Well of course everything was okay. He was happy, it was warm and he had company. This is now the third night they have been out and John doesn’t seem to be missing the home comforts of his stable at all. The nosebleeds have stopped – thank goodness – and I am sleeping better.
Because of the heat he is out without a rug tonight, it’s just too much, a rug in this. He also has a lovely new fly mask to protect his eyes from the flies and also reduce the amount of pollen getting to his nose. Baby tried it on last night – and tried to eat it. I managed to get a photograph but it doesn’t do justice to how comical he looked. What do you think?
Living out for the summer
My horse is staying out tonight for the first time this year. I’m worried, of course, that’s what I do, worry. He wouldn’t be out just yet if it wasn’t for the fact that last night we found a load of blood in his field and it turned out he was having nose bleeds. I know that nose bleeds can look a lot worse than they are – my daughter has them, especially in summer – but still the amount of blood in the field was, well, lets just say we were looking for a body, a deer or something quite big, until we realised the blood was coming from John’s nose.
When I spoke to the vet today he told me there had been lots of similar cases lately, he thinks it is to do with the change in the weather.
So I decided to leave him out tonight (John, not the vet). I’m hoping that being out will stop him galloping around the field first thing in the morning when he’s turned out, so he won’t get too hot and he won’t have a nose bleed. He is 24 years old and it’s not good to act like a four year old.
So that’s where we are. The bleeding had stopped when I left, he seemed happy, it hasn’t put him off his food, but I worry about him. Has anybody out there in cyberspace had a similar experience? How long should I ‘manage it’ as the vet put it before I call for medical help? Does it go away on its own, which is what I’m hoping and what the vet has suggested will happen? Should I be doing something I’m not doing at the moment? Any help would be gratefully received. And on top of all that I’m still worried about how he’ll be, out tonight for the first time this year.
And this year’s most fashionable fly mask features a platypus-style nose cover that will hopefully keep out the pollen (while giving the baby something to laugh about and grab hold of) |
Hey mam, why are you taking photographs of me? |
Posing for the camera – but not on his own, baby is just out of shot and the perfect companion |
The Hadleigh Show 2012
As the powerful grey cantered around the show ring I couldn’t help but smile. This was turning into a great day. Yesterday I went to the Hadleigh show. It was a day of two firsts, first time at the show and first time visiting the Suffolk village of Hadleigh. I had no idea what to expect before we arrived but as we drove through the narrow main street I thought the show itself wouldn’t be too big.
Wrong. It was much bigger than the size of the village would indicate and there was loads to do. I hadn’t brought Dot with me as I thought she would be bored watching horses, show jumping and in hand classes all day – but she would have loved it. There was a funfair for a start (not that my friend or I had any inclination to try it out), craft tents, sheep shearing demos, face painting, games, art exhibition, and a huge marquee full of wonderful-looking food from Suffolk producers. Cheeses, pickles, wines, and the most amazing cakes, all homemade and looking so much better than the stuff you see in the supermarket. I can vouch for the cakes – I ate the most enormous rock cake and it just melted in the mouth. I bought another on leaving at the end of the day and just finished it this morning.
I wasn’t so keen on the livestock section, I found it sad knowing that the magnificent cattle on show would end their days as food, and some of them had their babies with them. We didn’t hang around there long.
The donkey class was good – the winner was a stallion who spent the entire time trying to get to the mares and shouted about it constantly. One mare had her foal with her and what a cutie it was.
Another foal stayed with mum for her class – both were Suffolk Punches so mum was massive and baby was well, big, but gorgeous. As mum paraded round the ring in her finery, baby followed – and gave her handler a hard time, bucking, rearing, jumping around “I don’t want to do this, I want to be with my mum,” you could just hear her protesting.
The Suffolk Punches are the most magnificent horses, massive and with such presence. There are not many of them left sadly, as they were used for heavy work and ploughing on farms and fell out of favour when machinery became the norm. Their numbers are listed as critical, but thankfully there are organisations that are committed to keeping the breed going, so numbers are gradually rising once more.
I definitely recommend a visit to Hadleigh and the annual show if you happen to be in East Anglia this time next year. It’s a taste of England as it used to be – the stewards wear suits and bowler hats, the judges (women) long skirts and jackets, some of the competitors even ride side saddle. It’s a chance to sample delicious country foods and it’s a day of fresh air and exercise (all that walking around), ideal for getting the kids away from the TV.
Beautiful Suffolk Punches |
Mum with baby to the side |
Yes, this is a foal |
I don’t want to go this way, I want to go that way! |
The foal is taller than the handler! |
You can just see her or him next to mum |
Not a very good photo of the winning donkey stallion |
Mummy and baby |
Back in the day….
I was listening to the radio and this came on – I immediately travelled back around 30 years. What a brill song.
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