Coming back into work 23/11/16

The last few weeks have been frustrating and worrying to say the least as since the middle of October Jack has been suffering with a mystery lameness. 
Despite 2 vet visits and the farrier we still don't know what was causing the lameness and so effectively managing and treating it has been pretty much guess work.  The vet after her first visit had prescribed bute and rest in a small paddock which at first seemed to have had the desired effect and when I brought him back into work he was sound for a couple of days.  He then went and had a hooley in the field and came in very lame again. 
The vet returned 2days later and by then he was almost sound again and once again she was unable to pin point any cause.  He was also exhibiting signs of ulcers, ears flat back, head tossing, biting etc.  At this point she prescribed a further 2 weeks bute and rest however as the bute had already had an adverse effect on his ulcers and I was reluctant to continue knowing how unhappy it was making him.  As the lameness was fairly minor we decided instead to just rest him without bute and I brought some protexin equine premium quick fix and increased his equus health gastro kalm to a loading dose. 
Luckily this seems to have done the trick and he is now much happier. 
I tried my very best to keep him in his stable sized paddock for the 2 weeks recommended by the vet but in the first few days he got out 3 times!  I had to reinforce the fence with another string of electric and was moving the paddock daily onto fresh grass, giving plenty of hay day and night, providing a treat ball etc.  It was a bit labour intensive but would be worth it if it worked which it did for about a week and he stayed put getting the rest he needed but towards the end of the 2nd week he was escaping twice everyday, even jumping the fence from a stand still, so I figured he couldn't be feeling too bad and I was wasting my time!  The next day he was more lame again so I decided that he was more of a danger to himself jumping out of the paddock than just being in a larger field so I opened the fence up and let him have a little more freedom, still on his own but with about half an acre so he didn't feel so claustrophobic. 
He was also due the farrier at the end of the 2nd week and I had already decided he would be having his shoes off for the Winter this time.  I was also still holding on to the slim hope that despite already checking his feet that taking the shoe off might reveal something.  Sadly it didn't and the foot was completely normal and healthy under the shoe so no quick fix there.  I trotted him up and lunged him to see how he was without shoes, sound in a straight line but slightly lame on the near fore on the tight circle on hard ground.  He was turned back out for another few days to see how he went without the shoes and a plan to call to the vet after the weekend and have the senior vet come out to him if there was still no improvement.  He should have been seeing our physio Tamsyn on the Monday but with him out of work and still lame we decided to postpone her visit.  I'm pleased to say that he is now much sounder so I've not had the vet back yet and I will be trying him under saddle tonight to see how he feels with my extra weight.
We had dreadful Weather over night Sunday and when I arrived Monday morning to bring him in for a rest from the rain I found the horses from the field next to him in his field with him and the fence broken.  I checked them all for injury and found them all ok so brought Jack in for the day as I had planned to anyway.  The heavy rain never stopped Monday and by the time I returned in the afternoon the fields were under water and the fence still broken.  The other horses had all been moved onto our Winter grazing which is a 20 acre field which they all go out together in a heard of 8.  I was reluctant to put Jack over there with them because I was concerned that with all that space and the other horses that he's not been with since last Winter he would mess about and do himself more damage putting back his recovery again.   The rain was still bad and I didn't want to keep him in for 24hours either as he would have really gone nuts when he finally got turned out so I reluctantly put is turn out on and lead him out to the field with lots of treats in my pocket.  The others were all near the gate and Jack was really good standing quietly while I took his headcollar off and then just walking off and eating not even bothering with the other horses or the fact he could run for miles!  I was down before Dawn the next morning to make sure he was ok and they were all together by the gate ready to come back in to dry off!  He stayed in for the day and I lunged him last night and pleased to report he was still sound so he went back out with the others last night too. 
I am a bit apprehensive to assume he is now going to stay sound and crack on as normal so I will be bringing him back onto work very slowly and carefully and with a bit of good luck for once we might be back to normal in the New Year.

