#173 -Our farm ain't anything like FARMVILLE!

Now that Teddy and the four cows are sharing all the paddocks together I'm seeing a side of mongrel  in Teddy. Most of the time they all just go about their business being cows and a horse, grazing, pooing, mooing, neighing etc. But then Teddy must get bored and something takes hold of him and he goes, "Right! Those cows look like they need rounding up!" and off he goes at a gallop towards them and the poor cows get the life scared out of them and scatter.

Then it will be all back to normal and an hour or so later Teddy will go over to the hay roll and claim it for himself. If the cows go to the other hay roll he will go over and start pulling hay out of it and shake his head letting hay fly everywhere. He doesn't actually eat it but he makes a mess and the cows back off and will stop eating it. Then the next time I watch them they are all happily eating from the same place together without a care in the world. The other night I even saw Teddy and Gunny eating, side by side for ages, almost touching each other.

Then this morning I was watching them from the study and the cows were hanging around the left overs from an old hay roll. Teddy waltzed over and stood on top of the hay, took a wee on it and then waltzed away. I've never seen a horse do that! How bloody rude!  Was that a horse marking it's territory? It's more likely Teddy is just a mongrel.

Before I bought this property I used to play Farmville all the time. That game is just a big lie hehehe!

#174 - Gearing up for a great summer

Teddy and I are both gearing up to make the most of the coming warm weather, regular riding and the return of "Teddy Log".

We are both out of condition and practice, so we are working our way back into it. I want to be sensible about it so I don't set my health back in any way. Teddy also is a chunky bum so we don't want any injuries - for either of us!

The last two days has just been spent socialising more with each other. Teddy also got to meet Sweet Pea without the gate between them. They sussed each other out cautiously and the pig was making all sorts of noises leaving Teddy unsure of what to do. He quietly watch on with curiosity and a touch of trepidation. Sweet Pea did the same without the quiet. Then when Teddy thought he had worked her out he ever so gently touched her on the bum with his muzzle. Well the pig shit itself, let out a massive squeak and jumped out of reach. I swear Teddy barely touched her but I guess to a little piggy he is one mighty horse giant who could quite easily mistaken her for his next carrot! Teddy just lifted his head slightly and continued to wonder at her.

Sweeties actually quite bossy when the gate is between them, squealing for the next bite of the carrot. But judging by the sounds she was making when he was looking down at her and she staring back with her Mr.-Magoo-without-glasses squint, she quickly lost the bravado and her squeal became that sad "don't leave me!" plea.

Teddy seems quite taken in by her so it will be interesting to see how this friendship develops.

As for Teddy and I, we will be building up on our exercises and I will be putting into practise the routines I developed from Sally Swift's Centred Riding book while I was in hospital. I'm hoping this will enable me to judge if I'm ready to return to lessons.

I'm looking forward to it!

#172 - Teddy is being turned out

Due to my horrible health at the moment I will turn Teddy out until I get better. So he'll be running around with the cows until further notice.

Teddy Log: #171 - back in the saddle again & now I pay for it...

Teddy Log: #171 - back in the saddle again & now I pay for it...: I had a lesson on Teddy today and I think I socialized more then paid attention to Kim's instruction. But that is OK as both Teddy and I are...

#171 - back in the saddle again & now I pay for it

I had a lesson on Teddy today and I think I socialized more then paid attention to Kim's instruction. But that is OK as both Teddy and I are out of training so we need to work our way back into it. And it was good to catch up with Kim.

I took a couple of pain killers before I left and I only recall really feeling any serious pain at one stage in a trot. I think it was enough to make me squeal aloud, but other than that I think it was mainly soreness and stiffness I felt that I could control.

Before we went Teddy appeared to want to go but when it came down to doing the work, well I think he was having thoughts of bucking me off and running back into the float with his nose in the feedbag and pretend we weren't there.

He did well parking so he has remembered his lessons and I was pleased to see this. His anxiety was very prominent as he head tossed a lot so I hope that he will remember it's not so bad and he will get through this quicker this time than it has taken us to get where we were in the first place. All in all I think we did ok.

 It near killed me getting the float ramp shut and on the way home I had to take a few more pain killers and as the cold sets in this evening so has my stiffness. I guess it's worth the price  as my goals are still front and centre in my mind. We will get there.

Now its time to relax and probably have an early night.

Teddy Log: #170 - Laid up - Poor Teddy being bored in the pad...

Teddy Log: #170 - Laid up - Poor Teddy being bored in the pad...: Unfortunately my illness has impacted on my riding once again. This has meant that Teddy hasn't been out for the last few weeks and he hasn'...

#170 - Laid up - Poor Teddy being bored in the paddock

Unfortunately my illness has impacted on my riding once again. This has meant that Teddy hasn't been out for the last few weeks and he hasn't even been ridden at home. I feel bad for him and try and spend time with him when I can, but I would  rather be reinforcing his parking and dressage lessons instead. I'm sure he would too! The only constellation is that the weather has been terrible so a lot of this time I probably wouldn't have been able to ride anyway.

I am just not physically able to ride right now but I'm slowly getting better with less body pain, headaches, spinning etc. At one stage I was contemplating going to my lesson but the day before I removed my sock and a 2x5cm strip of skin came off with it! Deep enough to make me bleed! Bizarre stuff. I was joking to Steve that I'm going to be diagnosed with lepracy next!

It left me unable to wear shoes as it was place right in a spot my runners or boots rubbed on it. The pain was too annoying to concentrate and my body pain makes me walk like an old lady sometimes anyway so I didn't need that on top of it. I'm pleased to say that I wore shoes yesterday for the first time since it happen and all went well. I was even able to keep my skin!

I tried Teddy out on about 200 gms of Speedi-beet yesterday and he loved it. Must be very palatable as he came back to lick the bowl. As he's not really in any work I will be just supplementing his diet with the stuff that I have here. They claim that its good for their gut with a pro biotic and has high calcium levels with a low sugar level, among other things, but these are the things I was interested in with Teddy's arthritis. I know joints and high sugar don't mix so I feel its best to keep him in check, particularly as he's only in the early stages so I hope we can prevent further damage. He already gets a multivitamin supplement so he should do well on this.

I'll be follow suit with a change of diet for health reason soon too. As my diagnoses has my doctors baffled I might have to start another blog to keep me honest and focused on fixing myself.