I cannot believe he is already 11 weeks old! It seems like just a few weeks ago that I was sleeping in the caravan every night and looking like a zombie in the day time. I just have not had the time to keep updating this blog, but while I have a day off I thought I would fill you in on what has been happening in Hannah and Troy’s world.
Hannah gradually became more settled being led out with Troy and after the first few days she started to relax and would let him leave her in the field for short periods of time. She is now quite happy for him to be led away from her (I think she likes the break) and the other night my husband walked her around the corner and into her stable and she did not bother at all that she could not see him.
Troy had to have a little operation when he as just a few weeks old. I started to notice that his willy was quite swollen when he came in from the field. At first I thought it could be flies biting as we were having some warm weather, but when it was still swollen after two days I called the vet up. Kathleen said his willy was too big for the opening therefore it was impossible for it to pop out. So a trip to the vets was required and as you can imagine, it was quite a stressful event. Hannah loaded perfectly the first time but Troy ran off around the back of the trailer so we brought her out and then started all over again. The second time we practically lifted Troy in and they both travelled and unloaded really well.
Coming home was less of an ordeal. Troy understood what was expected of him, and as soon as Hannah had been loaded he ran up the ramp to join her. We travelled Hannah tied up and Troy loose with no partition, and this seemed to be the best option for these two as Hannah did not sweat up as she usually does when travelling.
Despite this little set back in his life, Troy seemed to get quite coltish and I wanted to nip it in the bud before it became worse. So I organised for Richard Maxwell to come up in April and do some work with both Troy and me to point us in the right direction.
When Max came out he showed me the sort of work I could be doing with Troy to keep him interested (rather than nipping all of the time) and teach him things that would be so valuable to him in the future. I have continued to do some work with him both in the field and in his stable, which does seem to be making him a nicer foal to be around. He still nips quite a lot, but he also knows that she should not be doing it too! His leading has improved, although we still have stand offs where we both refuse to move, but he is now giving in every time and the periods of standing still are reducing each time.
I will try to update this more often from now on because he is changing so much and developing new characteristics every day. He continues to nip, but has been much easier to handle and is now starting to respect people’s space rather than just running into you. The only time he is a handful is when he is wet and wants to rub on anything in his reach, including me!
Hannah gradually became more settled being led out with Troy and after the first few days she started to relax and would let him leave her in the field for short periods of time. She is now quite happy for him to be led away from her (I think she likes the break) and the other night my husband walked her around the corner and into her stable and she did not bother at all that she could not see him.
Troy had to have a little operation when he as just a few weeks old. I started to notice that his willy was quite swollen when he came in from the field. At first I thought it could be flies biting as we were having some warm weather, but when it was still swollen after two days I called the vet up. Kathleen said his willy was too big for the opening therefore it was impossible for it to pop out. So a trip to the vets was required and as you can imagine, it was quite a stressful event. Hannah loaded perfectly the first time but Troy ran off around the back of the trailer so we brought her out and then started all over again. The second time we practically lifted Troy in and they both travelled and unloaded really well.
Coming home was less of an ordeal. Troy understood what was expected of him, and as soon as Hannah had been loaded he ran up the ramp to join her. We travelled Hannah tied up and Troy loose with no partition, and this seemed to be the best option for these two as Hannah did not sweat up as she usually does when travelling.
Despite this little set back in his life, Troy seemed to get quite coltish and I wanted to nip it in the bud before it became worse. So I organised for Richard Maxwell to come up in April and do some work with both Troy and me to point us in the right direction.
When Max came out he showed me the sort of work I could be doing with Troy to keep him interested (rather than nipping all of the time) and teach him things that would be so valuable to him in the future. I have continued to do some work with him both in the field and in his stable, which does seem to be making him a nicer foal to be around. He still nips quite a lot, but he also knows that she should not be doing it too! His leading has improved, although we still have stand offs where we both refuse to move, but he is now giving in every time and the periods of standing still are reducing each time.
I will try to update this more often from now on because he is changing so much and developing new characteristics every day. He continues to nip, but has been much easier to handle and is now starting to respect people’s space rather than just running into you. The only time he is a handful is when he is wet and wants to rub on anything in his reach, including me!
