Oh dear!

[sparrow100]

Morning!

I've been quiet for a while. I have (unwisely) added horses, another time-consuming hobby, to allotmenteering. Horse has been v poorly for nearly 2 months and I've spent nearly all my time at the stables or away this summer.

I've only been up to the plots briefly to water and to pollinate squashes for HSL, and they now look fairly dismal. At least this winter I'll have time to sort out the balance between the two.

I have managed to find some brassicas - nothing fancy, PSB & kale. Do you reckon they are worth sticking in? I know it's late but I was thinking of chancing it. Plus it will give me something nice to do amongst the weeding & clearing.

[Small pumpkin]

Morning sparrow
I'd give it a go. No harm in trying.

[Bren In Pots]

Sparrow you've got the plants so if I was you I'd put them in, could also sow some spinach.

[Penellype]

Sick horses are very time consuming - I hope the horse is getting better. You should have a nice supply of manure as a by-product.

I have some young kale plants which seem to be growing very fast (I haven't grown it before) and from the state of mine I'd say they will be fine. PSB might flower a little later than earlier sown plants but should still be fine. I've just sown spring cabbage and I've got spinach at the seed leaf stage and there's also time for oriental greens like mizuna if you start them off indoors to keep the slugs off.

[Zelenina]

The kale should be fine. I've no experience with PSB yet but you might as well try it. You could sow some winter radishes now as well.

What's wrong with your poor horse? I hope he gets better soon.

[sparrow100]

Grand, thanks for the encouragement. Will try to get them in this week.

OH is a bit concerned that I might have been thinking of giving up and that his source of decent chillies/corn/peas/etc would then also dry up!

Horse has a recurrent abcess in his hoof. We can't seem to shift it and he's been various shades of lame 8 weeks now. Vet out for x-rays in the morning. He's otherwise well in himself so fingers crossed it's sortable.

[Small pumpkin]

Sparrow you my have tried already but equine podiatrist might be able too help. My neighbor is one and she's always dealing with stuff like that.
If you go on the EPA website it will show you the nearest equine podiatrist.



Obviously I my also be way off the mark! I know very little about horses

[sparrow100]

Thanks SP, that's lovely of you.
Not wanting to turn this into a horse thread...but I'd be interested in working with an EP. However he's not mine and the yard has had a bad experience with one so all are now verboten. He is barefoot, not shod, so it also makes sense from that perspective.

I've spent today, when not at the stables, shelling buckets of beans. Bumper crop of some (Snowcap, Cherokee Trail of Tears) and I am hoping winter is a bit delayed so the rest get a chance to mature.

[Zelenina]

I know foot trouble can be very problematic and painful for horses. I had a pony with laminitis once upon a time. I should think a good horsey vet would be the best person to deal with it, possibly with antibiotics. Hope he gets better soon.

Definitely don't give up. It'll soon be time for planting garlic, and overwintering onion sets, and broad beans, and hardy peas. And what about winter lettuce? And green manures for any bits not growing a crop.

[Nicos]

Good for you to keep at the growing Sparrow under the circumstances.
As the others say- just go for it!
You never know what sort of weather we're going to get..might be perfect for those veggies!?

As for the lame horse...abcesses are the only thing which ever seems to trouble our Irish Draught x Thoroughbred horse.
He's 27 and lives out most of the year ( in the UK) and doesn't wear shoes.
Our best find was a 'corrective farrier' - always seems to get them sorted out quickly.

[Penellype]

Good to hear you have found some time for gardening and making something of your crop so that all the hard work earlier isn't wasted.

I'm always very very reluctant to give advice about lame horses online - that is the job of the vet and/or farrier. I've personally found with abcesses that farriers are better at finding the entry point and releasing the pus than vets, probably because they spend all day every day looking at horses' feet. Nicos, if your horse repeatedly gets abcesses he may have soft soles - ask the farrier if he thinks Keratex hoof hardener might help. I had a thoroughbred with this problem and painting the soles of the feet with Keratex did seem to help. But ask the farrier first.

[sparrow100]

Well, some of my crops will be substantial this year. I've shelled nearly 4kg of Snowcap & CToT beans, and there are more beans to come. Including NG's Veitch's beans, Hutterite Soup and all the French/runner beans I didn't pick.

And the squashes....! 4 potimarrons, 8 Black Futsus, 2 Oregon Sweetmeat, 2 Chirimen (look like bigger BFs), 1 Tonda Padana, 2 Sibleys, 12 Sucrette. The Flat Whites have been eaten by rats.

Saffron's just coming up too - with a bit of luck it'll flower before the worst of the weather.

Horse's x-rays came back clear. Hurray!! No infection/gas pockets showing, no pedal bone rotation (what I was most scared of!), just a ruddy great hole from where the infection tracked back & had to be released again. Until it's healed enough to plug, am doing dry poultices. Little s*d often takes them off with his teeth, but I can't find a poultice boot big enough for his HUGE feet. (He's a cob with a fair bit of draught in him going by the size of his head)