Poor me again

This morning I was meant to be competing in a dressage competition, but first thing I could barely walk and came limping in for my breakfast, holding up my left foreleg with maximum pathos.  I got lots of sympathy and was promised a visit from the nice vet that gave me time off before.  When the vet came, I marched manfully round the yard, trying to look sound.  As She insisted that I really had been lame, he took my shoe off and poked my foot where it really hurt so I bit him on the bottom. 

Apparently I had a nail hole in the sensitive part of my foot.  It may be that the new farrier is responsible, and the old farrier is definitely responsible for the extensive bruising round my toe.  While She raged and frothed at the mouth, the vet pronounced that I must have a few days off and a footbath and poultice.  He is a nice man.

New Farrier

She has decided that her old farrier Will Have to Go.  She is worried about Posy, whose toes seem to be getting longer and longer and is panicking in case her heels collapse.

Come to that, my shoes have not been as comfy as they should be either.  Perhaps inspired by Her complaints about Posy, the old farrier set my shoes back too far and left a lot of toe.  This meant that my toe was hitting the tarmac before the shoe and it made me foot sore.  The lateral extensions on the hind feet were in the wrong place so that I couldn't walk straight either.  The things I put up with!
A new farrier has arrived and after a thorough inspection has now given me shiny new shoes which are just like the ones put on by the World Class Performance guys.  She says that I will now be expected to perform dainty prancing.  Fat chance.

A vet was summoned to deal with Posy's feet and take X-Rays.  Posy is such a diva and couldn't be happier to be fussed over by several people.

It was decided that there was nothing wrong with her feet as such, just toes too long, and now Posy has sparkly new shoes and is very proud of them (and being the centre of attention).

Meanwhile, She has gone off to make phone calls to see if She can get hold of any rye grass hay or haylage that is cheaper than the branded variety and that will not make us all incredibly fat.

Allergy Test Results

She decided to investigate why I keep coming out in lumps on my skin. Remember how I was so poorly with one batch of haylage? Well, since then I have sporadically come out in lumps when I eat some kinds of hay. 
The vet, who had hitherto been my friend, siphoned off some of my blood when I was being distracted by a carrot. A lab needed this I'm told, and now the results are back.

The highlights are:

Carrots are Very Good for me, although I could have told her that.  

Linseed is Extremely Bad for me - I knew it! This is the foul tasting stuff which I rejected when She tried to give it to me. At least She won't be trying that again.

Timothy Grass is Very Bad for me. This must be the stuff that was giving me lumps in some hay and haylage. She says that I must now have the very expensive rye grass haylage that comes in branded packaging. It is very delicious, so I agree with that.

Maize is meant to be Very Good for me, better than oats, so I am now getting cornflakes for breakfast which are very tasty.

Posy tries to copy me

I see that Posy is learning to jump, although as far as I can tell she is making slow progress.  She cantered over some poles, then thought that the cross pole was firstly bigger, then smaller, than it actually was, but finally got it more or less right.  In the video below, I show how it should be done at the end.



 She has a long way to go before she is good enough to enter the 2' Novice show jumping class like me.

First Show Jumping Contest

I had to carry her to a show jumping contest over the weekend.  I went into the arena and was quite disconcerted to hear my name being announced.  I quickly assessed the situation and realised that I was meant to leap over some obstacles.  I was very cautious at first, but gradually found my stride and by the 'Jump Off' phase I had worked up quite a head of steam.  I came a creditable third out of six clears.  We had to line up to collect our rosettes and then do a 'lap of honour' round the school.  I was quite emotionally drained by then and plodded round with my head on the ground.  I gather that I was meant to have had my head in the air, looking spirited. 

Whilst She seemed content with a ribbon, I noticed that there were bags of horse food displayed as prizes.  I saw an opportunity to use my great bulk to break through the barrier and seize a bag of food as my reward.  As I did so a number of people started screaming and pushing me back again.  Apparently the food bags were raffle prizes and She had failed to buy the winning ticket.  What a disappointment.  I was taken home after that.