It is important when you have horses and ponies – or indeed any type of animal under your care, that you have contingency plans for if you are ill. We all think of what we need to do if our horse or pony is ill, but do we put the same level of care into planning what happens when illness hits us?
If you have your horse on a yard, there is often someone who will be able to step in to help, but this should not be taken for granted and perhaps having the contact details to hand of someone providing cover on a freelance basis wouldn’t be a bad thing to have just in case.
Unfortunately, I recently contracted Covid and was unable to care for Diva and Mabel myself. I was lucky in that a friend on the yard stepped in and we made it easier for her by letting them stay out all day and night. The weather was dry and they were given plenty of hay. I think they probably enjoyed it more than coming in on a night now the days are getting longer.
It was horrible being too unwell to go to see them, but I knew they were being looked after properly and that was a real comfort.
Flora the dog missed out on walks but didn’t seem to mind too much when we stayed in bed later than normal or were curled up on the sofa under a fleece – perhaps because those are some of her pleasures too.
When you live on your own, illness can be very isolating and so updates about Diva and Mabel, friends messaging and having a little dog snuggled up next to you are a real comfort. Hopefully, I will soon bounce back to normal and be ready to do the same for any of my friends should they fall ill.
Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.