Hi Everyone,
A sad blog today I'm afraid - some of you may be aware that we had to have Chloe put to sleep last Monday - which was a real shock, and very difficult for our staff to deal with.
Chloe had a slight cough a week previously, which was treated with anti-biotics, and when the vet examined her she had some fluid on her lungs. She responded well to the anti-biotics and by last Monday was allowed out in the field for a few hours. She had a lovely day out with Aria, and was in really good health, galloping about the field. She came in around 5p.m. and appeared to have some type of seizure in her stable around twenty minutes later. We called the vet as an emergency, who sedated and thoroughly examined Chloe, but she had such a range of odd symptoms, she was very difficult to diagnose. Whilst the vet was there, her seizures became more regular, with less time in between and she was becoming extremely distressed.
We took the sad decision to put Chloe down - a horse having seizures is obviously extremely dangerous for both the vet and the staff to deal with, and there was no way of controlling it or helping Chloe. We decided that we would carry out a post mortem on Chloe, to ensure that whatever had gone wrong with her was not a danger to any other horses.
Chloes blood results showed that she had a big immunoresponse to something, so had some type of virus, and also that she was bleeding into her brain, which was the reason for the seizures. Luckily, it happened in her stable rather than when she was loose in the field, which could obviously have had catastrophic results. We're just glad that Chloe was with our staff, who all adore her at the end, and that we were able to soothe her and make sure her last couple of hours were as peaceful as possible. It would appear that Chloe was just very unlucky and had an odd response to her cough/virus, which then flared up when she finished her anti-biotics. Chloe was with us for over five years, and was one of the sweetest, nicest horses we have ever had the pleasure of owning. She taught our staff a phenomenal amount towards their Stage exams, and was always very popular for jumping lessons - so RIP Chloe, we hope you're up there with Pumba galloping about the fields and having fun.
On a happier note, we have decided to do a game show/panto this year. "The Equine X Factor" is on Thursday 22nd December at 7.30p.m and involves all the staff and many of the members basically making a fool of themselves! So, if you want to come along and laugh at us all, then make sure you get your tickets soon as we can only sell limited numbers due to the limited space in the school. Tickets cost £5 for children, £7 for adults and £12 for families (up to 2 adults and 3 children).
Hope to see you all there!
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Friday, 4 November 2011
Fireworks Fear!
Hi Everyone! How exciting that its bonfire night tomorrow........ only not so exciting for us horses! We're pretty scared of fireworks, and each year it seems to get a bit worse with more and more fireworks set off around us. Some of the older horses are quite calm about it, and just keep munching their hay, but some of us get so stressed out we need to be sedated by the vet.
We understand that everyone enjoys fireworks night, but wish that people would go to an organised display, or at least let us know if they are going to put fireworks off next to us - so that we can get our ear plugs in and have our staff with us to keep us happy. Unfortunately lots of people don't think to say, so whilst they are having fun in their gardens round Milltimber, us lot are quaking in fear at the farm!
We had several incidents last year when the nursing home at Tornadee (right next door to the paddock) decided to have a big fireworks display. Unfortunately, they decided that the best place to set their fireworks off was behind the wall next to the paddock, so the fireworks came flying over the paddock and the stables that are beside them. We had to call the vet for one horse, and two of the school mares cut their legs as they were in the field beside Tornadee and were galloping about in a blind panic. We contacted the home after the fireworks display to explain the problem, and ask if they could avoid doing it the next year. They agreed that they would discuss it at a meeting and let us know asap if they intended to do a display again in 2011.
Unfortunately, they decided that it was best to have another display this year, despite several polite letters from us and us offering to go and explain to the residents why it is so scary for livestock. Luckily, the new owners of the site have agreed that it is far more sensible to have the display at the Western boundary of their property, rather than over our paddock, so that is a help at least. Having spoken to the council and the police over the last year about it, it is worrying that there is no legislation in place to prevent people letting fireworks off right next door to livestock, but we will just need to keep our fingers crossed that the horses cope tonight and tomorrow night. We have sedation, radios and staff at the ready to deal with it!
More refreshingly, Albyn School PTA have been excellent, and wrote us a very informative letter detailing exactly when their display was at the Milltimber playing fields, which makes it much easier for us to prepare for it. If only everyone thought to do this, life would be a lot easier for our furry friends at this time of year!
