It's official - Baggy is seriously wonky!

Well Baggy has seen the physiotherapist. Clever Bird now realises that she should stop blooming Hormonal Hannah from making Grotty Groom feel so guilty that she is still not looking after the horses. Apparently Baggy has less than 10% of the core muscle strength that she should have to hold her pelvis etc in place. It explains lots. It explains why when Baggy was last seeing the physiotherapist (over two years ago), she could not do the strengthening exercises that she was given for love nor money. They involved using her inner muscles to hold a leg in the air - no chance - she could do it easily, but only by using her "six-pack". The key muscle she should use is almost non-existent in Baggy because it never had a proper chance to develop because of the half-stone, 15cm, hairy, toothy lump, that was Lawrence, who sat in the way. Hence Baggy had incredibly strong "six-pack" muscles, but zero inner support, which meant that every time the physio. put Baggy's completely misaligned pelvis back into place, it pretty much immediately came out again. Now of course Baggy's "six-pack" has had a vertical cut straight through it, so all that strength has vanished as well.

 

The other interesting thing, was just how on the wonk Baggy is. When asked to lie on the floor in a straight line, her head and hips were literally inches out of line! When Baggy was in the correct position she felt as though her left hip was sticking about six inches out sideways! No blooming wonder Grotty Groom rides on the wonk - Baggy has spent years compensating for Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst and now he's left her she's got even wonkier because she isn't balancing that half-a-stone lump. Poor little Wessles! So now Baggy has six weeks to try to a) lie straight and b) engage "the" muscle for 110 seconds (as opposed to the 11 that she can do now - having spent 15 minutes even trying to identify said muscle in the first place). It also explains why Baggy's back is in constant pain and in serious pain if she walks, twists or rides; referred pain apparently. So in a bizarre way, Baggy now feels better. At least she can try to improve things. The physio. also confirmed that the lumpy bumps under the scar are nothing to worry about. She also said that it can take over nine months to recover fully from general anaesthetic and of course Baggy had three lots of it for three lots of surgery in 13 months, so she needs to stop feeling guilty. It's still only five months since the last op. and six months since Lawrence went on his new adventures. So it is official: Baggy Body is still on the Road to Recovery!

Hormonal Hannah went into action after the physio. Tomorrow Baggy is spending the day with her four best friends from school, Baggy decided to try to sort out something to wear. One-and-a-half hours and fifteen outfits later, Baggy decided that she looked a pile of poo, old and ugly in every single outfit. It's all well and good losing loads of weight, but she now has wrinkly, crepey skin and no matter how many times she looks in the mirror all she can see is an old bag looking back at her. Baggy seriously dislikes Hormonal Hannah. She is however looking forward to seeing her old friends..........

Well done Clever Bird - you really shouldn't be allowed out!

Furry Mama took the Hinge to the vets to get her stitches taken out. Baggy could barely lift her carrying crate without her in it, let alone with! Clearly Baggy is not as strong as she thinks she is; before her surgeries she could lift it with BOTH cats in it. But it's all good, she was an angel and the stitches are out, so she can go outside. She does seem to be suffering from the same lack of confidence that Baggy had after her surgery though - it took her over half an hour of sitting by the open door before she dared to venture as far as the patio. But a moment ago she was on the grass sunbathing, so that's all good too. Clever Bird has realised that perhaps the Hinge's deformed tail was actually hurting her after all, as when she had it, if she was stroked anywhere near her hips or tail, she obsessively groomed her front legs or chest. She no longer does that. When Clever Bird mentioned it to the vet, she said that she might well have been doing that as it did hurt, but she couldn't reach it to lick it. Poor sausage, so maybe the amputation has been a good thing.

Furry Mama then offered to take Minty Mutt for a walk. He didn't want to go!!!!!! Nope, he decided that he would rather she played ball with him, so that's what she did. It's beautifully warm today, so Minty and Baggy were soon overheated. Minty had a solution!

Baggy was quite tempted to join him. The Domestic Goddess on the other hand was furious. Ah well, soggy carpets all round. Whilst Minty cooled down, Gloria Gardener made an appearance - the woman is getting positively keen! She cut both lawns, pulled up a load of nettles and watered all the pots. Next door have now removed the "eyesore" from behind Gloria's pot garden, so Hormonal Hannah is feeling terrible that she may have offended them with her comments - she hopes not - but she's very pleased that it's gone. A shed will be replacing it apparently, so Baggy will have a bit more privacy. So that's all good too. Then Baggy's other neighbour asked Gloria if she would like another wall pot that she has had for ages and not used. Very kind - of course she would! Just need Calum to fit it for her. More goodness!

Grotty Groom seems to have successfully organised her transport for July too, so Freda can stop worrying about that. So Baggy was just waiting for her physiotherapy appointment, when it occurred to Clever Bird that Baggy was going to have to lie on the rug for her treatment - the filthy rug, covered in Minty Mutt fur and bits of dog chew. After a bit of yelling, followed by a motivational talk with The Domestic Goddess, it was quickly vacuumed. She even boiled the kettle to be ready for when the physio. arrived - only for Clever Bird to realise that she was late. Now the thing is she is never late! And on the rare occasion when she is going to be, she always lets Baggy know. Then Clever Bird had a vague recollection that she had asked if Baggy could change the time of the appointment. Clever Bird checked Baggy's phone messages - almost right - the time hadn't changed, the day had! Baggy's appointment is tomorrow. Ah well, everything else has been going well today......

