Blue's Recovery from the Worst Bout Of Laminitis and Trying to go Barefoot

Hello my lovely little dumplings, finally after a long time I thought I would do a proper blog post for once! I

do have to say however, the lack of posts in the past 3 weeks has actually been more of a technological fault then anything else. The technological fault being yours truly pouring a whole mug of milky, sweet coffee all over my keyboard and then proceeding to flip my laptop in the air in the hope to remove the liquid. However, give me time to order a new keyboard and a YouTube video to install it and I am good to go! Side note, I think the pound sign is hiding from me on a UK keyboard as I accidentally cheated on it with $ on my US keyboard.

Anyway, back to Blue. In all the drama of everything recently I don't think I properly explained what happened with Blue and how he is getting on now. So, Blue came down with laminitis and we discovered that he was suffering from equine metabolic syndrome. The poor man spent a week in "prison" with only a small amount of soaked hay as his diet. After that he became sound and I was happy to let him go out to a very restricted pasture with a muzzle. His recovery in his feet was very slow actually and he is still recovering I am afraid to say. I thought it was best to take his shoes off to allow his hooves to heal up (pun intented hehe). This, however, back-fired on me, as his hooves were very sensitive as his instep had fallen. We got front shoes on him and that seems to have helped dramatically but still quite sensitive on rough terrain.

We are on the slow road of recovery with it (again, pun intended hehe such fun!) and slowly but surely his hooves are becoming less sensitive each day. It doesn't help by the fact that back home we have the worst sharp stones on our road out that even I find painful to walk on if I'm in plimsolls. He is getting there and he is going perfectly on grass now. He has been getting rather bored so I've had a no working out in the fields ban so that he gets out and about rather than p***d off with being ridden in his dining room.

Another aspect of his life has changed, which is, his diet. We have been testing the waters with how much grazing we can let Blue out to without causing a flare up of laminitis and ensuring that his sugar levels don't rocket. Thankfully, now we are home, we have the bad quality grass on our side. Our grass is over 20 years old if not 30 and has very low sugar levels, even in the sun! So Blue has been coping fine with going out to the whole field for a couple of days, sometimes even without a muzzle! With a muzzle I think Blue could stay in the whole field full time. This is yet to be tested as we spent a week away and I put him in the diet field then, didn't want any flare ups while no-one was around to deal with it. (I will add, I did have a friend check on him but if there had been an issue then they wouldn't have been able to handle it). The wee man is back in the whole field again and happy as Larry so I think we are going to find a happy compromise with space but muzzle.

All in all, all positive stuff with Blue. I've not made a video in a very long time just as I am more focused on making him better than shoving a camera in his face. Thank-you so much for staying with me through this all. I have come to the decision to take time out until next may from uni, just to get my life back together and prepare for going back. Until I go back, I will be having Blue and Shannon here and hopefully working at a Riding For the Disabled Centre. It combines my 2 passions care and horses so ideal! Right I need to go, now I'm home and not working yet, I need to cook dinner for that family :) I may not be an amazing cook but at least mum left me some recipes to make the food tasty :) nom nom!
                                                     Adios Amigos x

P.S
Right now there is a nationwide call out that we take laminitis very seriously and if any of our beloved equines suffer from it we should get them tested for EMS and Cushing's disease (free lab fees are being offered currently). Now, it may seem silly to do so, but tried and tried to get blood from Blue and finally once we persevered it payed off. We know what we are dealing with now and  everything is working out so please don't be afraid to get your vet out and get your pony tested.

Hello

Hi guys

I need to start this off by saying sorry for not posting in the last few months. I am so sorry I have been neglecting you. I'm afraid after all the effort with Blue being up with me and attempting nursing placement far away from uni and home I have crashed and burned. It's safe to say my assumption that I could cope with everything after mum passing was optimistic to say the least. My life has been an absolute rollarcoaster recently, not the fun type though. I spent four weeks travelling from uni and placement constantly switching from nursing patients on ward to nursing and managing Blue. I was struggling under the pressure and my on ward mentor was a great support to tell me that I needed time out to get myself back together.

So, a couple of weeks ago Blue and I, both came home. To be honest it seemed like an absolute disaster and I am still pretty negative about everything but I thought I owed you guys an explanation. You guys have still stayed with me in this quiet period and all the hits I see coming in even when I haven't posted in months is the sweetest. Thank-you everyone. You are all amazing peeps and I couldn't ask for better.

Now, I can't promise you anything since my life is still up in the air but what I can say is that I am not dissappearing x Please stay with me until I find my feet again x Thank-you

                                              Adios Amigos xxx

P.S
I managed to break my laptop so my youtube has been very quiet as I have all my footage and work in progress videos saved on that but hopefully in a week or so that shall be all sorted and I will have something up. Thank-you x

Update.. not so awesome

Hello my happy chappies!

