Seagull Chicks

I couldn't resist sharing this picture that Chris took of a seagull nest on the McCormack Islands. Aren't the chicks cute? I wonder if the egg has hatched?

The Boys Go Sailing

Chris is just back from a fabulous weekend sailing with Hans and Alistair, unfortunately Duncan couldn't join them this year. The weather couldn't have been better - lots of sun and a bit of a breeze to get the sails up. They meandered from Keils across to Gigha, then Islay, and on the last night, they anchored off the largest island of the McCormack Isles, situated at the entrance to Loch Sween.

ORANGE PRIZE SHORT LIST & HOLIDAY TIME

Well, I must be mad! I've just bought all six books short listed in the 2010 Orange Prize. I'm going on holiday at the end of the month and require reading material to last a week, and I thought buying these books was a good idea, as I haven't read any of these authors' works before.

When on holiday, Chris and I like to walk for miles with the dogs, bar-b-que in the evenings and read. That's all, that's it, that's what we do on holiday and it's great.

Just in case you didn't know, Barbara Kingsolver's book "The Lacuna" won the Orange Prize for 2010.

Head Shaking Syndrome

The other night Mum asked me what Bombay was like to ride last Sunday, as his Head Shaking is steadily getting worse and we are trying to judge how many weeks we have left before he becomes un-ridable. As some of you may remember - if you read my blogs - last July I had a nasty fall in a show field, because of Bombay's condition, which shook my nerves as his behaviour was completely out of character.

I described Bombay as beginning to loose his ability to concentrate, stumbling and sluggish gate, weaving across the road so that you have to constantly have to work to keep him straight & occasional violent head tics. Head always looking about, seeing monsters in the hedgerows and his shadow being very scary, putting his nose down to scratch it on his leg. Head and body beginning not to communicate, definitely worse than last week, but if you ride in company, we have another couple of weeks before we have to call it a day for the summer. But the one thing that I did notice while tacking him up were his eyes. They were sort of glazed, as if he wasn't actually seeing - the lights were on and no one was at home if you know what I mean?

My friend refuses to ride Bombay - she says she is too heavy for him - so she cannot feel what he is like to ride. It is like riding a drunk man - no co ordination, inability to listen, no communication between body and brain, oh the list is endless. She says Bombay is "taking the piss" and I say he definitely is not. I'm not a good jockey, but I know what I can feel is not right and that I have no control over what is going on beneath me. I was beginning to have doubts and feeling very isolated because there seems to be no one else around who has a horse with Head Shaking Syndrome to talk to or compare notes with.

I searched the Internet the other day to see if I could find a chat room or some sort of help and found The Head Shaking Syndrome Centre in the US. At last, useful, knowledgeable, sensible information and I hope help. I felt elated. However, the downside is that I discovered that the reason for the head shaking is more like a violent headache / migraine rather than an itchy irritation, which did upset me. Poor Bombay.

The site also had a pain table, and so far Bombay is I would say at Level 3 going on 4. One woman had successfully managed to treat her horse with a 3 day purge of steroids, every month and claimed her horse was nearly back to his normal self. I suggested to Mother to perhaps try this course of treatment, but I'm afraid she just burst into tears, saying she couldn't cope. I think the thought of the boy being in so much pain distressed her to be honest, and that was why she reacted so emotionally.

I feel there is hope and help on this site, and will print off articles for Mother to read. I found it inspiring and helpful, and will keep going back to it to reassure myself that all is not lost. First thing though - he is to remain stabled during the day with a head mask on and out at night when the light levels are lower, and don't ride him on windy days - makes matters worse not better as I thought.

The Head Shaking Syndrome site is linked below.