I talk about all sorts of things... my horse Trooper, nutrition, veterinary science, product reviews and more!
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Random Update!
I am getting towards the end of my dissertation (touch wood). I am currently writing up the results and explaining the results I did find. Just a reminder, I have been looking at the effects of a horse wormer on the hindgut microbes in horses. I have found that it did not have an effect on the protozoa but it did have an effect on the bacteria present and the levels did change significantly over the 2 weeks they were tested. I have not yet got to look into what these differences were, I just know they were there! However, before you all start worrying about worming your horse, my sample size was small as only 10 horses were used, therefore a lot more research would be needed. It was also unexpected that the wormer would have had an effect on the microbes so I will be looking into this more in the discussion!
As I am coming to the end of my dissertation I am also starting to look for jobs in animal nutrition so I will keep you posted on this.
I have also been enjoying the Paralympics when I have gotten chance to watch it so would like to write a few posts on that in the near future. I need to learn a bit more about it first though!
Love Laura
xxxx
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Trooper Update
Sorry I haven't got any photographs today, I have been too busy and I thought a post without photos is better than no post at all!
I would also like to say get well soon to my Grandad who likes reading my blog!
Trooper is doing well, I still think he is a bit fat but he isn't as bad as he has been in the past (photos to follow!). I weighed him with the weight tape the other day and he was around 147 kg which is actually good for him. I have been trying to ride him as much as possible but the weather has been awful so not as much as I would have hoped.
After watching the Olympics I have been making him do some more dressage movements. He is quite good at leg yeilding so I have been starting to think about half pass which he has been finding a lot more difficult. I have also been doing little walk pirouettes by walking him on a circle and leg yielding him in smaller and smaller until he is on the spot. I don't think he is quite doing it yet! I need to get someone to video me so I can see! I will put it on here too!
When I rode him one day last week I went in the outdoor arena and I was schooling him. I was cantering him on a 20 metre circle when he tripped and fell onto his knees. I then flew off and managed to land standing on my feet! Trooper was fine but a bit confused. We have a new surface to ride on up there which is really nice so I am sure that cushioned his landing. I felt his legs and walked and trotted him in hand and he seemed fine so I got back on and just rode for a few more minutes just to make sure everything was OK then I took him back down. I hosed all of his legs for around 10 minutes each as I am still wary about his tendon injury. He does trip up a lot now, I don't know if this is due to his age. It may also be due to me not wanting to get his hindlegs under him as much so I don't put more pressure on his back tendon. He has been fine after this anyway and I have been riding him as normal since.
He is still out in the field over night and has not been waiting at the gate to come in in the morning so hopefully he will have a few more weeks of being out over night before he comes in for the winter (when he only gets to go out during the day). Recently I have been going down to the farm around 10 am in the morning which is very late for me. I am finding this a better time to go and catch him though as we have a young horse in the field at the moment who insists on being first one out of the field in the morning. I already have Joe and Bobby who follow me and Trooper up the field every morning to come in. Joe and Bobby are very well behaved however and if I let them out of the field will walk to their stables with no headcollar on. I don't think I need another horse following me out, especially if it is young.
Here's an old photo I found that I thought I would include!
Love Laura
xxxx
I would also like to say get well soon to my Grandad who likes reading my blog!
Trooper is doing well, I still think he is a bit fat but he isn't as bad as he has been in the past (photos to follow!). I weighed him with the weight tape the other day and he was around 147 kg which is actually good for him. I have been trying to ride him as much as possible but the weather has been awful so not as much as I would have hoped.
After watching the Olympics I have been making him do some more dressage movements. He is quite good at leg yeilding so I have been starting to think about half pass which he has been finding a lot more difficult. I have also been doing little walk pirouettes by walking him on a circle and leg yielding him in smaller and smaller until he is on the spot. I don't think he is quite doing it yet! I need to get someone to video me so I can see! I will put it on here too!
