Sunday 29 March 2009

All is Good!

Mayfly is doing so well at the moment :o)

She is very happy to go out on her daily hack and she is storming along in trot with the odd break into canter when she chooses. ahaa.
Her mud fever is also improving now the weather and ground is drying out, and the fields were harrowed and rolled the other day so they look very lovely now (not for long though obviously with the mad bunch that are in them)
She is even loosing some weight, at last! Although she did barge out of her stable today in search of some haylage "if your not going to give me any I'll go and get some myself!" ahaa.
I do know what is dawning on me though...she is need of a tidy up, main pull, bridle path trim and tail trim. urggg I do leave it too long so it is harder to do when I finally get round to it.

On a better note though, it is very good too see her so happy and loving life, and with summer on the way she is all set for another enjoyable fat year :D

Sunday 22 March 2009

From one Extreme to the Other...

Went on an early hack this morning on Madame Mayfly. She started at her usual waddle pace so we had to keep trotting to keep up with Ben's long stride! She did speed up a bit though when we made it passed the half way point.

Her leggies seems to be suffering from her mud fever again so I slapped on loads of suda-cream (nappy cream aha) and hopefully they won't fill too much more.
She is definitely loosing weight, thinking of measuring her belly to see if there is weight loss going on or I am just imagining it :D

So in the afternoon I had my birthday surprise - a jumping lesson on a event horse (which is for sale) called Sol. He was a real sweetheart and helped me out when I had some sticky moments, ie forgetting the course at the end. ahaa. He was the complete opposite of Mayfly not only in size but he actually jumped up into the air and over the jump unlike Fly's constant attempt to save energy and just skim the top pole!
Now, seeing as I haven't jumped in 4 months I was a bit apprehensive on how things would go but, I was rather pleased with myself as I also had never ridden this horse before.
Although, I am sure my body will be feeling a bit sore from it soon as it hasn't done that much work in a long while!

Anyway thanks to Catherine I got a some video footage of my lesson for all you to see and laugh at :o)

Sorry that the quality was ruined!

Friday 20 March 2009

Hyper Mayfly :D

Wow, the weather has been beautiful this week :o)
I have seen the first bumble bee of the year and all the blossom and daffodils are officially out, bright and pretty.

Mayfly has started the spring in season, and well this causes mixed behaviour.
She is very loving but, at the same time moody over more things. The thing that is standing out most is her want and need to go fast at the moment.
Before we had even left for today's hack the other horses were being fed so of course this lead to a tantrum. Luckily I think she quickly forgot and we had a lovely hack, with actually some purpose not just a daily waddle. aha.
She kept breaking into canter so I decided to let her have a little one across the field - just a few strides. She seems to be feeling really good at the moment and doing wonderfully, which is great :D

Got some lovely shots with my new camera today too. Nice and artistic :)


LOVE THE FLY!

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Bouncy but Angry Fly

Mayfly is being a little madame at the moment!
I think that is is due to dieting...it makes her angry. One little trick that she is obsessed with using against me at the moment is not opening her mouth for the bit, no matter what I try she just doesn't budge and it is so frustrating.
But, she is loosing some fat so it must be working. ahaha.

Today she was determined for me to make sure she was the first in form the fields not the others, spoilt yes!
Her legs were looking a lot better which is very good news and well she was definitely feeling very good too :o)

Whilst we were heading out on our hack she was doing a very bouncy walk, which felt amazing I must say! Then it turned into a jog, which is not so comfy or enjoyable so I soon brought her back to walk...or a march in Mayfly's case.
She even had a few random spazzy moments over..nothing. So her usual action to conserve energy were definitely not in use today. We had a lovely medium trot too, although I am not sure that is too good on her legs, but she would not go any slower :D

Sunday 15 March 2009

Itchy Legs...

Poor Miss. Fly had a bit of a filled back leg this morning when I took off her bandages.

We trotted her up and she seemed ok so decided that she needed to walk out as standing on it all day doesn't do her any favours.
The only thing I could think that had caused it was her mud fever as I was picking at it quite a lot yesterday, and I had cleaned her legs.
So once out on our hack with Ben and Catherine Mayfly soon settled down and was enjoying herself. That was until she began to get itchy legs from her mud fever - she started to swoosh her tail, then jumping into trot so we had a nice trot in hope that would bang out the itchiness...unfortunately not she began kicking out (which she never does) so I took this as my cue to get off her and rub down her legs. Spoilt mare!
While I was off I took of her boots and checked her leg, which happily had become a lot less swollen.
Once I got back on she gave one more swoosh of the tail and was fine for the rest of the hack :o)

It was such a lovely day today, and our 2 hour hack was much enjoyed by all. Even Ben was nice a chilled out for once. Mayfly did lots of poos so hopefully she lost some weight too and we even produce some sweat today! And all the buds are coming out on the trees - finally some signs of much wanted spring.

