Tails From Provence

A Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, Inside an Enigma

…and some caterpillar slaughtering.

On Monday, Aero was coughing a lot. The vet prescribed an antibiotic. I reckon that as soon as I handed over the money for his medication in the local pharmacy on Tuesday morning, he stopped coughing.

There was not a single cough from Tuesday to Thursday, and I felt a bit silly to be treating my not-sick horse for an illness. Looking on the bright side, he was well. That was the important thing.

I rode Flurry on Wednesday and Thursday.

Love this view!

Friday was to be Aero’s day, for a mix of ground work and a little riding. And on the way from his paddock to the stables, he coughed twice. I tied him up in the barn to groom him and he coughed steadily. Crap. I decided not to ride him, but just to do a little ground work instead.

He was in brilliant form, and thoroughly enjoyed our session. He was working at liberty the whole time, and we practised our follow (backwards, forwards, fast, slow and sideways), reverse (with me in front and behind), sideways with me standing a couple of metres away, recall (perfect all the time, really pleased with that one) and we tried slalom at liberty (not perfect, but it worked). We finished with a little jump at liberty, just because he was enjoying it all so much. He loved that too! He starts off walking beside me towards a jump, I give him a signal to speed up and point at the jump and over he goes!

BUT, he coughed on and off throughout the session and, as I brushed him down afterwards, he was coughing as badly as he had been on Monday.

I was disgusted. And worried. And mystified.

He was one day from finishing his antibiotic and he was as bad as he had been when he started – despite not coughing all week.

Was it more likely to be an allergy?

After some thought, I decided that the best thing to do was to start giving him soaked hay. This is not as easy as it sounds. The water pipes are usually frozen first thing in the morning, so water is an issue, as is where to drain the water to afterwards – it’ll either turn into a skating rink or a quagmire, depending on weather conditions. In Cork, I had a several large plastic barrels, perfect for soaking hay, but I have nothing similar here. Maybe I could buy a large dustbin? I chatted with Alexandrine and we came up with a plan. Aero would go into an unused paddock, on his own. We would not put any straw in the field shelter, in order to keep dust exposure to a minimum. Alexandrine knew where we could find a barrel for soaking, and we’d sort out the water issue as we went along.

I went up to the farm on Saturday morning to set things up. First things first; bring Aero up for his final injection.

Not a single cough during the forty minutes I spent with him. Nothing. Not so much as an “Ahem.” How can he cough so badly one day, and be perfect the next?

To say I was mystified is an understatement, hence the use of Sir Winston’s words in the title!

I turned my attention to the nests of the processionary moth caterpillar once again – I wrote about these guys on the Wanderly Wagons blog three years ago. Everything to do with these creatures is at best irritant, at worst highly toxic. Perhaps he has been nibbling or just sniffing the pine trees near their nests and has been breathing in minute fragments of the silk they leave behind as they march around the branches at nighttime to feed?

The LSH and I spent the morning removing every single nest from their paddock and its environs. We cut down 14 all told, 11 from inside their paddock.

We had offers of help, of course…

I’m sure I can figure out how to use this…

Both boys were keen to be involved…

MothBusters ready for action!

but we did it all ourselves.

This yoke is brilliant, it even cut through a branch about four centimetres in diameter with no difficulty.

There was evidence of nibbled pine needles on several trees, right beside a nest in one case.

Is this the reason for the cough?

Once the nests were all cut down, we wanted to burn them. It was easier said than done with everything damp and no matches. A flame-thrower was the best option.

And eventually, the fire was roaring, with the help of some straw.

Those feckers are difficult to kill, though. The nests don’t burn at all, and the caterpillars were remarkably resilient.

Eventually, all that was left were some Krispy Kritters.

Mission accomplished.

Tags: pine processionary moth caterpillar

Cough. Cough. Cough.

Poor Aero.

He seemed to improve for the latter half of last week. Over the weekend, he coughed a little when I visited him in his paddock, but not too bad. On Monday, I decided to bring him up to the stables for a light pedicure, with a view to doing some gentle work afterwards.

He coughed all the way up the road and he coughed all the time I was working on him. His nose was running a little, but it was clear-ish. Despite the improvement in temperatures, his coat seemed a bit stary to my eyes. (I have no idea how to say that in French!)