Jacks problems continue! 7/11/16

Last week I blogged that Jack was lame again and the vet was booked to come back and have another look at him.  :0( When I had booked the appointment I had been pretty worried as he seemed very lame however 2 days later when the vet arrived he was actually hardly lame at all - typical! We talked through what had been happening and I trotted him up for her, it was very hard to tell at first if he was lame or not as everytime I asked him to trot he was putting his ears flat back, throwing his head around, trying to bite and generally not being helpful.  As I had feared it looks like putting him on bute has cause his ulcers to flair up, the vet thought so too as he had not behaved like this a few weeks ago when he had been far more lame.  We gave him a little feed of healthy tummy to help with the acid and then tried again to trot him up.  She also performed flexion tests on both front legs and checked his back and pelvis thoroughly for any pain.  The good news was that his back was fine and his Pelvis much, much better than when she had seen him a couple of weeks ago.  I also lunged him for her and while he was slightly lame it now seems to be his off fore rather than the near fore which it had been the last time she came!  As ever Jack likes to complicate things!  So Based on all the info and his current level of lameness the vet concluded that the check ligament is the problem, but that as it seems to respond well to rest, that it isn't too serious and a longer period of rest should see him right.   So she prescribed another 2 weeks of bute plus rest in a tiny, stable sized paddock where he cannot run around and keep undoing all the healing that is going on while he is resting!  I raised my concerns about more bute because of his ulcers and also showed her what I feed him and the ulcer supplement which says it cannot be given with bute.  She felt that it was more important to give him pain relief for the ligament and deal with the ulcers after.  I feel quite differently as my poor horse is miserably unhappy and I feel dreadful feeding him something I know is only going to make him worse.  I joined a facebook group for people with horses with ulcers as I find the kissing spines group is so helpful and full of great people who really support each other.  I put up a post about the situation to see if anyone had suggestions for alternatives to bute or a supplement I can feed along side to help him.  There were a few suggestions but everyone agreed the bute is not a good idea.  So I spoke to the vet and although she wasn't keen to stop the bute already she has agreed to try it and see how he goes.  I've also ordered some Protexin quick fix and hopefully this will help settle his tummy back down.  Will have to see how it goes over the next few days but hopefully we can get his ulcers back under control quickly.
For the first couple of days after the vet visit Jack did stay put in his little field which is next to his mates but the morning after bonfire night I found him in the big field having pulled half the electric fence posts out!  He wasn't injured or distressed so I don't know what happened, I put all the posts back and popped him back in with a bucket of feed while I went to get him some hay, by the time I returned he was out the field again!  Little monkey!  So I set about adding another wire of electric fencing to try to contain him.  It worked that day and he stayed put hurrah!  I move his paddock every night onto a bit of fresh grass as he soon eats it and that night is was pouring with rain and getting dark and windy so maybe I rushed the job but the next morning he was out again!  This is not going to be doing the leg much good :0(
Luckily since then he has stayed put so hopefully he stays that way now and properly rests the leg.  When I brought him in last night he was looking pretty lame again so I really want him to rest it properly and not go running about!
I'm feeding masses of hay so he's not hungry so hopefully that helps keep him put and he gets the rest he needs to heal his leg.  Being off the bute might help keep him a bit more quiet too as if he's feeling it he hopefully wont want to run around. 
I have to admit as it's going on I'm getting more and more concerned that the lameness does not seem to be improving.  All I can do at this stage is give it more time and if we are still not seeing an improvement at the end of the 2 weeks of rest the vet will come back again with her boss for a second opinion.  I really just want my boy to feel better.

