CarolineJ
Well-Known Member
It's been one of those weekends. The saddle fitter was in the area on Friday, so I booked a check for Finn's (new pony) saddle just to make sure it was OK. We borrowed my neighbour's outdoor school, which he's been in a couple of times, and he was really twitchy about the saddle fitter's crutches. She did the tracings and then asked me to tack him up without the numnah and ride a few changes of rein. As I put my weight into the stirrup to get on, he took off bronc'ing and I fell over and went flat on my face in the sand! She suggested we put the numnah on and I lunged him before trying again, so she held him while I went to get a lunge line and whip, and he did it again - not sure whether it was the crutches spooking him or something else. I would have said back problem if it wasn't for the fact that I'd mounted from the ground a couple of times during the week with no problem at all and he'd been ridden four times with absolutely no sign of anything being wrong. We lunged him, then dragged the neighbours' mounting block in for me to get on from and he was as good as gold. (The saddle's fine, just needs reflocking at some point, but she's advised leaving until winter when I won't be riding as much and can do without it for a week).
And then this morning, with a mammoth bruise developing on the underneath of my upper right arm where I landed on it on Friday, I set forth with a bucket of water and a bottle of shampoo to wash his tail. The scabby rash under his tail that he arrived with has cleared up beautifully with twice-daily applications of antibacterial gel - the skin is back to its normal colour and hair is growing again - but quite a lot of gel had ended up in his very thick tail and it was making it difficult to comb out any little bits of poo that got trapped. Finn did the typical pony 'Oooh! Bucket! Wonder if there's anything in it for me?' and brought his head up from investigating it just as I bent down to pick it up again after shutting the gate - pony skull met human nose with a very loud crunch and I think I'm actually quite lucky not to have broken it, though it's still a bit swollen and will probably turn a lovely purple colour later.
After that, I'm definitely counting the fact that my new set of Invisalign brace refinements are still sore enough after 2 days to need painkillers as Thing Number 3, because I've had enough of being beaten up this weekend! My sore teeth, arm, nose and nose-related-headache have beaten a retreat to the sofa and Hickstead (for once in my life I'm not complaining about husband's insistance on the full Sky Sports package!)
And then this morning, with a mammoth bruise developing on the underneath of my upper right arm where I landed on it on Friday, I set forth with a bucket of water and a bottle of shampoo to wash his tail. The scabby rash under his tail that he arrived with has cleared up beautifully with twice-daily applications of antibacterial gel - the skin is back to its normal colour and hair is growing again - but quite a lot of gel had ended up in his very thick tail and it was making it difficult to comb out any little bits of poo that got trapped. Finn did the typical pony 'Oooh! Bucket! Wonder if there's anything in it for me?' and brought his head up from investigating it just as I bent down to pick it up again after shutting the gate - pony skull met human nose with a very loud crunch and I think I'm actually quite lucky not to have broken it, though it's still a bit swollen and will probably turn a lovely purple colour later.
After that, I'm definitely counting the fact that my new set of Invisalign brace refinements are still sore enough after 2 days to need painkillers as Thing Number 3, because I've had enough of being beaten up this weekend! My sore teeth, arm, nose and nose-related-headache have beaten a retreat to the sofa and Hickstead (for once in my life I'm not complaining about husband's insistance on the full Sky Sports package!)
I think you deserve that afternoon on the sofa.