Thank you, lovely bloggees!

Clever Bird has just noticed that as of this morning, Baggy's blog has been viewed over 8,000 times. So thank you so much for your support, it means a lot that you are interested enough in Baggy's little life to keep reading Creative Clara's ramblings about it. It also helps Hormonal Hannah no end to write it, but more importantly, to know that you bloggees are reading it. So thank you, thank you, thank you!

Clever Bird got Baggy up much earlier than was necessary this morning. Furry Mama has to take the Hinge cat to the vets to have her stitches taken out. Freda Fretter is rather worried as they are really not easy to see. Mind you hopefully the vet has eyes that work properly, unlike Baggy with her cataract - oh yes bloggees, that will be the next operation at some point, probably. But Hinge is terrified of everyone except Furry Mama, Calum, Minty Mutt, Bracket kat, our friend Dan and our lovely next door neighbour who regularly cat sits, so Freda does have a right to fret about her. But fingers crossed it will be quick, easy and not too stressful, bearing in mind that just getting her there and back stresses the living daylights out of her AND Baggy.

Hopefully all will be well though and she'll be able to be go out today for the first time in ten days. Meanwhile Grotty Groom may have sorted the transport out for Calum and Grotty's adventure to Ashen Equestrian Centre in July. She received a text last night and another this morning from the company that she hadn't been able to speak to - clearly a very busy lady, so fingers crossed, because Hormonal Hannah is getting into a ridiculous state over it! A friend and bloggee has also recommended another company too, so if this one fails, she has another to try. Phew! Today is looking rather more promising than yesterday. Now Psychic Ploppo is praying that that is not "famous last words", but Freda Fretter wouldn't let Clara un-type them in case that makes them even more powerful. Waaaaaaaaaaaah.............

Nothing has gone right today.

Apologies bloggees, today has been rather a non-event, so Creative Clara is struggling to write anything of interest. She got a bit fed up, having spent half-an-hour listing a Limited Edition Percy Pig money box in her etsy shop, Realuv, only to discover that she wasn't allowed to sell it on there! It's not old enough apparently so Baggy may need to start an ebay selling mission too. It's a shame because he does deserve to be re-loved. Mind you Calum has already decided that he might claim him for his mad habit of squirrelling money away. Of course Clever Bird could use him to store her profits!

But that's half-an-hour wasted that gave Hormonal Hannah an excuse to give Baggy a hot flush. Mind you she had more excuses when Grotty Groom was trying to book transport for their holiday/training course at Ashen Equestrian Centre in July. The company she intended to use is no longer in business. One company promised to call her back within a few minutes - Grotty is still waiting, three hours later, but can't get hold of them either and their answer machine is too full to leave a message. The other company hasn't responded at all yet, despite leaving two messages and an e-mail. The third one is on holiday. Now she's just had another hot flush typing that! Ah well, at least The Domestic Goddess won't need to light the fire! At this rate Grotty and Calum will have to pack a tent and spend a couple of days hacking there!

Gloria Gardener wanted to cut the lawn - it was way too wet. So all in all it has turned into rather a wasted day. Now Clever Bird is trying to stop The Goddess from making Baggy a batch of pancakes - she needs comfort food, BUT Fat Club is only three days away.........

Grotty Groom has a plan and is very excited about it!

After a rather splendid roast lamb lunch - The Goddess excelled herself - Calum and Grotty have just been over to check on the Boys after their night out. They were both chilled, having had a bit of a snooze. Grotty groomed Wessles for well over an hour, by the time she had finished he looked rather like a horse! A vast improvement on the shaggy donkey look that he's been sporting recently. He's a funny horse though; he asked Grotty to wipe his nostrils as they were dusty and itchy, so she did it with her fingers, rather ineffectually. So Clever Bird asked Calum to get her a little sponge and wet it, Wessles took one look at it and shot off round the stable, this went on for over a minute, even though Grotty kept explaining that she was just doing what he wanted. Clever Bird asked Cal to pass the headcollar. Headcollar on, not being held you understand - just on - suddenly Wesley stands completely still and lets Grotty wipe his nostrils. Hmmmmm.

They were keen to go out for the night even though it had started raining. It's meant to be cold tonight too, but Freda Fretter is not going to worry about them, they will be fine. But before they went out Grotty was very excited to tell Wessles her plan. Today, Calum and Baggy have booked a bit of a "holiday" and the Boys are going with them! Actually, it will probably be the hardest that any of them have ever worked. They are off on a three day training course at Ashen Equestrian Centre, where Grotty went and rode the computerised "horse" a few weeks ago. It's quite local, so they will be able to come home at night to the home furries. Hopefully apart from improving their riding, it will be good fun and it means that Grotty and Calum will get to spend some real quality time with the horses. Sooooooo excited. Grotty has wanted to do it for a few years now, ever since she went on a "Confidence" clinic there (minus a horse).  It's booked for the 25th-27th July, so Baggy and Calum have a few weeks to get themselves and the Boys fit enough to do it. Well actually, the Boys probably already are!

