About Us

My photo
In 1977 we hired our first narrowboat from Anglo Welsh at Market Harborough.From that moment our destiny was set. In 2006 we finally purchased our own brand new 57' narrowboat which we named 'Free Spirit'. Our aim is to travel the length and breadth of all the navigable rivers and canals of the UK. This will be our story as it unfolds.

Sunday 5 January 2014

Escapee on the towpath

I certainly wasnt prepared for a sudden appearence of a runaway horse as I walked away from Gadsby bridge this morning. Having been out for over 2 hours and on my way back home, I had just left the bridge when I heard shouts and then the galloping of hoofs coming from the direction of the field track. Jade was lagging behind and still on the bridge, thankfully, as she would have been directly in line of the pony's hoofs. I tried to slow the beast down by waving my arms but it was having none of it and avoided a collision by the skin of my teeth by performing a nifty side step to the right. Now you may think I was stupid in trying to stop the runaway pony but I have been round horses nearly all of my life, first by working in a stable yard looking after 8 horses then teaching Colin and Christine to ride on their own pony's before finally owning my own 16 hh Hanoverian for over 18 years. So  normally waving your arms in a confident and assertive manner would have halted the pony but for it not to stop meant something must have really spooked it. The owner came running but by now the pony was well on its way toward Eastwood lock. I just hope she manages to get it back before an unsuspected walker is suddenly confronted by it! 



In hot pursuit.
I thought I would show this photo of Jade taken before the incident with the pony. Now you might think this is totally unsurprising seeing as dogs run all the time. But for Jade, who has been diagnosed with arthritis in her back legs, it's a miracle.  For some time now she has struggled to stand up and sit down and to run was out of the question. The vets had subscribed rimadyl a pain killing tablet and for months it did the trick. Unfortunately before Christmas she once again started to slow down and not want to go for her walks so the vet has put her on Metacam. There is a down side to this drug. It may (and I mean may) shorten her life by attacking her liver, kidneys and cause Gastro intestinal ulceration but I feel I would rather Jade have a shorter life without pain, then prolong it with suffering. I have put a link here explaining side effects of both Rimadyl and Metacam


Running for the first time in ages.
And finally:-

 First real frost we have had this morning





4 comments:

nb Bonjour said...

Sorry to hear Jade has arthritis. When our old Tess began to suffer with it, we gave her cod liver oil capsules, which seemed to help, then when she had to go on a low-fat diet we switched to liquid glucosamine which she found palatable in semi-skimmed milk. We think it helped - worth the cost to try anyway! Here is the link http://www.healthspan.co.uk
Best wishes
Debby

Ian and Irene Jameison said...

Hello Debby,

Funny you should mention that. We put Jade on cod liver oil tablets a while ago now on the recommendation of our vets. I like to think that by doing this it has helped her joints keep supple. Might be worth adding the glucosamine though. Thanks for the info.
Happy New Year to you
Irene

Mich said...

Hiya Irene
When my beautiful 13 year old Doberman started with arthritis I did a huge amount of research. I started her on glucosamine a very small amount of turmeric the tip of teaspoon amount mixed in with her food twice a day. Tumeric reduces inflammation we noticed a huge difference and she no longer needed to take the metacam. We enjoyed her for another year before she went on her way to the rainbow bridge. On our trip back from London this year I started with toothache I dipped my toothbrush in turmeric it reduced the inflammation and the toothache went. Hope this helps

Ian and Irene Jameison said...

Hello Mich,

I'm certainly going to try your suggestion, not just for Jade but for both Ian and myself too. We have the beginnings of arthritis in hands and neck so hopefully Tumeric will help us as well. Thank you so much for your tip. (-:

Blog Archive