Product review - the bobble hat shop

In a very different blog post to my usual Jack updates I was lucky enough to be asked to review a fur bobble riding hat silk for The bobble hat shop.

I was excited to receive a lovely burgundy silk to try out in a variety of riding situations which is of excellent quality and looks fantastic.

If you want to stand out from the crowd then one of these silks is just what you need!

One size fits all and I have a very small head but the silk fitted my size 1 skull cap well. The pom pom is so soft and is attached with a strong popper so it stays in place when you want but can be removed for storing, washing (the hat silk is actually satin and machine washable) or in bad weather.  I imagine a drenching from the British rain would rather spoil the fur.

You have to be careful when removing the Pom Pom not to pull the fur as it does come out and there is the chance of ripping the hat silk too as the popper really is quiet strong.

I have ridden in it in a variety of situations including fast canter/gallops in open fields and xc schooling and there was no interference or movement from the bobble or silk and despite the large size of the fur bobble it is so light you don't know it's there even at speed.
It stayed put in high winds too.

It also still looked good after being a bit battered by leafs and branches from low trees while out hacking.

It does seem to be a bit like marmite and people I've shown it too either love it or hate it!  Personally I love it and it has certainly caused me a lot of attention so far, I've not seen another one like it yet!

I've only had it a couple of days so I don't know how long before the fur begins to look worn but hopefully if looked after it will last well.

It's a high end product made of quality materials and the price reflects this.  I think it would look great out of the cross country course with a colour matched top, you would certainly be easy to spot!  You can even choose a different coloured pom pom to really customise it.

I would say that due to the price it would probably not be an every day hat silk and be better kept for special occasions.

Horses seem to be quite keen to try to eat the Pom Pom so with it being detachable it needs to be kept away from their teeth!

You can see there range of riding hat silks currently available to purchase here http://www.thebobblehat.co.uk/product-category/riding_hat_silks/

Recovery week 25 - 27/7/15

I seems to me that everyday is a mini roller coaster at the moment with as many highs as there is lows.  This is better than all lows but I have to admit to finding the 50/50 ratio a little disappointing, it would be nice to have more highs and less lows!  Hopefully over time that will happen for us.