On a sadder note, Timone does not seem to be responding well to his recent treatment and medication for his athritis - he is now lame again when being ridden, so we have taken him into his stable and will get Mark to come and see him when he returns from his holiday, as he assessed Timone in the first place. We're not willing to put Timone through having more and more treatment, as he is 15 years old now, and has been a really good horse for us - we think he's owe either a good retirement, or to be put to sleep, so will take the vets advice when he returns and keep everyone updated.
Thats all for now!
oh - nearly forgot! Martin has bought himself a horse from Ireland! Its in isolation at the moment, but is called Bailey and is a big 16.2h.h. chestnut gelding of Irish Draft cross. He's very handsome, and unbacked so you will all see Martin doing lots of lunging and long reining over the next few days and weeks before he jumps onboard!
thanks
We understand that everyone enjoys fireworks night, but wish that people would go to an organised display, or at least let us know if they are going to put fireworks off next to us - so that we can get our ear plugs in and have our staff with us to keep us happy. Unfortunately lots of people don't think to say, so whilst they are having fun in their gardens round Milltimber, us lot are quaking in fear at the farm!
We had several incidents last year when the nursing home at Tornadee (right next door to the paddock) decided to have a big fireworks display. Unfortunately, they decided that the best place to set their fireworks off was behind the wall next to the paddock, so the fireworks came flying over the paddock and the stables that are beside them. We had to call the vet for one horse, and two of the school mares cut their legs as they were in the field beside Tornadee and were galloping about in a blind panic. We contacted the home after the fireworks display to explain the problem, and ask if they could avoid doing it the next year. They agreed that they would discuss it at a meeting and let us know asap if they intended to do a display again in 2011.
Unfortunately, they decided that it was best to have another display this year, despite several polite letters from us and us offering to go and explain to the residents why it is so scary for livestock. Luckily, the new owners of the site have agreed that it is far more sensible to have the display at the Western boundary of their property, rather than over our paddock, so that is a help at least. Having spoken to the council and the police over the last year about it, it is worrying that there is no legislation in place to prevent people letting fireworks off right next door to livestock, but we will just need to keep our fingers crossed that the horses cope tonight and tomorrow night. We have sedation, radios and staff at the ready to deal with it!
More refreshingly, Albyn School PTA have been excellent, and wrote us a very informative letter detailing exactly when their display was at the Milltimber playing fields, which makes it much easier for us to prepare for it. If only everyone thought to do this, life would be a lot easier for our furry friends at this time of year!
On a sadder note, Timone does not seem to be responding well to his recent treatment and medication for his athritis - he is now lame again when being ridden, so we have taken him into his stable and will get Mark to come and see him when he returns from his holiday, as he assessed Timone in the first place. We're not willing to put Timone through having more and more treatment, as he is 15 years old now, and has been a really good horse for us - we think he's owe either a good retirement, or to be put to sleep, so will take the vets advice when he returns and keep everyone updated.
Thats all for now!
oh - nearly forgot! Martin has bought himself a horse from Ireland! Its in isolation at the moment, but is called Bailey and is a big 16.2h.h. chestnut gelding of Irish Draft cross. He's very handsome, and unbacked so you will all see Martin doing lots of lunging and long reining over the next few days and weeks before he jumps onboard!
thanks
Friday, 21 October 2011
Wintery Update
BRRRRRrrrrr! Its freezing! We can't believe how much the weather has changed in the last 2 weeks - we have gone from naked horses in the field enjoying the sun, to horses fully rugged with haylage out in their fields to keep them warm.
So whats new at the yard?
Well, firstly there is some sad news. Many of you will know Sarge, one of the livery horses that was owned by Alison and had been with us for years. Sarge sadly passed away in his stable three weeks ago, with a (presumed) heart attack. It was a very quick, peaceful way for Sarge to go, as he knew nothing about it and was happily munching his hay, but our thoughts are obviously with Alison, who had to deal with the shock of losing her best pal so quickly. Alison was very mature in how she dealt with it however, and we are all very proud of her.