Just when I thought we were getting back to normal 2/11/16

It's been a pretty quiet few weeks with Jack, he first went lame nearly 3 weeks ago, he had the week off on bute as prescribed by the vet and seemed to be feeling better.  After the bute finished I discussed with the vet and due to being on my own decided to lunge him gently in the ménage to assess whether the lameness was gone.  I lunged him quietly in walk and trot and was very pleased to see that he appeared to be sound so after a further discussion with the vet was given the go ahead to slowly bring him back into work.  I was to ride him in walk only in the ménage to start with and build up gradually over a week to 10 days if all was going well and any problems to let them know.  Feeling excited about getting back on board I brought him in on Tuesday popped his magnetic back pad on and left him in for the day so he was ready to ride that night.  Later that day I got to the yard a bit later than usual and found Jack unusually unsettled, its not like him to be jumpy and agitated but there was something definitely up with him.  I got on with mucking out and grooming him and by the time I'd finished he seemed to have relax a bit.  Before I got on board I did all the usual stretches I do with him before every ride - carrot stretches 2 each side, between his knees and to his chest, pelvis tilts and tail pulls then tacked up and he seemed to be back to normal.  I was planning to get straight on and just do 20minutes in walk in a long and low outline and some lateral steps.  As soon as I took him in the ménage he was very alert and on his toes.  I always do some tight turns each way and back him up a few steps before I get on and he was rushing and over reacting to everything I was asking him to do.  He was also wide eyed and snorting at something across the dark fields!  I took him to the mounting block but he wouldn't stand still and I could tell getting on would not be a clever move.  I considered if I should just turn him out and forget trying to ride but decided not as he was clearly in a mood and was likely to go charging around the field and do himself harm again if I did. Instead I grabbed a lunge line.  This too was a bad move.  He still went nuts belting round the circle, bucking, kicking, leaping and generally pratting about!  This is really not like him.  By the time he settled down for me to be able to assess how he was moving he was lame again.  I have no way of knowing if he was lame before that or if it was the loony antics on the lunge that caused him to go lame again, either way I felt incredibly frustrated.  I've no idea what caused him to behave like that but something had really got him wound up.  I turned him out and decided to give him another day off and reassess again Thursday.  When I went to check on him the next day there were fireworks going off and he was clearly bothered by them so maybe there had been some before I go there the previous day and thats what had upset him, I guess we will never know!  I lunged him in tack Thursday and hallelujah he seemed sound again so I popped on board for 10 minutes just in walk and all was good.  I felt happy that we could get on a gently bring him back into full work but not wanting to push him to hard too soon I gave him Friday off again.  Saturday I lunged him again and he looked really good I even gave him a little canter and he was moving well.  I also walked him over some ground poles as this is a good indication if his pelvis is tight but he was fine doing these.  Again not wanting to push him to hard I gave him Sunday off and then took him for a little hack on Monday and he felt good I only did 20minutes in walk but he felt forward and happy and was swinging through his back.  So full of hope I took my clippers with me to the yard yesterday to give him a clip as he is still in his full Winter woollies and the last thing I wanted to do was work him and get him sweaty and then turn him out and risk him getting a chill.  I gave him a quick belly and neck clip as he is still living out and so I didn't want to take too much off then I tacked up ready to school.  As soon as I took him into the school I could tell he wasn't right, when I turned him to the left he seemed very lame and wasn't much better to the right.  There were a couple of guys from the farm still there so I grabbed one of them and asked him to trot Jack up for me already knowing he was going to be lame.  Poor Jack was really bad, worse than when the vet saw him 2 weeks ago which is pretty worrying.  One of the other liveries arrived and had a farrier coming so I asked him to take a quick look but he didn't find anything.  She mentioned that Jack and his 2 field companions had been galloping about the field earlier in the day so it is possible he has done himself an injury then but like before there seems to be no sign to indicate what he's actually done.  Another call to the vet and they are booked to come back tomorrow and have another look at him.  I'm feeling pretty stressed about the whole thing.  The vet is talking of scanning the tendons and I'm thinking of selling a kidney!!
Will update tomorrow/Friday after the vet has been, please send us positive healing vibes until then.