Back at the start of last week I planned to lunge in the pessoa on the Monday as I usually do, time is limited on a Monday and doesn't usually allow for riding!  Anyway I also had to fit in a dentist appointment which would have been ok if it not for the fact I was left waiting 40minutes for my appointment and then another 15minutes after waiting for my paperwork to be send to the receptionist so all in all for a straight forward check up that usually takes about 5minutes I was in there over an hour!  Thanks to this I was left with no time to do anything with Jack other than check him over so he enjoyed an unplanned day off in the field.  On the Tuesday I decided to take him out into the large back fields which have just been cleared of hay and currently empty.  There are some nice flat areas which you can school on plus a bank to ride up and down and if you go right to the far end of the field you can have a nice long slightly up hill gallop back (great for getting them fit for eventing or just having a good blast!) you can also get down into the river for a bit of water practice too!  Anyway not being quite ready for uphill gallops just yet I decided to just try a bit of schooling in the open and then have a walk round the field and use the back to do a bit of walking up and down hill.  I was really pleased with Jack, he was more forward in the open and actually did what felt like some really nice work, he was much softer to the left than normal and was staying straight and going forward most of the time which was so different to in the ménage.  We only walked and trotted but was happy with the session.  I cooled him off with a walk round the edge of the field and up and down the bank a few times.  The newly located xc jumps were really tempting but we just walked around them, I didn't think our first jump in about 9months should be over solid fences out in the field on our own! 
Wednesday and Thursday were lunging days in the pessoa, Wednesday on the flat and Thursday over raised poles.  Jack was a bit reluctant again but once warmed up and moving lunged well especially over the poles. 
Friday was an exciting day as it was the day we were booked to have a photoshoot with Chrysalis photography which I had won on their facebook competition last autumn.  I booked the afternoon off work and arrived at the yard at 11am to begin the mammoth task of cleaning up Jack!  The weather forecast was awful but so far the rain was holding off so I bathed and brushed and trimmed Jack to a presentable state and then dashed home to get myself ready.  Then the rain came and it didn't stop, Chris the photographer arrived and we sat and waited for a bit but with no sign of the rain stopping we decided to rearrange the shoot for another, hopefully less wet day!  I gave Jack a little loose school and then went home and used the few free hours I now had to catch up on a huge pile of ironing - exciting eh!
I arrived at the yard on Saturday afternoon with the plan I would put a little jump up in the field and see how Jack felt about jumping.  Just as I arrived Claire one of the other liveries pulled up and she had the same idea as me so we carried a couple of poles and barrels out to the field and constructed a tiny cross pole!  We walked them round the field together then split up to warm them up properly, Jack was reluctant to go away from Rango Claire's horse but he didn't do anything wrong just needed a bit more leg where as heading towards him he was much more forward!   As this would be my first time cantering Jack in a few weeks we decided to canter together to encourage Jack to get moving a bit.  The first canter was away from home and nice and sedate with no rushing, racing or silly antics.  We turned for home and picked up canter again but Jack was much more forward this time racing ahead and enjoying himself then all of a sudden he stuck his head down and started broncing on the spot!  This has happened before so luckily I was prepared and I managed to sit up and get his head up to stop him before being deposited in the dirt and was quite glad I had decided to wear my body protector!
At this point I put him on a 20m circle around rango and Claire and cantered him on both leads to get him settled.  He was fine to the right but less than enthusiastic to the left and took a lot of leg to get him going.  It wasn't pretty and he was crooked and in counter bend for most of it but the important thing for me was that he cantered when asked and didn't misbehave which we managed.
So after this it was time to tackle our long awaited first jump since Oct 14.
The jump was tiny, he could have stepped over it if he wanted to!  Claire positioned herself the other side of the jump so Jack would be wanting to go that way back towards his mate, I trotted into it was over we popped no hesitation, no drama, no messing just trot - jump - trot like it was nothing I gave him a massive pat and took him over on the other rein, this time he was more enthusiastic as he now knew we really were jumping he picked up canter himself a few strides out and popped over beautifully.  I was so chuffed with him.  It is a major milestone to get this first jump done and I never expected it to go so well.  I didn't do anymore with him, it's always tempting to push for more but I am very cautious of not doing too much too soon so Claire had a little jump too then we walked down to the river and back to cool them off.
Our yard owner is putting a line of xc fences in down the length of the field next week and hopefully we will get to use them over the coming weeks!
Sunday was appalling weather so Jack ended up with a day off again making sure he got rid of any clean patched left from Fridays bath!
I took some pics of him as he looks now as we are about to start using Spirulina to see if that can help support his topline development.  I will take some more in a few weeks to see if it is having any effect.
I am starting to worry about his continued reluctance to work, he is fine hacking out so I am really hoping it is just a matter of time and not anything more serious.

