At present it is all text book recovery, exactly as described on the post - op paperwork. Day two (yesterday) there were the odd drips throughout the day both sides but with a more diluted looking consistency which is pretty good news. No true blood drips. The vet phoned yesterday to see how things were going; a professional follow up call. I look at the wounds and think 'what a great clean job'.
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| Day two 14th May 2011 |
I'm having to keep Alfie's stable in tip top cleanliness , like it always is of course lol. I did ask during the proceedure would I have to put him on straw but the vet said no because the stables are nice and clean.... awww! I washed his legs down again yesterday and sprayed his body with my homemade fly remedy just to help a little bit more by preventing flies getting to his wound, like most surgical aspects, infection is the biggest worry.
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| 13th May 2011 He has a food ball to encourage him to move around in his stable for healing |
Today (day three), was the day I was allowed to carry out the other post - op care by leading Alfie gently in-hand. Ok, that looks pretty easy on paperwork! Of course I have reduced his feed to just a little handful sprinkle in his bucket to keep him healthy and his routine the same, he is disgusted about it of course and finishes his grub in seconds, poor Alfie chops. He gets his 'whatsits' taken out and now he's being starved lol awwww. I have also put one of the food balls in his stable to encourage him to move around to aid healing. It's such a good job he is a hundred percent to handle in his stable and is a perfect gentleman, however, with Spring being in the air alot recently and knowing what he is all about, the hormones made him all stud muffin being led out and turned out. This, is still what we have to put up with in-hand until it all changes after a month or two.
I led him out today, his colt buddy was is in his stable next door, Bobby and the Ziggy (Alfie finds fascinating) is out in the sand paddock. One of next doors mares is razzing around calling the horses and to top that because Ziggy hates it when horses or people move and he's not involved , he too then razzes to Alfie alongside the paddock, Alfie's thinking 'oh yeah I like this one'. So, I'm trying to do some GENTLE in-hand walks whilst all this palava is happening, girlie next door is hallowing to Alfie (she loves him). It did say gentle in-hand walks for five days then progress to gentle trot after that period!, but how unfair is all that commontion for Alfie, poor sod. He is such a sexy beastie you know lol. Anyway, he did well, it is only his third day, I just hope this next three healing weeks are going to be event free, phew, stressed out thinking about it.
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| Alfie chops 13th May 2011 |
After the gentle walks, I took him back to his stable where he was a tad full of himself at this point lol but he settled after a couple of minutes. He does not like the idea that he is being couped up at all. He used to be turned out virtually 24 hours a day before his escapee episode, then I had the new routine of supervised turnout which was anything from three - five hours turnout with his buddy daily and now, he has no turnout with anything! Pretty hard going for the poor lad. Its all looking pretty rosy at the moment. His colt pal is STILL with us so its a whole different routine, Eddie goes out on his own in the paddock now which he doesn't mind , he is one of those that needs to get out for hours or else! I've got Ziggy and Bobs in at the moment after their week off (Daughter doing revision and exams so we have our priorities!). When Ziggy is in the stabled routine it is pretty tough to satisfy them all and all their needs. After all, Ziggy is a fantastic example of mental health issues in equines for any behavioural experts or students out there! He is quite demanding so it can be quite tough having four with (well, not angelic Bobs) to sort in different ways.
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| Little Eddie 13th May 2011 |
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| Ziggy 13th May 2011 |
Other chit chat
I saw my gorgeous great neice yesterday, she is so beautiful and a ringer for her mummy, she is already three months old, doesn't it fly by? here is a photo I took of her yesterday aw little cherub :
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| Leigha 13th May 2011 |
To keep with the baby news, I am now a nanna by marriage (step daughter). My hubby is so very over the moon at becoming a grandad for the very first time to little Harrison born 11th May 2011, he is so beautiful. Isn't the creation of life a miracle. They are so perfect and little miracles. Here is a photo taken the day he was born :
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| Me and litte Harrison born 11th May 2011 |
I am so lucky to have such lovely kids of my own. I know us parents moan and moan, well, come on, I must have world wide sympathy having three teenagers under one roof and two of them girls, see, told you I had reason to moan. Really though, I am so proud of my kids, they have turned out so well and lovely and are genuinely caring young people. They never really give me any trouble. Of course we all have our ups and downs and I have had to sort some issues out with them, growing up hiccups, but in general I'm so proud of them. I was sitting watching 2012 the movie 'AGAIN' with my son. He is nearly 15 years old. We were talking about the film and it's content and the possibilities of world disasters, I did say to him, though the effects are over the top, these things could happen one day. He then turned around to me and said, "I never want to die, I want to live forever". He is just so lovely. I mean, come on, how many 15 year old lads have said that to mothers out there? He loves life so much, I said to him "me too, I never want to die either". This is a lad that is easy to please, he's never demanding, he's pretty happy with his little life and his mates and what he's got. Girls on the other hand... WOW.... what a massive difference , are they EVER happy lol.
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| My little boy 2011 aww (he will hate me calling him little boy by the way if he sees this he will go mental lol) |
I'm a bit worried about selling the yard with the lack of equestrian places in the surrounding areas and within suitable mileage to home. There aren't many places out there to buy. These equestrian places are like gold dust. It took us years to find the place we have so I will not be letting it go lightly but it is worrying thinking about what I can get in the near future when our yard sells. It's going to be bizarre going back to a livery yard after all this time.
This is the gorgeous picturesque view the horses see whilst in their stables:
Only recently there has been many areas for concern locally where people have yards, yet run them appallingly where there is unecessary suffering due to incompetence and ignorance. I again, wish there could be some sort of monitoring system for yards that offer livery.
View sat at the yard table, if it wasn't cloudy you would see the Penines clearly:
I dont mean the BHS licensing approval system talked about as such, as I personally think that a person that has managed horses most of their life should not need certain qualifications for licensing to be a viable requirement, as that type of person has many years expertise in managing and looking after horses and the social, financial and management skills involved in doing so should me more than adequate for running a good livery yard, regulation is the route to go I think. I would like to see some regulation checks in place like they have for many other things i.e Defra for cattle / livestock and the CQC in person care. Why isn't there something similar for these many thousands of livery yards across the country?
Please have time to read this interesting link regarding this mattter:
Licensing of livery yards and regulation 2011
