Sharing a secret!

Update - Had the Vet out to Tom on Monday, I must say excellent service that did not cost the earth. Rung the Vet at 8.00am who is located in Featherston and he was at my paddock by 9.15. He came down to Tom, who was very reluctant to move and inspected his fett. They were not as bad as he was expecting so advised that with careful feet management there is a good chance Tom will recover, but I have to move he away from the boggy soil, that in summer is ok, but in winter is just too wet.

Tom is on a course of bute which has helped a great deal. He is even trying to have mini hoons now, on Thursday morning he was so anxious to get back into the paddock, he stood there nudging the gate, so I let him go and what a show! Front hooves in the air, prancing around and attempting a canter, much to my horror. I told him off for being so silly and told him he shouldn't be doing that, should be taking things easy.

Then yesterday morning again the same sort of thing but only at a trot.

Well here is a photo I took to Tom and my daughter Shannan, who is 5, sharing a secret. Also, some other random photos as well.

My beautiful Tom Kat's future does not look to good at the moment. His front feet are extremely sore. Have the vet coming ASAP and he along with my Farrier will help me make the decision. I am praying that is will be treatable as he is only 17, although after doing lots of reading tonight and listening to what different people say, I'm not so sure.

He has a history of bad feet. I think that this has been there all along and what triggered it was getting is feet done yesterday. His front left has separation and there was a lot of "rot" in between the hoof wall and the Laminae, Farrier showed me and it was gross. His front right looked worse before he had his shoes taken off.

My wonderful riding buddy Sarah has offered use of her stables if needed. Hubby has also been great as Farrier stopped him today when driving past to tell him what was happening.

At the moment we are leaving him in his paddock, as he is still moving around. I just wish he would lie down at times, especially when he has his two front feet way out front and then he tries to rest the back one.

Mandy the Donkey was due to have her feet done today, but Farrier did not turn up - I was going to ask his opinion, although do not want to offend my farrier who has dealt with Tom for many years.

Well, TomKat is look so stunning this year, but his feet are a mess. Had my Farrier out to him today and front left is just rotten, he shoved the knive up in between the sole and hoof wall and scraped out all the crap. Looked so gross, my heart sank, as his feet looked liked they might be getting better. His advice was to keep him out of the mud and not get them wet so raced home and got my little bit of tape and taped off an area to confine him in. Thoughts are this wont hurt as he and Mandy are very round. So hand filled his container with water and left him for the night.

Myfarrier Bram is just wonderful, came back down to check Tom and made him some rubber pads to ease the pressure on his soles, and will be back down tomorrow to check on him again. I so wish I had my own paddock close by so I could keep an eye on him better.

Am in tears tonight over the future of my beautiful TB called TomKat whom I just adore,

Been a while!

Long time since my last post so heres an update.

Finally went on holiday to Brisbane on 18 September for a quick 5 day visit. Spent most of the time with family. Great weather over there and really warm. We had so much fun, just cruising around the place.

Went and visited Uncle Bob's farm - he has 22 TB's on the property all in various states. The pregnant mares looked really light in condition. These horses are located out of Ipswich and they have had it really tough over the last year. They were hit with the Horse Flu and then the drought, so I can understand why some are looking light. Also there are six unplanned pregnacies as the Stallion escaped and had his naughty way! Uncle Bob would never let a horse suffer and the vet is always visiting so I'm sure they are all well monitored. Uncle has been trying to downsize but no one over there is interested in horses at the moment due to the conditions. Here are some photos above, the bay was perhaps the best looking horse I saw and this little chestnut was my favourite. He is only three and so little, but took on the camels when they tried to steal all the lucern hay.

Did some shopping and picked up a really cool halter for Tom with loads of bling on it and some really nice riding gloves. It is a nice big halter as his other one was too small which I will pass onto Mandy.

I am getting Mandy's feet done soon as they look dreadful so spoke with my farrier last time Tom was done and told him how I feel so guilty every time I see her so he has finally agreed to start doing them again. Bit of a story here, this time last year I was told not to bother with her feet, so didn't and now they are a real mess, only time I remember them being done was October last year. It will be a long process but she will get there, although she is a bugger to catch, the minute she sees the halter she is off.

What a Slacker!

Been very slack this week, only going down today. Naughtly I know but it was such a lovely day I just had to ride. Saddled up Tom and went up into the hills. It was a wonderful ride, we must have gone about 5 km's by the time we'd finished. Tom was still jig joggy so I let him have a few small "blats" along the firebreaks. He was really hard to hold back and just wanted to go. I could feel all the pent up energy bursting to go, but decided that it was just to dangerous to go for it, as you never know whata around the next corner. I have to watch out for both Mountain Bikers and Motor Bikes. Much prefer Motor bikes as I can at least hear them coming! We ended up having a lovely ride and I think with more rides like this and a bit more Magnesium he should eventually settle down. I felt a bit buggered on my way home as riding Tom is always a challenge.