When I rode him one day last week I went in the outdoor arena and I was schooling him. I was cantering him on a 20 metre circle when he tripped and fell onto his knees. I then flew off and managed to land standing on my feet! Trooper was fine but a bit confused. We have a new surface to ride on up there which is really nice so I am sure that cushioned his landing. I felt his legs and walked and trotted him in hand and he seemed fine so I got back on and just rode for a few more minutes just to make sure everything was OK then I took him back down. I hosed all of his legs for around 10 minutes each as I am still wary about his tendon injury. He does trip up a lot now, I don't know if this is due to his age. It may also be due to me not wanting to get his hindlegs under him as much so I don't put more pressure on his back tendon. He has been fine after this anyway and I have been riding him as normal since.
He is still out in the field over night and has not been waiting at the gate to come in in the morning so hopefully he will have a few more weeks of being out over night before he comes in for the winter (when he only gets to go out during the day). Recently I have been going down to the farm around 10 am in the morning which is very late for me. I am finding this a better time to go and catch him though as we have a young horse in the field at the moment who insists on being first one out of the field in the morning. I already have Joe and Bobby who follow me and Trooper up the field every morning to come in. Joe and Bobby are very well behaved however and if I let them out of the field will walk to their stables with no headcollar on. I don't think I need another horse following me out, especially if it is young.
Here's an old photo I found that I thought I would include!
Love Laura
xxxx
Friday, 24 August 2012
Wedding Horseshoe; DIY!
Last month one of my best friends got married and I was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid. We have been friends since we were 7 and she was one of the girls I first started horse riding with. I decorated a horseshoe for her to give her on her wedding day. My Mum got a horseshoe from the farrier for me while I was away. It was a tiny one from his daughter's pony which made it look very cute!
I bought the things to decorate it with from eBay. The ribbon was a similar colour to the dresses we wore and so were the flowers. The flowers had wire coming out of them which I could wind around the horseshoe to keep them in place. I also got some blue beads that looked like pearls and some elastic.
The farrier had cleaned the horseshoe for me so I started by spray painting it silver. Once both sides had dried I put the elastic and the ribbon through the top whole on each side. I had the ribbon so that it was in a loop at the top and I tied the elastic and ribbon in a knot at the back.
I then started putting beads onto the elastic. I put enough to cover the distance from one while in the horseshoe to the next. I then put a flower through each whole and wound the wire around the horseshoe and the flower itself to keep it in place. I carried on doing this all the way around. Sometimes I used new pieces of elastic so if one part broke it wouldn't all fall off.
I then got my Dad (he is neater than me) to paint on their names and the date at the bottom. I think this made it look much better and really personalised it.
I think it is a great idea to do for a wedding. It was a bit fiddly but not too hard to make. There are lots of ideas on-line as well. I like the ones that have the ribbon winding right through and have it in a bow at the bottom but this horseshoe was a bit small for this. It also would have meant I couldn't have the date on it. I might get one of Trooper's I can decorate for my room!
Love Laura
xxxx
I bought the things to decorate it with from eBay. The ribbon was a similar colour to the dresses we wore and so were the flowers. The flowers had wire coming out of them which I could wind around the horseshoe to keep them in place. I also got some blue beads that looked like pearls and some elastic.
The farrier had cleaned the horseshoe for me so I started by spray painting it silver. Once both sides had dried I put the elastic and the ribbon through the top whole on each side. I had the ribbon so that it was in a loop at the top and I tied the elastic and ribbon in a knot at the back.
I then started putting beads onto the elastic. I put enough to cover the distance from one while in the horseshoe to the next. I then put a flower through each whole and wound the wire around the horseshoe and the flower itself to keep it in place. I carried on doing this all the way around. Sometimes I used new pieces of elastic so if one part broke it wouldn't all fall off.
Love Laura
xxxx
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
What's In Your Grooming Kit?
I thought it might be interesting to show you what is in my grooming kit. As there are lots of horse bloggers from all over the world I thought it would be great to also see what items are in all your grooming kits too as I guess that things will vary depending on where you're from.
