Baby Bear

Skye was a very unhappy doggie without her best bud Jess. So we made the decision (as much for ourselves if we're honest) to get her a new friend. So we got little Bear (male) GSD and though she was very uncertain for the first few days, they're now happily playing and Skye seems a lot happier. We were concerned it was more stressed than she let on as she'd started to wet again while lying down, she hadn't done that in a long time. But since having Bear she's not done it, so think we did right thing for Skye.

Jessie Dog

Unfortunately Jess took a sudden turn and was taken to the vet on a Moday morning. She's been very lethargic and her gums had gone white. While I knew something wasn't right, I hadn't expected it to be so bad. Her stomach had blood in it, turned out after lots of tests she had a tumor on her spleen and her spleen was bleeding into her stomach. No real option but to put her down which we did that evening after saying good bye. She was so happy to see us when we first went in we wondered if we were doing the right thing but after she'd had her hello and her I love you lot, she looked miserable. Very very hard decision, just breaks your heart, but we took her home that night and buried her in the garden and put the lemon tree over her, as her favourite place in the garden at the place was under the lemon tree. Seemed fitting some how.

March 2010

Well it has been a busy time for us. I got my friends horse on trial and he was right, she is just what I'm after. Show off. He's already lining up Shannon's next horse. Anyway, Lace is 16.1-162hh even though farrier is adament she's 17hh - he does like to joke! Not having had a mare myself to ride before, I was a bit hesitant, but she's not really any different from the boys. I have managed 3 road rides with Lace, 1 with Alise and Shannon and 1 with just Shannon and myself. I then made the huge trip to Tai Tapu and went for a ride with Julie, it was a 2 hour ride and my butt was soooo sore, thank god I was riding in the Barnsby and not the Stubben but she's a dream on the road and I'm getting my confidence back - who knew. We went out with my sister and her friends to Belfast and did some jumping, had a few stops but that was me learning to ride her properly, but after that we were away and laughing, nice thing is no buck no bolt. I've organised to get a jumping saddle for her, so I can do more than the one day I did, so Shannon has now got the Stubben which fits Jim a treat. Poor old Jim has been out of action for over a week, last ride he tripped and went down on his knees, the ground is so hard we immediately hosed his legs and smeared Aloe all over. He was definately sore the next day. Shannon then got sick so they've both had a well deserved rest period. Rat is ready for action again now, leg is fine after the altercation with the fence, and had his shoes reapplied. So as of this weekend he's back in work (weather permitting). However now Cheeky is out of action, just as Shannon was starting to jump her, she had an altercation with the fence and managed to take all the skin off her back leg. Swellings down but due to the amount of skin taken off probably out of work for a month or two.

I have a show this weekend, the CRC Show, so looking forward to that. Entered Lace and myself in the Hack ring, so hope all goes well and we have fun. We've just been working on our trot to canter transitions and canter to trot transitions as they're not flash but yet again thats me not her. So my main goal is to sit up, not drop my hands and no hunching! Easier said than done.