Hanuman gets Special Treatment

Hanuman has been confined to his stable for weeks, but now he is allowed to stagger round the yard for a bit during the day.  I was allowed in the yard also, for the purposes of socialising.  Of course, Hanuman just went into my stable to see if I had left any food behind, so I snuck into his stable to check for evidence of Special Treatment.

There was the remains of wet hay, which Posy says is Special Food which must be better than what we are having, and, to make things more unfair, we are having to go outside and pick grass for ourselves, whereas Hanuman just stands there and gets food brought to him.

Evidence of haynet containing wet hay remains, and note special salt lick on a string

Furthermore, his stable contained Executive Toys, whereas we have none.  I spotted a ball which has a handle you can hold when you get tired of kicking it around.

I kicked this ball round the stable and managed a back heel manoeuvre that Ronaldo would be proud of

There was also a plastic apple on a piece of string which you could bash and make a noise.

All this evidence points to clear favouritism.  Posy and I now appear whenever She attends to Hanuman and insist that we get some of the special foodstuffs that he is getting, and quite right too.

Hanuman confined

Lately the weather has been uncharacteristically sunny and the grass is growing like mad and is very delicious.  Posy and I have eaten so much that we have to rest from time to time.  Hanuman, however, just keeps on eating and has become very tubby.  She says that if he was human the NHS would have fitted him with a gastric band ha ha.  She is not laughing now though because suddenly his feet started hurting and the vet had to be summoned.  His feet are painful, apparently, because he is a Fat Boy Who Has Eaten Too Much Sugar.  His penance is that he has to be confined to his stable and given meagre rations of soaked hay.

He is not happy and has been continually kicking his door in protest.  As a result, She has decided that we, too, should be confined to the yard to keep him company during the day, before he permanently damages himself, or the stable.

Posy is sure that he is getting Special Treatment and that the food he is getting must be much nicer than ours.  She keeps putting her neck over the door and trying to take the food out of his mouth.

Posy is convinced that Hanuman is getting Special food

I have tried to cheer him up by pulling faces outside the window.

But in the end it is rather boring being stuck in the yard all day.  I have already vandalised the drainpipe and now I am busy playing with the log pile.

I think I may try to dismantle the fencing next.

My first polework session in the arena

Imagine my surprise today when She led me into the arena - all by myself - for the first time.  It was full of strange objects, but I was very brave.   Bizarrely, She expected me to walk over poles on the ground.  In spite of the novelty of it all, I obligingly did what She wanted and received a number of treats to keep me motivated, and to distract me from the traffic noises.  If this is what Posy has been doing in the arena all this time, then it is pretty easy and I have mastered it already!

Hanuman's Birthday

Hanuman is five years old today.  He was presented with a new food bowl to replace the old one which had mysteriously developed a hole in it.  The finger of suspicion had been pointed at me, but there is no way that my playful gnawings could have made such a hole.

He had a 'lesson' this morning which is when someone comes to help and encourages him to make wobbly shapes in the arena.  They say he is not fully grown up since his back end is still higher than the front and he has yet to sprout any withers.  He also has a lot of trouble co-ordinating his legs.

Hanuman tries to organise his legs to impress the instructor

Afterwards he got carrots and treats as it was his birthday.

One today!

It is my very first birthday today!  My first year seems to have gone by so fast.  I have become accustomed to my environment, showing myself to be braver than Hanuman and more sensible than Posy.  My achievements include being good for both the vet and the farrier.  I have endured a lot of weather without complaining and had only one accident of note which has left just a small dent in my forehead.

What will the next year bring I wonder?

Dazed and confused

I was standing behind Hanuman peacefully picking up stray bits of haylage, when he suddenly shot backwards and struck me a terrible blow on the head.  I staggered round the yard seeing stars and She rushed out to see me with a large dent in my skull, blood coming out of my nose and acting demented.  The vet was summoned immediately.
The vet is used to pacifying hysterical people and explained that the dent in my skull was over my sinuses and wasn't likely to have caused brain damage, and he knew of lots of healthy adult horses going around with dents in their skulls.  Inevitably where vets are concerned, I received a number of injections but was very brave.  I had a splitting headache for a few days I can tell you.

In the yard, still suffering from concussion

The blood coming down my nose shows how bad my injury was

 Posy blamed Hanuman and gave him a severe biting.  He was banished into the field, partly for his own protection and partly so that he couldn't do anything else clumsy while I was still poorly.

Posy blamed Hanuman for my accident

Hanuman blamed the cement mixer for starting up suddenly and giving him a fright

I am pleased to report that I have survived the nasty medicine and am now feeling as right as rain.  Funnily enough, the dent in my skull has rebounded and it looks as though I shan't be scarred for life after all..

Weather update

One thing I have learned in my 10+ months is that there is a lot of 'weather'.  For much of the time it has been mild, wet and windy.  Now I hear that there is to be 'sudden stratospheric warming'.  Mysteriously, this means that it will be cold in the UK.  Now, it is cold, wet and windy.  To illustrate the point, below is a brief video of mummy's ill-fated attempt to run through a dressage test for tomorrow.



They quickly gave up.  Luckily, I was allowed to stay snug in my stable.