Rocky visits our flooded village...

 

 

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, (well the morning was anyway!) Rocky did some superb work on the EquiAmi, then had a short long reining session around the arena, still wearing the EquiAmi as this helps him use himself.

 

We then went for a walk around the village.  

 

Our village has been hit quite hard by the recent floods and most of the roads have been closed, which meant that there are a lot of road signs, sandbags, traffic lights, water pumps and lots of water!

 

As I haven’t been able to drive around the village I was not aware of quite how bad the village has been affected, it was a very sad sight to see, and I really feel for all the poor people affected.

 

Part of Rocky’s education is meeting things which may be scary, showing him that they are in fact, not scary.

 

So yesterday we ventured out to meet the flooding and the associated barriers, sand bags and water pumps, with a few extras thrown in too!

 

Rocky likes to go out, he is such an inquisitive boy and likes to explore.

 

The first thing we met (apart from traffic, which he is absolutely fine with), was a “Road Closed” sign, having never met one of these, I did question if he would be afraid, but I shouldn’t have, as all he did was see if it was edible!

 

This seemed to be the running theme for the entire walk, we walked through the water which was knee high in places (I was obviously very careful and would not have gone where it was dangerous for us), at one point we were wandering through the water and a van drove through the other side creating a wave, I braced myself for the “catch the horse in your arms as it leaps in the air” moment, but once again, rocky was more interested in playing in the water!

 

The sandbags we met only served to be boring, as did water pumps and the fast flowing water under the bridge.

 

You will see his reactions to some of these in these video clips I took, just to show how chilled he was!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yeHGXBpQf4&list=UUve3aX0Xomg6P8OZk1W3F8g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUS7o6TwnNY&list=UUve3aX0Xomg6P8OZk1W3F8g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOtZLdGspvU&list=UUve3aX0Xomg6P8OZk1W3F8g

   

On the way home there was a mini digger pulling up an old tree, the men very kindly switched the machines off, but I asked them to keep going, and we stood and watched, the noise produced by the machines were enough to put any horse off, but rocky just stood looking inquisitively!

 

Rocky appears to have his own little fan club in the village now too, there were lots of people working on their properties, and everyone came to say hello to him, remarking how inquisitive and well behaved he was. One old lady actually came out of her house to see him, saying she couldn’t resist!

 

I can honestly say yesterday was a fabulous education for Rocky, and what was even better was that he took it all in his stride.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful boy.

 

 

 

Review of Februarys Products from my wonderful Sponsors Nettex;

 

My 1^st Product was Nettex gut Balancer:

Having a horse on box rest as I did, it is paramount that the gut remains in a healthy working order to prevent impactions and the dreaded colic.

The Gut Balancer was introduced after a few days of box rest, when a noticeably reduced amount of gut function was clearly beginning, even though feed was kept to a minimum and ad lib good quality hay was provided.

After just 24hrs on the Gut Balancer, the droppings returned to their usual colour and frequency, and Maisie appeared noticeably happier.

 The Gut balancer is also very palatable, unlike some gut balancers.

 

 

 

My 2^nd product was the Nettex Calmer Maintenance powder: 

Being on box rest can be a stressful time for a horse, so to keep stress levels reduced, the maintenance powder was added to the feed, not to “dope” Maisie, purely to help keep stress at bay.

The powder contains 2 types of magnesium to achieve a rapid but long lasting effect, but what I liked about it was didn’t “dope” Maisie, it just took any edge off that may have built up.

A superb calmer that really works.

 

 

 

 

 

My 3^rd Product was Nettex Seven Day Mud Away:

Well, what can I say about this?!! It is simply amazing!

I used this on Rocky, as he was out (Maisie on box rest!), Rocky being the hairy welsh who likes to imitate a mud wallowing pig!

I sprayed his head and extremities with this spray once, and to be honest, was a little sceptical, given all the rain and the amount of mud, I thought it would maybe last a few hours. How wrong was I!
I brought Rocky in that night and quite simply couldn’t believe my eyes, not a scrap of mud on his head, legs or belly! (Other parts covered by rugs).

The only mud was on his feathers where I had not sprayed. Having used other sprays, i.e. coat sprays made from silicone (mane and tail detangler types), and not had any success, I can honestly say, Seven Day Mud Away WORKS!

Rocky has only needed 2 applications of the spray, unlike other products, so this is not only a brilliant product, it is economical too!

When the spray is coming to its renewal, the mud begins to stick a little, but literally falls off with the lightest brushing.

 

 

I shall never go back to using any other products now, having found the best, why would I need to?