Oops, feet and love!

Oops: where did the morning go!?

My little boy broke up from school today so this was my final morning with C alone for a while. We had the nicest morning, he was really pleased to see me today and we had a lovely hug. The weather was mild today so he had some naked-time which I could tell was much appreciated by his rolling around in the pen.

He was obviously feeling well today and made me giggle with his antics. He was an angel to groom and I dressed him up for his Xmas photo tee hee. I also wanted to mention how amazing he is with my dogs, they run around by him and in his stable and he is amazing with them all, I love the fact my woofs can come along to the yard with me and potter about, they also come on his daily walk and he isn't bothered by them shooting past him or woofing at things. We walked along the main drive today

Rockin' N Rollin'

and he really enjoyed the new route, he is lovely and forward when he is being led out now and gets lots of praise for walking well. He LOVES praise and I get an amazing response from him when I make a fuss of him, he adores it.

In fact I was having such a lovely time that I hadn't realised that I should have left twenty minutes earlier to pick up my son- Ooops! I did make it on time but poor Carats did literally get shoved back in his stable. He had celery, carrots and beetroot scattered around and hidden in his stable & haynets so wasn't too bothered.

Flippin' feet!

We had been having a small struggle with picking feet up (hinds esp) and he had been getting really grouchy with hinds even having a little kick out and catching my boot by accident. I am totally sure it is linked to his PSD so I made a plan with him for this. First of all I made sure he was standing securely and square before starting to pick up feet as being more balanced would make it physically easier for him. I also make sure that I don't pull his legs out to the side at ALL so there is no strain on his suspensories, I try not to take too long especially with his off hind and praise him a LOT! One week later and he is lifting each foot at the slightest touch and holding them up for me. Its a huge deal making sure he is good with his feet as now he is barefoot they are picked and brushed out religiously at least once a day and sprayed with Hypocare to keep any possible thrush or infections at bay. I do not want this to become stressful for us both (as it was starting to) but now he is just getting better and better.

Love N Stuff

Mr Perfect: Boo

So now, the downside to all this. The more time I spend with my lad the more I absolutely fall in love with him, I miss riding him but have found total pleasure in the groundwork and in learning more about this clever, cheeky and loving boy. It makes me feel even more emotional about his rehab and
the road ahead, but hey- we are certainly enjoying the journey!

I think sometimes we are gifted things in life. Its nearly Christmas and I have a lot to be thankful for. My husband and child make me complete and without them my life wouldn't be the same. But I also am thankful for my amazing pets, especially Carats and my perfect boy Boo. My two animal boys are just golden xxx

Introducing...

I thought it was about time to introduce you to Carats new companions- meet the ponies Windy and Rambo the miniature shetland!

Windy and Rambo the ponies

Windy is the sweetest and most gentle girl and is the first pony that Ethan ever sat on, he cried when she left Jules so he is extremely happy to be able to see her again. Windy joins Carats in the difficult management and rehab category as she has laminitis. Her owner Jo works really hard to manage it but it is definitely an ongoing battle. Poor Windy had a bit of a setback this week but with rest and care she seems to be improving again so fingers crossed for her.

Now Rambo! He is hilarious and acts more like a dog than a pony- in fact he is smaller than some of the dogs I know. Full of charecter and very bright he cracks me up nearly every day I see him! Jo began backing him for the kids last year and I think he did very well and took it all in his stride. He really is a funny little lad. Louisa has started clicker training him- watch this space for shetland tricks ha ha!

Shockwave 2

Today Carats had his second shockwave treatment. He behaved really well so fingers crossed that it's helping. This morning in his stable I found two neat sections of coat on the floor in his outdoor section- It seems that he has managed to totally remove two sections of coat and skin on his chest. We think its from leaning over the wall to groom Jos horses but can't believe he didn't feel himself doing it the big doofus! He is back in his Bossys Bib so hopefully that will help protect the sores a little bit. It did however make him a bit grouchy to lead out today as I think they were probably hurting him, he wasn't naughty at all, just not walking out like he has been.