Jack update and jumping Jay 24/10/16

Jack is now nearing the end of his confinement as ordered by the vet last week so I will be trotting him up tonight to see how he is.  The good news is that on Bute he has been looking sound and much more comfortable over his hips and pelvis so I'm keeping everything firmly crossed that this continues now he is being weaned of the pain killers.  Vet is happy for us to try him tonight so we will see how that goes then make a plan.
He has been living out 24/7 in a tiny little paddock since last week which has actually not done his waistline any harm despite no work as he has had access to very little grass and I've been feeding hay in the field.  We move onto our winter grazing soon and I want him on the lean side so he can stay out a bit more!
He's looking very hairy and scruffy now and still rug free so if he is able to get back to work my first job will be to clip him out and clean and tidy him up a bit! 

While Jack has been off games I went to ride my friends pony this week, she has been doing really well and won lots of Dressage classes on him this year and one of the young girls on her yard has been doing a fair bit of jumping with him.  I've not ridden him in 6 months and the improvements in his balance were really clear, he felt much more consistent and stronger.  He's been jumping lots of lower level classes 50 - 60cm heights and has done well jumping a lot of clears recently.  Jumping him felt a little strange at first as I've not ridden anything but Jack in 6months but we were soon enjoying ourselves and he jumped really nicely for me.  We had a bit of trouble with a double which I had not sat him up enough for and he knocked both parts down with his front legs but when I got my act together and rode him up in to a stronger contact he jumped it beautifully.  He is a great little eventing pony in the making and I'm hoping I might be able to steal him a bit next year and maybe do some arena eventing over winter!

Finally and very exciting news to finish is that this little blog has been selected as a finalist in the Haynet equine blogger of the year 2016 awards!!  I still can't believe it!  The winner is chosen 50% on public vote and 50% on judging panel decision so I am hoping everyone who reads this blog can get behind us and vote for us by following this link https://surveyplanet.com/57fbbe270fd7773010cf4632
It only takes a few seconds and your support would mean so much to me so thank you in advance for your awesome support!

Vet report instead of competition report 19/10/16

Sadly I am unable to write a competition update for you as worryingly Jack has been lame for the last few days meaning we had to withdraw from the combined training competition we had entered last weekend. 
He had seem slightly unlevel on Wednesday night while I was out for a hack but it only lasted a few strides when we first started trotting and then disappeared so I assumed he had just stood on a stone or something and didn't give it too much thought.  He was fine in the ménage on Thursday so I carried on as normal.  My plan Friday was to clip him and then go for a short hack.  This is where the problems started!  Firstly I put some freshly sharpened blades my clippers only to find they would not cut at all and were still just a blunt as when I had dropped them off.  My other blades were also blunt so frustrated I gave up on clipping and tacked up instead.  As soon as I got on I felt something was wrong, I walked him across the yard and he just didn't feel right and when I asked him to trot he was reluctant and clearly lame so I jumped off, turned round and took him back into the barn.  As there was no one else there to help me trot him up I grabbed a lunge line and headed out onto the flat concrete car park to see him moving on the hard ground, the verdict was lame and it looked like his near fore to me.  Next I headed to the ménage to see if there was any difference on a softer surface.  He was as bad if not worse in there so we returned to the barn to investigate.  I could find no swelling, heat, lumps, obvious injuries and he was not reacting to being poked or prodded.  With no idea what was causing the problem I cold hosed his leg and returned him to the field.  Not knowing how long he might be out of action I then rang and withdrew from our combined training competition. Gutting when he has been going so well but there will be plenty of other times.

