So now Sam has his own shower/bathroom. We still need to bring the water over to it. A trench digger is in order but we are certainly on our way!
I did use it on the weekend once all the rails were up and it is a great size. I am able to turn Sam around in it if necessary. We can enter from the paddock and exit straight out towards the tack shed. At the moment we have chain up as a gate from the paddock to the wash bay but this is proving to be harder to use than I thought so we will make a double gate up for that area.
Once it is dry and I can take the plastic off I will take a final photo for you!
This is Thomo - our neighbour (the one dressed in black) and my OH last Wednesday using a two man post hole digger to dig a few more holes for the posts. The little pup behind Thomo is Rosie, a Red Cattle Dog that he got for Christmas. She loves his dad and will try and help him whenever she has the chance!
The view from the sacrifice paddock. This is where we will put a double gate.
Looking from the front into the sacrifice paddock. (That's Wilbur the cat checking it out with me and good ol' Sam in the background)
Looking from the tack shed. The opening there is where I will lead them out when I am riding. I will put chain across that bit because I think a gate will get in the way. We will make a pebble path from the concrete to meet up with the gravel driveway and I will make a little garden bed on the side. I was thinking of planting comfrey, aloe vera and things that have a medicinal value to the horses.Sam is lame again. I jumped on him Friday night to see how the lameness was - Straight lines he is fine, to the left he is fine round to the right he was very lame. It was dark when I jumped on so I couldn't really see or feel anything. Saturday morning I found another splint, this time on his near side fore. I have turned him out again and will check him again this weekend. I am a little concerned that he has two splints in as many weeks. A neighbour is finding her Alpaca's are low in calcium and zinc at the moment so I am looking into a supplement I can give him. Though I have increased his lucerne intake which I thought would give him more calcium.
Bandages - I am thinking of bandaging Sam's legs when I ride. To give more support as our ground is rock hard now in this heat. I am comfortable with bandaging but what do people prefer to use - polar fleece or Polyester? Buy a bandage with padding already attached or use own padding? What type of padding?
I have also started to consider using paddock boots on him. I have a set of pure sheepskin paddock boots but I am afraid of the heat. We have just had two days of 40 degree heat or 104 Fahrenheit!!!! I don't really want to bandage for the paddock. What do people think? Or don't wrap him in cotton wool, let him be a horse and this is all just part of horse ownership!
I DON'T WANT TO BE A BAD MUM!!!!!
(But I do like to spoil him occasionally. :)
4 comments:
I realize I am probably opening a massive can of worms here, but I really don't think that bandaging supports anything. I do it frequently, but that is just to protect from interference. When it's super hot (like it is for you right now), I tend to forgo bandaging because heat buildup is more risky than the occasional knock.
That said, I'd use fleece over polyester. I have some of the Eskadron Climatex wraps which are self padded and they are cooler on her legs than normal fleece bandages. Good luck!
Sam's facilities are looking good! 40C?? Sounds good to me right now! :-) Sorry to hear that Sam has had a bit of a set back. Perhaps the heat you have been experiencing has played a part??
That is one pretty wash stall! You're doing a nice job fixing up the property.
I'm with SprinklerBandit, no wraps or boots actually "support" a horse's legs, they either protect the legs from injury (boots, polo wras, ect.) or keep the legs from swelling (standing wraps). You might want to look into some of the vented, neoprene-free eventing boots, as they can protect Sam's legs so he (hopefully!) doesn't pop any more splints. And, as SB mentioned, there have been studies showing that heat is very bad for tendons, so that's why the neoprene-free vented/breathable boots are better. I have a set of Premier Equines and a set of Ecogolds, love 'em both!
If you're worried about vitamins/minerals, etc, I would have your hay tested, maybe even have the vet out to run a blood panel on Sam and see how his levels are. Good luck!
Nina--I thought you were more likely to see this here. Good luck!
Izzy and I have come a really long ways together, but I don't generally see huge improvements in a short span of time. It's easy to overlook our progress and get depressed about what we're not doing, so I'm making goals that will allow me to measure accomplishments from month to month. So far, I love it.
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