PERCY THE GELDING

Well the deed has been done. Percy went to the vet on Monday and had his operation. He is now officially a gelding. The trip wasn't without incident....

As I anticipated, Mr Percy was not too keen to get on the lorry. It is a lot to ask a young horse to walk up a steep ramp and in to a dark lorry, added to this it kept hailing and peeing down with rain. After several attempts in vain I went to get a tea towel to use as a blind fold. We put this over his eyes and got him to the top of the ramp, when he reared up and charged back down the ramp. Kim and Ange were pushing and I was pulling or rather 'guiding' because pulling only makes them rear. Several more attempts proved fruitless, he refused to move.

Meanwhile the clock was ticking and we had asked the groom at the vets to come in early so we could drop them off at 8. We started loading at 7am. There was nothing else for it, we rang Tony and asked him to come up and help (Mark couldn't as he was on his way to London), we needed some brute force. We also enlisted the help of one of the farm guys. Our plan was to shove Percy in.

That didn't work, they didn't fare any better than us girls. Percy just dug his feet in and refused to move. I was thinking to myself, oh dear we might have to ring up and say we can't load him. I wasn't too keen on that idea.

We weer just standing next to the ramp having a breather when, still blindfolded, Percy took it upon himself to walk up the ramp. Nobody was touching him, I barely even held the lead rope! He walked straight up and in to the lorry! I shouted "Quick get Penny" and Ange ran and untied her from the side of the box (we'd had to unload her because she was going frantic when Percy wouldn't get on) and quickly put her on. I used all my strength to pin Percy in the box while ange grabbed Penny and we shut the ramp. None of us could believe it, he literally walked up by himself, blindfolded without so much as a shove!

Percy travelled really well. Penny is a very good traveller so she kept him calm. He just balanced himself and sniffed the floor. At the other end I expected him to take a great leap from the top of the ramp which is what youngsters normally do, but he trotted down sensibly.

Once at the vets (after apologising profusely for being late) we put them in a stable and did the paperwork and left them for the day. We decided that we would take the big lorry on the return leg as the vets had a loading bay which enables you to put the ramp out flat. The little lorry wasn't tall enough to use it.

We manhandled the partitions in the big lorry which truly is no mean feat! We rode out on Rupert and Babs (my 3rd last ride on Rupey doop) and whilst out, Debs rang to say that Percy had come through his operation ok and it had all gone well.

We collected Percy and prepared ourselves for round two of loading. We put the lights on in the lorry (it was dark outside) and had the ramp flat in the loading bay. Percy reared when his mum disappeared round the corner of the bay, but when she returned he followed right behind her. Ange asked penny to walk very slowly across the ramp, which she did obligingly, and Percy followed right behind her. He walked straight in. He travelled really well and once again he unloaded very sensibly.

I was very pleased with Percy's behaviour. After the initial drama it seemed almost as if he had thought about it and decided to give it a go. It even seemed that he had learnt from his first trip ready for loading the second time. Now whether he remembers this for the next time remains to be seen! I doubt it!

RECOVERY

Percy had a bit of swelling the morning after his op, but it had gone down again by the evening when I got him in from the field. He is having antibiotics once a day which he has eaten up in his feed. He looks really bright and well, so fingers crossed he has come through it ok. Watch this space....