Recovery week 24 - 20/7/15

This week was all about Jacks follow up physio appointment, 6 weeks ago when he first saw our new physio Tamsyn since coming home from his hydrotherapy rehab at Bennetts he was very sore in his SI and Tamsyn had her work cut out helping him loosen off.  Since then we have done some lunging, lots of hacking and schooled just a couple of time but have been really happy with his progress.  I have just been lunging in the pessoa for the last couple of weeks using lots of ground poles to help get the SI joint loose and moving and strengthen all the supporting muscle and ligaments in an attempt to prevent him getting in the same state again.  I felt the signs looked good as he has not been doing the odd leg lifting with his near hind for a few weeks now and he is not struggling over ground or raised poles.  He was still slightly shorter with the near hind over poles but nothing like he had been before her previous visit where he was hopping over poles rather than stepping through.
On the Monday and Tuesday I lunged him again doing ground poles on the Monday and raised poles on the Tuesday and felt pretty confident Tamsyn would find an improvement from her last visit.
Wednesday morning Tamsyn arrived and we started by having a chat about how he was getting on, I told her about his little incident on the yard where he was spooked by something and had become trapped by his headcollar and panicked so I felt sure he would be sore in his neck/poll area.  I also told her about him being slightly shorter with the near hind over poles.  I showed her him picking that foot out to demonstrate how much better he was with that than the last time.  We then took him out and walked and trotted him in straight lines, turned him on tight circles and backed him up all of which he did fine we did both notice that he was not crossing his off hind under himself as well on a circle as he was his near hind which was slightly odd as I expected it to be his near hind he'd struggle with.
Next Tamsyn gave him a check over and found that he was indeed tight and sore in his poll area, then she checked down is spine and he was fine.  He was also not reacting in the SI area like he had the last time - she had barely been able to touch him last time without him trying to get away, kick or rear!
It was such a huge difference to his previous treatment, this time he just stood trying to groom anything within reach and then fell asleep :)
Tamsyn was really pleased with his progress and commented on how much muscle he has developed in his SI area since her last visit. 
I am to continue doing all the stretches I am currently doing with him and she is booked for another visit in 6 weeks.
Following the treatment he had s couple of days off for everything to settle back down before doing 2 days of lunging then I could ride him again :)
So Thursday he got to chill in the field before having a gentle lunge in the pessoa on Friday and Saturday.  He seemed a little stiff to start with but once loosened off worked well.
Then Sunday I got back on board for the first time in weeks!
I was on my own so I thought it would be best to stick to the school for the first ride in a few weeks just in case!  When I got on Jack there was no reaction so I started by warming up in walk with some walk-halt-walk transitions and then some leg yields down the long side.
After about 20 minutes in walk I tried asking for trot but all that happened was some head throwing!  With a bit of encouragement he did get going and for a few horrible moments he felt unlevel behind and very reluctant to go but once we got moving he did loosen off.  After a few more transitions the trot really improved and I was able to pick the contact up and get him working.  I felt a little disappointed that his ridden work still doesn't seem to be improving much despite him appearing to be much more comfortable.  I am hoping it is all just memory pain affecting his confidence and not more issues somewhere else!  I suppose only time will tell.  I have also change his food and put him onto Top Spec lite balancer and ordered some spirulina to help build his top line.
I will continue to mostly hack and lunge this week and maybe school once a week just to measure if there is any improvement.
Finally I received a picture of Jack as a 3year old from his previous owner today - how much has he changed!

 

Recovery week 23 - 13/7/15

This week has been a bit of a boring one on the Jack front as no riding him while I wait for our physio to return from her holidays and give him a treatment.  While I'm not overly concerned as he still seems able to work well on the lunge and is currently not doing the odd leg lifting thing he has done before with his near hind I have noticed he is slightly shorter on that leg when doing pole work on the lunge and so would like him checked over before riding him again. 
I'm pretty sure he would be ok being hacked out but with all he has been through I really want every ride to be as comfortable and fun for him as possible so he is not having any negative ridden experiences to put him off!  He's had enough pain and discomfort while being ridden before kissing spines where diagnosed and the psychological effects are taking a while to overcome so I really want to make every ride now a nice one for him that he enjoys.
So I have lunged him most days instead in the pessoa and done various different pole exercises on the lunge to get him working his back end and keep things a bit more interesting.  He's lunged well although he has needed quite a bit of encouragement from me to really use himself!  I am wondering whether he needs a bit more energy as he seems quite lethargic at the moment  I'm also considering putting him on spirulina to help build top line, I know lots of other people who have used it during rehab for KS and recommend it.  While I usually shy away from using supplements unless they are absolutely necessary it does seem that a lot of people rave about spirulina for building top line in horses recovering from KS.  I think I'll give it a go, it can't hurt and if it helps build the muscles Jack has struggled with and needs to support his back and strengthen his core then its got to be beneficial.  The cost is not the usual inflated prices of main stream equine supplements as it can just be brought from health food shops/internet.
I will continue with the lunging for the next couple of days before Tamsyn comes on Wednesday to give him a treatment.  I'm really interested to see how he is this time compared to his previous treatment, that was 6 1/2 weeks ago, and I am pretty sure he wont be as bad but only Tamsyn will know for sure so fingers crossed!

