Georgie Porgie pudding and pie...

What a sweet little horse he is! So kind and gentle and quiet. He spent last night in the barn with the other two and he was happy when I checked him this morning. His rug had dust in the buckles, so at some time he lay down or rolled, either of which is a sign of a happy horse. Anxious horses don't take themselves off their feet to roll or lie down.

I trimmed his feet and they are ROCK hard. The hardest feet I have ever rasped. He doesn't seem to have done much with a farrier, and was frightened of the stand. But with a bit of praise and a few growls and a lot more praise, we got a rudimentary rasping of all four feet.

I mounted from the stirrup today and he was totally quiet, even though the saddle slipped over (well it would - you should see how wide his wither is!). In spite of being in a new place and having run riot in the field yesterday, he was still forward going and responsive. He can't trot a circle to save his life, but he tried hard to do everything I asked. He is so much further ahead than we thought he'd be that we are going to keep Jazz's showjumping booking this week and take George to see what he does in a bigger space.

We are having trouble with a name. George has stuck around the stable because he is so solid and dependable and it does suit him. But Justin Time has already been taken on British Eventing and it would have to be Justin Time II, which I don't like. Similarly Anchorman has gone, which was SH's choice. I am trying to get something which captures the fact that he is my insurance policy, without making him sound like second best, because he deserves better than that. Any offers?

Here's the picture - you can see what a stocky fellow he is and how he takes up my leg.



I took Zippy out for a hack today because the sunshine was so brilliant. It was zero degrees, and I have confirmed a test that I have been trying lately - Zippy is not truly cold backed - he only does the humpy-back thing when the barn doors are shut and he knows he is going to school. Mounting with the doors open, or out in the yard, he doesn't do it. What a giveaway, eh?

Zip was very good, and is beginning to relax and swing along nicely. He tries to jog a lot but he accepted my requests not to with very good grace. We had a lovely ride.

Jazzy - mmmmmmm. He was sounder again today in spite of having had a run around with George yesterday. I have just checked him in the field and his leg is filling again - but he is even sounder still. What's more, I think that there is now an inch wide blister on his heel. If it was just a bit fatter I would lance it. I'm hoping that when he comes in later it will have filled up with more fluid and I can do just that. After all this, can it possibly be an abscess after all???????? Even if it is, it has exposed the fact that he has had a previous injury to the skin over that tendon, because every time his leg fills, it fills more in the mid-point of the tendon than anywhere else. There is a diagonal mark on it, which might well have happened at the same time as he cut the other foot half off! I certainly wouldn't expect a tendon pull to result in a diagonal lesion, that would be most unusual.

Our plan with Jazz is that all the time that he is getting less lame, we do nothing. Then, provided that an abscess has not popped meanwhile, when he has been sound several days, we do some very cautious exercise, and gently increase it. If at any point the exercise causes him to go lame again, we take him straight to hospital for x-rays of his foot bones. What I wouldn't give right now to post tonight that I've popped a blister on his heel!

Still, it's a gorgeous day and my lovely little family are basking in the field and nothing seems too too much wrong with the world.

C