Sunday 18 November 2007

Waiting for the next thing to happen...!

After a really trouble-free few weeks, the last few days have been a bit more problematic...!

It turned out that Andy has cracked a rib, and so has been struggling all week with riding, but by the end of the week he was a lot better. So on Friday, after a day of trimming other people's horses, I spent the evening getting ours ready for the opening meet on Saturday...

All seemed to be going fine, and we decided to take Felix and Bailey as the opening meet isn't really the place for green horses. Saturday morning came, and Conto was the first casualty, as he had a slightly puffy hock...Its not really bothering him but he has obviously either knocked it or got kicked by one of the others, so that is him off games for a few days...

We then got the meet and it looked as if it was going to be a beautiful day in amazing countryside...and it was, until first I made an operator error and got myself and Felix in between a bog and some low trees, which resulted in me being swept off and landing in the bog myself (!).

It was mucky and embarrassing, but the day got worse when Bailey and Andy came a cropper on a very steep narrow path and she slipped down and thoroughly cut herself, from quarters to fetlock and everything in between. Shehad to be stitched up, and was very good, as was our vet, but all in all not a terribly enjpyable couple of days...

Added to the fact that the weather has now definitely changed for the wetter, and waterproofs are go... :-( Roll on next week, and lets hope for an improvement(!)

4 comments:

cptrayes said...

Aw flip (supply your own four letter word beginning with f) what a week! I do hope Bailey recovers with no problems - she's pretty much illustrated why I don't want to take Jazz hunting. I'd love the hunt, but I just dare not risk him like that after him coming through the op with such huge success.

C

Nic Barker said...

Thanks, I hope she will be OK, although its a struggle to get the antibiotics into her at the mo.

As for the hunting, you have to bear in mind that we have hunted several different horses at least once a week, sometimes twice, for the last 4 seasons, and this is the first time something like this has happened :-)

In fact the path she slipped off was a bridleway, and she was pratting about because the gateway was so narrow, not because of anything to do with the hunt, so it could just as easily have happened out hacking...

I can understand you wanting to wrap J up in cotton wool, though - he is doing amazingly :-)

N

cptrayes said...

Yes, the risk is small .... but anything measurable feels too big right now, we're on such a winning streak!

C

Nic Barker said...

...then I won't tell you about the client with a barefoot horse who took it affiliated eventing and lamed it because it landed in the water jump on a shoe which a previous horse had ripped off...;-)

N