We also said a sad goodbye to Deano this month, another livery. Deano had a condition known as "kissing spine" which is basically athritis of the spine. The verterbrae develop new bone at the top, and then touch together when the horse moves, causing obvious pain. Whilst kissing spine is normally treatable, Deano had a very advanced case of it, where his entire spine was practically fused together. Unfortunately, Deano showed no signs or symptoms of the disease until around 5 months ago, at which point he was x-rayed, his spine was medicated and then he was sent to Glasgow for an operation to remove the problematic vertebrae tips. Unfortunately, when they opened Deano up, they discovered that it was far worse than even the x-rays showed, however he was given a chance, he had the operation and then returned home. On his return, it became obvious that he was in quite a bit of pain, so after pain medication from the vet, his owner Tracy made the sad decision to have him put to sleep, as there was no other option for him and we felt he didn't deserve to go through the pain anymore. Tracy did absolutely everything available to Deano, but unfortunately he just shows that however good veterinary science gets, horses still have a way of breaking and not mending. Deano was very lucky in that he had every option available to him, however even with all options, the best decision was still to put him to sleep.
Onto some happier new now! The AGM was popular, with over 30 members attending to hear the accuonts talk and a demo on "indoor x-country", Miro enjoyed doing the demo greatly and showed off by trying to take off and jump everything faster than he was meant to. We had some good suggestions at the AGM, and it was a nice chance for members to catch up with everyone.
We have also booked Aria in to go away and get backed over the winter as she is now 3 yrs old. We have lunged her, long reined her, put on rollers and saddles and she has been very good with all of it, however we have decided that it is fairer to Aria to go away to be backed so that she can be given the time she needs and the regularity of work as we are struggling to get to her each day. Young horses thrive on routine and regular learning, so we hope that in sending her to a professional who has time for her each day, she will have the best start to her ridden career. Although Aria broke her leg as a yearling, it appears to be standing up to the work of lunging, so we are hoping she will remain sound through her backing. She is going to Alison West, who runs West Eventing and has a great reputation for starting youngsters.
Thats all for now
Thanks
So whats new at the yard?
Well, firstly there is some sad news. Many of you will know Sarge, one of the livery horses that was owned by Alison and had been with us for years. Sarge sadly passed away in his stable three weeks ago, with a (presumed) heart attack. It was a very quick, peaceful way for Sarge to go, as he knew nothing about it and was happily munching his hay, but our thoughts are obviously with Alison, who had to deal with the shock of losing her best pal so quickly. Alison was very mature in how she dealt with it however, and we are all very proud of her.
We also said a sad goodbye to Deano this month, another livery. Deano had a condition known as "kissing spine" which is basically athritis of the spine. The verterbrae develop new bone at the top, and then touch together when the horse moves, causing obvious pain. Whilst kissing spine is normally treatable, Deano had a very advanced case of it, where his entire spine was practically fused together. Unfortunately, Deano showed no signs or symptoms of the disease until around 5 months ago, at which point he was x-rayed, his spine was medicated and then he was sent to Glasgow for an operation to remove the problematic vertebrae tips. Unfortunately, when they opened Deano up, they discovered that it was far worse than even the x-rays showed, however he was given a chance, he had the operation and then returned home. On his return, it became obvious that he was in quite a bit of pain, so after pain medication from the vet, his owner Tracy made the sad decision to have him put to sleep, as there was no other option for him and we felt he didn't deserve to go through the pain anymore. Tracy did absolutely everything available to Deano, but unfortunately he just shows that however good veterinary science gets, horses still have a way of breaking and not mending. Deano was very lucky in that he had every option available to him, however even with all options, the best decision was still to put him to sleep.
Onto some happier new now! The AGM was popular, with over 30 members attending to hear the accuonts talk and a demo on "indoor x-country", Miro enjoyed doing the demo greatly and showed off by trying to take off and jump everything faster than he was meant to. We had some good suggestions at the AGM, and it was a nice chance for members to catch up with everyone.
We have also booked Aria in to go away and get backed over the winter as she is now 3 yrs old. We have lunged her, long reined her, put on rollers and saddles and she has been very good with all of it, however we have decided that it is fairer to Aria to go away to be backed so that she can be given the time she needs and the regularity of work as we are struggling to get to her each day. Young horses thrive on routine and regular learning, so we hope that in sending her to a professional who has time for her each day, she will have the best start to her ridden career. Although Aria broke her leg as a yearling, it appears to be standing up to the work of lunging, so we are hoping she will remain sound through her backing. She is going to Alison West, who runs West Eventing and has a great reputation for starting youngsters.
