Rubber Necking

 So this past Christmas week has not only been about family, food and gifts, but it has also seen some extra care for both Willough and Axel.

Willough has needed a little extra maintenance, at almost 21 years old and still working at PSG level that is pretty expected! I try to give her regular, maintenance care with bodywork, Back On Track gear etc, but we decided it was time to inject her neck. She has arthritis in her neck (not unusual, especially for a dressage horse) and had it done before but not since I have owned her so it was about time. She had a few days off over Christmas, then has some light work days then back to usual work. I am super excited to see if it helps her!

Axel had a few super balky days again and my gut told me it might be his gut... So, we did the famous Pepto trial and he seemed so much happier! I ordered ulcer treatment and am waiting for it to come through but luckily had a little stocked up and have started him on Ablers ulcer treatment. Willough is on it too, she can be a little girthy so I am sure she has some ulcers at play too. The estimation is that around 60/70% of performance horses have ulcers, so prevention and treatment can make a really big difference. Abler is a pretty cost effective way of doing it and easy to administer. 

In the meantime I am taking a few days away from the barn to spend some much needed time with my boys and dogs. I know my horses are being well cared for by the staff and my awesome trainers Sara and Lauren and am already excited to come back and see how they are getting on after all the extra care. I miss them already and it has only been one day...


My two perfect ponies!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

News!

Image
While the world is obsessing over Corona Virus I spent the day obsessing about my horses... well a little about Corona Virus but mostly about ponies... Axel was first up and we spent some time with him doing lameness evaluations first. We really didn't see anything here, however remembering how he was before the stifle operation we didn't really see lameness then either. The next thing I wanted to do was take some X-Rays of the stifle to check how the screw was seated and if there was any problems with it. We took a few films and it all looked good down there, of course the arthritis hasn't magically gone, but it looks just how it should. So the choice was made to get him back under saddle and walking then review again before we start trot work. So of course, I saddled up and hopped on my slightly wobbly, weak pony. He is such a doll, and of course behaved perfectly. So happy to be back on board. Hacking fitness begins now! So, Miss Willough. A friend kindly walked her ...
Read more

What have I done

Image
Oops, so I may have decided that two weeks of consistent riding is more than enough to enter our first show. I know, absolute idiot right! But, we are pitching ourselves at Training Level, which is really just walk, trot and canter. We can totally do a lovely test together and as he has this wonderful temperament I feel like we need to get out there and see what we have. It could of course, be a total crapshoot as we aren't exactly starting low key. We simply haven't been able to get a schooling show in before now so are heading straight off to the Colorado Horse Park and a USDF show. Sara and I have no idea how he is going to be. If he is going to cope ok or be really anxious. He's a dude, he tries his best always, and is generally very sensible about things, however he is also very sensitive and is not a deadhead old donkey sort. My barn friend Emma with her lovely horse Ira will head up to the Horse Park with Axel and I on the Friday, we can take some time to prep th...
Read more

Suppleness: SI > Ren > LY > Tra

Image
Nope, not a mathmatic equation... this was my lessons with Sara this week. We focused a lot on suppleness and we worked a fantastic exercise for this with both Axel and Willough (that Sara learnt from  Portuguese  trainer Alfredo Hernandez). On the long side of the arena start in shoulder in until it feels good, change the bend to renvers. swing into leg yield (on the rail) then change the bend to travers. Sara had me stay in the positioning until the responsiveness and positioning felt good and then switch to the next position, The short side is always a break for the horse. Once it felt good on both reins in walk we moved upto trot and worked the same exercise as above. I absolutely loved this for suppling the horse and getting them quick and responsive to your aids, It also showed up any weird stuff I do with my body to get the lateral work, for example when I am on the left rein in left bending I sit right too much which doesn't help the horse, so this is something I need ...
Read more