The Ozzy Diaries

Yay Ozzy! Lovely to read his latest update. Three-months is nothing at all really, yet you have been able to do so much with him and he's made such progress. Thank you for keeping us all updated with how he is getting on.

Well done Jasmine for digging deep at a really tough moment, and getting Ozzy to a much better position than he had been in.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
Yay Ozzy! Lovely to read his latest update. Three-months is nothing at all really, yet you have been able to do so much with him and he's made such progress. Thank you for keeping us all updated with how he is getting on.

Well done Jasmine for digging deep at a really tough moment, and getting Ozzy to a much better position than he had been in.
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Thank you.
 
Jasmine2023 said:
I will be ever so thankful to Nancy and her husband for taking a chance on him knowing that he had issues. I am sure that he proved much harder work than anticipated but you have both been patient with him and it looks like it's working out for you all. I am glad I didn't palm him off to just anyone even though I was very stressed at the time and could have just to make it easy on myself.
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And we will be ever thankful to you, Jasmine, especially for the way in which you dealt with this at such an incredibly difficult time. Not only did you have the dealer to contend with, but you had a stressed cob who was quite a handful! In spite of the challenges, we feel very lucky to have Ozzy. He really is one of a kind! We'd planned to get another horse in 2026 and then Ozzy came along. We've had horses for a long time and we'd been through a lot with Snoopy when he was young, but Ozzy presented us with some new challenges and it's all been good learning!
 
sollimum said:
Jasmine, been thinking about you as well - I am hoping you are riding still?
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That's sweet of you thank you. I have a new horse but not ridden him much due to my arthritis in my hip giving me issues but hoping to start lessons and some gentle hacking from next week. Luckily Charlie is very chilled and doesn't mind not being ridden regularly lol. I haven't told him his holiday from riding will be over soon 😂.
 
Jasmine2023 said:
That's sweet of you thank you. I have a new horse but not ridden him much due to my arthritis in my hip giving me issues but hoping to start lessons and some gentle hacking from next week. Luckily Charlie is very chilled and doesn't mind not being ridden regularly lol. I haven't told him his holiday from riding will be over soon 😂.
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I can confirm that Charlie is very, very handsome!
 
Jasmine2023 said:
I haven't mentioned it here no. The only one who knows is @Nancykitt. I didn't feel it was appropriate to post about him after the melt down over Ozzy.
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Don’t feel bad Jasmine! You did the very best for Ozzy. If it wasn’t for you he could’ve ended up somewhere he might’ve suffered instead of such a fab home with Nancy and husband. You may not have been a match but that’s life when you’re dealing with complex beings like horses and humans. I’m so glad to hear you’ve found a lovely lad to enjoy.
 
Peglo said:
Don’t feel bad Jasmine! You did the very best for Ozzy. If it wasn’t for you he could’ve ended up somewhere he might’ve suffered instead of such a fab home with Nancy and husband. You may not have been a match but that’s life when you’re dealing with complex beings like horses and humans. I’m so glad to hear you’ve found a lovely lad to enjoy.
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At the time of writing the original thread I was made to feel bad by some members and that hasn't really left me even though my mental health has improved these things do stay with me. Obviously in the beginning I felt overwhelmed and upset which made it sound like I only cared about myself and not Ozzy which was said by several members. Once I calmed down my next thoughts were for finding him the best home I could. He was definately too much for me to deal with, I am a relative newbie to horses, and didn't have the help around me either to cope with him. I have stayed in touch with @Nancykitt throughout so haven't forgotten about him. I love all animals and always try to put them first. I will put up a post about Charlie and will hopefully work out how to put photos up too.
 
Jasmine2023 said:
At the time of writing the original thread I was made to feel bad by some members and that hasn't really left me even though my mental health has improved these things do stay with me. Obviously in the beginning I felt overwhelmed and upset which made it sound like I only cared about myself and not Ozzy which was said by several members. Once I calmed down my next thoughts were for finding him the best home I could. He was definately too much for me to deal with, I am a relative newbie to horses, and didn't have the help around me either to cope with him. I have stayed in touch with @Nancykitt throughout so haven't forgotten about him. I love all animals and always try to put them first. I will put up a post about Charlie and will hopefully work out how to put photos up too.
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As great as the forum and internet is for information and support it just doesn’t compare to having a conversation with someone in real life where you can understand the tone and meaning behind the words. It can be easily lost online.

You’ll always have folk who will argue or disagree with you and who you’ll feel the same way about but I’m sure the majority of the forum would love to hear from you when and if you posted and be supportive and kind.
 