Thats all for now
Thanks
Monday, 26 September 2011
Club AGM
Hi Everyone,
Just a quick note to let you know that the club AGM has been set for Tuesday 4th October at 7.30p.m. at the stables. The AGM will take the same format as last year, where Sally will do a 20 - 30 minute talk on the accounts and the year past/ahead and then we will give an educational demo. This years demo is:
"How to get yourself and your horse ready for x-country - indoors".
After the demo, the meeting takes an open floor format where members can make suggestions/chat to the directors or voting members.
Hopefully we'll see lots of you there - if you want to attend (members only) then you can add your name to the list in reception so we know how many seats we need.
Thanks
Just a quick note to let you know that the club AGM has been set for Tuesday 4th October at 7.30p.m. at the stables. The AGM will take the same format as last year, where Sally will do a 20 - 30 minute talk on the accounts and the year past/ahead and then we will give an educational demo. This years demo is:
"How to get yourself and your horse ready for x-country - indoors".
After the demo, the meeting takes an open floor format where members can make suggestions/chat to the directors or voting members.
Hopefully we'll see lots of you there - if you want to attend (members only) then you can add your name to the list in reception so we know how many seats we need.
Thanks
Monday, 19 September 2011
Winter fast approaching
How depressing - we moved the horses to their winter fields today. Its depressing because it doesnt' seem like 2 minutes ago we were moving them to their summer fields - summer in the North East seems to be getting shorter and shorter (and wetter and wetter!).
We have also started using the haylage we have made now as quite a few liveries are now in for winter, and it is lovely stuff - the horses seem to be enjoying it a lot! We don't put haylage into the fields yet, as there is still plenty of grass, but come October, it will be time to get the feeders out to the fields again and then the huge task of supplying hay to all the fields starts - we'll be a bit sick of the sight of the tractor by the end of it!
The new riding prices were also implemented in September, and that all seems to go smoothly - hopefully all our members understand that we need to put a price increase in every couple of years to ensure that the club remains solvent and that we can afford to get the best equipment for everyone and afford to give our staff good training - we still think its very good value for money, and it would seem the BHS would agree as we were recently graded as "highly commended" in our inspection.
Some bad news on the horse front this month though - Timone started to go lame in front around 3 weeks ago, so we booked in in for an examination by the vet. The vet did nerve blocks on his right fore - nerve blocks are where the vet anaesthitises specific areas of the leg in order to diagnose where the lameness is coming from. Timone blocked out to his foot, and then when lunged looked a little unlevel on his left fore. The end result was that we booked him in for x-rays of both front legs to investigate the cause of his lameness. He was x-rayed last week and the x-rays confirmed our suspicions that he had low ringbone. Ringbone is athritis in the joint and in low ringbone cases it is athritis of the coffin joint, which is inside the hoof. Timone had a fairly hard jumping career in Europe before he came to join us and has worked really well with us in the school, so at 15 its no surprise that he has developed some type of athritis.
The prognosis is not brilliant for ringbone - the vet has injected the joint with steroids and he will be ridden in a few weeks to assess his soundness. We're hoping that the medication will make him sound enough that he can work through the winter, then be retired in the Spring and probably put to sleep at the end of next summer as we're not willing to keep going with him if he can't be made comfortable in the field. Hopefully the medication will work, as we don't want him to retire over the winter - we'd rather he could retire and enjoy a nice summer out at grass as a reward for his hard work.
Right, think thats all the updates for just now!
We have also started using the haylage we have made now as quite a few liveries are now in for winter, and it is lovely stuff - the horses seem to be enjoying it a lot! We don't put haylage into the fields yet, as there is still plenty of grass, but come October, it will be time to get the feeders out to the fields again and then the huge task of supplying hay to all the fields starts - we'll be a bit sick of the sight of the tractor by the end of it!
The new riding prices were also implemented in September, and that all seems to go smoothly - hopefully all our members understand that we need to put a price increase in every couple of years to ensure that the club remains solvent and that we can afford to get the best equipment for everyone and afford to give our staff good training - we still think its very good value for money, and it would seem the BHS would agree as we were recently graded as "highly commended" in our inspection.
