struggling with a few forgiveness issues there!)

Becky hasn’t seen Beauty for ages, so it was beautiful to see her share a lovely cuddle with Beauty. Photos below…

I had been thinking of Becky and Beauty this week and decided that she would be the perfect person for me to leave Beauty to in my will. Not that I am planning to pop off any time soon, but I feel happy knowing I have worked out solutions for good homes for my animals. (I want Laura the trimmer to have TigerLily and Ruby to have Zee. If Ruby can’t cope with the responsibility, Laura should be asked next. If she can’t take two, then the best person to have Zee would be Sarah Weston – if she is up for it!)

So I asked Becky to be Beauty’s Godmother whilst she was giving her a hug I am certain she would love and care for Beauty for the rest of her days, if anything happens to me. Thank you Becky!

Grooming time with Abbey

Since moving fields, Beauty is now next to a beautiful grey mare called Abbey. Abbey had a serious leg injury a while back and her owner won’t risk putting her in with other horses because, if she got kicked, it could very likely mean she would end up getting PTS. So Abbey is a pretty lonely horse. Her Dad spends a lot of time with her and looks after her very carefully and well, but I have watched her for 3.5 years now and often felt her loneliness. Like all horses, she wants to be with other horses.

Beauty has been lonely since her former field mate left. She and Abbey have become very close and fond of each other. Although there is a fence seperating them, they graze along the fence together, stand under a tree together and have regular grooming sessions over the fence. I have been determined to get some photos of grooming time and yesterday I got lucky!

Hand feeding

Getting arnica pills into Beauty is turning out to be trickier than expected.

I have been slipping them inside chunks of apple – bear in mind they are tiny homeopathic sugar pills – but Beauty just won’t take them from me. Yesterday we had a mad situation where I was standing there holding the apple slice to her mouth and she gritted her teeth against it, absolutely refusing. I stood back, puzzled and trying to work it out. A horse that doesn’t like apple? I never heard of that!

So I put the apple on the ground in front of her and retreated. She picked it up immediately and ate it happily.

In the past, I have tried giving her a herbal treat once or twice. She seemed to have no idea what I was doing. I slipped it between pursed lips and she took it in thoughtfully.

I didn’t give it much thought before. I guess she has never been hand fed and that is probably a good thing. I had been determined not to create a treat monster with her the way I have done with my other horses. But to have a horse that not only has no interest in treats but flatly refuses hand food – very odd!

I am going to go and watch some polo this afternoon in an attempt to understand the life of a polo pony. I begin to wonder if there are things that I simply haven’t grasped about them. Maybe they don’t tend to get hand fed?

There is a polo club that meets in the field behind my house. I watched them loading up the other day and was fascinated to see how they did it. The horses got untied from the rail 3 at a time, then one by one, the girl threw their rope over their back and they ran up the ramp into the lorry – completely at liberty. It was remarkable! 6 horses loaded in about 5 minutes – all of their own volition.

Osteo advice

I spoke to Eva the osteo, who advised giving arnica as often as possible, keeping her cool and either hosing or sponging down her legs.

So she’s had a bute, had her first couple of arnica pills in an apple and I just sponged bathed her legs. She stood like an angel whilst I sponged cold water down her legs, over and over. I didnt even bother with a headcollar – I never need one with her. She just stood there and afterwards we had a lovely cuddle.

There is something magical about looking at the world through a pair of horses ears – they say that the wind of heaven is that which blows between a horses ears. I closed my eyes and I felt her ear laying softly along my cheekbone, tickling my face with fine warm hairs as she flickered it back – as if she could hear my thoughts.

Eva said to continue with all this and I should see a steady improvement. If there isn’t a steady improvement or she isn’t better by next Wednesday, I should call her back. Eva is so lovely – she said I could call anytime if I have any questions. It’s good to know I have that kind of expert back up and I know Eva really cares about her, which gives me even more confidence.

I wrote too soon :(

I have just come back from doing a funeral and found Beauty hopping lame, running with sweat and huffing/panting. I had left her rug on because it was looking like rain and I didn’t want her getting soaked whilst I was out. Her rug was all off-centre.

I’ve picked the foot on her bad leg out, just to make sure it wasn’t a stone or anything obvious. There is a little white powderery stuff under the mud, but no stone.

I’ve made her up a small and tasty feed with a sachet of bute in it. I think she has been running around (judging by her sweatiness – she wouldn’t have got that hot just grazing). I am guessing she has strained or misaligned something again. I’m going to call the osteopath and have a chat.

