Home from holiday

It's been a busy week!
Lots to catch up on after being away from 2 weeks. We are so lucky to have had Derick here, we just wouldn't have been able to go for that long and it certainly meant we didn't have any worries about what was happening at home.

The horse's look well and have made the most of all the available mud. They are plastered in it so today, I spent some time knocking off the worst and putting cover's on the ones we plan to ride.

It was a stunning winter's day today. Hard to imagine the weather that is forecast for this week, while basking in warm sunshine and bright blue skies.

We had a friend stay for the weekend and spent some time with the horses. I had really been looking forward to riding Twinkle but she needs someone else to give her a ride for me first as she can be a bit cheeky and I can't cope with it yet.
But it didn't work out to plan so Trix was dragged in for another ride.

I have been concerned about her for a while and kept on at Charlie about trimming her feet as she had suddenly started tripping badly on level ground. She came close to going down on the road one day so he trimmed and reshod her the next morning.
However, it didn't make any difference and while she was fine on hills and tracks etc, when we were out on a flat area, she went down onto her knee's badly again.
Today, she started off fine and I hadn't thought much about the tripping, but as we made our way across a flatish area, she face planted big time and gave the person I was with a bit of a surprise even.
And then later on, she did it again.

You can imagine what it feels like to my broken body to be jerked around like that, and you loose confidence in a horse very quickly if it can't stay on it's feet.
It is so unlike her though, and it really is seriously worrying. Whether it's the sight in her good eye going, or some other problem, we made the sad decision today, that she will be retired from riding. She is 23 yrs old now and fate bought her into my life at a time when she couldn't have been needed more.
She saved my sanity and I am in awe of all that this special horse has done in her life. She has become my special friend and I am going to miss having her with me on adventures.  What is in the future for Trix? I don't know as yet. We hope to try getting her in foal during the spring, but are well aware that at her age, she might not hold but we will make that call after winter. She has a home here with me as long as she needs it, but we are still worried about her.