The Weaning of Tahoe and Roxy's Back with the Herd

The day finally came....Tahoe was ready to leave his mumma and Roxy needed to get back to normal. I had mixed emotions as I headed out into the paddock to catch them. I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do but human emotion always thinks like a human, and a little part of me felt like I was tearing a mother and son apart.

I haltered them up and sat and waited for my friend Christine to come and help me. I gave them both big cuddles and told Roxy she had done a great job but it was time to go.

Christine came out and took Tahoe behind the shed and I took off with Roxy. I was expecting her to plant her feet and not move and basically have an argument with me but she walked along like she was happy to go. There was no noise from Tahoe, but Roxy's adopted sons Ted and Neville weren't pleased, and called out to her as we headed down the hill.

Roxy was all ears and at one point did stop and plant her feet but with minimal coaxing we were on our way again.

We got to the paddock and the rest of the herd were looking from the top of the hill. When I let her go she took a moment and then took off in the direction of Tahoe. She reached the fence line and said hello to the horses in the next paddock. After a few more moments she looked back at me and then came cantering back to check in ....she still loved me and it was nice that she came back for some reassurance. After that Roxy did quite a few laps of the paddock whinnying out and getting a bit worked up but nothing silly. Quite soon she realised that the call from the opposite side of the paddock was her old paddock mate Choc. She made her way over there and seemed pleased to find a familiar friend.

I left Roxy to settle in and headed back to see how Tahoe was doing. True to form he was doing pretty much nothing...no crazy galloping along the fence line, he just seemed a little confused.

It was done. The end of a chapter and the beginning of another.

That evening I went back to check on Roxy and she was still on the side of the paddock with Choc but she was also getting to know the new horses. Which includes Monty and her baby Nugget as well as some of the other horses belonging to the Wild Waler Women, Rose and Lola. Unfortunately she also decided to spend some time with crazy Carnie who almost ran me over, but I think she has moved on from that.

The next day she looked a bit more relaxed despite losing some weight overnight it seems. Later that afternoon she was hanging around the yards with Rhonda, Leah and Lucy and getting some cuddles from Leah.

Tahoe is doing fine and has Ted, Neville, Tully, Sheeba and Dawn for company and to help put him in his place, he is truly a remarkable little foal. I may have a home for him too but I am not sure yet, you never count your chickens with these things.

All there is left to do now is feed and settle Roxy and wait for my non-self emptying saddle to arrive and then I will get back to work with her, as well as getting Monty fit. Who I might add did a great job yesterday with some hill work.

Monty's foot has healed extremely well and although she will have a hole in her hoof until it grows out it all looks good for her.

Until the next installment...happy riding!

Lorrie

xx

Time for some pics, you will see just how big he is getting and he is only rising 5 months!

It is clear from this shot that the big boy will be just fine and mum needs to go and get some condition on!

Tahoe's new for sale pic that I will put up in Horseland next week.

Me and my beautiful horses!

Cuddles for Tahoe

Its Time To Go....Roxy

Well time has flown by and this week I have made the decision to wean Tahoe which means in two weeks Roxy will be going back to one of the main paddocks. She is only just maintaining her weight and Tahoe is doing just fine so my priority is to look after Roxy. It is the least that she deserves.

I havent written too much about Roxy over the last few months but the pride and love I have for this horse is nothing short of breath taking. Scaling everything back to its core and taking baby steps with her and just creating a bond is the most wonderful and positive thing to come out of all this. I couldnt rush anything and I have had a chance to spend time with her EVERY day just being. I look at her and my heart jumps and I am so excited about getting back on and getting started with her again, except this time we are so much closer.

So how do you know that things have changed?

Well I used to have to con her into coming to me with a bucket of food and when I let her go she would walk away. She still comes to me because she is getting food, but the important thing is that she knows her name. I call Roxy and she looks up and whinnies and more often than not comes at a trot. She is relaxed, happy and familiar with me without being pushy.

We used to walk along and I would have to constantly ask her to keep up with me..now she plods along beside me .

She stops when I stop walks when I walk.

I could not for the life of me get her to relax enough to lower her head below her wither...now I can get her to drop it to the ground...I will be bridling her from a sitting position from now on.

I did some quick lunging with her the other day and after initially being unsure of what we were up to, she soon got it and I had my girl circling me freely with one ear pointed in my direction...I had her attention even with two foals watching from the sidelines.

She was even relaxed enough to roll next to me in the stall and lets me take Tahoe away without freaking out. For a horse to lie down near you, when lying down is as vunerable as they get, shows real trust.

I am sure I have an amazing horse on my hands and I dont expect it to be all smooth sailing but she is worth all the effort I am sure. She is my "55 horse" the one I expect to be on for the next 20 years, thanks Roxy for being such a great teacher! XXX

Lorrie

Update on Monty

So today we had the vet out to Monty. She wasnt getting any better and yesterday we discovered lovely pus!

After waiting for the vet for a bit he finally arrived and had a bit of a look. Definately something in there he says....now it is time to find out what.

Monty gets a sedative and some nerve blocker (could have done with some myself), and as Rhonda holds her up the vet starts digging away at her foot...a few minutes and a rather large hole later out slides a chunk of wood!!! It was pretty big about 3cm by 1cm..and smelly too apparently, but I didnt sniff to confirm.

