I’ll try and keep to the tldr version. A lot has happened since I last posted on the blog, but then again, not much has happened at the same time – ya know?
Let’s see…
2019: we move back to Australia in the middle of winter – we arrive at the end of June and we are back for good.
August: the property Copper is being kept at goes up for sale, and I can’t find anywhere to move him to as Australia is still in a really bad drought.
October: we are told we have two weeks to move him out by, but I still can’t find any place to put him in; EVERYTHING and I do mean EVERYTHING is closed to new clients. Thankfully a listing pops up on Gumtree – it’s for a paddock with a dam and fence and that’s literally it, besides being HALF an HOUR away from our city. At this point, I don't care at all. We are taking the spot.
Nov-Dec: I get a bad kidney infection that lands me in hospital for two weeks. We also buy a house, and have to move our house, plus my in-laws are also moving while I'm in hospital.
January: Still getting back on my feet from the kidney infection. Copper is chased over a fence by his paddock mate – a brat of a pony that bullies him around and bites him all over.
His leg is injured; he’s got a chunk out of his offhind – the outside of his cannon half way between his hock and fetlock.
It’s not terrible, but he’s lame as and needs a vet. Then he ends up on penicillin twice a day for six days – which is an HOUR drive there and back again each time.
It’s a LOT. I don't even have a HOSE to clean his wound down - I have to carry enough water out with me to wash down his leg every time.
February: finally the rains start coming down. Copper and his paddock mate have been living in a dust bowl since the end of November – there is ZERO grass in the paddock, so they’ve been on hay rounds, but we finally have some real grass popping up.
March: Copper is already growing in his winter coat, it's going to be a cold winter. Although he's been doing better than before as his leg is finally healing, I can see that having a brat for his only paddock companion is really getting to him. He's starting to become very withdrawn and depressed. I am seriously stressed and worried - not just about his state of mind, but also with the burden of winter coming - feeding and rugging will be an expensive nightmare. It's costing us $12.00 just in the petrol to drive out there!
In desperation I start reaching out to equestrian complexes again trying to find him a new paddock. Unbelievably, I manage to catch a popular complex in the ACT at just the right time, and we get offered a spot in a group agistment set up.
It's run by the same people when we were at Rose Cottage, so there's nothing super grand, but it's seven minutes from our house and as basic as the facilities are, it's a huge step up from what we currently have available.
April: We are settling into our new paddock and it's great. We have yards, a common area for tacking/feeding, a wash bay, a very small sand arena that's 40x20 and tons of trails to go out on!
He's finally fat again after loosing way too much weight and muscle over summer, and is much, much happier. I'm also so ecstatic to have him so close - I'm able to feed him his supplements everyday/every other day without too much stress. It's easy to take care of his leg as it's still healing. I'm having fun exploring the new trails with Copper, and everything is finally going so well.
It's been a journey to get him back into a good situation for us both, but it's so worth it to have him back with me. I've missed my pony like crazy the years I was away, and I'm just soaking up every moment with him.
And yes, through it all COVID-19 has been a thing. We social distance at the yards - it's very busy as there are a lot of invested owners. Pretty much everyone who has a horse or horses there is out everyday to feed/change rugs/ride so it's like grand central station sometimes.
It's also in the middle all these suburbs and has a lot of public access and I don't know about you, but EVERYONE in our city is out walking/bike riding/taking the dog(s) and kids for walks all day, every day just about! So there are also a LOT of random people walking into and through our yards and trails.
I gotta say, it does make it a bit tricky when you are trying to avoid people like they have the plague (which, they might!!) but we are all doing our best I think, and so far it seems to be working.
I'm so grateful to have Copper - he helps me get out, and makes me laugh everyday. He's such a goof, but I love it.
Next post will have to just be about all the funny things he's done lately!
See ya,
bonita