Jasmine2023 said:
I haven't mentioned it here no. The only one who knows is @Nancykitt. I didn't feel it was appropriate to post about him after the melt down over Ozzy.
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If it wasn't for you we wouldn't have a new forum horse/favourite.

3 months is no time at all. I'm nearly 3 years in and I swear I have a completely different horse 90% of the time
 
Jasmine2023 said:
At the time of writing the original thread I was made to feel bad by some members and that hasn't really left me even though my mental health has improved these things do stay with me. Obviously in the beginning I felt overwhelmed and upset which made it sound like I only cared about myself and not Ozzy which was said by several members. Once I calmed down my next thoughts were for finding him the best home I could. He was definately too much for me to deal with, I am a relative newbie to horses, and didn't have the help around me either to cope with him. I have stayed in touch with @Nancykitt throughout so haven't forgotten about him. I love all animals and always try to put them first. I will put up a post about Charlie and will hopefully work out how to put photos up too.
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Great to hear you are in a happier place, and with a more suitable partner, too, that is lovely news.
But you mustn’t feel pressured to feature any of that on this forum unless and until you really want to - it is your life, your horse, and nobody else’s business, at all.
Good luck!
 
Jasmine2023 said:
I haven't mentioned it here no. The only one who knows is @Nancykitt. I didn't feel it was appropriate to post about him after the melt down over Ozzy.
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That’s a shame you were made to feel bad, you did the best for Ozzy and he was and still is a challenge to experienced people so you’ve nothing to feel ashamed of. I understand if you don’t want to post info about your new boy, but maybe in time you might want to , I just like to see forum members horses as I’ve had to completely give up but horses will always be in my blood
 
splashgirl45 said:
That’s a shame you were made to feel bad, you did the best for Ozzy and he was and still is a challenge to experienced people so you’ve nothing to feel ashamed of. I understand if you don’t want to post info about your new boy, but maybe in time you might want to , I just like to see forum members horses as I’ve had to completely give up but horses will always be in my blood
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Sorry to hear you've had to give up horses. I nearly gave up too with all the recent stuff with Ozzy and my health not being brilliant but I am a stubborn so and so lol. I will post about Charlie when I get a minute and can work out how to post photos.
 
Jasmine2023 said:
Sorry to hear you've had to give up horses. I nearly gave up too with all the recent stuff with Ozzy and my health not being brilliant but I am a stubborn so and so lol. I will post about Charlie when I get a minute and can work out how to post photos.
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When you have time and feel like posting a pic or two, this always works for me:
Take a screenshot of your photo, then Edit and crop the top and bottom, and it should upload.
Good luck!
 
15th October

Ozzy's holiday break is over (and he isn't pleased!)

None of the gees have been ridden for several weeks. I was away working for a week and came back through Storm Amy. Yesterday the weather wasn't too bad but again I was working.
So today was the first day in ages that we were able to ride.
Ozzy was happy to come in and be groomed, he seemed really calm.
I was riding Snoopy and OH was riding Ozzy. It started off OK. Ozzy then stopped for a poo and wouldn't move again. OH led him and then got on him again. Poor Ozzy seemed quite tense and nervous, even though he wasn't being asked to do anything new. We kept the ride short and he did relax a little more on the way back. Snoopy was absolutely fine, but he and AJ are the sort of horses that can be left for quite some time and then behave as if they've been continuously exercised. Ozzy is obviously not like that!

Obviously it feels like we've gone backwards but it's just the way it is. All we can do is press on, gently, and keep taking him out.
The tension/nervousness bothers me a little because he's not noticeably been like that before. But I don't want to jump to any conclusions after one short ride.
 
Isn't Ozzy still rather young and/or green? That could have something to do with it.

Although mine is young, I can leave him for a few days and get right back on without issue most of the time, but sometimes if he has a day or two off he'll come back a bit fresh with his own ideas, so who knows 🤷🏼‍♀️ they're individuals.

With more confidence, time, and training, Ozzy might handle "gaps in employment" better. Some do, some don't.
 
Ozzy is 8, but wasn't backed until he was 6 so he's really very green indeed! He also appears to have led a pretty sheltered life. By the time AJ was 5 he'd been all over the place, done a bit of RC dressage, lots of hunting, loved hacking and travelling in the little wagon. Ozzy is much less experienced even though he's three years older.

I think he just loses confidence. He was making such good progress and the last time he went out he didn't nap at all - but today it was like going back in time to when he went through the napping phase. I wonder if part of it is that he is much more attached to AJ (who was calling to him)...it's not that he doesn't get on with Snoopy, but he does seem much closer to AJ.
We will try again tomorrow; this time it will be AJ's turn to go out so we'll see how he is.
It's a pity I can't get someone else to come out with us as I'm sure he wouldn't nap if both his friends were out with him!

