Delayed week 4 mugshots!

They're here, very delayed week 4 mugshots are finally up.

Left fore:

Right fore:

Time to trot!

I'm so happy this evening, I'm literally dancing around my lounge.  

Alas, no lottery win, the new trailer will have to wait.  I'd booked one of my equine colleagues to come and vaccinate the girls today. It is quite frustrating having to pay veterinary fees when I am a vet (albeit a dog and cat one).  Official rules say as her owner, I am not allowed to sign her passport, and I am hanging onto the hope that one day Ruby will recover enough to do some Riding Club teams at least. 

I have to admit having a bit of a secret agenda.  After both girls had their injections, I asked if I would be able to trot Ruby up so they could see if she was sound.  Over the past six months I have come to the conclusion that I cannot rationally assess Ruby, and whilst I thought she was doing well, I wanted an impartial opinion.

Which brings me to the good news.  Ruby is sound. SOUND!!  In trot on concrete in a straight line and on the lunge in trot in the arena.  SOUND!! Can you tell this excites me?

We don't have anywhere big enough to lunge on a hard surface and I suspect this may still be an area where she will take more time to improve, however I am thrilled with what we have got so far.  

The other good news is that my patent over reach boots and new girth arrived today.  Both are lovely and I'm really impressed with the speed of delivery from www.equestrianclearance.com - I am still waiting for Ruby's Christmas present from Horse Health.  How ironic the over reach boots arrived on the day I became utterly convinced barefoot was the right thing to do.  She can still wear them for dressaging, long gone are the days of her bar shoes and wearing them 24/7.  All the gear no idea.

Trot work can now start in earnest.  So exciting!

We have MagOx lift off!

It's always exciting to have parcels waiting for you when you get home from work. My poor husband got a fright to see me hurriedly open my package tonight, to reveal a bag of suspicious looking white powder.  I know he jokes that I'm like a crack addict with my pony habit, but I think he was worried for a moment.  Not to worry, MrMac, it's Ruby's magic  powder.

I know some people use magnesium as a calmer, but I'm hoping Ruby doesn't get any more laid back.  She was Mrs Chilled tonight happily doing walk work in the arena. I have started to introduce some trotting down the long sides and across the diagonal and we worked on sharpening up the transitions. She's such a goody two shoes that she was really getting the hang of it by the end.  The vet school advised I could introduce trot sooner but I have been really cautious to do things slowly.  Whether she is 100% sound, I'm not sure, but she seems happy enough from on-board.

It has also become apparent at how much more settled she is the past few weeks. She was closely bonded to a (chestnut TB!) gelding in her field, but since separating them she has come on leaps and bounds. Tonight she stood under the solarium lamp and ate her dinner and her haynet whilst I did some chores.  A few months ago she would've been weaving like a whirling dervish and producing lots of runny poos.  Tonight she just produced one lot of very normal droppings.  Success!

The final bit of good news is that she ate the MagOx no bother, which was a relief given she will happily spit out the fast fibre and linseed given half a chance.  Thanks heavens for molasses free Alfa-A.

Such a shiny bottom!

Week 3 (and a half) Mugshots

here they are!

Left fore:

 

Right fore:

January blues

It's dark and there's mud everywhere. Yuck!

footfall video

As promised, here are some very blurry shots of Ruby's footfall on concrete 2.5 weeks after deshoeing. Looks to be landing pretty flat to me.  What do we think?

Walk walk walk

Having come to the conclusion that Ruby isn't comfy enough to hack out yet, we had another arena based session today.  I added some random poles for variety which made Ruby's day.

Ruby loves her jumping.  I really hope one day we can fly again.

The girls stayed out last night but as a way of compromise, I have opened up the arena and area of planings for them today so that they can hopefully have dry feet whilst they eat hay.  I may try this system for a few days to see if it helps. 

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

I was up bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning after having an early night last night.  I couldn't get into the party spirit after a day at work so I settled for hot chocolate and reading Phoenixhorse barefoot forum on my laptop instead.  I have become a barefoot geek!

The girls both seemed a bit tender walking over the planings to come in today.  I think both Ruby and Millie have a bit of thrush appearing in their frogs.  I'm not sure if this is related to the changes I made to their diet recently or the horribly wet ground.

We stayed in the arena because I am doubting that Ruby is landing heel first.  I think she has signs of excessive wear at her toes so I am worried that I have rushed the introduction of walking on tarmac.  This coupled with the sensitivity over the planings has been cause for concern. I shall try to upload a couple of video snippets and I would welcome any feedback.

I've been snuggled on the sofa this afternoon as the weather has been grim.  I have picked up a couple of sales bargains from equestrianclearance.com in the form on patent over-reach boots (in the hope that one day we can look like snazzy dressage divas!!) and a shaped Tekna girth.  My finger has been hovering over the purchase button of an Equilibrium massage pad but I am currently resisting.  My favourite site GJW Titmuss has them only marginally more expensive than second hand ones on ebay.  And speedy free delivery to boot!

I am currently debating whether I should bring the girls in tonight.  The rain is lashing down and the wind is shaking the sash windows. I hate the winter.