I had hoped for improvement over the weekend with paddock rest but sadly there has been no improvement.  He was also very lacklustre and dull not showing much of an interest in anything which is unlike him, he's a chilled chap generally but not this much!  In an attempt to prompt some sort of response I put him in the stable in the hope that that would provoke some swelling and help identify or at least locate the issue.  Unfortunately there was still no sign and no improvement either.
So getting concerned I booked the vet for Tuesday afternoon, praying for a miracle to happen before they arrived but not holding my breath.
There is another little issue that has been bothering me a bit for the last couple of weeks where Jack seems to be uncomfortable when he goes to the toilet, so thought it would be good to get the vet to check that out too, it's probably nothing but its best to be sure.
So we have gone from being on great form and looking forward to stepping up a level from competing Prelim to Novice to being on complete rest.

The vet visit last night was a frustrating one which didn't reveal anything conclusive, the vet agreed that Jack is lame in his near fore but she also felt he was not right behind.  She started trying to find the problem with the front leg first but after much poking and prodding, flexion tests and hoof testers nothing was found other than he was reactive to her squeezing the superficial flexor tendon but in both front legs not just the lame one!  She was happy with is back but said his hind end is weak and found him sore over his hips and pelvis.  He is usually sore here when our physio sees him too and seems to be an ongoing issue. This is very disappointing as I have worked tirelessly to improve his back end and I felt we were making real progress but she disagreed and I felt very disheartened.  I'm not sure what else I can do to build the back end as we already used ground poles whenever we school or lunge, do lots of hacking and grid exercises jumping to strengthen him. 
She was not sure if the lameness had cause him to be sore over his pelvis or if him being sore over his pelvis was causing the lameness, or even if the 2 were related at all.
The only good news is that she felt his other problem going to the toilet is most likely due to the pain in his hip/pelvis and should improve if we can get that sorted.

The plan for now is bute and rest for a week he's in the stable at the moment but as he finds this very stressful the vet has said it is ok for him to go out but in a very small stable sized paddock just in case it is a slightly pulled tendon.  Will reassess next week and if he is sound in front he will need to see our physio and start gradual work again and see how he goes.  Hopefully he responds well and we can then start building him back up.

With some bute in his system he already seemed more his cheeky self this morning pulling all his rugs off the fence while I mucked him out and undoing his rope! 

Until next I will be keeping everything crossed for improvement!

Jack is back on form 10/10/16

I'm very lucky Jack is such a resilient little horse!  Just 2 weeks ago he suffered a nasty injury to his mouth that really bothered him but sadly went unnoticed by me as it was inside his mouth (bad mother!).  To make matters worse I made him event with the injury only finding it after arriving home having had a very frustrating day - no wonder poor Jack wasn't performing! 
But Jack being Jack after a couple of days to let his mouth and any other soreness or stiffness settle down he was back to his usual self.  The wound is healing nicely and looking healthy so were able to get back to normal much quicker than I expected.  Its a good job he is so forgiving of me but I am so angry with myself for not realising there was something wrong sooner!

Once I was back on board and he was feeling good I enjoyed the most amazing schooling session on him where he felt fantastic in all 3 paces and produced some of his best ever work for me, he is feeling stronger and more adjustable all the time and his frame and top line have improved tremendously.  I was on cloud 9 when I got off.  I think having been through all we have in recent years it makes me appreciate a nice uneventful ride and I will never again take a well behaved horse that tries for granted.


Now the Winter months are fast approaching my thoughts turned to clipping, Winter feeding and that sort of thing so I recently contacted Bailey horse feeds for some tailored nutritional advice for Jack.  I usually go for low calorie fibre feeds due to his tendency to put on weight easily but often find I need to give him a little extra through the Winter to keep his energy levels up.  I was quite surprised by the nutritionist advice to start incorporating a performance balancer to his diet I had always gone for lite balancers in the past but when she worked out his requirements based on his height, weight, workload, type etc. she found he is not actually getting what he needs and suggested a performance balancer to give him all he needs in a economical way.  I also received some free samples and a voucher so gave them a go and the results were very impressive so far.  Jack has had lots of energy and enthusiasm but no silliness or fizzing up.  This was obvious to see when I lunged him over the weekend and he had a bit of a leap and a buck on the lunge which he doesn't normally do and I wasn't having to chase him round to get him moving he was going lovely and forward under his own steam!
I have to admit I was a little nervous getting on him the next day in case he reacted the same way with me on board but I needn't of worried he was foot perfect!