I do think we've been lucky with Snoopy and AJ. There was one period, during the winter, when we were building the house and the weather was terrible so we didn't get to ride them for over three months. I was nervous the first time we went out but both of them behaved as if there literally hadn't been a day's break from hacking. But I know that not all horses are like that and some really need to be worked more frequently.
 
Nancykitt said:
Ozzy is 8, but wasn't backed until he was 6 so he's really very green indeed! He also appears to have led a pretty sheltered life. By the time AJ was 5 he'd been all over the place, done a bit of RC dressage, lots of hunting, loved hacking and travelling in the little wagon. Ozzy is much less experienced even though he's three years older.

I think he just loses confidence. He was making such good progress and the last time he went out he didn't nap at all - but today it was like going back in time to when he went through the napping phase. I wonder if part of it is that he is much more attached to AJ (who was calling to him)...it's not that he doesn't get on with Snoopy, but he does seem much closer to AJ.
We will try again tomorrow; this time it will be AJ's turn to go out so we'll see how he is.
It's a pity I can't get someone else to come out with us as I'm sure he wouldn't nap if both his friends were out with him!

I do think we've been lucky with Snoopy and AJ. There was one period, during the winter, when we were building the house and the weather was terrible so we didn't get to ride them for over three months. I was nervous the first time we went out but both of them behaved as if there literally hadn't been a day's break from hacking. But I know that not all horses are like that and some really need to be worked more frequently.
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Could be autumn …. Not sure why but mine can be much sharper at this time of year , every year. Spooks at things that never usually bother him and is generally a bit more tense. He too is better in regular work and regresses with time off.
 
17th October

A very major setback.


We decided to take Ozzy out with his best friend AJ today. All was fine, Ozzy was happy to come in and be groomed, no problem at all tacking up. I got on AJ.
Ozzy stood perfectly to be mounted, OH got on, no problem. Everything seemed fine.
Then Ozzy said 'I want to go this way and eat grass'.
OH said, 'no, we're going out so we need to go this way' and started to turn him.

Ozzy then put in a MASSIVE bucking/broncing fit. I've never seen anything like it. A real 'Get off my back NOW' display. On the tarmac.
OH has a very good seat and somehow managed to stay on. But he is hurt and in some pain.
Ozzy calmed down almost immediately and started to move off, but under the circumstances, OH got off him straight away.
All tack fine, we haven't changed anything.

I'm so upset. At this moment in time I honestly can't see a way back.
Ozzy gets super-distressed if left in the field on his own so it's not as if we can just hack out on AJ and Snoopy.

I honestly don't know what to do. There is no way I'd ever get on Ozzy and I don't think OH is keen (he's gone very quiet).

Feeling like a total failure. It was all going well. And then it wasn't.
 
Nancykitt said:
17th October

A very major setback.


We decided to take Ozzy out with his best friend AJ today. All was fine, Ozzy was happy to come in and be groomed, no problem at all tacking up. I got on AJ.
Ozzy stood perfectly to be mounted, OH got on, no problem. Everything seemed fine.
Then Ozzy said 'I want to go this way and eat grass'.
OH said, 'no, we're going out so we need to go this way' and started to turn him.

Ozzy then put in a MASSIVE bucking/broncing fit. I've never seen anything like it. A real 'Get off my back NOW' display. On the tarmac.
OH has a very good seat and somehow managed to stay on. But he is hurt and in some pain.
Ozzy calmed down almost immediately and started to move off, but under the circumstances, OH got off him straight away.
All tack fine, we haven't changed anything.

I'm so upset. At this moment in time I honestly can't see a way back.
Ozzy gets super-distressed if left in the field on his own so it's not as if we can just hack out on AJ and Snoopy.

I honestly don't know what to do. There is no way I'd ever get on Ozzy and I don't think OH is keen (he's gone very quiet).

Feeling like a total failure. It was all going well. And then it wasn't.
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This is a very serious reaction, and being upset, scared and unsure is absolutely 100% reasonable. But I don't think I would agree that nothing has changed, he has had several weeks off and things can change in his body in that time frame. For a reaction of this magnitude I would be thinking there is pain somewhere. That just isn't normal.

I agree with Clodagh too though, this isn't a failure and no matter what decision you make at this point isn't a failure either. You have given him every chance. If this is the last straw you can make whatever choice you need to and know that you've done your best by him.
 
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