She will have the day off tomorrow to rest and then she should be all back to normal for a little hack on Tuesday.

Wednesday 11 March 2009

The First Canter

Well, not literally my first canter. But, my first canter on Mayfly since she she got her osteoarthritis.

She was very happy to be doing something a bit more exciting again, but was well behaved and didn't shoot off but she seemed comfortable doing it :o)
I was so happy to be cantering again, didn't realise how much I've missed a proper ride with a canter...even if it was only about 10 strides. hehe.
The canter will not be too often though, and only on perfect ground as little Miss Mayfly can't be doing her normal charge about anymore, and I sure know what she can be like! She will just have to learn to chill out a bit...

She was a funny mare when I went to feed her today. I think she felt she had been waiting far too long, and as I was opening the bolt on the door she gave my hand a big nudge telling me to hurry up as I was obviously going for too slow, and Mayfly's dinner waits for no-one. aha.

Tuesday 10 March 2009

FAT FAT FAT MARE!

Mayfly hasn't been this large in a long time.
I don't know what has got into her but she is getting through so much haylage, she is now being "drip fed" it. lol.
She even had some little hives on her belly due to the excessive amount of haylage she has been eating and at the astonishing pace she eats it at!

When it comes to the riding on the other hand, she is doing really well. She seems very happy out on hacks, even if she does get a little bored at times.

Sunday was very windy so she was a little cheeky out on our hack, she was determined not to have to walk into the wind, ah dear!
However, we had a lovely reasonably long hack with a nice forward going trot (my arms were in pain by the end!)

Tonight, when I arrived she had not food left so my greeting was an angry call for more - and of course the lip was wiggling.
We just went for a little hack up the track and in the set aside, lovely evening :o)
Unfortunately, just as I had hopes for the ground beginning to dry out it rained last night and today so yet again we are left with soggy ground.
On the other hand the daffodils are on their way, which means spring if finally coming!! :D

Friday 6 March 2009

Ewww, Sickening Hack!

Mayfly was absolutely filthy when I arrived today as she had been out without a rug on.
She is in desperate need of a bath as her coat is so dusty and yuk...just need the weather to warm up a bit first.

So eventually after a long hard groom we made it out on our hack.

We went down to the woods behind the field and wondered round them, then as we were turning a corner Mayfly pricked up her ears and her put her head high in the air - I was a bit cautious at what she was looking at cause I find those woods scary enough! lol. But standing there was a deer, it tried to run away but it was hobbling, then I noticed it had a nasty wound on it's shoulder and one of it's front legs was hanging of the, swinging around when her tried to hop away. I felt sorry for the poor thing, but at the same time it was disgusting!!

Once this trauma was over we managed to have a rather nice hack, Fly was a bit full of herself and I really had to hold her back in trot naughty marey is desperate to go for a canter - she doesn't seem to understand why she can't!

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Sweet Little Mayfly :o)

Mayfly seemed to be overly kind and loving today.
I hadn't been up to see her for the past two days as I have been unfortunately ill, so it was very nice to receive such a warm welcome from the Mare.

She was giving me kisses, and resting her wobbling lip on me so in return I blew raspberries on her nose. Hehe, don't I sound like a mad women!? And I found a real itchy spot on her hindquarters so she got a good'ol scratch and massage with the rubber curry comb, which she absolutely loves :D

Oh, forgot to update on Saturday...we went for our longest hack yet - 1 3/4 hours with quite a substantial amount of trot. Fly really enjoyed herself but got a little tired and was a bit sore when evening came but that is to be expected. The hack was good fun though, it was one of the new ones which we had only done once before, so enjoyed by all.

Anyway, it was a lovely evening tonight. We went for a hack and I could resist getting off and getting some pictures so I planted my phone on a tree and did so :o) Although they aren't the best of photos - I really am in need of a new camera as my old one broke.

Also for once in a long time, there was no deer around today (but I guess I shouldn't speak too soon).