Penny seems to be coping well with the rather changeable weather. It's either bright sunshine, rain or snow. The poor girl does look rather scruffy though. Her foot looks to have sorted itself out so fingers crossed that that is ok now...

Well Penny has managed to lose the foot putty. I brought her in today and hosed off her foot so I could see. the putty has gone, however her foot looks good. I trotted her up the lane and she seemed to be sound. Penny was very stressed about coming in, now that she has been back out with her best mate Lily. I have decided to leave her foot and monitor it. She is much happier out and seems sound, so hopefully it will stay like that. It would be nice if the weather dried up a bit though...

I checked Penny's foot this morning and the foot putty has set nice and hard. It hadn't moved so I have taken the chance and turned her out. She was very pleased to get back to her friends, there was a lot of nickering and sniffing going on. She didn't go particularly mad either, considering she has been in for over a week. She had a huge roll, a squeal and a buck and then that was it. She must be feeling pregnant, as is her field companion who is also sporting a baby bulge. Fingers crossed her foot stays ok now - it would be nice if the weather dried up for a bit also!

The vet has been to see Penny today and says that her foot has cleared up nicely. He has said that she can go back out with a poultice boot on, but with the mud the way it is I am not optimistic that it will stay on. As such we are trying some foot putty. I have put some in today and am going to see if it survives while she is in the stable and if it does, then I will turn her out tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Penny has had her second EHV jab, next one is due at the beginning of April. She is also due her flu jab in May, when I will also give her a tetanus. She should be up to date then with her jabs ready for her foal.

The vet said that her condition is spot on. She does not want to gain any more weight , which with poor nutrition in the grass at this time of year, is unlikely. Whilst she has been in she has been having approx 450g of Suregrow and half a bucket of chaff per feed, twice a day. She has been having as much hay as she can eat. I will stick with this feeding (minus the hay) while she is out as she has access to grass 24/7.

Good news - Penny's foot is finally looking better. She was resting her other leg this morning when I went to see her, which means that she is weight bearing more on her bad foot. The swelling in her leg has also gone down considerably which is great. I hope to have the vet come on Monday to give her the second EHV, so I will cheekily ask him to have a peep at her leg while he is there. I am optimistic that she will go out out then. It will be a bit of a relief, I've been up there at 4am on several mornings, doing her after night duty and before earlies! Phew!

We have had quite a bit of snow and the ground is all frozen, which is quite good, hopefully it will discourage her from running around too much when I turn her out and give the foot chance to recover minus the mud!

Penny's foot is not looking a whole lot better. There is plenty of rubbish coming out of it which is a good sign, but the swelling in her leg is still there. I will have a look at it tomorrow morning and may then have to think about calling the vet.

Wayne Upton, Penny's farrier, has come out and had a look at her foot again. He has dug away some more of the foot and hopefully that will help her. She seemed more comfortable when he did this, as straight away she bore more weight on it, resting her other hind. On his advice I am going to tub her foot tonight and poultice it for three more days.

Her leg is still swollen but Wayne believes that this is probably due to the build up of lymphatic fluid in her leg - caused by her not bearing weight fully on that leg. Hopefully this is the case and as she becomes more comfortable then she will bear more weight on it. If there is no improvement by Friday then I will have to call the vet out.

I have been advised that the addition of some garlic to her feed may well help her immune system while she is feeling a bit down, so I have purchased some and will duly give her a couple of handfulls in her feed.