Aiming for the Western Hills Spring Show this year and will do a bit of jumping in ring 2. Would also love to get to the Waikane ODE, not sure when it is. I remember riding this course as a teenager on my small Horse (14.3) Bicardi. Want to give it a go again, just to see if anything has changed. Hopefully Float will be ready in time.

On the subject of the Float, new steel is going to cost $300 which is for new axels and drawbar so will be handing over the cash on Tuesday, so hopefully should see some more progress soon. Better as hubby little domestic trailer seem to be getting a make over but mine just sits there. I really hate having to rely on others to do the work sometimes, but thats just the way it is I guess.

Just need to keep on track and focus on the things I want to achieve this year and we'll get there. Working part-time has helped and I am also feeling more confident when riding Tom.

Trying Hard!

Well weather is still horrible but I am making more of an effort to visit Tom and hard feed him. Went for another ride on Tuesday. We ventured down the road this time and althugh he was a bit sppoky and extremely jig joggy all went well. Nerves again when riding as had a fall riding down the road nearly two years ago which left my leg very bruised. Getting more confident again although I can feel he just wants to go for a huge blat.

Bumped into my Farrier the other night and he again mentioned about moving Tom to paddocks without swamps in them. He is confident that if I do, he will be able to reverse the damage to his feet. His front feet are crappy at the moment with big chunks missing. I have been putting Stockholm Tar on them as advised, as it is bacteria that is making them rot. Tom has always had bad feet but this winter just seem worse. Although his back ones are great now and they used to be nearly as bad with the rot.

Progress

Well, I have been very good this week and visited and fed each night, although tonight I was an extra hour at work, so by the time I got home I have not managed to get down to the paddock.. Feel a bit guilty as I know both Tom and Mandy will be waiting but I'm sure they will cope for tonight. Took some photo's yesterday of Tom eating his dinner and the look of pure enjoyment was great.

I Did it!!

I finally plucked up the courage to ride today. Finished work at 2.30 and went home, got everything ready and headed to the paddock. This was our first ride since about April, so I was really quite nervous as Tom in the past after a break has bucked a few times. Today he was great, we even had a canter. We slushed through the paddocks to the track which was quite firm and went a third of way, till it started to get steep and turned around again, as I did not have my breast plate on to stop the saddle slipping. He was very jig joggy on the way back and we had a few moments when the horses next door decided to hoon. I think he thought it was also time to hoon and started to shake in anticipation. Soon settled down, so I decided to slush through the other side of the paddock to end the ride on a good note. Was really pleased with him and realised how silly I've been by putting off riding for so long. Our next ride will be on Thursday as I want to take things slowly, so am planning on riding three to four times a week.

Mud Every where

After being a bad mum all week, I ventured down to the Paddock today in the sunshine. Tom was by the gate and I got such a lovely wecolme, lots of nickering as he knows I have food. Led him through the paddock to the gate and its just slush everywhere. Gave him his dinner and also fed Mandy the Donkey her bucket full. Took his cover off and he is not looking too bad. I am not feeding any Hay as cannot get any and the Hardfeed is only once a week at the moment. He has not lost a great deal of weight over winter despite the horrendous weather. He will now be feed every day as I am bringing him back into work this week, after a four month break.

Here is a recent photo to Tom and his best buddy Mandy.

Tom Kat

Tom Kat - He is a Bay Thoroughbred and will turn 17 on 3 November. He is by Matou, out of Static Kat. He had 16 starts and won $700 which I guess means he wasn't cut out to be a race horse, although to ride him you would think otherwise!! We have been together for three years now and have been to a few outings, our best placing is a 7th at Battle Hill in March 2007, the last time I completed.

Float

I will also keep a running commentary on the progress of my Float, and to date it has been a three year wait for anything to happen. I brought it in June 2005, not long after I brought Tom, and paid $1200 for it. I knew it needed some work but certainly did not expect to wait three years for it to happen!! So far, we have stripped it down, sand-blasted the lower chassis and removed the axels. My Engineer is currently rebuilding the Axels and draw-bar as these were a bit dodgy looking. Engineer is a family friend so is able to do it for next to nothing, although when he looked through the Garage there was a lot of "trading" done. Hubby is a bit of a hoarder, so there were plenty of spare bits for him to claim. Float is a Homebuilt job, but the comments so far is it is very well made.

I have sourced brand new rims, just need the tyres and purchased a new brake kit as well as it was brake-less. Here is a photo of the work in progress.

Introduction

Hi and welcome to my Blog.

I guess I should start with an introduction.

I am 38, married for 19 years and have three children aged 15, 13 and 6, two boys and our princess. She was our oooops baby. I work part-time as a Mortgage Consultant for a Mortgage Broker and also try and look after the paper-work for our small business – we own a Truck and Trailer unit and contract to AF Logistics. I have one Horse called Tom Kat