Spirit - The electrician

Spirit was in very good form today, picking his knees up high as he trotted around the concrete before going off to the field.
I gave him an M.O.T. before he went and was happy with his progress; his front legs are doing well, still needs the tendons to stretch out a bit more at the back of one leg and as he is a young 23 years old the odd ache and pain around his joints is not a surprise in this rainy weather. Jessica always puts her oldies to bed with plenty of rugs and wrapped legs to keep them warm...even her husband!

As you can see from this photograph he is very agile when the flies are around. The Vet did a test for Cushing's Disease on Spirit as he had his suspicions the Pituitary gland was not working correctly and it came back as positive, though still at a stage that can be managed with a drug which will make his life not only longer but happier. Jessica was warned by her Vet that the first few days on the drug will make him rather drowsy.... someone forgot to tell Spirit as he was still in a mischievous, lively mood two days into the treatment.

His stomach always takes a bit of healing too, old scar tissue from intestine troubles I think, the healing seems to relax it nicely.

 

Just before Jessica let Spirit and his friends loose in the field I noticed her fiddling with the connections on the electric fence, she was attempting to hide them, when I asked what she was doing she told me about another naughty trick Spirit likes to get up to: Last year on a few occasions Jessica had found all three of her horses out of their field, having a lovely time eating the neighbour's lawn, on each occasion she found the connections to the electric fencing disconnected, lying on the floor. It was too incredible to think that one of the horses could have worked out how to remove the red crocodile clip and dismantle the fence to set them free so she was starting to doubt she ever connected it in the first place.

It was not until she lay in wait one morning, watching from a short distance in hiding that she wished she had a video camera on her: With Blacky following Spirit's every move they saw Spirit nibble at the red live clip until he removed it and threw it to the floor then proceeded to take apart the fencing, leading the way for Blacky to follow.
Even after Jessica thought she had made it impossible to repeat, she found Blacky doing the same thing, having learned from the master!