Thread: SWMBO's horse - not again!

Good news, Bob. Best wishes to SWMBO for a speedy recovery.

Toady I was supposed to be resting my knee, ultrasound show fluid on the knee and am awaiting more scans etc.

Today SWMBO was also taking her horse (Jeffrey) to the farrier and because she could not drive too far with her healing ribs far had roped in a fried to help but the friend backed out so I was roped in as the so called emergency driver .

Jeffery has "Farrier Phobia" so regular farriers that comes around to the stables where he is aggisted can’t re-shoe him and Jeffery has to go to Ascot Equine Hospital for his shoes.
This way he can be sedated and shoed under vet nurse supervision. They are also not conventional shoes but orthotic specials - more $$.

The process involves driving half an hour out to Middle Swan, picking up the horse in the horse float, driving 20 minutes back to Ascot, off load horse, farrier shoes horse, back onto float and back to Middle Swan, back home
If everything goes to plan it should take 2.5 hours.

Everything went to plan until we got to the equine hospital. When we arrived, the farrier was already shoeing another horse and Jeffery decided this was not good and tried to get out of his holding pen. He worked himself up into a full lather inside this small pen so much so that the vet nurse could not get near him to inject the sedative. Wait for half an hour for Jeffrey to calm down and eventually the sedative goes in and calms him down. Shoes start to go on, something spooks Jeffery and more sedative is needed.

Result is horse is too sedated to go back onto float so wait another hour for him to wake up a bit.
Back on the road driving super slowly because like a drunk driver a sedated horse can have problems handling corners.

Just get onto West Swan Rd - massive traffic jam - car crashed into power pole - cable across road.
Eventually managed to find a place to turn around and had to go via great Northern Highway.
Then I had to clean out the float - horse sedative does interesting things to horse bowels and bladder, nowhere was it stated I would doing this.

Finally time to go home, West Swan road still blocked by Synergy trucks doing work so had to go back the same way.

All this for only $120 and the 2.5 hours became 6.5 hours.
And SWMBO has to do this every 6 weeks - I just hope she is well enough to do it on her next time.

'tis not me I swear showed the above to SWMBO -- -- "see you don't have it too bad" she says


That's a good read.
Reading some of your posts I sometimes wish I had been a student in one of your lectures -- I'm sure you had a really amusing turn of phrase once you got going.

Gees Bob, you really upset Mr Murphy that day. Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. At least you scored a few brownie points from SWMBO.

Now you can have an uneventful day in the shed.

Alan...

Originally Posted by Uncle Al

Gees Bob, you really upset Mr Murphy that day. Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. At least you scored a few brownie points from SWMBO.

Now you can have an uneventful day in the shed.

I wish, however 93 year old MIL developed some health probs last night and has ended up in hospital so muggins will be on driver duty today to take SWMBO for a visit or probably two!
Even if MIL had not gone to hospital it was her 93rd birthday so of course a party was planned and once again I was driving.
Tomorrow there's a car boot sale for all sorts of horsey apparel in the Swan valley - again I'm on driver duty. I don't mind this because hopefully it will get rid of some of the horsey crap around the house - not that I have any woody/metal/machine crap around the house.
Monday is grandson baby sitting day - it's gunna be tuesday before I can get a decent shed stint.

I'm hoping to sneak in there today for an hour before SWMBO gets up and going.

Originally Posted by BobL

Tomorrow there's a car boot sale for all sorts of horsey apparel in the Swan valley

If you took the van you could probably squeeze Jeff in there. Sounds like a plan to me.

I thought you said this horse was quiet? I grew up in the far west of NSW. Every day involved horses and stock work. Sore feet you say? Over fed. Bit to frisky? Over fed. A horse in work needs a very different diet to a stable warmer. Bet the jumpy bloody thing is an Arab.
Criteria for a good horse: Catchable, shoeable, floatable, ridable, even gait, sound of lung, sure footed, soft mouthed. Anything else is a bonus.
Farrier Phobia.... Oh please. Spoilt brat would be more like it. Sounds like he is long overdue for a bit of re-educating. That is if he was educated in the first place.

Originally Posted by rustynail

I thought you said this horse was quiet? I grew up in the far west of NSW. Every day involved horses and stock work. Sore feet you say? Over fed. Bit to frisky? Over fed. A horse in work needs a very different diet to a stable warmer. Bet the jumpy bloody thing is an Arab.

Nope it's thorough bred, ex racer.

Criteria for a good horse: Catchable, shoeable, floatable, ridable, even gait, sound of lung, sure footed, soft mouthed. Anything else is a bonus.
Farrier Phobia.... Oh please. Spoilt brat would be more like it. Sounds like he is long overdue for a bit of re-educating. That is if he was educated in the first place.

Yep I agree but please don't suggest re-education. The last one we spent $2000 on re-educating bit the little finger off the stable owner and bucked a highly experienced exercise rider off and then it went for pet pet meat.

Originally Posted by BobL

Nope it's thorough bred, ex racer.

Well I'd say that's the problem, right there!

I repeat, but this time with gusto:

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

If you took the van you could probably squeeze Jeff in there. Sounds like a plan to me.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Well I'd say that's the problem, right there!

I repeat, but this time with gusto:

Like I said "I know nutting" and like the mens shed after problem "I don't wanna know . . . . ."

Well it carries on like an arab but there are plenty of spoilt ponies in the ex racer ranks as well. The amazing thing is , most of the police horses are ex race horses and the re education job done on them is first class. A good horse is a pleasure but a badly broken, poorly educated, egotistical, jumpy hypochondriac is a sure way of reducing ones bank balance. If you cant break in a horse, educate a horse, shoe a horse or stay on a horse, you shouldn't have one. Now thats going to upset the majority of horsey folk.

Originally Posted by rustynail

Well it carries on like an arab but there are plenty of spoilt ponies in the ex racer ranks as well. The amazing thing is , most of the police horses are ex race horses and the re education job done on them is first class. A good horse is a pleasure but a badly broken, poorly educated, egotistical, jumpy hypochondriac is a sure way of reducing ones bank balance. If you cant break in a horse, educate a horse, shoe a horse or stay on a horse, you shouldn't have one. Now thats going to upset the majority of horsey folk.

I agree about the bank balance, but even I think the last statement is daft. It's like saying if you can't do all you own motor vehicle repairs you shouldn't own a motor vehicle. You gonna do all your own vet stuff too? Well my grandfather farrier did, and the young vets even used to bring him horses for a second opinion, but he still lost horses he should have taken to a vet. Anyway happy wife means happy life. When she's well and stays on the horse she's away 4-5 days a week and that leaves me with serious shed time to myself.

Of course you do, you'er horsey folk.

Originally Posted by rustynail

Of course you do, you'er horsey folk.

Something got lost between me and my grandfather. Mum doesn't like animals much at all. I'm OK with dogs but all I know about horses is that ends are dangerous and the middle is uncomfortable.

One useful thing to come out of SWMBO's involvement with horses is I get to use the horses ice pack bandage on my bung knee.
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