Oh guys.... *big sigh*.... I can hardly believe I'm saying this but Gracie and I are on the move again tomorrow 
Current yard is lovely, as you may recall, but right next to the school is a barn full of cows - and Gracie is terrified of cows (lots of poo and shaking). I've tried for a year now ..... yes, we've been there a year already 
.... to desensitise her to the cows but on the contrary she's actually got worse as time goes on. I can really only use three-quarters of the school so it means that lessons are off the table. When ridden she goes hollow and on high alert and when lunged she does what I ask but is totally distracted by "cow corner". All the previous horses I had on this year's haven't given the cows a second glance, but they really distress G. The stables are also near to the cow barn so when G is in she can certainly hear and smell them, so I can't help wondering whether their constant presence hasn't helped....or may have even caused her ulcers 
I'm also caught between a rock and a hard place regarding her ulcers as it's imperative that she loses quite a bit of weight, whilst not having an empty tummy - so I'm having to balance her food intake very carefully. Ideally she'd be on a small bare patch with a little grass to pick at, but get fed soaked hay, double-netted. I'm not even allowed to exercise her whilst she's on the intensive ulcer-ridding meds so I can't even burn calories off her right now. Most YO's like to protect their grass and my current one is no exception - plus we're not allowed to feed hay in the field... blanket yard ruling, so I'm a bit stuffed there.
The final nail in the coffin is that the stable block is located next to some woods. During the spring.... when the grass sugar is high, of course .... I can't even bring Gracie in because last year she developed a tree-pollen allergy which made her cough so badly that she was virtually unrideable through April, May and June. Yet when living out, away from the trees, she wouldn't cough at all, even when ridden.
Meanwhile, my lovely ex-YO and one of my bezzies, has made a total exception to her own yard's 'segregated herds and no hay in fields' rules and has offered me a small individual paddock for Gracie that I can hang a soaked haynet on to the gate of, if I need to. She's two miles up the road, so I have regularly hacked past there over the past year. And they have no cows. They have a 20x40 outdoor school but she's just put planning on for a 60x30 which works be wonderful!
And Gracie can even have her old stable back. She was in it up until 18m ago when dialysis started and I was asked under learning the ropes - and she got so obese that I had to move her rapidly.
It's weird because I've always had my horses on DIY livery yards but because I was busy doing more hours with my boss' dialysis, for the last year and a half I've been on yards that offer services. So I've got very used to the luxury of having G turned out our brought in for me once a day. I'm panicking about having to go back to doing two trips a day. Although I know my boss is dead, I still haven't got my head round having a lot more free time again. And the yard we're going back to us where I used to have four on DIY. So one should be a doddle!
I was going to wait to move G after she has been re-scoped later in the month but a friend suggested that it would be better to go whilst she's still on her intensive meds. In any case, my vets actually lease a few stables where we're moving back to - for their investigations and minor surgeries..... so that's handy
Yeah, so that's our current situation.
Current yard is lovely, as you may recall, but right next to the school is a barn full of cows - and Gracie is terrified of cows (lots of poo and shaking). I've tried for a year now ..... yes, we've been there a year already .... to desensitise her to the cows but on the contrary she's actually got worse as time goes on. I can really only use three-quarters of the school so it means that lessons are off the table. When ridden she goes hollow and on high alert and when lunged she does what I ask but is totally distracted by "cow corner". All the previous horses I had on this year's haven't given the cows a second glance, but they really distress G. The stables are also near to the cow barn so when G is in she can certainly hear and smell them, so I can't help wondering whether their constant presence hasn't helped....or may have even caused her ulcers I'm also caught between a rock and a hard place regarding her ulcers as it's imperative that she loses quite a bit of weight, whilst not having an empty tummy - so I'm having to balance her food intake very carefully. Ideally she'd be on a small bare patch with a little grass to pick at, but get fed soaked hay, double-netted. I'm not even allowed to exercise her whilst she's on the intensive ulcer-ridding meds so I can't even burn calories off her right now. Most YO's like to protect their grass and my current one is no exception - plus we're not allowed to feed hay in the field... blanket yard ruling, so I'm a bit stuffed there.
The final nail in the coffin is that the stable block is located next to some woods. During the spring.... when the grass sugar is high, of course .... I can't even bring Gracie in because last year she developed a tree-pollen allergy which made her cough so badly that she was virtually unrideable through April, May and June. Yet when living out, away from the trees, she wouldn't cough at all, even when ridden.
Meanwhile, my lovely ex-YO and one of my bezzies, has made a total exception to her own yard's 'segregated herds and no hay in fields' rules and has offered me a small individual paddock for Gracie that I can hang a soaked haynet on to the gate of, if I need to. She's two miles up the road, so I have regularly hacked past there over the past year. And they have no cows. They have a 20x40 outdoor school but she's just put planning on for a 60x30 which works be wonderful!
And Gracie can even have her old stable back. She was in it up until 18m ago when dialysis started and I was asked under learning the ropes - and she got so obese that I had to move her rapidly. It's weird because I've always had my horses on DIY livery yards but because I was busy doing more hours with my boss' dialysis, for the last year and a half I've been on yards that offer services. So I've got very used to the luxury of having G turned out our brought in for me once a day. I'm panicking about having to go back to doing two trips a day. Although I know my boss is dead, I still haven't got my head round having a lot more free time again. And the yard we're going back to us where I used to have four on DIY. So one should be a doddle!
I was going to wait to move G after she has been re-scoped later in the month but a friend suggested that it would be better to go whilst she's still on her intensive meds. In any case, my vets actually lease a few stables where we're moving back to - for their investigations and minor surgeries..... so that's handy
Yeah, so that's our current situation.
