Road Safety Update:

...another letter to The Editor
the downside of reading horse magazines, is sometimes it just plain makes me cross!

Dear Jo,

Thank goodness Spring is coming! I can't cope with any more mud!!

Yet another letter appearing in a HORSE magazine by a motorist that provokes me to write. I am beginning to wonder whether you do it on purpose!

And, not unusually, I'm cross…again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alison, whilst your talking about 'respect' like a rap-star, and complaining about the 'snobby' attitude of riders, a gross generalisation by the way,you fail to remember that the law tells you to behave a certain way towards 'vulnerable road users' (which horse riders are according to the law), so stop moaning, and do the right thing.

 

It's certainly true that there are bad folk in every walk of life, but that shouldn't preclude driving safely should it? 

 

What kind of people need recognition and praise before doing the right thing? the safe thing? and operating within the guidelines of the law?

Furthermore, what has a perceived attitude, deciphered in a few seconds by watching riders, to do with driving safety?

The riders that ride 2 abreast do so for safety. It's quite terrifying being the rider on the outside I can tell you, but when you’ve got a young or inexperienced rider or horse, its the correct thing to do.  It's how we all learn. Monkey see, monkey do.

In all likelihood young riders, not old enough to drive will have little appreciation of drivers, they wont twig their needs, and  because they're trying to stay alive on the roads, they're quite busy with their own problems 'selfishly', riding on the roads is terrifying.

My Mum and Dad, enrolled me into the Pony Club road safety course before they were happy for me to take to the roads with my pony Brandy.  And a great service they did too. The Pony Club is how we all learn, at least that was how it was years ago.

Give riders a break, and don't take any risks with other peoples life just because you don’t get a thank-you, a cup of tea and a bun!

We're not at school any more, grow-up!

mud fever, and what to do if you've got it.

...this is a mud fever post...

........ a one-stop shop, let's beat it once and for all.

TCJ blog's most popular posts are all the mud fever ones (all year round), and ragwort advice. 

Tom and Henry are of course, in at night still, so they have hours with dry feet, this helps.

*It doesn't just happen in the muddy conditions of winter, Henry had it after a wet summer, as you can clearly see from the photo above. 

*don't be ashamed to ask for help, call your vet, I did, and my vet was brilliant, we couldn't have gotten through it without her help. your vet will give you pain killers and anti-biotics to fight it from the inside, whilst the creams fight it from the outside.

*ignore stupid advice from yard types who think they know everything, it's mostly passed along bad advice, and treatments have changed so significantly in the last few years your vet with have creams most people won't have even heard of.

*be super-vigilant, catch the small scabs and treat them before anything serious occurs.

*mud fever can cause terrible swelling resulting in incapacity, terrible lameness and pain.

*Wash the area thoroughly, use a diluted soloution of water/hibiscrub to pick the scabs completely off.  wear gloves, and disspose of them afterward.

 


*Without rinsing the hibiscrub away, dry the area completely.  The vet advised me to use throw-away blue paper roll to dry it, and not a towel as I had been using.  mud fever is contagious, and you need to be clean, work clean and throw everything away afterwards.

*Once dry, add a light coating of fuciderm cream, again wear gloves for this and throw them away after.  lay a dressing over the area, and hope your horse is as good as Henry here, not tied up, just standing and waiting for me to finish.

*Wrap the whole area in vetwrap, black is the correct colour for the season.  be careful not to make it too tight, your horse will need to move in it.

*Make a neat job, it'll be more comfortable that way.

*Slide the hoof-boot on.

*If your horse, like Henry, had secondary infection which casues the leg to swell, that's what your vet will give you equipalazone for, bandage the leg too.

*Fuciderm cream, it has a picture of a dog on the box, but trust me, it really works.  get it from your vet.

*Hoof-boots, very handy indeed.

*Above, after a week treatment, it's sore, but the vet told me to leave it alone unless a large amount of scabs returned, which they didn't. Henry was on anti-biotoics, bute and fuciderm cream. then after two weeks no cream, no anti-biotics, no bute.

