28/9/15 Back to normal

Back to full health this week I really wanted to crack on and do some good work with Jack having had a very easy time of it last week!

I set out the week with our usual lunge session in the pessoa on Monday including 2 ground poles on opposite sides of the circle, Jack lunged well, he was nice and forward and stepping through behind better than he has been doing.  He was also more even stepping over the poles, in the past he has favoured stepping over the poles with his right lead first which would make sense knowing that he was slightly uncomfortable in the left over his SI when Tamsyn our Physio has been to see him.  This has been getting better as the weeks have gone on and he has improved each time Tamsyn has seen him.  He must be feeling better if he is stepping with the left lead now as before he was very clever at judging his stride to make sure he got there on the right lead so I was really pleased the split was now more 50/50.

Following the success over poles on the lunge on Tuesday I put some poles out in the ménage to ride over and I was really impressed with how Jack felt, I set up 3 poles down one side at trot distance and 2 poles on the opposite side at canter stride distance and then getting a bit carried away a small cross pole on the centre line!  He was awesome, we warmed up then walked the poles first before progressing to trot and canter and then also jumping as he was feeling so good taking me over the poles in good balance and rhythm :)

Wednesday he managed to pull off a front shoe and had the day off but he seemed ok so Thursday I took him for a short hack with some nice canters and he was again very well behaved, I think we have now cracked hacking alone again.

The plan was to go to a show jumping training session on Friday night but with no shoe on one front hoof and child care issues we had to give that a miss (we will be going to the October one instead) and instead decided to utilise the freshly cut stubble field for a bit of fast fitness work, this then got scuppered by the farmer deciding to cut the hedges in the field!

I didn't really want to hack again with no shoe but we headed out and Jack was fine and this time we had the company of my friend Cherry's daughter Jess and her little pony Alfie, Jack wasn't to keen on going slowly so poor Alfie was shattered trying to keep up on legs half the size but we had fun and while Jack and I cantered along the bridle path Alfie and Jess had to go flat out!

Finally on Saturday I got to take Jack into the stubble field!  He was a little unsure to start with on his own and took a while to settle down and listen as the horses in the next field were galloping about but he did calm down and we had lots of fun galloping up and down the field :)

I also went to jump my friend Lucy's pony Jay on Saturday and he was in fine form, Lucy has injured her left arm and Jay has been a little cheeky taking advantage of her weaker side and not working properly so I did some work getting him more supple and soft to the left before jumping him. He loves jumping and we had a lot of fun together

Following this Jack had a easy day Sunday with a bit of ground work over poles and a little loose school.

It's,been a really good week and I'm feeling positive and optamistic about the future now as we grow in confidence with every ride.

He gets shod today so will be able to do more hacking without worrying about his feet again

21/9/15 - A quiet week

Following the excitement of last weeks post about the fun we had on the charity ride this weeks blog is rather boring I'm afraid!

I gave Jack a day off the following exertion of the 12 mile ride but to be honest I don't think he really needed it, he was fresh as a daisy but it did give me the chance to catch up on a few jobs that needed to be done like poo picking the paddock, weeding and tidying up my hay and stable area.

On the Tuesday I clipped him and then gave him a loose school and he was showing no signs of any stiffness or soreness.  I am really enjoying doing more ground work with Jack and he seems to like it too :)

The plan was to get back on a ride on Wednesday evening but in the afternoon I started to feel very ill and by the time my other half got home at 5.30pm I was laid up on the sofa feeling very sick and no way I could ride and this carried on Thursday too.  By Friday afternoon I was feeling up to riding again and thought I would just take Jack for a gentle stroll round the village after work, that was until I got a call from my little boys nursery that he was now ill and needed picking up!  So Jack got another day off in the field and I nursed a poorly boy instead!

I did manage to lunge him a couple of times over the weekend but other than that Jack has had a very easy time of it, hopefully we can get back to normal this week.  The plan is to take him for some show jumping schooling on Friday night

This pic popped up on my facebook time hop this week - Jack as a 4year old at our first competition, how much he's changed!

