Happy first birthday Titch! Measuring time!

Titch's big day rightly had to be overshadowed by my son's 17th (Ahh, they share the same birthday!), so apologies for the lateness of this post.

Not much has been happening in Titch's world apart from growing and eating.  In fact he has been left to fester a bit as I broke my collarbone 3 months ago.  It is still not healed and can at times be very painful.  So I have elected not to take Titch out on his in-hand walks. He comes to call for his breakfast and tea, so I had no need to keep putting the headcollar on him.  HOWEVER, that was a mistake as he has regressed and thinks the headcollar is going to kill him again. Cue more headcollar training. He grudgingly and somewhat mistrustfully allows it near his head if he can be tempted by a polo now.

I only realised this when I tried to get a fly rug on him as he is being bothered by midges. That was an unreasonable request in his eyes, so I thought I would put a headcollar on and get him used to a rug again, bit by bit, which is when I found I couldn't get the headcollar near him.

Apart from that I wanted to measure him to see how much too small for me he might turn out. Another reason this post is a bit tardy is that I wanted to deliver to you all the supposedly definitive 'year old' measurements that predict his adult height. So we have done a bit more work on the headcollar and today I managed to catch him and do the measurements.

Using the string test measuring from point of elbow to ergot + point of elbow to the ground, it predicts that he will grow to 15hh. Yay! I am happy with that, especially if he turns out to be in any way chunky.  However he has gone all lean and foal like again at the moment, definitely bottom high (the bottom always grows before the front end, in fits and starts, till they stop growing).

Using the middle of the knee to coronet band method, I found the results on the same day to be too changeable, depending on how he was standing, so I'll jettison that method.

His current height is 13.2hh at the withers and 13.3hh at the bum.

It is now early June and he is still loosing baby fluff, but I think he is going to be quite sleek once it all goes.

I am having to treat him for lice again. I am hoping this is the last lot of treatment as he is starting to hate being sprayed, but I suspect, unless I shave off his mane they are going to keep coming back. Yuck!

Here are a couple of photos.

Head looks big here because of all the beard!

Looking a bit more in proportion but still foal like.

9 month measurement and crashing fall

I measured Titchy today and he has grown in 3 months.  His withers are now 12.3hh and his bum is 13.1hh. I thought his nuts, or what is left of them looked a bit better today and as his temperature is stable and normal over the last 4 days I am starting to calm down about any complications.

The view from leaning over Titch

Titch aged 9 months - can't show a full body shot as too ugly!!

The only complication in my life at the moment is that whilst out hacking my spooky thoroughbred, she sort of spooked (again), and launched herself off a 3' bank, onto the tarmac road, promptly crashing to the floor and landing like bambi ( managed to stay with her till this point - very proud :) ), then just after we parted company she galloped off home again.  Needless to say she is very sore behind with a massive haematoma over her stifle, which the vet drained today, knowing it would just refill.

I, on the other hand, spent all yesterday afternoon at A&E as, having landed on my shoulder when Hetty pressed the 'eject' button, my shoulder was very painful.  I have apparently ruptured my (big word alert!) acromio-clavicular joint capsule and torn the cartilage therein. OUCH! No riding for a good few weeks, which is ok because Hetty can't be ridden for a few weeks, dove-tailing nicely. Thanks Hetty!

Gelding a Foal and Locking Stifles

So, because Titch has been getting more and more nibbly and pushy (baby stallion behaviour) when I take him out for a walk, and because now is the right time of the year, and because he is never going to add anything wonderful to the equine gene pool, I had him gelded 10 days ago. The vet sedated him standing, twitched his nose and used local anaesthetic in 'the area' and it all went without a hitch.  He was done standing up, well, swaying! Titch was 8 1/2 months old, there are no flies to bother the wound site and he is fine.

Day 3 his sheath swelled up to about twice normal, but the vet was only concerned if his scrotum swelled and it hasn't.
10 days on from the op the site is still draining and the sheath is looking a bit enlarged, having gone down to normal size again.  I was warned to keep a close eye from day 10-14, but hopefully this is just a blip. To reduce the original swelling I cold hosed Titch's sheath and took him for a daily 10 minute walk, though I gather that twice a day is optimal.

The day before the op I noticed that one of Titch's back legs was stiff in its entire length and he struggled to get going walking. I recognised this as a locking stifle.  I have seen both back legs do this now, but the vet says they often grow out of this as they get bigger and become more muscled.  I do hope so.

About 2 weeks ago he was looking very nearly level front and back, but now he is majorly bum high again. He is looking a bit poor too if I'm honest, but the spring grass has just started coming through to put some roundness on him.

Stop Nipping me!

I am now trying to walk Titch and Uncle Patches out twice a week.  Titch's front end appears to be levelling up a bit with his rear end as he grows.  And uncle Patches is in danger of getting too fat and laminitis in the spring if he doesn't wiggle off some pounds now.

Titch has now decided it is sort of fun to try to nip my elbow as I lead him. NO! I make chicken wings with my arms and send him backwards to spell it out to him.  Now all I have to say is 'No' and he is already backing up, but as yet it has not stopped him trying to nip me!  Maybe he is now at the stage where his nuts need to come off.  But he is not aggressive about it.  It is more like what a baby does when they are exploring everything with their mouth.

I am getting the distinct feeling that he might be a sort of 'nappy' pony when he is full grown.  If he decides he wants a bit of that green grass over there on one particular route, he plants his feet and will not budge! In the early days, to let him rest his brain when I first took him out on walks, I let him eat at this particular verge once or twice.  Now he thinks he can always stop there. WRONG!

Food Time Manners and Snow

We are now refining Titch's manners a bit.  He can follow me in to the stable without hassling me for his bucket of tea, he parks like a statue next to the wall and waits (10 seconds today) for me to say he can have his tea.  This was a hard lesson for Titch as his belly rules!!  I had to be consistent and make him go back to where he had come from if and as soon as he made the very first step towards me uninvited.  I am still working on this with my big horse!

He can also walk back to the word 'back' and a bit of arm flapping.  I am hoping to make him respond to a wiggle of one finger eventually.

He is a fairly low reactor (which is a good thing!) so I had to force the issue to make him charge about in the snow, but I think you'll agree the photos I took are great.