I'm hanging on for clipping out just yet, he lives out and is still un rugged and doing very well.  He's not sweating up when ridden so I shall wait a bit longer for that!  It's also a job I hate so the longer I can put it off the better!

Yesterday I went for a hack with a friend and again found Jack to be much more energetic and free moving but he was perfectly behaved the whole ride taking the lead the whole way, no silly spooking and the canters back along the bridle path were so much fun, he was sensible but forward going, he felt really connected and I wasn't having to push or pull at all he just kept a lovely forward rhythm without getting too fast or backing off.  I'm looking forward to another schooling session tonight and I've enter a combined training competition at the weekend so will update with how we get on next week.  It will be our first competitive Novice dressage test since before his op but we are ready to step it up from prelim now.

I took this top picture of him a few days ago and thought how good he was looking so I had a look back through my phone and found a similar picture from last summer which is the bottom one below.  Just looking at the 2 pictures side by side, although the lights not very good, I think you can really see the huge improvement in his topline and condition.

Finally eventing!! 25/9/16

Finally after months and months of planning, years of waiting, lots of preparation and good results all year the 25th Sept was the day of the big test for Jack and I, a full One day event held over a 80cm course.  We have completed 1 one day event before back in 2012 before his kissing spines diagnosis which was only over a 70cm course, we did finish but on a cricket score after an ok dressage, 1 down show jumping and 2 refusals at the same fence + a shed load of time faults!
My aim with Jack has always been to event but after this event in 2012 I found out I was pregnant so it was put on the back burner while I had my little boy then, thanks to Kissing Spines, when I brought him back into work in 2013 he was never able to jump properly so it has never happened.
After surgery I hoped he would recover enough to event but I have really taken my time with him building his confidence and strength slowly to a point where I felt we were ready.  He has been fab this year getting placed at every competition we have entered and only had 1 pole down all year in competition so I had pretty high hopes we could do this.  He is jumping confidently at home and his flat work and jumping is the best it has ever been so a prelim test and 80cm sj/xc should be well within our capabilities.
I felt we were ready and walking the course Saturday afternoon I felt quite confident in our ability to complete the course.  The only fence that worried me slightly was the step into water as I felt for an unaffiliated 80cm course that was a big ask when you are not expected to jump into water at BE until Novice level!  We had however practiced jumping into water and not had any issues so although I was expecting Jack to have a look I though if I approach in a nice slow trot so he could have time to work it out we could do it.
The show jumping course looked nice and flowing with plenty of space and nothing scary with 1 double and a skinny to finish.  I was confident walking it that this would be no trouble for us.