14/9/15 - Jack is recovered!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged as I have been away sunning myself in Mallorca while Jack has been enjoying a nice break in the field.  If money were no object I would have ideally preferred to send him back to Tim and Isla Bennett of Bennett equine rehabilitation centre for a top up week on their aqua treadmill, unfortunately at the moment money is a rather large object so this couldn't happen.
Of course Jack managed to injure himself while I was off too but luckily it was nothing serious, he must have managed to get his hind hoof caught on something (heaven knows what!) as it was quite badly cut above the pastern and on his heel.  When I returned from holiday the injury was already few days old and hadn't been spotted by my friend who was keeping an eye on him as it was in a pretty inconspicuous area so had not been cleaned or treated so it was weeping and oozing a bit, I gave it a good clean up and after a couple of days it was looking much better.  He wasn't unsound on it so I wasn't too concerned.
I have had some good rides since our little break and Jack has been behaving and working well both hacking and in the school.  I have schooled a couple of times and approached it in a slightly different way.  Rather than worry about getting him long and low and stretching his back at the start of the session I have simply got him moving with no pressure on his mouth at all.  I have walked trotted and cantered on the buckle end in a light seat so he can move freely forward and encouraged him to open up more and get going regardless of the shape he is making as long as he is going forwards.
This seems to be working and he then picks up much better and works better into the bridle and we have had no discussions about the forward transitions which is a big improvement :)
He has also been hacking well and behaving himself when out on our own.

Back in the autumn of last year i was lucky enough to win a photo shoot with my horse thanks to Becci Harrold Eventing and Chrysallis photography, after having to rearrange the shoot a couple of times due to typical British weather we finally got the shoot done this week and had a lot of fun.  Jack wasn't so keen on having a bath in the colder weather we've been having but he scrubbed up well.  I've not seen the edited photos yet but I'm looking forward to going to the studio in the next couple of weeks to pick out the ones I want to have printed and framed for the wall.  I've never done anything like it before but Chris was great and made me feel at ease and Jack helped out looking pretty and pricking up his ears for the pictures, I will post some pics when I've got them.

Every September our local rotary club puts on a charity ride, our yard owner is heavily involved and we have been a number of times in the past.  I was unsure this year about going as a 12 mile ride seemed like a lot after quite a bit of time off lately, I wasn't sure how fit Jack would be and didn't want to give him a bad experience asking him to do something that was going to be too much for him.  After much deliberating I finally made the decision at 8am yesterday morning to go and do the ride with my friend Claire on her cob Rango, they would not be going flat out as he is not built for speed so we could take it quite easy and she was happy not to jump and take the shorter 9mile route if need be.  So at 9am we were down the yard getting the boys ready!  I was a little nervous but excited too!  To be on the safe side I gave Jack a good spray with the instamag instant calmer to help keep him from getting too excited, it is after all a year since he had done anything like it!  In fact the last  time he went anywhere other than the vets or rehab centre was this ride last year!
He loaded up straight away with no fuss or hesitation and we were on our way, it is only about 10minutes to the ride so we were there in no time and tacking up.  The boys where both calm and behaved while we got sorted despite the busy car park and buzzing atmosphere.
The last time we had done the ride the previous year we had been in a group of 4 and the horses were all quite hyped up but this time they seemed calm as we headed down to the start.  We were joined by 2 others from the yard so we set off as a group of 4 but soon split back up as we were going faster then  they wanted to go.  All was going well and Jack was behaving despite there being lots of other horses in front and behind, that was until a group of 3 behind us decided they would like to over take and canter off in front.  That was too much for poor Jack and he spent a lot of time snorting, stamping his foot and dancing about but bless him he never did anything wrong although it was obvious he was upset and really wanted to go!  we held back until we had got a good gap between ourselves and the ones in front and behind and then had a trot and canter to try to settle Jack back down.  He jogged most of the way round but managed to behave!
When we came to the first real open field we had a good gallop up the hill where there were 2 small xc fences at the top.  I had pretty much decided I wouldn't jump as had no dependable lead horse and no whip (claire def wasn't jumping) and I didn't want to put myself or Jack under any pressure, however to my delight Jack spotted the jumps and just took me to them jumping them beautifully.  I was over the moon, he felt amazing!  After that we didnt look back with lots of canters and gallops and Jack and i jumping all the fences on the way round the ride full of enthusiasm and confidence, we had such a good time and even gave others a lead he was flying and feeling so good :)
We finished the 12 miles still galloping with more in the tank!  It was a wonderful feeling and I was grinning from ear to ear!  Jack is obviously fitter then I realised!
What a great decision it had been to go along, I can now confidently say Jack is physically recovered from his kissing spine surgery!!
For the first time since all his problems started I can actually imagine us back out eventing again next season - woohoo!!!