Some bad news on the horse front this month though - Timone started to go lame in front around 3 weeks ago, so we booked in in for an examination by the vet. The vet did nerve blocks on his right fore - nerve blocks are where the vet anaesthitises specific areas of the leg in order to diagnose where the lameness is coming from. Timone blocked out to his foot, and then when lunged looked a little unlevel on his left fore. The end result was that we booked him in for x-rays of both front legs to investigate the cause of his lameness. He was x-rayed last week and the x-rays confirmed our suspicions that he had low ringbone. Ringbone is athritis in the joint and in low ringbone cases it is athritis of the coffin joint, which is inside the hoof. Timone had a fairly hard jumping career in Europe before he came to join us and has worked really well with us in the school, so at 15 its no surprise that he has developed some type of athritis.
The prognosis is not brilliant for ringbone - the vet has injected the joint with steroids and he will be ridden in a few weeks to assess his soundness. We're hoping that the medication will make him sound enough that he can work through the winter, then be retired in the Spring and probably put to sleep at the end of next summer as we're not willing to keep going with him if he can't be made comfortable in the field. Hopefully the medication will work, as we don't want him to retire over the winter - we'd rather he could retire and enjoy a nice summer out at grass as a reward for his hard work.
Right, think thats all the updates for just now!
Friday, 12 August 2011
Catching up
Lots of stuff to catch up on as our blog has been broken, so we've been unable to update anything! Anyway, here goes...
We now have 260 bales of haylage wrapped and ready to munch! We are taking a second cut of haylage off the cow fields in order to try and save a bit of money by not having to buy in as much from elsewhere to supplement our own home grown stuff.
We are also raising the price of lessons by £2 as of the 1st September - we've held off having a price rise for nearly 2 years, but unfortunately needs must now and we're experiencing such higher costs, we have no alternative but to increase the price of lessons - however hopefully everyone can see the massive improvements we're making at the moment, with the new shower bay for horses and the x-country jumps.
The x-country jumps are now pegged and ready for use in the field - the bumps that we built will be out of action until next year as we are reseeding them with grass and the ditches are not quite finished yet as we're waiting for the wood to support them. A few of our liveries have already enjoyed using them.
We also said goodbye to Aero this morning as she was put to sleep. We had always planned to put Aero to sleep at the end of this summer as we thought she was struggling a bit last winter, and after a few years retirement, she was ready to go. So big thanks to Aero, who has been a great horse over the years both in the riding school originally, then working as granny to our foals in her later retired years.
We now have 260 bales of haylage wrapped and ready to munch! We are taking a second cut of haylage off the cow fields in order to try and save a bit of money by not having to buy in as much from elsewhere to supplement our own home grown stuff.
We are also raising the price of lessons by £2 as of the 1st September - we've held off having a price rise for nearly 2 years, but unfortunately needs must now and we're experiencing such higher costs, we have no alternative but to increase the price of lessons - however hopefully everyone can see the massive improvements we're making at the moment, with the new shower bay for horses and the x-country jumps.
The x-country jumps are now pegged and ready for use in the field - the bumps that we built will be out of action until next year as we are reseeding them with grass and the ditches are not quite finished yet as we're waiting for the wood to support them. A few of our liveries have already enjoyed using them.
We also said goodbye to Aero this morning as she was put to sleep. We had always planned to put Aero to sleep at the end of this summer as we thought she was struggling a bit last winter, and after a few years retirement, she was ready to go. So big thanks to Aero, who has been a great horse over the years both in the riding school originally, then working as granny to our foals in her later retired years.
Monday, 11 July 2011
Lots of news
Loads of exciting news today!
Firstly, big well done to Martin, who passed his Stage 3 with flying colours. It's a difficult exam to get as it involves riding and stable management, but he did really well and got the whole thing so now both Hannah and him are fully qualified!
Our haylage baling also went well - we managed to get 168 bales, which came from the field across the road, the cow fields and the front field nearest the road. This means that we have the mast field and hill field still to cut, and hopefully a second cut from the cow fields and field across the road, so its all go and we're praying for good weather again!
We have also welcomed three new liveries in the last couple of weeks - Toastie - a big grey gelding, Possum - a 14.2h.h. grey mare and Meghan, a 14.2h.h bay mare s0 its nice getting to know all the new ones.
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