Penny is a striking looking coloured cob
mare. She is the horse who everyone notices from the roadside due to her
size and colour. Although she is the largest horse on the yard she is the
biggest coward. She keeps herself to herself in the field and her favourite
treat is swedes
Unfortunately Penny is having a lot of trouble with her bad knee and is lame
the majority of the time now. She had a scan on it and it was interesting to
see the parts of her bones which are so arthritic, and also the lump she has
which is filled with fluid. The vet says this is almost certainly from an
old injury such as a kick from another horse, which she sustained when she
was younger, and now it is becoming worse as she is getting older. We had
her treated with injections into the problem area and this seemed to work
well for a while but has not lasted long term. There is not much more we can
do for her except to ease her pain with painkillers and supplements and
natural remedies, magnetic boots and Bowen therapy.
Other than this she seems quite happy in herself and developed quite a crush
on Pearl a while back. She would stand at the bottom of the field and gaze
at Pearl and if Pearl was taken out of sight she would become very
distressed and cry out for her. This lasted a couple of weeks and we still
can't understand why it happened but we're glad it's over as Penny refused
to come into her stable and instead we had to leave her out overnight so she
could see Pearl and Red in the paddock nearby. Pearl is now in the same
field as Penny but thank god she seems to be back to her normal self and
doesn't pay Pearl much attention.
March 2006
Penny is doing very well as she has had a few more Bowen Therapy sessions
and is definitely feeling the benefit from them. She became sore and
unbalanced again around her quarters and had a sore chest so these areas are
being worked on and resolved. We have decided to take her rug off except for
in wet weather (she hates the
rain) as she seems to move much more freely without one, and as she has
quite large shoulders we think that most rugs pull on her chest a little.
She has been really happy at feed times recently as a kind man brings a load
of swedes in every Saturday, & they are her favourite treat! so she has one
most nights in her tea.
November 05
Penny had her teeth rasped for the first time on the 9th of November. She
behaved much better than we anticipated and we were very proud of her when
she stood with the gag in her mouth for so long.
She did become a little distressed toward the end but she had all the sharp
edges taken off her teeth which will make her feel a lot better. She had
taken to eating on one side of her mouth for some reason, so her teeth were
wearing unevenly so she had them straightened off.
She also had a general check up and all was well, and she was very good
for her tetanus injection too
October 05
Penny is doing ok but has had some trouble with her knee and her balance all
over her body. For this we have had a Bowen Therapist out to see her and
asses her and give her the relevant treatment. To learn more about this
treatment please visit
www.emrt.eques.com.au
The practitioner found that Penny is very stiff on the back legs and tense
on her rump, and her front leg muscles at the top are wearing unevenly as
she is trying to take the weight off the knee with the bump, and so this is
unbalancing her whole body. She had an hour long treatment to re-align her
muscles and re balance her nervous system, and Penny showed a lot of
different reactions throughout the treatment including going sleepy, yawning
constantly, changes in breathing pattern and shifting her weight. This is
all good as it shows that she is accepting the treatment well.
She is due another treatment next week and we are planning to ask our vet
for more advice on how to exercise her to help her become more supple
throughout her body.
Apart from this and having become a little overweight over the summer she is
doing well and seems content and happy.
August 05
Penny is doing fine and is enjoying her life plodding around the field. She
also seems to be enjoying having a neighbour with Willow being in the stable
next door.
We have been having problems picking up 2 of Penny's legs though and wonder
if she also has a back problem like Willow, so are hoping to have the horse
Physiotherapist look at her too.
Apart from that her manners have come along very well since her training and
we are all very pleased with her.
July 05
We are very proud to say that Penny had all four hooves trimmed on the 29th
June and wasn't sedated! She behaved perfectly so it seems all our
hard work with her training has paid off.
Marie who has been visiting every week to train the horses with handling
deserves a big thank you from all of us and from Penny after all her hours
of hard work. We really appreciate it.
We became worried about the lump on Penny's knee a while ago as it became
more swollen. The vet took a look and said although it wasn't causing her
any pain we had to keep a careful eye on it and to hose it with cold water
regularly.
April 05
Today was Penny's first farrier visit since she has begun training with
Marie, and all in all it went very well. She still tried her best to kick
and she was still sedated slightly, but as Marie was there holding her and
using her special Dually halter, it didn't take as long as usual and she had
all four hooves trimmed, unlike Molly who's back ones were left.
We are all very proud of Penny as we all understand that she has a fear
which she needs to get over. This is easier to understand if you imagine
what it's like to have a fear of anything yourself like a fear of spiders or
heights.
We are optimistic that Penny's next farrier visit she will not need sedating
and will have all four hooves trimmed!
March 05
Penny has been receiving extra attention lately as we are trying to gain her
trust. Penny has always been wary of humans, especially when we try to
do strange things like pick her hooves up and clean them out! Although she
has improved a lot since arriving here she still has a few handling issues
which really need to be addressed.
We have enlisted the help of a local Monty Roberts Trainee who came down to
Hope Pastures recently to assess Penny. This was done by using a special
type of halter round Penny's head to help teach her to respect our personal
space, as sometimes she can become strong with her handlers, uncontrollably
dragging them over to a distant bucket or patch of grass! She is also not
fussy about where she places her giant hooves!
Penny responded marvellously to the halter training, and Marie moved on to
helping Penny realise that we are causing her no harm when we go to pick he
hooves up. Horses are naturally defensive of their legs and feet and can
become worried if their hooves are restricted in any way. This is because in
the wild, if there were a predator nearby, Penny would need to be able to
gallop away fast to survive, which she quite sensibly thinks would be
difficult with a human hanging on to her hooves!
Marie's and our job now is to gain Penny's trust enough for her to put her
faith in us and trust us to keep her safe in any situation, much the same as
the 'herd leader ' would in the wild. Using the right equipment, plenty of
kindness, love and patience I'm sure we will all get there in the end and
Penny's lives and ours will be a lot easier. Penny holds a very special
place in all our hearts as she lost her friend Bracken some time ago and has
always had a sadness about her since then. She is very sweet natured and
makes some wonderful affectionate blowing sounds through her nose, and she
always takes treats from people's hands very delicately and gently.
You can come and visit Penny and her friends form 10-3 daily at the
sanctuary, if you'd like to bring a treat for her she's very partial to a
nice sweet apple or two. |
| Height |
16hh |
| Age |
12-16 |
| Breed |
Cob |
| Colour |
Skewbald (Brown & White) |
| Eats |
Pasture Nuts, Hi-Fi, Carrots, Apples &
Haylege. |
|
