Monday 26 September 2016

Commiserations and Thanks!

Our commiserations are with Angela who reluctantly has had to abandon her quadbike adventure.  On Friday we had an email to say that things hadn't gone to plan but she is safe!  Sadly her quadbike had a serious problem north of Thirsk and couldn't be easily repaired...so it was a case of being stuck with no local dealers who could fix it, or using the option of her roadside rescue company and being taken to anywhere in the UK of her choice, sensibly home was the best option!  Poor Angela!  She has been very determined to undertake this trip so she is going to try again in the spring...at least this was a bit of a test run....hopefully her trusty "quadzilla" can be fixed.

On a brighter note, a big thank you to Thea and her students who raised an amazing £285 for the ponies on their healing course at the weekend.  Such an amazing effort...we can't thank everyone enough...we really, really, appreciate it!





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Thursday 22 September 2016

Babe Update + Other News

I thought Babe was overdue an update on the blog...and many thanks again to Paul who came over today to help us out.
Babe on arrival in February
Babe, for those who don't already know, arrived in February and came to us because she had pedal bone rotation in all four feet and was within days of being put to sleep.  She had laminitis induced by veterinary treatment for an abscess - the drugs caused a catastrophic chain of events.  She was at serious risk of not recovering.  Laminitis was occurring in a vicious cycle and every time her feet were trimmed she was sore - I distinctly remember the description I was given over the phone of how Babe was sitting on a fence after a trim trying to take the weight off of her feet because they were so painful.

Babe in June



Babe arrived a very poorly girl, and, although we couldn't promise a successful rehab, we would do our best with the knowledge and experience we have gained.  What we were really determined about was that we would be providing different surfaces but not trimming as a set course of action.  No trimming is not the traditional veterinary and farrier approach.  We have seen horses in long periods of pain from having been trimmed and just as they are recovering they are trimmed again and can't move...we have never seen this action result in a successful rehab.

We wanted Babe to be comfortable as quickly as possible, to be moving about and trimming her feet herself on the different surfaces.  We were quickly able to keep her comfortable with our different supportive surfaces, herbal and essential oil pain relief, and her hoof boots which helped her on hard and non-supportive surfaces.  To start with she was in a yard on her own with different surfaces so she could move wherever and whenever she wanted - the others were just over the gate to keep her company but could not hassle her into moving more than she wanted.  There was a lot of focus on Babe with detoxing and getting her body better...which took A LOT of herbs...for which we are so thankful to the ladies at Naturally Animals who helped us by donating herbs for Babe..

Babe hoof late February
 We witnessed her self trimming her feet, her hoof structures getting better and better.  A couple of abscesses were treated very quickly and successfully using soaking, essential oils and homeopathy, showing us that abscesses are part of the rehab process - the necrotic, damaged tissue in the foot has to come out and this is how the body deals with it.   We have seen her hooves becoming sounder and sounder - she can walk confidently over cobbles and stones...and be part of the herd routine, back to grazing with the ponies on a normal routine, even in the height of summer...we couldn't wish for more....

The same Babe hoof today after her toe tidy up (7 months on from the hoof above)

This photo of a back hoof before the"tidy up" today shows how the heels have
self trimmed but the toe has remained because of the harder hoof structure

Babe is now very close to having a full new hoof capsule.  What we have discovered is that as Babe came into the laminar wedge section of her self-trimming she has needed some assistance...The Easy Care website describes the laminar wedge as "Horn that fills in the space created when the coffin bone rotates or displaces in the hoof capsule during laminitis...some experts say to remove the laminar wedge, others recommend leaving it".  Up until now she has had no intervention...but this part of hoof now at the bottom of the toe has been so hard that Babe hasn't been able to self trim it.  Her heels and back half of the foot have continued to be self trimming, but the very hard outer part at the toes hasn't been shifting.  We didn't want a hoof trim, just a toe tidy up, which Paul has been helping us with...  Babe has fantastic white lines and no seedy toe.  We think when she gets past the last part of the laminitic wedge she will be back to self maintaining/trimming again...we just have to wait it out.  There is a big horizontal line nearly at the bottom of the hoof - this is the beginning of her new capsule hoof and the end of the damaged tissue from those laminitic periods...so close, but probably about another 3-4 weeks before we see what happens...


In other P4P news...

Angela has been making good progress and had been past Stonehenge, Silverstone, Duxford and the last we heard was on her way to Thirsk on her big quadbike adventure....

Thea's course is now full with 18 participants - thank you so much everyone!

Thank you to Margaret who has bought us some new yard equipment today - poo scraper tools are a very essential part of our operation!

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Friday 16 September 2016

Angela's Adventure Has Begun!


A huge well done to Angela who has set off on her mission to travel from Lands End to John O' Groats and back on her "unsupported" quadbike adventure across the UK.  She's so brave!  Angela's hoping to raise some money for p4p along the way which we are very grateful for!  The journey's been a bit delayed since her house flooded with all the torrential rain in Cornwall this week so it's already been a challenging few days...our best wishes are behind you Angela for a safe journey and we hope you enjoy your big adventure with no more adverse weather along the way!

Our thanks also go to Thea who already has 12 people enrolled on her workshop on the 25th - the room rent has been reduced for the day as it's an event which will raise funds for us...thank you so much everyone for your support, we really appreciate it!

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Thursday 1 September 2016

September

Being the 1st September we have a new calendar picture!  This month isn't a pony...it's Oscar the dog helping with the hay making!  A very happy dog with hay all over his nose!



September is not usually the month to do haymaking...but last year it rained so much it was September when we made our hay...and it wasn't until the 9th September that it was finally ready to bale.  It was such incredibly hard work - the ground was very wet and the tractors had to be switched on the hay turner because 4 wheel drive was needed to get traction on the ground.  The grass itself was so wet and thick it had to be hand turned as well as tractor turned each day.  And it was cold some days too...anyway...it was successful and Oscar helped by rolling in the piles of hay (perhaps his way of helping to dry it out!)...and the ponies are now eating their way through the bales we made so they approve of our efforts!!

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