Haven't posted about the Mouselet for a few weeks so I think it must be time for a little update!
Firstly, the skin saga is still ongoing but thankfully he is doing alright for now. I've practically taken out shares in aloe vera gel and am treating his bald patches with it twice a day, and *touch wood* this seems to be keeping it under control for the moment. The bald patches that appeared on his head up by the forelock haven't got any worse, and there are actually teeny tiny hairs sprouting up again - and, although the hair loss around the base of his ears has slowly started to spread around to the back, the exposed skin is still black and smooth and showing no sign of actually being sore or itchy. So far so good, although it's only been 2 weeks since it started up and there's still a lot of summer to come.
Photos
Left ear 2 weeks ago
Left ear this week - you can see it's spreading but the original bit isn't any worse.
Right ear 2 weeks ago
Right ear this week, pretty much the same
Forehead 2 weeks ago (the pink bit was the first bald patch to appear)
Forehead this week - pink bit has started to show signs of hair regrowth
The other part of the problem last year was the itchy mane and tail and rubbing it so much he lost a significant thickness of hair. Well at the first sign of bum-rubbing I hauled him up to the yard for a thorough inspection of mane and tail and a wash with aloe vera shampoo, picking out all the crusty/flaky bits with my fingernails and massaging the shampoo right into the skin. Have done this twice a week since then and there haven't been any more signs of rubbing, so am now feeling fairly positive that the aloe vera will do the job.
Spotty botty, he definitely didn't do THIS last summer!
Bootiful spotty nose
Patchy face poor boy
Fashion statement, oversized beekeeping helmet slash fly hood
Perving on Twirl as she flashes her bits at the world
We've been doing a lot of walking recently. Because of the nice weather I've had the motivation to do it more, and I take him out most days after work. I keep him on a loose rope and let him pick where he wants to go in both walk and trot. He is walking happily on the stones and gritty bits, but in trot if we hit a gritty patch he takes himself off it. I am looking into getting him some hoof boots, assuming they make them small enough for his dainty feet! - in the meantime we are sticking to walking on the roads and only trotting if there's a grass verge he can go on. Although Mouse thinks grass verges are better for eating than anything else!
On my day off this Tuesday I took him up to the yard late afternoon planning to have a little sit on him in the lunge pen. I did his tail wash etc and sorted his feet out and then started to tack up - and realised I'd left his bridle down at the house after cleaning it the other night... so I rode him in his headcollar & leadrope instead! My boss came to take a couple of photos and made a comment about being colour co-ordinated... I hadn't even noticed lol!
I lined him up with the mounting block and he stood perfectly still while I got on and tightened the girth. I took him into the lunge pen and rode for 5 minutes or so - and wow, what a lovely 5 minutes it was! We walked around a few times on one rein, including over the poles left over from a loose-jumping session, then changed rein on the diagonal and did the other direction too. It took very little leg to keep him going forwards, and any time he stalled a bit I could get him going again just by clicking at him. His steering was really good too, even just from a leadrope tied to his headcollar, I was so impressed! We even tried a little bit of trot. His ears were active the whole time and it felt like he was completely tuned in to me rather than being distracted by things outside the pen, he was so responsive to my voice and when we were in halt he'd turn his head to look around at me. It was really quite special!
My boss couldn't take photos as she had a horse to prepare for a viewing, so I grabbed my camera off the fence and made a little video instead. So here we are - his 4th time ever with someone on his back, walking / trotting / halting in a headcollar and leadrope, ridden one-handed with the other hand holding a camera. I'm so proud I could melt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEUUwFt5jgM
And a few pics of my new favourite view!
Firstly, the skin saga is still ongoing but thankfully he is doing alright for now. I've practically taken out shares in aloe vera gel and am treating his bald patches with it twice a day, and *touch wood* this seems to be keeping it under control for the moment. The bald patches that appeared on his head up by the forelock haven't got any worse, and there are actually teeny tiny hairs sprouting up again - and, although the hair loss around the base of his ears has slowly started to spread around to the back, the exposed skin is still black and smooth and showing no sign of actually being sore or itchy. So far so good, although it's only been 2 weeks since it started up and there's still a lot of summer to come.
Photos
Left ear 2 weeks ago
Left ear this week - you can see it's spreading but the original bit isn't any worse.
Right ear 2 weeks ago
Right ear this week, pretty much the same
Forehead 2 weeks ago (the pink bit was the first bald patch to appear)
Forehead this week - pink bit has started to show signs of hair regrowth
The other part of the problem last year was the itchy mane and tail and rubbing it so much he lost a significant thickness of hair. Well at the first sign of bum-rubbing I hauled him up to the yard for a thorough inspection of mane and tail and a wash with aloe vera shampoo, picking out all the crusty/flaky bits with my fingernails and massaging the shampoo right into the skin. Have done this twice a week since then and there haven't been any more signs of rubbing, so am now feeling fairly positive that the aloe vera will do the job.
Spotty botty, he definitely didn't do THIS last summer!
Bootiful spotty nose
Patchy face poor boy
Fashion statement, oversized beekeeping helmet slash fly hood
Perving on Twirl as she flashes her bits at the world
We've been doing a lot of walking recently. Because of the nice weather I've had the motivation to do it more, and I take him out most days after work. I keep him on a loose rope and let him pick where he wants to go in both walk and trot. He is walking happily on the stones and gritty bits, but in trot if we hit a gritty patch he takes himself off it. I am looking into getting him some hoof boots, assuming they make them small enough for his dainty feet! - in the meantime we are sticking to walking on the roads and only trotting if there's a grass verge he can go on. Although Mouse thinks grass verges are better for eating than anything else!
On my day off this Tuesday I took him up to the yard late afternoon planning to have a little sit on him in the lunge pen. I did his tail wash etc and sorted his feet out and then started to tack up - and realised I'd left his bridle down at the house after cleaning it the other night... so I rode him in his headcollar & leadrope instead! My boss came to take a couple of photos and made a comment about being colour co-ordinated... I hadn't even noticed lol!
I lined him up with the mounting block and he stood perfectly still while I got on and tightened the girth. I took him into the lunge pen and rode for 5 minutes or so - and wow, what a lovely 5 minutes it was! We walked around a few times on one rein, including over the poles left over from a loose-jumping session, then changed rein on the diagonal and did the other direction too. It took very little leg to keep him going forwards, and any time he stalled a bit I could get him going again just by clicking at him. His steering was really good too, even just from a leadrope tied to his headcollar, I was so impressed! We even tried a little bit of trot. His ears were active the whole time and it felt like he was completely tuned in to me rather than being distracted by things outside the pen, he was so responsive to my voice and when we were in halt he'd turn his head to look around at me. It was really quite special!
My boss couldn't take photos as she had a horse to prepare for a viewing, so I grabbed my camera off the fence and made a little video instead. So here we are - his 4th time ever with someone on his back, walking / trotting / halting in a headcollar and leadrope, ridden one-handed with the other hand holding a camera. I'm so proud I could melt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEUUwFt5jgM
And a few pics of my new favourite view!