Pendlewitch

Took the dogs out today and Jumble dog was his usual noisy bouncy self, he found and old glove and was chucking it about when he suddenly froze on the spot. His head was down and he was sort of breathing very heavily throught the sides of his mouth and his heart was pounding. I though he had gone lame but as he tried to move he was very wobbly and un-corordinated, after about 5 minutes he seemed to improve and willingly came with me for about 50 yards but then seeemed to tire out so we went slowly back to the car. He had to have an hand in which is very unusual. Once at home he bounced out of the car barking like a loony so I thought I would just walk him round the playing field, got as far as the field and he had another funny do. Got him home ok, he's very quiet but is eating ok, he won't come up the stairs at all, again very unusual. Bit of his history, he's a 13 year old border collie, he has awful hips and an enlarged palate. He also has an enlarged heart chamber but receives no treatment for this. Normally he's an absolute nutter, bouncing, barking and boinging all over the place and has always been a really nice natured but rather nervous dog. About 10 days ago he had an upset tummy so took him to the vet and he was awful, growling horribly and barking more than a bit aggressivly, once the vet had finished treating him he was back to normal. It took quite a few days to get him eating again but has been fine for about 6 days now. There have been other incidents of out of character aggression which did appear to be diet linked, once his food was changed back he seemed fine again. If he has another do or he does not pick up I will take him to the vet, the only reason I haven't taken him straight away is because it stresses him out so much it's impossible to get a real idea of how he actually is. This latest episode is totally different to anything that has happened before and is worring me silly, if anyone has any ideas it would be very much appreciated!

Thanks for good thoughts all and Ian for the article, interesting reading! Any information is appreciated!

I found another lump, this time on his near hind just above his hock joint and he had it removed last Friday. The pathology came back today, it's a mast cell tumour again. The muscles of the leg are involved and the vet says he could not take enough tissue without causing weakness problems with the leg. The area will have to be watched very carefully for it recurring! I can't believe this is happening to my little dog!

It's Little Lilli in her winter woollies!

Sorry about Murfdog Clare, it's awful when they have to leave.

Not much snow here but what is in the arena is frozen and it's unrideable. The roads are not safe as water splashes have frozen into sheet ice so all work is cancelled for the moment. Wanda threw another interesting reaction to the prascend after the vet wanted her to try going up to one tablet a day. YO Sam noticed her walk gait was a bit odd, she was loosing the rhythm and her legs were shaking when she was doing her stretches, to the extent she was nearly falling over! Apparently ataxia is one of the rare side effects, (trust Wanda) and she would be unsafe to be ridden, I did think as if anyone would ride a wobbly horse! So that's it she's off them and will be going onto Feedmark's C-Plus. She still looks a bit rough but that's because she was not clipped again and is rather brillo padish. Banner did an escape from her stable and went on night manoeuvers which invovled her parking in the haylage bale and stuffing her face! Norty pony!

Golly Clare, that's awful! If the beastly birds tried theat they would be in the cooking pot! We have heavy snow forcast and as we rarely get any the entire area will grind to a halt as usual, half an inch cases mayhem round here!

All the chooks got a makeover tonight, louse and red mite powder, legs sprayed with liquid paraffin and then coated in vaseline. George cockerel had his amazing spurs clipped back, horrid job that! So chooks and ponies are well dusty but hopefully less itchy. I had to change Banner out of her fleece as it wasn't warm enough and was velcroed to her newly clipped bum, she was not happy! She is now sporting a medium weight turnout rug decorated with skulls and borrowed from Monty. I've just ordered her a cosy pony from Robinsons, I love rug shopping, should have checked with Wanda though, she may have wanted to add some little thing to the order!

Banner was being clipped today and I got an anguished phone call from YO Sam! Banner has lice!!!!!!! Lots of them, all over her!!! Sam checked out Lilli and Monty and they have them too! Eeeeeeeeek! Dashed off the shop for louse powder and I now have three dusty white ponies. I think they got them from the chickens, the damned birds sit on Banner's bum, (and sh**)! I'll be grabbing the dear little birdies tomorrow and dipping them in louse powder. To add insult to injury Banner, who is wearing her beautiful new whitney fleece was sat on by muckychuck and the flaming bird pooped on her rug. At the moment I hate chickens, especially the ones that infest and poop on my ponies!

Oh Blue! Why do they always try to pull a sicknote the minute you enter a competition, Wanda is brilliant at that trick! Little Lilli is a water chucker too, she has soaked loads of bedding in the last week so her bucket is now in a holder on the wall. She threw the most awesome temper tantrum tonight just because she thought I was a tad late with her tea. Little hooves stamping and banging the door then bouncing round her stable like Tigger! I do like to see my special needs pony misbehaving, it's sort of normal!

Here's Jumble wearing his new twosie, he just loves it! He's been feeling the cold and because of his hips I thought we would go for the total cover! One or two dogs have nudged each other as he went past though! I think he looks super cool and matching eyes too! The strange black spot in his left eye shows up incredibly well. http://

Banner put her tiny little hoof down rather firmly regarding the addition of another pony. She does not want me spending more time away from her than is strictly necessary, looking after Lilli and Wanda is allowed but NO MORE! I have to remember that she is an international superstar (diva) and deserves undivided attention. Bossy little madam! I must get a photo of Special Lilli, I did think she would grow a bit more as her dad was 13hh but she is growing outwards and is like a little tank, fortunately she has grown into her head, she would have been decidedly odd looking if she had not! It would seem that all the free ponies have been offered homes, I just hope they are genuine and the ponies will be looked after. The river ponies are being cared for by a local rescue group, no owners have come forward, how can you lose a pony and not be in a total panic? Possibly more to this one than originally thought.