I was now beginning to think hay allergy, or worse – there are a few processionary moth caterpillar nests around the place. Both the caterpillars and their nests can cause an extreme allergic reaction.

It was time to call the vet.

Alexandrine arrived and was as horrified as me at the extent of his coughing, having heard him cough only once the previous day. She didn’t think it could be the processionaries, she said he would be far worse and probably with various swellings all over his body if that was the case. She took his temperature and it was 38.4 – just a tiny bit up. That made it more likely to be an infection rather than an allergy – a positive thing in my opinion!

We left a message with the vet. The equine vets here cover a vast region, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when he prescribed over the phone, but I was. Five days antibiotic by IM injection.

I ordered it at the local pharmacy – again, I was surprised. There was no need for a prescription, or even for the pharmacist to speak with the vet! Different countries, different rules, I guess.

I brought Aero up to the stables for his first injection the following morning.

Not a single cough as we walked along the road.

Not a single cough as he waited while the syringe was prepared.

I almost decided not to bother with it, but he was so miserable the previous day that I went ahead.

Fingers crossed he’s on the road to recovery.

Snow Fun

The day after my semi-successful return to work with the horses, it snowed quite heavily. Did I go ride Flurry in the snow? Hell no! The LSH and I took a snow day!

While he went off with his camera, I dusted the snow off the bird feeders and filled them up.

Snowy feeders

Those poor little guys were hungry.

Goldfinches tucking into sunflower seeds

I had fun photographing them through the not-very-clean window with my not-very-expensive camera. Hence the not-very-good quality photographs!

Crested tit on top left and blue tit on bottom right

When the LSH came back, we took the dogs for a run in the snow. I had already had all three out for their regular walk, and we debated as to whether we should bring Cinnamon or not. The French vet had given me dire warnings about letting her get cold ages ago, but she seemed to be enjoying the snow, so we brought her.

We needn’t have worried. She had a blast, hopping around like a little bunny as she chased the ball.

Hold the mouse over each photo to see the caption, or click on one and step through them like a slide show :

There’s a ball here somewhere!

Told you!

So proud of herself!

Unfortunately the ball became weighed down with snow, causing her to do the occasional nose-dive

Meanwhile, Rosie and Cookie did Zoomies

With Rosie coming back occasionally for a treat

While Cookie remained fixated on running around

Whee!

Happy Lurcher 🙂

Interestingly, the next day Cinnamon gave us a very clear “No thank you” when we were setting off on our walk. We listened, and left her at home.

After lunch (home made broccoli and blue cheese soup, yum!) we went off to see the horses. Flurry was being pushy and thuggish, searching diligently for carrots on my person (there were none).

Hold the mouse over each photo to see the caption, or click on one and step through them like a slide show :

Hi mum! You has carrots?

Carrots in your pockets?

Carrots in your sleeves?

I know! Carrots in your hat!

They must be here somewhere!

I am sure I can smell carrots!

I try licking your hand.

Hmm, not very carroty.

I try biting your carrot fingers.

Sorry! Biting not a good idea.

We is friends still!

Aero only coughed once while we were there, and his nose is less runny. Hopefully he won’t need the vet! He was his usual mannerly self as I checked him over. And then he gave me one of those sharp reminders about how to behave around horses, even polite, well-behaved horses that you’ve known all their lives.

I had been talking to Flurry and I moved back to Aero from behind him, on the right. I did not speak to him – this was my mistake; I should have – but I put my hand on his rug near the withers as I approached his head. I can only assume that he thought I was Flurry or one of the horses in the paddock next door – he swung his head around to bite me, teeth bared and ears flat back against his head. I think he realised at the last instant that it was me, and he just brushed the shoulder of my jacket with his teeth.

Intentional bite or not, I figured I couldn’t let it pass and I sent him away. He watched us from a distance while I messed around with Flurry. After a few minutes, I called him back. Oddly, he went straight back to the LSH instead of to me. But all was well anyway. I told him we were still friends. It’s funny that, despite all of Flurry’s bolshy, pushy, food-obsessed behaviour, Aero came closer to doing serious damage with his teeth than Flurry ever did.