Itchy day

Monday is OAP day for Asyr. When we got to the grazing area in the forest, he wandered off while I sat on the path with the dogs and had a tick searching session. Found 3 a piece. Then noticed Asyr was now about 100 meters away and suddenly decided he had eaten enough. Being clever, I had put myself between him & home but forgot that Arabians are not always as clever as they are made out to be. he set off in the opposite direction and it took me a good 15 minutes to catch him up. Flash did his best to stop him and seemed to want to grab the lead line in his mouth but doesn't trust himself. He has no fear of Asyr, will nip at his feet (bad & unwanted habit) and even lick him but we have never taught him to lead the horses. Bit late now.

Luckily the end of the line eventually fell to the ground and then it didn't take long before Asyr trod on it and found he couldn't move. Over 20 years ago we were out in a cart with Angie's horse Nero, taking Asyr on a halter and lead. Something went wrong, the horses bolted, we jumped off the cart and walked home. When we got to the stables about 3km away, Nero was already back in his stable having been greeted by other owners when he entered the yard with cart. Asyr turned up about an hour later having made the most enormous detour imaginable. Nero despite being held for a "worthless" trotter was much street wiser than the highly bred Arabian. Bit like that with BC's. - they may be the most intelligent dogs in terms of learning but most of them would suffer from starvation if not directly given something to eat by their masters. A mixed up pooch would dash in to a butchers & grab himself a few sausages.

More garden work and my first tick of the year. Noticed it just as Angie got home on her way to her fitness session. It was still very small but had already dug itself in deeply and caused inflammation. No doubt I picked it up while grooming the dogs in the forest as they had just picked up the fresh crop looking for a new host.

Angie, normally an expert at getting them out, couldn't get a proper hold, so the dagger stayed in. It was so small that it had probably not got to the stage when it injected me with any of the nasty bits. We have both Lyme disease & TBE carrying ticks in the area. The deer are the main hosts and as we go in to the forest daily, they are unavoidable. I think it's my first tick for about 4 or 5 years. I am vaccinated against TBE. The dogs & cats have also now had their first traetment with "Frontline" - seems to help a bit but doesn't do away with the nightly tick hunting sessions. That's the price one pays for having great weather!