Equestrian off topic

[_Willfully_]

What shall we chat about? I am excited about this thread and thanks a lot to houdini for having this excellent idea!

Random thoughts:

• Winter sucks when owning horses
• How to hide horse-related purchases from husbands (extra points for hiding entire horses)
• Favourite breed and why
• Best saddles, bridles, rugs, trailers
• Favourite equestrian and why
• Working Equitation looks like so much fun but do I need a PRE for it?
• Who will adopt Carl Hedin's adorable foster puppy and shall we just vote for him to keep her?
• Carl Hester deserves a knighthood.
• ?

 

[unwanted.opinions]

I have an Affie…. Not quite right, but work up with two different specialists couldn’t get to bottom of it. Insurance now saying horse is uninsurable at renewal. Horse is shiny, beautiful, lovely… given 18 months off to be a horse and vet said she’s even more lame on one of her hinds. Only 12 years old. Am I horrible to contemplate pts??

Not at all. There are fates worse than death for a horse and if said horse isn’t really field sound or you can’t afford a field ornament then you arn’t being horrible.

 

[daledancer]

How’s everyone’s fields holding up? (If in UK) 🫣

Looks green but on closer inspection is in fact slop

 

[Bagelwheat]

Yep same, can’t answer the above but I think I’m more interested in being here than discussing influencers these days

 

[hippolife]

I mentioned him as my story sounds similar to yours. I had mine’s hind legs blocked, x rated, scanned and nothing showed. Vets kept saying horse was lame in his stifle, both stifles, and to go for exploratory surgery. I just wasn’t convinced. The physio and vet checked his back repeatedly and found nothing. Took a punt on Rob as last ditch effort and he found the problem in the lower lumbar and treated it within 20 minutes. Had a couple of months of specific rehab exercises for that and horse is now fixed. Once I’d spent a grand at the vet the £150 fee for him didn’t seem so bad But obviously there is a lot of times he cannot help.

 

[horsey1234]

If you think it’s wet now just wait until beast from the east round 2 we will all need a bloody ark when it melts. Reading here I’m glad I’m not the only one with wet as fuck fields. I’ve never know mine so wet, one of my horse’s paddocks never dried over the summer so now looks like a river. The water is running down into the ditch from it and I’ve never known it to do that. I can normally use it until January but haven’t used it it for well over a month.

Don’t worry there is no hint of a second beast from the east on its way in the forecast. These papers talk such crap. It’s likely to get colder but more settled into January so hopefully less rain… although ice means my arena freezes and the taps freeze and I have to put hay in the fields bring on May!

 

[stripedsalamander]

Does anyone have one of those helmet connects that seem to be popping up everywhere ?.

They’re not great and you can get them cheaper on eBay or amazon

 

[Falkor]

Can we complain about the cold now please because I’ve got a tap that won’t defrost

Definitely. It snowed here on Tuesday night. I don't get to see the horses in daylight during the week now, sunrise is 8.36 and sunset is 3.28 today and we'll go to 9.04/3.20 by midwinter. I have them at home with no electricity in the fields, so it's head torches all round. Can't wait for the days to start lengthening again.

 

[Falkor]

February can be surprisingly okay up here. It's often cold but clear skies and sunshine and I can cope with that. November, December and January we will always get 70mph+ gusts each year and occasionally go to 90-100mph (joys of coastal living!) When you've got rain or hail in that it's really, really not fun. Can't put rugs on that weather because they get ripped off and the horses won't go inside the field shelter because it rocks.

 

[Falkor]

Field paste was the only thing that ever worked for my ancient one, who was very prone to thrush - worked miracles.

 

[Falkor]

How’s everyone’s fields holding up? (If in UK) 🫣

I've got to do some serious shuffling round today. I've got just under 15 acres, but it's dotted around the village. Currently the sheep are on the 3 acres next to our house and the horses are on the 6 acres opposite the village hall, where they're staying until the end of December. That's holding up well, but the 3 acres is getting a bit muddy and one of the sheep has a touch of scald, so they need to come off it today, get their feet sprayed, and go down to the field at the far end of the village which hasn't been grazed since we took hay off it. Problem is Mr F damaged his shoulder in August and it still has eight bales on it waiting to come up which I don't want the sheep to get into. I can't do it single-handedly because our very elderly Massey tractor can't make it up the steep track from that field with a bale on it, so we have to use the bale trailer and the quad and that means they need to be pushed upright for loading and I'm just not strong enough. Mr F's decided it's feeling okay to have a go if I drive the quad and all he has to do is the pushing bit, so fingers crossed.

Hoping not to use any/much hay over winter as I have about 3 acres partially ungrazed (hay guy bought a new mower and it's too wide to do the smaller strip on the left side of the track through that field!) and 2.5 acres completely ungrazed since last April, and two native ponies who need to lose quite a bit of weight before spring. The plan is to save the hay for summer and during the worst of the grass they'll be on bare field with soaked nets.

 

[hippolife]

Before you do any

I have an Affie…. Not quite right, but work up with two different specialists couldn’t get to bottom of it. Insurance now saying horse is uninsurable at renewal. Horse is shiny, beautiful, lovely… given 18 months off to be a horse and vet said she’s even more lame on one of her hinds. Only 12 years old. Am I horrible to contemplate pts??

Before you do anything - message Rob Jackson “The Horseback Vet” on FB. He has solved so many mystery lamenesses that normal equine vets don’t spot

 

[houdini]

I have an Affie…. Not quite right, but work up with two different specialists couldn’t get to bottom of it. Insurance now saying horse is uninsurable at renewal. Horse is shiny, beautiful, lovely… given 18 months off to be a horse and vet said she’s even more lame on one of her hinds. Only 12 years old. Am I horrible to contemplate pts??

no you’re not horrible to contemplate pts. It sounds like you’ve done your best to figure out the problem and horses are a huge financial and emotional commitment and at only 12, that’s a long time to have a paddock ornament

 

[emulou]

Same, the fields are boggy, our hacking routes are boggy and my mares thrush has reared its ugly head again The joys of horses in winter

 

[BWa]

Can you make a feeding pad out of mud mats or something similar? I know it’s been terrible winter but they aren’t all this bad and 24 hour turnout is like hens teeth round us.

 

[_Willfully_]

I can't answer it either but totally agree with having an off-topic thread! Great idea!

 

[horsey1234]

Sorry can’t answer your q but parking myself here- good idea for thread

 

[houdini]

Definitely. It snowed here on Tuesday night. I don't get to see the horses in daylight during the week now, sunrise is 8.36 and sunset is 3.28 today and we'll go to 9.04/3.20 by midwinter. I have them at home with no electricity in the fields, so it's head torches all round. Can't wait for the days to start lengthening again.

wow! As someone who lives in Australia, that is wild to me! What country do you live in?

 

[emulou]

Thanks for the reply, yes I think I've answered my own question really, just feeling a bit frustrated with things at the min. I've recently started using the red horse field paste, I'm cleaning her feet with milton, drying as best I can, then putting field paste on and waiting 20 mins or so for it to dry a bit before I turn her back out
I think she's probably had it since I bought her and I've never fully got rid. She has very deep grooves particularly on her hind feet, and she doesn't seem to dislodge mud when she walks in the way that other horses do. She's barefoot and I have a trimmer rather than farrier who seems very knowledgeable and has been helpful with the ongoing thrush. She's due a trim again next week so I'll see how it goes, I could always get someone else out next time though

 

[unwanted.opinions]

I think this should have become a thread a while ago, I’ve never heard of Pat Coleby so may have a google.