27th June: Sign of life: Blood and Yoga

Finally, we managed to write a blog post again!

We have been very busy the last couple of days. Besides the usual daily routine, we had the opportunity to participate (for free) in a yoga course for riders that took place here at the stud farm. Specifically, this meant yoga every day from 09:00 - 10:00 and from 16:00 - 18:00. Of course, the "normal" work did not decrease, but we had to leave some horses because there simply wasn't enough time for everything.

It was an exciting experience and we even had sore muscles a few times. Personally, I wouldn't book/pay for something like that. But apparently there are enough riders who are interested in it and find it valuable, maybe even improving their riding skills. It should also be mentioned that for the other participants, one riding lesson per day was included in the course fee...

Anyway, we are now stretched and relaxed and ready for new adventures! 💪🏻

By the way: The course instructor bought one of the horses that we are currently training. Next week, this horse (together with another one of "our" horses) will be traveling to Germany or Austria. Since she was already here, we did some "training" sessions with her to show her what we have been doing with her mare so far, what she already knows, etc. She was satisfied with the progress.

Now, about the topic of blood: On Monday of this week, as almost every day, we released the horses in the area where the caravan is stationed. We watched them eat, and suddenly one horse pushed Fly away from the fence, and we saw that she got stuck somewhere on one of those reinforcement net fences, and then managed to free herself. Of course, we immediately went to her. Jenny was shocked: Fly was bleeding heavily from her nostrils! It wasn't just dripping, the blood was flowing out!

Although Jenny usually stays calm and acts thoughtfully in such situations due to her profession, apparently it doesn't apply when her own horse is involved...

Anyway, I managed to convince her not to immediately load Fly and take her to the clinic in Madrid (1.5 hours drive). We then made a video that our boss forwarded to a veterinarian. She said that injuries in the nose often look worse than they actually are, because the nose is well vascularized. Up to 5 liters of blood loss is not a problem.

Jenny couldn't calm down completely yet, and kept putting one bandage after another in Fly's nostrils to stop the bleeding. Finally, after about 30 minutes, the bleeding actually decreased significantly. It was about 2 liters of blood, and it continued to bleed slightly throughout the night. What had happened? - Fly had stuck a strong wire that was protruding through the fence into her nose, like a piercing. However, the wire went through the skin, then through the entire nasal cavity, and on the lower side of the nose, it cut another hole in the flesh. But we only found out about this 2 days later when the vet came. In any case, the lower hole is still open. We hope it will close on its own. If not, it will need to be sutured. If the vet doesn't have the time, he will have to make an incision in the nostrils to be able to suture it properly... - Jenny is still not completely relieved...

In addition, we are still dealing with the "drama" of hay quality. The hay has these tiny, very sharp "hay flowers" in it. These nasty things injure the horses' gums. Sometimes it even bleeds. Jenny gets furious when her Fly is not feeling well! - Absolutely justified, of course!

After filing a complaint, we are now allowed to choose from all the hay on the stud farm. That sounds good, but it's not that easy: Last week, 10 big trucks were delivered with hay bales! The hay is all very different, each bale is different or could be, and since they are so tightly packed, it's not easy to judge the quality without cutting open the bale. - The old bad hay is now used up and tomorrow we will see if we can find some good one!

There's not much else new. Jenny made her own mint/ginger/lime syrup again. Very delicious! The weather has been very changeable and cool until midweek, now it's hot again. The next few days will have temperatures of 33 degrees. There is no rain in sight for the next 2 weeks, which is not good for the nature here. Everything is drying out. And it's also very hot for working. So we will plan for a longer lunch break and start earlier and finish later to avoid the midday heat. For our sake and for the sake of the horses.