David the vet cleans it up and wraps it. Monty is officially out of action for a least 4 weeks and will have a nice hole grow down her hoof over the next 12 months.

She is on penicillin twice a day and we need to change the dressing daily. I dont have the bill yet but I can imagine there will be a decent one.

SO hopefully Monty is still ok for the MS Ride, we will give her the best of care and at least in the sick paddock she might lose a bit of weight the tubby chick.

Will update as things progress....poor Monty :-(

Lorrie

xxx

Float Towing, Trail Riding, Train Tunnels and a lame horse!

This year on many an occasion I have missed an ATHRA ride due to not having a float or prior commitments...this month however with the help of my new friend Regina, we decided to splurge and invest in a days worth of float hire and head off Sunday to the latest ATHRA ride which was in Helensburgh. 

It is here I must point out one important piece of information...after riding my whole life I have not once towed a horse float.

It was a mixture of nerves and excitement when we collected the float on Saturday and I found it rather easy to do. I was delighted, this was going to be  a breeze as long as I took it slow and steady.

Sunday morning Regina and I loaded the horses and headed off. The horses, Monty and George, were very well behaved and we arrived with plenty of time to enjoy morning tea before riding out at 9.30am.

It looked like rain so I put on my new long Drizabone coat and felt quite the part as we headed off into some beautiful terrain. It reminded me so much of the rides I did with Pasha, I was loving it!

We continued along for about an hour and a half before coming to the legendary train tunnel. It is an abandoned tunnel that runs alongside the main line. I had no intention of going through the tunnel, as I was told there was a way to go around it instead. On this particular day however it didn't seem  like that option was open to us and everyone was pretty much told to head on through. I decided that if other horses could do it so could I. The first group entered and there was some carry on but generally everything went OK. My group however had two horses in front that refused to go forward. Who would blame them it was pitch black!!! After dropping my horse boot at the entrance to the tunnel I grabbed it and mounted back up and head through...first. Monty was so brave and I coaxed her gently through, once she saw the light her walk picked up speed and we were out safe and sound and I was so proud of her. I got off to reattach my boot to the saddle and I noticed a cut above her back nearside hoof and then when I tried to walk her she couldn't walk. I was shocked...what the hell had happened?

The cut looked minor so I was seriously concerned that Monty has strained something or was foot sore from stepping on a rock. Whatever the case it had happened in the tunnel there was no question.

I walked her forward and she seemed to start to go OK, so with every one's advise I hopped back on. We hit the next hill and there was no doubt Monty was not going well at all. We got to the top, I put her front boots on and still she struggled. We were as far from the base as we could be and my horse was lame. I was gutted.

Soon I had the trail boss telling me that they had decided to get the local bloke Alan, who was leading the ride, to help me take a short cut and get me back to the floats. Please remember at this point I am taking the 'trail leader' with me!

So we head off in the opposite direction. At this point I was still riding Monty but a few meters later it was decided that riding her was no longer an option. 

So now my new friend Alan told me to jump up behind him and we would lead Monty out. After a very clumsy scramble onto the back of his horse we were on our way, but it was getting more and more difficult to keep Monty going. We made it to the fire trail and it was here that Monty said no more. Alan decided that we should leave Monty tied firmly to a tree and double back to the float and bring the float to Monty. So off we went and although a little awkward riding double with a complete stranger I was so grateful for the help. 

So we get back to the float and put Alan's horse on and head back for Monty...here I go ...amateur float tower about to go bush and rescue the stranded brumby!

We get back to Monty and there she is eating the grass with an 'about time' look in her eye. We load her up and now I have to try to turn this thing around...nothing like the deep end AGAIN!

I have to say with some guidance from Alan it only took me two goes to get it around at, least something was working out. 

We floated Monty back to the spot where we were meeting for lunch. I cleaned her up and Alan confirmed that it was indeed the puncture to her coronet band (above the hoof near the hairline) that was causing her pain.

We had also noticed that the rest of the group who should have beaten us to lunch weren't here yet....they arrived shortly after, however they did point out that they had been lost for a while...remember I took the trail leader...gggeeezzz could I cause anymore trouble.

We had lunch and Regina and I decided to beat the impending weather and head off home. We farewelled everyone and after a wrong turn onto the free way followed by a u-turn at Waterfall we were heading home.

Back home I unloaded Monty and she was in SO much pain she could barely put weight on the foot. I yarded her up, gave her some feed and raced off to the vet for some tetanus shots ......($40 later !!!!!)... I have Monty medicated and washed up and I let her go. She didnt even flinch with the two needles to the neck..such a brave horse.

I have been close to tears (and quietly letting a few go) and again I only just hold it together as I see her hobble off. 

I go and spend some quality time with Roxy and Tahoe and then went on to spend a restless night worrying about how Monty was going.

This morning after dropping off Jade to school, I race out there and take the car into the paddock and up the hill to where Monty is lying down resting. I don't panic as this is normal for the horses to take turns sleeping. Thankfully I notice no swelling or heat in her leg and get her up to flush the wound and give her some more meds for the pain. It looks like she will be fine but I will spend the next few days monitoring her to make sure.

Phew I tell ya, life is not boring and it was almost more than I could handle for one day, I am grateful that Monty's mum (hi Rhonda) took it so well and was understanding. 

Until the next installment from my crazy life,  send Monty some get well vibes and catch ya

Love Lorrie