Afraid not amazing news about Blue, Equine Metabolic Syndrome....
Sorry I haven't updated in a while I have started my new nursing placement far away from home and it was just such a stressful time that I didn't have a chance to sit down and get back into this blog. What happened in short was, Blue came down with mild laminitis and was given danilon and a restricted paddock, 4 days later I came back from night shift came out to see Blue and he could barely walk, vets got called out again and bloods were taken. He has been diagnosed with equine metabolic syndrome which is in the same family as cushings but not nearly as severe. Hopefully, with a bit of sugar restriction it should be easy to manage. Blue has had 10 days of stable and starvation and is sound and happy and back on a very small patch of land with a muzzle strapped to his head.

Since everything seems to have settled and things appear to be on the up, I thought I would chill out and give you guys a wee update. So that's the sum of it, Blue is recovering from laminitis and we should be back in the swing of things be a week on thursday. See you then buddies x adios x

First couple of weeks at his new home

So, Blue has been here for 2 weeks and I am happy to say that he is settling into his new life very well!

Thought I would just go through all the events Blue and I have had since he arrived.

First time in the arena – I started by walking Blue around the huge 3 schooling area arena and let him have a good look at everything and get his jumps and piss arounds out. He spent the time neighing out to neighbouring horses until I got him cantering around and he was engaged and focused. We tried a jump and he was a bit annoying so I had to put it down but I did get him over it J

First hack – There is this wee ½ hr hack called the block that another girl at the yard went around. Blue was good, wee bit puzzled by junctions and ditches but behaved really well. He is a bit like a deer in the headlights with junctions didn’t know where to go.

His new neighbours – Blue started with a highland one side and a big bay gelding on the other side and then another highland was added, bay was switched with a cob and then another cob was placed nearby. Blue really did take it all in his stride. He was a bit in love with the bay but he seems to be coping with the separation, though I do wonder if Blue is gay though, he was very fond of the bay.

Now, this was a biggie, FIRST ELECTROCUTION – So, I had just been out on a hack and was putting Blue back in his field and the gate decided to jump the electricity to his leadrope clip and it went through both of us. SURE AS HELL CLEARED MY SYNUSES! Blue immediately leapt back and wouldn’t let me near his head so I had to unclip his headcollar and let him run off. It was a freaking shock and a half! The yard is huge and has tons of acreage so all the fences are attached to the mains, and are really strong, like.. REALLY!

Anyhoo that is me, I’m sorry it took me this long to get round to a new post, it’s been a busy past  week, with uni and horses! Thanks for reading x Adios xx

Pssttt... Just a side note

Sometimes you can have a crap day or are in a crap situation but there will always be a time in the light and I say grab that time by the reins and get on that bucking bronco called life! x

Blue's Journey!

So, I’ll just do a wee timeline so you realise how quick or slow the day/journey was.

(Background – we had only packed jumps and hay the day before and we were told that the horsebox would arrive around late morning)

7:00 – I got up to tidy my room, pack up all of my stuff and do some laundry. BORE!

9:00 – Packed up all of Blue’s brushes and got myself some breakfast (Porridge nom nom)

9:30 – Got a call from the transport company saying they would be there in an hour! Holy macaroni! I

rushed around and got Blue in to give him Instant Magic which is a magnesium serum used to calm horses. I had given it to him the evening before and I have to say doing it the day before and on the day really made a good effect. When I went to get Blue he was lying down for a nap and so relaxed it took me a few mins to give him the motivation to get up. I then spent the rest of the time brushing him and booting him up

10:25 – We took Blue down to another field to load him since the horsebox would have struggled getting up our road (potholes, the size of Ben Nevis, or near about). I let Blue chomp away at the grass on a long lead until the box arrived.

10:35 – The box arrived and they got the ramp down and showed me where I was to put him. Now, Blue doesn't load, like at all, he just plants his feet for hours at a time. I walked Blue to the box and got him to the edge of the ramp (not on it) and he stopped, he was curious and sniffing so I let him take his time and have a look. I got a bucket of feed and started coaxing him in. He was quite keen on the food but was taking his time to move, so I said just one wee step and you can get it. Both the driver and I knew that once his hooves were on the ramp he would go right in, so then the driver just picked up Blue’s leg  and put it on a ramp, and up he went! Brilliant!

11:00 – We got back to the house and started loading the car up with all of Blue’s things. Dad wanted a quick cup of coffee and I made us some sandwiches for the journey.

12:00 – We were on our way, now I wanted to get to the yard before the box did and I had forgotten that with a trailer you have a 50 mile speed limit. Great... PANIC! So we got well on our way, not stopping at all and hoped that the horsebox would be going slower and stopping more often to give us enough time to catch up. Thankfully the horsebox was also dropping a pony off along the way so that gave us a good time to catch up.