When Jack had his surgery back in Feb 15 my best friend asked me if I would like to jump her pony while I didn't have a horse to ride with the aim of taking him to his first show yesterday (12th July) he is only young and Lucy doesn't like jumping but he does so she wants him to get experience and have some fun!  I have been going over to her's every few weeks (it's over an hour away) to jump him and over the months have done different exercises to get him ready.  He had only ever done a few tiny cross poles with her and jumped a few small xc fences with me last summer so he needed a lot of work to be able to tackle a course.  Its not been ideal preparation as I can't get over as often as I'd like but he is keen and genuine and really enjoys his jumping.  He has really gained in confidence with every session and tries so hard, he really wants to please!
The day finally came for his first show and Lucy did a lovely job of cleaning him up, she lead Jay to the show ground as she has no transport but the show ground was within hacking distance.  When they arrived the rain was pouring and we were all soaked before we even started!  The forecast was for it to be dry so I had not even got a coat just my show clothing!  I had to walk the course for the eventer trial in torrential rain!  I entered the 60cm Eventer trial and the 65cm show jumping.  I wanted to keep it small so it was easy for him and nothing too scary so he could enjoy his first experience of a show.  We all had no idea how he would be at a show ground as the only thing he had done similar before was a couple of hunts before Lucy brought him!  He was very well behaved and warmed up leaving his yard companion and not getting too worried there was just the odd whinny but he listened and jumped the warm up fences nicely.  I was waiting to go in with 2 horses before me when I noticed the course was not the same as I had walked!  The girl in front of me said the same and we both had a bit of a panic!  I had commented that the line from 5 - 6 was very strange to some of the others walking the course with me and we all thought the same so they must have changed it after I had walked it although they said they didn't, anyway 5 was now 5 a,b & c on an S shaped curving line - we had not practices trebles let alone on a curving line so this would be interesting, you could ride it straight if you jumped the jumps on the angle but again this was not something we had ever practiced however I knew Jay would be honest and try his best as long as I kept kicking so on a wing and a prayer in we went. There were other things we'd not practiced like water trays and skinnies but I felt we could cope as the size was never going to be an issue this pony has plenty of jump :)
So in we went and I knew I needed to keep up a forward canter to get close to the optimum time.  When I entered the ring I walked him up to the planks at 2 to give him a look as I thought he might be a bit spooky at them, he was unsure so I was glad I'd given him a look before hand.  We set out and he jumped the first 4 beautifully, 1 was a simple spread, 2 the planks then related distance 5 strides to 3 an upright then 4 was a skinny water tray.  I came back to trot for the water tray as the turn was tight and it was pretty narrow so I didn't want to risk a run out.  I then picked up the pace round to 5 but as we made the turn Jay napped towards the collecting ring and we were not on the ideal line, I had wanted to try to jump the 3 angled fences straight but we were too far past the line so we had to jump, turn left , 2 strides, jump, turn right, 2 strides and jump again.  Bless him poor jay was pulled about a bit and I had to ride pretty strong but we got through and were still clear!  6 was a skinny then the next few were quite straight forward 7 a parallel, 8 and upright and 9 a skinny all heading back towards the collecting ring.  The final fence was another skinny water tray right by the entrance to the collecting ring and unfortunately Jay was getting very strong and heading for the exit, I tried to bring him back and turn him but we were going too fast and he ran out through his right shoulder so we had to circle and regroup to jump it which he did.
Both Lucy and I were thrilled with him and couldn't have asked for more.  When the results came through we were 5th just missing out on a rosette which only went to 4th.  Without the run out and circle we would have been very close to the optimum time and 2nd so a great result.

We had a long wait for the show jumping class so we got drinks and took it in turns holding the horses.  The rain finally stopped and it actually became quite nice.  We watched the class before mine and thought the course looked quite easy, nothing too scary or complicated but it was quite slippy and in the end they decided to remove a fence as too many were slipping on the turn to it.

Eventually it came time for us to walk the course and I felt it was going to ride well.  There was a couple of related distances and 1 double but nothing difficult! 