Well done CP! The dressage was not a disaster by a long way, he was just rather tight and tense so didn't work over his back or use his back end very well. He was a tad overbent most of the time and you seemed to have quite a grip on him. Work on getting him to lengthen his frame, lower his poll and lift his back, then the other end will start to work. On a postive note he was obedient and looked reasonably accurate, it was a very good try. Jumping is obviously his thing and as you were more relaxed he was too, he's quite clever when he gets a bit close and can sort himself out. I thought you rode him very nicely and were there for him when he had a bit of a wiggle, improving the dressage will certainly help with the jumping. He's a super, honest chap and a credit to you, you are right to be well chuffed, that was a good result!

Would you believe that there are three ponies advertised locally as free, one is only 7 months old, poor baby! Then there is a sad post on H & H from a struggling single mum who has a 20 year old horse with a tendon injury. She's looking for a companion home or rescue centre, there is not a chance this side of Hades, she is being advised to PTS which is the only possible outcome! Then there's the place I pass when taking the dogs to the beach, two horses in an absolute bog, ok they have rugs and stables but are hock deep and the stables don't seem to have floors so are just as bad, they are fed though but the owners must be desperate! There were three ponies found last week on the river bank, they appear to have been swept down in the last spate, no-one knows where they came from as yet. The recession and the weather have caused mayhem in the horse world, it's just so sad! I'm struggling not to dash off and scoop up the 7 month old! I already have one and two halves, I can't really have another! (Can I)

Yay, Louis won, I'm not ususally a fan of err, fit young lads but he improved so much and was such a nice chap I just had to like him. I thought his show dance was awesome! Must agree about Bruce, I do like him but he is not really coping too well now, time to go gracefully.

If Lorne Spicer says jewllery one more time I will scream!! The antique dealers who say cllectors and news reader saying pleece also are getting on my nerves big style. Did have a laugh when Paul Hayes said crimplene instead of crinoline! Not hard to tell I'm bored and irritable so have taken up my chinese lessons again, has to be better than TV! Gan Bei!

What are all the horses getting for christmas then? Not surprisingly Wanda has a new rug, a 100gr turnout from Swish, really nice rugs too. Clumper and Obe also have one. Banner has a nameplate for her stable door, it says Banner, The International Superstar. Lilli has a new brush and a stable mirror so she can check her hair before she goes out. Well, that's if she can actually see her hair!

Good lord Clare, that's dreadful, poor riders and horses. I hope he gets the book thrown at him and bloody hard!

Jack has to have his stitches in for 5 more days, by then the back of my legs will be permanently damaged from him crashing into me with the buster collar. He's learned how to drive it now, his technique is just shove, if he doesn't fit back a step and shove again! Vet thinks the lump near his hock is a bursa, there's a tendon that runs just under where it is so she said to keep an eye on it. He's a very cheerful little dog at the moment, it's really nice to have him that way again!

Wanda had the physio tonight, she is sound in all paces and both reins in the arean, couldn't trot up on the road because of the ice. Physio was horrified ath the size of the extentions on Wanda's back feet and she is sure that is what is causing the saddle problem as the poor horse can't use her back end, she's lost loads of muscle and has gone cow hocked! Have to ring the farrier tomorrow and ask him to reduce the extentions by half and in a couple of weeks take them off totally. I'd sooner have her shod more often than have her messed up like this. Then there's the cushings, I'm convinced the meds do not agree with her at all and am seriously considering taking her off them and dealing with whatever comes up. Watch this space! Another how's Loki?

Thanks all for your good thoughts for Jack and I, it's very much appreciated! I've done a huge amount of reading about the tumours and am not in quite as much of a panic as I was, I've borrowed a smaller buster collar for Jack and coupled with the massage he is much more cheerful He is stretching his back leg during the massage now so the stitches must not be causing him too much problem. Hopefully he has them out on Friday!

Jack was quite sick this morning and very depressed, did not want to walk and was eating grass all the time. This is not unusual for Jack, he has a lot of behavioural issues but with the surgery I thought I'd pop him in to the vet just to make sure. Vet is convinced it's stress and the buster collar is not helping, then he told me the pathology from the lump is back! It was a tumour and both the skin and the underlying tissues were invovled, he is sure it was all removed though, I can't remember the type of tumour as I was more that a bit shocked at this point, must ring and find out. He said it could come back and Jack could get others as JRT's are prone to this type of tumour. I did some Ttouch with Jack as he was so screwed into a tight ball and I've found another lump on his other back leg but much lower down, nearer the hock joint, talk about serious shock/panic! He has to go back on Friday to maybe have his stiches out so will discuss then, I can't believe this is happening! Just rung up, it's a mast cell tumour.

Brilliant!

I don't hink he l's that impressed to be honest! The pants are covering his stitches though.

Jack has had his surgery and is reasonably fine, the lump was not encapsulated but I have not yet found out if it was attached to the skin or the underlying tissues. The lump has gone off for pathology and I will get the results in about 10 days. He has a maybe 4 inch incision from an inch in from the point of his butt cheek down his gaskin. There is no dressing on it an Jumble is showing far too much interest, I've tried a big sticky on thingy but it didn't stick, was going to try to put some long pants on him but near on lost my hand as he is very sore. Should I just leave him and keep Jumble dog away?