Sunday morning vet callouts

Well the day after the last post was a bit of a rough one for Oscar. I rode him in the afternoon after that post and he seemed pretty sluggish (more than usual) and then was not interested at all in his dinner. Which is completely not like him. He didn't look colicky or anything but just quite flat and pooped.

Sure enough the next morning I checked on him and he had poo all over his tail and had projectile diarrhea. Really really unpleasant!!! He was basically pooing green water it was that bad. So had vet out for a couple of hours on Sunday morning (ouch) and he stomach tubed him with 12 litres of fluid and some scour ban, which worked really quickly. Vet came out again on Monday and Oscar was quite a bit better although still pretty flat.

So that was two weeks ago and now he's pretty much right although still has pretty soft poo (such a nice topic). Last weekend we took him and Ellie's boy Spyke to Woodhill Sands for the dressage day - just a riding club one so quite low key. It was our first outing in about 6 months and Ellie's first novice tests. So both of us were a bit nervous. Oscar was great though, warmed up really nicely and was heaps more relaxed than the previous two times at WHS. Although just before we went into the arena he seemed to spot the show jumps next to it and thought he'd rather go jumping instead. So we had a few bend problems... Some pics from the video that Ellie took of our tests:

Aiming straight for the jumps!

We are meant to be doing a right circle but someone wants to go left (towards the jumps)

Towards the end of the second test, he did some nice stuff here
We're quite good at halts :-)

Ellie and Spyke had some bad luck with the weather - it was drizzly when I rode but a few minutes before they were due on it poured down, was awful! And Spyke doesn't do rain terribly well, he had a bit of a tanty a few times. But they still did really well for their first novice tests, and in such awful weather.

I also had Oscar's saddle checked as I was worried it's a bit tight for him. It is, and I done what I can to fix it temporarily but I think the reality is I'll need to get him a new saddle. Which I am a bit bummed about as I love riding in the CTD I have for him, plus I just splashed out and bought the matching bridle :-( Oh well, what can you do?

Rode at Ellie's yesterday afternoon too, had heaps of fun and even had a left canter - on the first ask! Didn't get it again though, haha. Although he was doing lovely transitions on the right rein to canter, he jumps up nicely into the canter. Popped over a cross bar a few times too, and on Monday we're tagging along with Ellie to Raider Lodge to have a play jumping there after she's had a lesson.

Speaking of jumping, found this other pic from last summer, jumping at Ellies

Harry the hereford turned one this past week and it was marked by a call to the homekill guy. We have tried to separate him from his mum (Harry not the homekill guy) but the two of them are determined to get back together. Harry is still drinking off his mum which he really doesn't need as he is a big boy, bigger than his mum. So he is going to head to the freezer sooner than planned. And then his mum can have a break and get fat so she can head to the freezer as well.

Nap time

It has been icy cold here the past couple of days, and finally now about midday the air temperature has warmed up. The horses aren't silly though - they've spent most of the morning snoozing in a nice sheltered spot. Even the goats decided it was a good spot to sleep (Choc got the short straw and had to eat, er I mean keep guard)...

Dee decided she'd had enough of a nap but for Oscar - well there is no such thing as too much sleep. So after a quick heads up it was back to noddy land.


Then, conveniently enough, I wandered over and sat down beside him. What a perfect pillow a human's legs make!!