When I imagined writing this post I was just going to show my most used items, however, when I came to emptying out my grooming kit I found I quite a bit in there. There are some things I use nearly every day and others I rarely use. The brush with a sponge in the middle is and example of one I never use... it seemed a good idea at the time! Here is what was inside...
Here are the grooming items I use on a day to day basis, nothing exciting, just the usual things! There is a body brush, dandy brush, mane comb, hair brush and what I call the "flicker brush". I use the flicker brush just to finish off when I have groomed and it helps to get all the last bits of dust out and make him really shiny. Another things that helps to get ride of dust are baby wipes, I currently don't have any but they work really well to make them shiny. I use the hair brush on his tail, his old hairbrush recently broke so this is just one I found lying around that I have been using for the time being.
When I bath Trooper I just use cheap shampoo from the supermarket on his body. He has Head & Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo for his mane and tail though (this one is for itchy scalp care) as he has a bit of sweet itch. I like to use Canter Mane & Tail conditioner on his tail after he has had a bath as this helps to get all of the knots out and makes it much easier to brush. I don't use this on his mane though as it can make the reins slippery. Recently we have also been using Prize by Equisoothe on the top of his tail every day. This has also been helping with his sweet itch as it is helping to prevent dandruff and stopping the tail being as itchy. The type of fly spray he has varies as I have yet to find one that really works but this is the one we are currently using.
A few other things that I thought I would mention... I also had some scissors, hoof picks, pulling comb, metal curry comb, a weight tape and some Vaseline. He sometimes gets peeling skin around his mouth so I put the Vaseline on and it helps to get rid of it. On the second picture down is the Lincoln grooming block we have. This is like pumice stone and is great for getting out moulting hairs, especially when he is losing his winter coat.
I would love it if you would like to do this post too so I can see what is in your grooming kit, let me know if you do! I would also like to tag Ruffles to do the post from Just A Girl And Her Horse and also Shyloh from Adventures With Shyloh!
Love Laura
xxxx
When I imagined writing this post I was just going to show my most used items, however, when I came to emptying out my grooming kit I found I quite a bit in there. There are some things I use nearly every day and others I rarely use. The brush with a sponge in the middle is and example of one I never use... it seemed a good idea at the time! Here is what was inside...
Here are the grooming items I use on a day to day basis, nothing exciting, just the usual things! There is a body brush, dandy brush, mane comb, hair brush and what I call the "flicker brush". I use the flicker brush just to finish off when I have groomed and it helps to get all the last bits of dust out and make him really shiny. Another things that helps to get ride of dust are baby wipes, I currently don't have any but they work really well to make them shiny. I use the hair brush on his tail, his old hairbrush recently broke so this is just one I found lying around that I have been using for the time being.
When I bath Trooper I just use cheap shampoo from the supermarket on his body. He has Head & Shoulders anti-dandruff shampoo for his mane and tail though (this one is for itchy scalp care) as he has a bit of sweet itch. I like to use Canter Mane & Tail conditioner on his tail after he has had a bath as this helps to get all of the knots out and makes it much easier to brush. I don't use this on his mane though as it can make the reins slippery. Recently we have also been using Prize by Equisoothe on the top of his tail every day. This has also been helping with his sweet itch as it is helping to prevent dandruff and stopping the tail being as itchy. The type of fly spray he has varies as I have yet to find one that really works but this is the one we are currently using.
A few other things that I thought I would mention... I also had some scissors, hoof picks, pulling comb, metal curry comb, a weight tape and some Vaseline. He sometimes gets peeling skin around his mouth so I put the Vaseline on and it helps to get rid of it. On the second picture down is the Lincoln grooming block we have. This is like pumice stone and is great for getting out moulting hairs, especially when he is losing his winter coat.
Love Laura
xxxx
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Dressage To Music
Here is the video footage I took whilst at the Olympics. It is a bit of a medley including a number of different horses and riders. The main clips I have included are the ones I enjoyed watching. At the end is some footage from when we found out we had won the gold and the horses doing the lap of honour! You can also see my photos in my previous two posts.
xxxx
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