Cinderella

Buddy has his special shoe put on today. Just call him Cinderella! It’s called a spider plate apparently. My fab farrier made it for him after having a chat with the vet. Honestly, I’m not kidding when I say Buddy has a crack support squad!

To make sure he’s not wonky, he made a slightly different version for his other front hoof. Everything crossed it helps his recovery.

I love the green putty. Green is definitely Buddy’s colour. Well he is an Irish boy after all.

I’m grateful for my crack support squad today too. There have been lots of tears today. Things have been building up for a while. I know I’ve been drifting into the rumble strip of life. So today I let the tears flow. And took my oversized Labrador and his Cinderella shoes out for his constitutional. It helped.

One day we will go to the Ball Buddy Boy. Till then, walking it is. Let’s face it, he’s definitely my Prince Charming.

Off games

We were meant to be having a night away. Buddy in a lovely stable. Me in the Buddymobile. Tomorrow we were meant to be demo riders at another CPD Day. Flatwork this time. But someone is off games.

I know flatwork isn’t your favourite, but going lame is a little extreme Buddy. My fab farrier was due today so perfect timing. No obvious signs of an abscess, so hoping a few days rest and a treatment from Auntie Sam will do the trick and we will be back to it.

Honestly, I’m not joking when I say I feel thwarted. I literally get the Buddymobile fixed and now Buddy’s out of action. You couldn’t make it up.

Still Buddy is happy in himself. He’s not hopping lame, but definitely uncomfortable. Hoping he’s just tweaked something dicking about in the field. On the other hand, I’ve had my toddler tantrum and stamped my foot ( I’ll probably be lame tomorrow too).

Sometimes it’s just not your week. All healing vibes gratefully received.

Beat the heat

Up early today to beat the heat and meet Katie over at Blickling. We were in the saddle by 9:45am. And I’d mucked out before driving there. First time I’ve beaten Katie there. The traffic was very kind. Well for me.

There are so many paths through the woods, that for the most part, we were in the shade. It was blissfully cool in there.

The humidity soon started to build though so headed back for an afternoon of meeting. Then back to the yard as Buddy had the farrier. It was much cooler so decided to poo-pick his field.

Turns out, it wasn’t as cool as I thought. My brain was obviously a bit fried. I spent 10 mins looking for my car keys. Feared I’d dropped them in a field. Only to find them sitting on my car seat. With the windows open. Good job the yard is in a safe area. Though not sure there are many people who’d want to steal the Comedy Car.

Elements

This is a lovely way to end a rather random day. Who doesn’t love a rainbow?! I could have done without the torrential thunderstorm earlier as I waited for the farrier. He could have done without it too as he got stuck in traffic getting to us.

Thankfully none of us got soaked. Though I did get trapped in the straw barn while I waited it out. The lightening was so bright and the thunder so loud. I love a good thunderstorm. Call me churlish, but I do prefer them when I’m indoors…

Dramarama

Back home after a very long day at the BRC Intermediate Champs in Onley. I wasn’t competing, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t in on all the action.

Up for the Arena Walk, which mostly involved me taking my jacket on and off, jumping up and down and generally desensitising the horses to the fact the viewing gallery was rather close to the arenas.

Then it was helping one of the rider get ready for her test. Well I was until another rider’s horse managed to pull a shoe off and cut herself. Once the first rider was onboard, I rushed to get the vet and find a farrier. The later proved more challenging as there wasn’t one onsite. After ringing round as many farriers as we could Google. We found one who would put the shoe on. But only if we took the horse to him.

Cue 1.5 hour roadtrip to the farrier’s house! Where he put the shoe back on on his driveway. I kid you not!!

We managed to made it back in time for her to plait, get signed off by the vet and get ridden in for her test. Phew!

Good job I’m calm in a crisis.

Lucky for some

Again, I’m no farrier, but when you walk your horse in from the field and realise something isn’t right. Buddy had moved his shoe over considerable and the clip looked like it had gone into the hoof wall.

By some miracle, it hadn’t and Buddy was sound on it. He was weight-bearing and didn’t seemed bothered at all by it. But it could go some way to explaining Buddy’s overreaction on Thursday. But who knows?!

Very grateful that my farrier was able to come out and sort it out. And that it didn’t do any damage. Looks like horseshoes are lucky on the horse too.

Hoof soup

You know it’s been hot when your tub of hoof dressing looks more like soup! It’s a tad melted. Still works though, even if it was running down Buddy’s hooves.

He had the farrier tonight. Since he had to have his shoe off for a bit a few weeks back, he’s lost a big chunk out of his hoof. It looks a bit of a mess. But Buddy doesn’t seem bothered by it. And he’d kept the shoe on without issue.

Given the problems he’s had with that hoof, my farrier asked me to trot him up after he’d shod him. Poor Buddy was uncomfortable on that hoof again. So off the shoe came and after a few adjustments and nailed it was back on differently, Buddy was good again. So glad we checked.

Doh!

Pretty sure that’s meant to be on your foot Buddy?!

Day 1 of training camp has been interesting. One of us was hot to trot and one of us was just plain hot! I’ll let you decide which one was which. 😂

Thankfully Buddy lost his shoe at the end of our second lesson. Emergency farrier later, we’re back to 4 shoes ready for tomorrow’s lessons. He does like to keep me on my toes.

It’s been baking here today. Hoping for a cooler day tomorrow. She says as she can hear rain on the lorry roof….☔️