He spent a lot of time out of his stable this morning, firstly in the wood chip pen, then walking out followed by the shockwave treatment then some recovery time with us in the yard area. He couldn't wait to get back in his stable afterwards for a good rest. I am so pleased that he is so happy in there, it makes me much more relaxed about the whole situation and he never barges out of his stable in the mornings even though he is keen to have a potter. So far the balance seems good and I hope this will
continue.

The vet is pleased with him so far, he is in great condition and his feet etc are looking good. We are to  continue with the current routine (stable rest, limited turnout and 15 mins walking in hand) for the next month or so then will see where we stand after that.

Louisa (my buddy) came to the yard with me this morning, she has been spending time with the ponies and Carats and is having a lovely time getting to know them. C kept us entertained with his antics including stealing the empty hot chocolate tub and REFUSING to let it go, we ended up having to shove a carrot in the side of his mouth and yank out the tub while we had a chance- he is hilarious!

R+ (Clicker & Training an Orange Horse)!

R+ is Positive Reinforcement and Carats has been getting much more of this lately. I have been fascinated with training him compared with the dogs and learning more about different species etc.

So the basis is the same. If the reward (reinforcer) is high value enough to the animal then the training is pretty straightforward. Placement of reward is key and timing is important too as are training mechanics etc etc.

I think Carats is pretty damn bright, he understands and figures things out very fast and for a horse that hasn't been clicker trained he is brilliant at problem solving and failure. I think personality helps a lot here, he is naturally quite brave and pushy on the ground and likes a challenge. According to his previous owners Jenni and then later on Gemma & Abigail he has always been 'cheeky'; escaping from fields, stables and stealing food, drinks and anything else he can play with. This natural curiosity help immensely with the clicker/ shaping work.

I do find that boundaries have to be upheld very clearly though, especially when you start working with food, however the same ideas of timeouts and negative punishment are again the same.

The video below shows Carats third clicker session on food manners (known to me as 'It's your choice'). I stand by Carats shoulder with the food pot, what he wants to do (and what he did on session one) is turn his body and shove his nose into the food. When he does this I simply cover the pot and/ or step backwards by his shoulder again. At first I rewarded any head movement away from me and built up to asking for head/ body alignment. I make sure I ALLOW him to make the choice, I don't want to tell him off for mugging, I want him to choose a more desirable behaviour. You can see in this video he is mugging very little and for anyone who knows Carats knows what a PIGLET he is! I also vary my body position on either side so he can generalise the rule.

We are starting target behaviours and also a stand still rule so will try and get some video of this too. Enjoying the challenges that my boy is giving me! Clever boy Carats x

A week on...

We have now been at the new yard for over a week and I was interested to see how Carats coped with the first week of box rest and the new routine.

To say he has been a star would be absolutely fair, he has made friends with the new ponies and has coped absolutely fantastically with the routine. He is still a monkey around food and will paw the ground and kick his stable door when foods around. I get him out the stable as much as I can and he spends an hour or so in the wood chip pen and we do fifteen minutes of walking in hand each day, stopping at different places for short graze. He is never fizzy or silly and although he quite obviously looks forward to his exercise time he is happy to go back into his stable when we are all done.

I have been taking great care of his feet and he is coping really well with his shoes off, our walking is

Carats having his daily graze: supervised by Ethan x

on concrete and dirt type tracks with some small gravel/ stones in and he doesn't seem footsore at all, his feet are chipping and wearing a little but they are looking pretty good so far.

Our clicker training continues and we started target training today, he was absolutely fantastic and I may even be able to get some videos for you soon- I want to do some work with him soon with his back feet as he can be quite grumpy about them being pulled about and handled. I suspect that its due to the fact that his back legs are sore but I would like to try and re-associate this a little although I haven't decided quite how to do this yet.

I am really enjoying spending extra time with Carats and can feel our bond strengthening everyday, I love this boy to bits with all his ground pawing, tea stealing, door kicking, pocket mugging naughtiness. He wouldn't be our ginger boy without it!