 CHECKLIST:

• check the pasterns ever day, even the smallest scab can be very painful.
• clean the area with lots of water or if you can, stand your horses foot in a bucket of water to soften the scab.
• wear rubber gloves, the sort of thing you see at crime scenes on the telly.  mud fever is contagious, you don't want to spread it from one leg to another, or to another horse either. throw everything away afterwards.
• add a cap-full of pink hibiscrub to a 100 parts water, it's weak, that's what you want. wash the area, use this to help remove the scabs.
•  pick the scabs completely off, be gentle it'll hurt your horse.  be patient with him, he'll be in pain. if the scabs are many CALL THE VET.
• this part is important:  use disposable blue-roll to absolutely and completely dry the area.  you can throw it away. 
• give your horse an hug and a handful of well-deserved treats.
• once dry, put more gloves on and add a little cream from the vet to the area.
• add equipalazone or equibutazone to his dinner, alongside anti-biotics, and breakfast, usually for about three days. that's why calling the vet is important, it'll only last for weeks longer if you don't.
•  then, if your horse is going out, put a clean gauze over the area, with gamgee over that, held in place with vet wrap.
• and use hoof-boots, I promise you, once you get some, there'll be no going back, they're brilliant.  

LESSONS LEARNED:

• CALL THE VET, IT'LL SAVE YOU TIME AND YOUR HORSE PAIN IN THE LONG RUN, the mud fever infection will be treated from within with drugs, and without with cream and barrier methods.

Henry's pastern after three weeks:

 

'top' secret....

...just how big a secret is it?
........about 16.2 and 17hh big!......

...Pony Club: a new recruit?...

Lemmy & Flossy, his pony...
.......Lemmy spends quality time with Flossy.

....clearly, he needs to learn how to look after Flossy properly, he's a first time pony-owner.  

We're hoping the Pony Club will allow him membership, the first cat at camp? 

We'll enrol him as soon as possible.........for Flossy's sake, i'm sure you'd agree?

 
He helps me around the yard, so hopefully he'll pick up a few tips watching me with Tom and Henry.

...though, his idea of grooming involves licking Flossy all-over and 'raking' her with his back legs. 

it's not the preferred way, and certainly not how we were all taught at Pony Club either. He doesn't use a brush, likely because he doesn't like it on himself.  

He'll need to be more gentle, thank goodness Tom and Henry are too big for him.

...a Royal affair...

Dolce Luciana: 
......Trakehner Mare:

 

 NEWS:

Our HRH Queen Elizabeth II now has a Trakehner mare in-foal, ahhhhhhhh, agree.   

She arrived in December last year as a Jubilee gift from Heinrich Donatus, Prince of Hessen. 

            ...I wonder.....

...that before you know it (in la-la-land), TCJ will have the 'Royal Seal' and Her Majesty'll be asking for advice on mud fever!!!

...well, m'lady, says I doffing my forelock suitable humble-like,  it's all about hoof-boots and udder-cream don't you know.

It's a mad world, anyone who doesn't agree is probably in the wrong place!  

Look at this picture again... in pure Trakehner style this mare is eyeing up the Royal spectacles for some chewing mischief, in the hope suitable treats will be forthcoming, as they are at WW.

Trakehners ROCK!

'top' secret

...my lips are sealed...
..........it's hard though......


 







...especially when clandestine meetings are going on within my earshot!

...of course, I had to slink off for a cuppa, it was all proving far too exciting for me.  wait until I tell the boys!



..............remember, anyone asks, you know nothing.

...Love...

...happy valentines day.....
.............John just emailed this to me, though of course he is off-the-hook Valentines Day since he bought me Tom & Henry............xxx

'top' secret....

...don't ask me, I can't say...
but maybe I share a sneak photo....?

...I stuck these to my window to improve the view.....

'top' secret........

...I'm not at liberty to tell you....
......................but, if you accidentally see some pictures......well, you can make your own mind up.

...new shoes....

...after a winter of  being 'shoeless and idle'....
................................the boys had a pedicure today.

A  combination of Steve my farrier needing some time off and my own experimental side wondering how T&H would be shoeless during the unrideable months of winter, meant the boys have been without shoes since October.

Surprisingly, they were absolutely fine, I wouldn't want to add this as a permanent approach to my strategy, but as a well monitored experiment, it proved most interesting.

They have remained unridden and have been fine, a little sore on the rough concrete patch in my yard but sound on the flat.
 

Remember also, they have been in at night during this time too so have spent lots of time on soft ground woodchip and rubber floor,....and outside: actually very soft...rain soaked mud!





Steve arrived today, not in his usual van, but in his car kitted out for farriering. Tom and Henry were grazing (yes, we have grass), and brought themselves in from the field, walked over to Steve and Bob's your uncle. he said their feet were a very good shape and condition, phew!

....now I just have to tackle the mud....wonder how long that'll take me?

...my lips are sealed...

...you can't make me tell you...
.....but, i can share a few surveillance shots, undercover work pays off....







.....I'm saying nothing.....

...I can't say anything...

...I've been sworn to secrecy...
.........but it may be happening again!!!!!!

                      .................say no more, Mum's the word.