Baggy is seeing the physiotherapist on Wednesday, so she will get some exercises to build her stomach strength back up. Plus it gives Baggy even more incentive to get down to her target weight before then. Motivation for Grotty to get on with stuff, sorted. Yee-hah.............

Bank Holiday - ordinary stuff.

Furry Mama persuaded Calum to come on her walk with Minty Mutt! He's not the keenest walker in the world, but it's good to keep fit. Admittedly, both Calum and Baggy are aching rather after their hack out yesterday, but still, it's a surprisingly lovely day once again and Minty doesn't care anyway, he just wants to go out! Minty chose the walk past Assington Mill and the dormouse sanctuary then through Ager Fen today. Calum got as far as the dormouse sanctuary (which is quite a way) and decided to sit on the bench, so Furry Mama took Minty to Ager Fen so he could throw himself in the stream and get a drink. Of course Clever Bird had totally forgotten that it's a Bank Holiday, there were people and dogs everywhere! Minty and Furry Mama looped back round to the dormouse sanctuary bench and collapsed in a heap with Calum.

Clever Bird asked Cal the time, only to realise that The Domestic Goddess needed to be back at home to take the lamb out of the oven. Wah! As they walked back Furry Mama realised that the Long Horns are back for their annual grass munch. Clever Bird totally forgot about the lamb again as Creative Clara took photos of the babies.

Fortunately the lamb survived and is about to be demolished as a Bank Holiday roast lunch, although Furry Mama has to admit to feeling pretty bad eating lamb when the little critters are bouncing around in all the fields around here. But as Clever Bird said, "If she didn't, they wouldn't be bouncing around in the first place", well she kind of has a point, but still........

Grotty Groom is on form - even if Baggy still isn't!

Grotty Groom decided that by hook or by crook, she was going to see her Boys today. Because Furry Mama has had to keep Baggy at home looking after Hinge cat the amputee all week, Grotty had not seen them since last weekend. Calum had gone over on his motorbike to check on them yesterday and asked that they be swapped onto being turned out at night, so today they were turned out this morning and would have been left out until tomorrow night. But Grotty wanted to ride, so they headed over before lunch to bring the Boys back in.

There was no hay anywhere obvious, so Grotty did a couple of small haylage nets for them to munch while they were groomed. To say that they had big grins on their soppy faces would be a bit of an understatement! Pretty much pure sugar - asking for trouble when they've done nothing for over a week again, but, they were soooooo happy. They were even happier when Grotty and Calum groomed a skip full of hair out of them. As Baggy is aching from head to foot and Wesley is head-shaking for GB thanks to the pollen, flies and the brightness of today, Grotty didn't want to go too far. She also made Baggy take Ibuprofen before they set off as a preventative measure. It is very interesting how keen Wesley is after almost eight months off. Clever Bird thinks the break has done him good. Not only does he want to lead the ride (quite rapidly), rather than toddling along behind as he used to do, he is also not spooking at anything.

 

But he is also looking after Baggy all the time. He literally hasn't put a hoof wrong. He clearly knows that Baggy is still not totally fit and is behaving accordingly - Grotty is extremely proud of the lad. They did a little forty-five minute road loop ride, admiring the wildflowers and the gorgeous houses. There was a bit of a moment when they were nearly back at the yard. Despite Wesley's face and nose nets, the flies were driving him doolally and he was tossing his head considerably. As they walked down the slope of the last road back to the yard, the flies, or pollen got too much for him and as only Wesley can, he suddenly whipped his head down to his front hoof, to scratch his nose, pulling Grotty forward out of the saddle as he did so. Now before Baggy's Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst operation this would not have been an issue, Baggy would just have immediately used her stomach muscles to get Grotty back into a safe position in the saddle. Today, for a second, Freda Fretter thought Baggy was going through Wesley's ears! Wesley must have thought the same thing because he instantly (but for once), not too quickly, brought his head and shoulders back up, reseating Grotty in the process. He is clearly very fit at the moment and seems to be loving being ridden again, as much as Grotty is loving riding him. Baggy had the most massive grin on her face when they got back to the yard. Baggy love, love, loves that horse! Interestingly, Grotty is really confident riding him too. She has always trusted Wessles, but he does push her sometimes to do more than she wants to do, but because he's looking after Baggy so well at the moment, even when he does get a little keen, as he did today, he slows as soon as Grotty asks him. Happy Grotty.

 

While the Boys cooled down and munched a bit more haylage, Calum and Grotty reconfigured their paddocks a little so that they would have more grass for their first night out this year. When they realised that a) they were going back out and b) the bit of wired off paddock that they have been looking at for weeks was open, they grinned and galloped..............