I got my name down quickly so we were 5th to jump as the class was huge!  Jay went in and again I showed him the planks before the bell went.
He started out well but was strong!  1 - 2 was by the entrance and again Jay napped but made the turn and jumped cleanly, 3,4 and 5 were straight forward and he jumped 5 the planks no problem.  6 was the double and he had a tap on the 2nd part but cleared it and then napped a little again towards the collecting ring before going on and jumping the final 2 fences nicely, so we were clear and into the jump off!  We then had another long wait until the 16 horse jump off!  Clearly the course was riding quite easy!  We had qualified 9th to go.  A few before us had poles but the time was around 22 seconds which I thought might be a bit beyond us as the final turn was very tight.  There was only 4 fences and none near the collecting ring so I though we could keep up a good rhythm.  We jumped clear again but were not very competitive at 24 seconds, the final turn was just too tight for Jay and we had to go wider than most to make it.  We finished a very respectable 8th out of 16 and could not have asked for more, Jay was brilliant and really gave it his all, with a stronger bit and a bit more experience he will be competitive as he really wants to please :) some piccies below

   

Recovery week 22 - 6/7/15

Wow another good week with lots of positives and we have now reached 5months post op!

In that time we've done:

6 weeks box rest
2 weeks paddock rest
4 weeks hydrotherapy rehabilitation on an aqua treadmill
1 week lunging
2months of ridden/lunging rehabilitation

Things have not always gone smoothly but I'm really happy with where we are at this stage of his recovery and believe that most of his "issues" are psychological rather than physicological which given time I'm sure will improve.

I've worked really hard to try to do jacks rehab right, I've spent a lot of time and money trying my best to give him the highest possible chance of a full recovery.  I've also done a lot of research along side professional advice from my vets at oakham equine hospital and home farm, Tim at Bennett's rehab centre, my physio tamsyn and saddler to ensure I'm giving him every chance. It can be quite confusing as the more people I talk to the more conflicting advice I seem to get but I always put my vets advice above all others.  Other than having a recurring slight niggle with tightness in his SI which just needs physio treatment to help relieve physically Jack has recovered really well.  His scars have healed and he has no visible signs of the surgery on his spine.  Mentally he still has a bit of a way to go but he is getting better and growing in confidence all the time.  Time is the minds greatest healer and I'm in no hurry so Jack can take as long as he needs to recover.  The only time his issues manifest seems to be in the school so with that in mind I'm consciously not riding in there at the moment!  He is the most resilient little horse with great character and I know with time he will be better than ever so for now I want him to have fun, build and strengthen his core to enable him to work correctly and pain free and just forget about the pain and discomfort he's been in in the past.

Anyway onto what we've been up to!  It's been a scorching week which has starting out with a progressive pessoa session on the Monday, an enjoyable and stress free solo hack on the Tuesday another lunge on the Wednesday late evening when it had cooled a bit over 2poles on opposite sides of the circle, a short lunge on the Thursday due to the horrible weather and a unplanned but lovely loose jump on the Friday.  I had intended to attempt some join up with Jack on the Friday and so I'd built a home made round pen at one end of our ménage with barrels and poles on a curved line across the school and poles across the 2 corners to make it sort of round!  Jack soon put paid to any attempts of joining up by repeatedly jumping out of the pen, then back in, then out again!  As he seemed to rather be enjoying jumping and doing it without being asked I decided to ditch the pen and built a jump instead, I kept it small (around 65cm) as didn't want to push him and I let him choose his pace and how much he did but he happily cantered round on each rein and cleared the jump with ease over and over again :) his little ears were pricked and he seemed to really enjoy it!

Also on Friday I was treated to a cuddle with a very sleepy Jack in his stable!  In 4 years of owning him I have never even seen him lying down in his stable let alone been able to go in the stable and sit with him!  He has always jumped to his feet the moment he's heard the gate opening but today, perhaps because of the heat, he was out for the count snoring away and even when I walked into his stable and stroked him he only lifted his head!  I was able to sit with him for ages and even got a piccie having cuddles with him lying down.... so cute!

He's due a physio appointment but Tamsyn is away so she's not coming until the 15th and unfortunately my usually sensible pony decided to freak at something while tied on the yard and slip. He doesn't seem to have caused himself any serious damage but I am going to air on the side of caution and having had a couple of days off in the field I am just going to lunge him if he is up to it until she's seen him next week.  It wont do him any harm to do a bit more on the pessoa, he works well in it and the use of ground and raised poles will help to strengthen his back and core muscles further.  Hopefully Tamsyn and give him the all clear and I will ride him again after the 15th :)