15:40 – We arrived at the yard and were told that the box would be arriving around 16:30, so that gave us plenty time to get all the stuff unloaded and ready.

16:25 – Horsebox arrived! Thankfully the driver got Blue down the ramp which I’m surprised Blue didn't

end up falling straight down it, it was rather a hairy sight. Got Blue out, was on high alert but not misbehaving so that was good, the yard manager showed me the way to his paddock and we let him run. And that was it really, we went for a wee nosey and had a chat with his new chums and he was chomping away in no time.

17:00 – We went out and stuck a rug on Blue and then said goodbye and went on our way.

That’s it! Ooft, one long day! I was really happy with the way it went. The driver was good, not as good as I thought he would be but he defo got the job done! Blue went in within 10 mins which NEVER happens!! And Blue seemed to really enjoy his new home and I can see him fitting in perfectly. Now, I apologise, this is crap writing, it’s so juvenile but ah well! Hopefully I haven’t killed you all with boredom. Now I’m going to do a post on Blue’s first week/couple of weeks which hopefully will be up by Sunday, but as you may have realised this post is late so I would rely on me too much J Thank-you for reading and I hope you all the best, competition season is underway so good luck to you who are in on that and have a nice few days in this lovely sunshine!

Adios x

A Sad Ending but a Bright Future

Hi, if you are here for an upbeat chat I’m afraid you may want to wait a few days until I post about journeying Blue to me. This post is written with a heavy heart.

These past couple of weeks I have been struggling quite a bit. On March 9^th 2014 my mum died at home in the night. This was awful to happen but the situation before it happened was horrendous anyway. Through my grief, I have found my sanctuary with Blue again, so this post is going to be how he has helped me through the highs and lows of going through life.

Horse-riding has always been by outlet and something that I could go to and enjoy. When I just started

high-school I struggled with the transition and was bullied from day one, Melody, my old pony, was the happiest part of my day. As my riding deteriorated and I became more and more nervous and failed at taking on my sister’s pony I fell out of love with riding and it was decided that we would look to buy me a confidence giver. Cue, Blue! Blue was the best thing that ever happened to me, he has got me though the last 3 years of high school and got me through a very isolated summer at home before university.

If you have been following me you will be aware that I have spent 7 months in university with Blue having a rider, this fell through and it was decided that I would have him back. Two days ago we travelled Blue up to where I study and settled him in to his new home. Even though I have only had him back for two days it’s been great having

him back.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Blue, riding him in the arena, getting him used to the yard etc. It was the first day in the past weeks I hadn’t got upset or depressed or overwhelmed. This made me realise how much I love riding. I know this is such a cringe, but please bear with me. When I ride Blue all my worries and issues dissipate and I can let everything disappear from my mind and solely focus on what I am doing with Blue. So, this post is dedicated to my appreciated of Blue and to all those horses who bring joy to so many people.

On a side-note, a more personal note, I want to say thank-you to everyone who has been there for me and my family during this time, I have never felt more secure. And, to all the people that have experienced grief and pain and trauma, my absolute condolences, grief is awful, especially to people who lose children and grand-children and close, close family members.

So, that’s me! That’s all I have to say.... I think. That’s why I haven’t been around on blog for a while, but I am back and Blue is back so we will both are getting back into the swing of things. I might post a few more posts on dealing with the death of my mother but I do not want to be insensitive and if any of you do not want me to then please feel free to comment so or email in. On a lighter note, I will be posting about Blue’s journey soon, I have an exam on Tuesday so it’s that will be up on Wednesday if I have the time J

DIY Horse Shampoo (For Greys)

Hello! I'm going to try and teach you how to make your own horse shampoo!

(This is just a suggestion and I'm sure everyone has their own concoction! Also, you want to patch test this on your horse to make sure that they aren't allergic to any of the contents.)

What you will need:

• Blue washing up liquid (Sainsbury's) (If you don't have a grey just use a standard clear washing up liquid)
• Human shampoo (Herbal essences)
• Human 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner (Tresemme)
• An empty bottle (I used an old radox showel gel bottle)

Obviously, you do not need to use these exact brands but these are the ones which I find good.

Now this can get a little messy so I suggest putting a towel down or doing it in a bath. 

1. Firstly, take the empty bottle and take the cap off.

2. Add around 180mls of the washing up liquid.

3. Then add 50mls of the shampoo.

4. Finally, add 40mls of 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner.

5. Optional - I added more washing up liquid to fill the bottle (around 40mls). 

6. Then you need to shake! And shake! And shake! (Like seriously!) If you have a wide necked bottle I would suggest whisking it with a spoon or fork.

Now, lastly, you may want to label your bottle of new shampoo. And then you are good to go!