Poor Beauty! She is still really keen to try and get around. I wish she would relax. I think our major problem is the lack of a companion. She has Abbey in the neighbouring field, but Abbey is kept in her stable all night and for much of the day and any day that’s wet, so Beauty spends a lot of time alone and I know she isn’t happy about it. She has me around most of the time (her field comes up to the back of my garden and I look out for her and talk to her a lot), but it isn’t the same. I must try and work out a way for her to have a companion. It’s the only way she is going to be happy and not hurt herself like this.

Lameness and miracles

Just over a month ago, the other horses that live here moved out – all except one. Poor Beauty was distraught! He field companion left first, the lovely chestnut arab mare, leaving Beauty alone but with horses in the neighbouring fields. Then one day, they all went, 2 by 2, in a horse taxi. Beauty went nuts and ran around the field like a crazy thing. The ground was hard and uneven.

The next day, she was lame, on the back right leg. The day after, she was lame on front right and back right. The day after, it was just the front right. I thought it likely that either she had bruised her feet on the hard, uneven ground, or she had hurt herself running around in some musculo-skeletal way. Whatever it was, I thought a bit of rest would sort things out.

She had hurt herself on the Friday and by Wednesday I was worried. She wasn’t any better and seemed worse if anything. I asked someone to come and look at her. That person threw a major flid out at me – telling me I had over-fed her, given her laminitis, told me I had to re-think my relationship with food (that woman thinks I have issues with being adopted, which I really don’t!) because I apparently use it to make horses love me and accused me of causing my horse suffering because of this. The person was seriously horrible to me, but I had to allow for the possibility that Beauty did in fact have laminitis. She may be a skinny throughbred and not an obvious candidate for laminits, but they are not immune and I gather it is more likely in an older horse that is out of work.

At the same time, I felt I was being manipulated by this person and wanted to get to the bottom of what’s wrong with Beauty without anything being complicated by anyone’s personal agenda. So I called the vet…

The vet ruled out laminitis immediately – to my great relief. Even though I didn’t think she had it and no-one else I asked for an opinion thought she had it, I wasn’t happy til the vet gave her opinion. The vet thought it was either bruised sole, abcess or muscle/tendon injury. Beauty did come to me originally with a thickening on her front left tendon – so it’s hard to tell if her tendon was up.

So vet gave me bute – which I was unsure whether to use in case she had an abcess. Apparently bute can reduce blood pressure and make an abcess less likely to burst and resolve. So I tried not to use it and instead gave her Devils Claw for the pain – which wasn’t hugely effective in this case. I think it took the edge off. On one day, she was so uncomfortable that I used the bute – it was a case of making a judgement each day really.

Things improved, but she still wasn’t right. A foot trimmer friend-of-a-friend was visiting, so I asked her opinion. She looked at her feet, thought that she needed a better trim and confirmed that it was not likely to be laminitis.

So, now 2 weeks after original injury, I managed to get my trimmer to come (she travels from quite a way away – but she is truly excellent, so I wanted it to be her). Laura the trimmer gave her an excellent pedicure, reccommended that we move to a sugar and mollases-free diet (even though she said Beauty didn’t have lami either!) and advised getting a back person out to see her. Laura noticed that Beauty tensed her back muscles in the sacro-illiac region whenever stroked or massaged there.

I called Eva the osteopath and arranged for her to come and give Beauty a treatment (a Beauty treatment!!! lol!). Beauty was a complete angel for Eva – but then so is every animal I have seen with her. Animals just love Eva and understand that she is helping them. Eva is an incredibly talented osteopath, although I often think she has no idea how good she is. She worked on Beauty for 2.5 hours. Beauty drifted off into a happy endorphin state and enjoyed the afternoon thoroughly!

3 days later, it was my ordination day. We prayed for Beauty’s recovery in the actual ordination service. To my complete delight, she was completely better by the next day – a miracle of Eva and God! It was the best ordination present I could have had. I had been so worried and stressed about Beauty. I was trying all I could think of and was beginning to despair and torture myself with what could happen if I couldn’t find what she needed in order to get better. As any animal lover will sympathise, there is nothing worse than seeing the animal you love in pain or discomfort and not knowing what to do to make them better.

So we got there in the end and Beauty has been fine ever since. She seems in better form than ever in fact. She has been running around a lot. I am amazed at how fast and agile she is. She doesn’t seem like a 20 yr old horse at all. One day, she was cantering around, playing with Abbey in the next field, when she stopped and reared and pawed at the air like the Lloyds black horse! It’s fabulous to see her back in good form