Sit the Trot

During the clinic with Christian he picked up on some right hind 'something' with Willough. I chatted to Sara and we decided to get the vet out for some flexions and to take a peek. One of our barn girls was already having Dr French from Littleton out for her horse, so she kindly booked him to come take a look at Willough too. I had a chat with him, so we could decide if we did lameness exam/ flexions, shockwave or where we aimed for. His suggestion was to start with some flexions and go from there. Dr French is really quite talented and has a great eye for these sports horses, I trust his opinion totally. He checked her neck- (which we know has some arthritis) and found her ability to flex to her left was WAY harder than to the right. He lunged, trotted up and then he did a fair few flexions. He found the most notable reaction came from her stifles. Even though, he only saw a 1/5 which isn't bad at all. Oh and I forgot to say, he knows Willough already. He has treated ...

It has been quite a winter. Admittedly December was rather devoid of snow. January saw a little and February has snowed, upon snow, upon snow. The indoor arena is quite a blessing and we haven't actually dropped below about 30f (-1c) in the indoor so we can still ride. The horses are pretty happy and well blanketed and fed. Best news first. Axel is back living out again! I am a huge proponent for horses living out 24/7 when possible and he is so much happier when he is. He went out at the end of January and is just so much more relaxed and happy, it's like night and day for him. He is still handwalking- now for about 20 mins at a time and will just keep on handwalking as much as we can until March/ April when he can come back to hacking and start to get fit again. He's his usual, sweet, funny self and is more than happy with just grooming and walking with me. He is such a darling! Right now he is in the smaller of the turnout pens but next week I am planning to move him...