I bathed Jack ready the day before but decided to keep to his usual routine and turn him out over night so as not  to upset him, I did however put a full neck lightweight rug on to keep him as clean as possible!  We had very acceptable times of 1pm dressage 1.42pm SJ and 2.12pm XC so no silly early start which is always nice!  I arrived at the farm with what I thought would be plenty of time to plait and load the car, load up Jack and be nice and early to take my time warming up for the dressage.  As I turned into the farm drive my heart dropped, there was Jack grazing in the field with no rug on and absolutely covered in mud!!  It had poured over night and he had had a good roll on both sides. Nightmare!  He has never in 6years taken a rug off so of all the times to do it it had to be the night before a competition!  For a moment I questioned my sanity, had I only imagined putting his rug on?   Had someone thinking they were being helpful removed it as it was warming up?  Had it been stolen off his back in the field?  I couldn't see it anywhere and really didn't have time to go hunting for it so I grabbed Jack out of the field and set about trying to get him clean (again!) plaited and ready in record time.  What should have been quite a leisurely morning with no stress from rushing soon turned into quite the opposite but in the end we got underway only about 15minutes later than planned so it wasn't to bad.  On arriving my other half went off to get me booked in while I quickly tacked up and got myself ready for Dressage.  Jack was being very well behaved and quiet to say we were out in a strange place but I didn't think anything of it.  I was pleased I still had around half and hour to warm up as it takes this long to usually get Jack working well.  I headed off to the Dressage warm up and let them know I was there, found which arena I was in and where to warm up.  It was on grass which I wasn't expecting, I thought it would be in their indoor school!  The ground was very slippery and quite churned up by the time I arrived and Jack wasn't warming up well, he felt lazy and was going against my hand not taking me forward and very hard work to get anything decent from him.  I thought it was due to the ground as he did slip a few times.  Just before my time I headed over to my arena only to find they were running late so I had to walk round for 10minutes until it was my turn.  Jack perked up a bit as we trotted around the arena and in we went.  I didn't have a caller so I had memorised the test, we performed an accurate test with all the transitions and movements in the right place and in the right pace etc. but I felt the whole test was far below par for what I know we can do and I was really disappointed and felt like we had gone back 2years although he was in no way naughty just not wanting to go forward and falling on his forehand.
Putting it behind us I quickly got ready to show jump and took him to warm up.  The SJ was in the arena so I hoped he would feel more confident without the slippery ground to worry about but as I warmed him up he still didn't really seem to want to go, he was jumping but had no enthusiasm and if I had given him half a chance he would have just stood and gone to sleep!  As we entered the arena and the bell went I was determined to get him moving, he wasn't bad and jumped everything but he was getting very close to most of the jumps and we had 1 down, he did improve as the round progressed and we finished with just 4 faults but again I felt disappointed, the course was easy and well within our capabilities.  Was it just the fillers backing him off?  He has been jumping far better than that both at home and at competition so why was he suddenly so negative today?
I didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it as needed to change and get warmed up for XC in 30minutes.  Again in the warm up Jack felt very flat and would quite happily of stood and grazed or slept rather then gallop and jump!  I tried my best to wind him up a bit and get his blood up but he was struggling, had I majorly misjudged his fitness??  He really should have been able to complete a prelim dressage test a 8 jump showjumping course and still do XC so what was going wrong?  I wasn't feeling very confident but I knew I had to ride positively to have any hope of getting round.  The course started out quite intensively with 16 fences in 1 field so it was very twisty and turning with not much time between each fence.  We set off out of the start box and with plenty of leg and a bit of whip we got over the first 2 fences but by the 3rd Jack was stalling and he stopped completely argh!  I was so frustrated but circled and cleared it the 2nd time, then we got into a bit of a rhythm and made it to fence 13 a skinny without major issue but 13 turned out to be unlucky for us and we had another stop again clearing it on the 2nd attempt.  14 and 15 were no problem and then we got to 16 which was the fence I was most concerned about the step down into water!  I slowed to a trot then Jack slowed to a walk but we managed to keep moving forwards and popped down nicely hurrah!!  That was the end of the timed section but there were still 5 fences left these were spread out round the outside of 4 adjoining fields with much more space between them and room to get a decent pace up.  We were a bit wobbly over the first which was a double but then we got moving and jumped the last 4 fences well with Jack actually taking me into the fences and feeling like he was actually starting to enjoy it so finished on a better note and wasn't too disappointed in the end.  So lots to work on but its a start!
I went to look at my score and collect my dressage sheet to discover I had actually been in the lead after dressage with a great score of 27.7% over 3 marks ahead of 2nd place!  So what I thought was an awful test obviously didn't look as bad as it felt!  Just think what we could have scored on a good day!
On arrival home I discovered a possible reason for his sudden loss of performance, he had a big cut on the inside of the front of his mouth.  It wouldn't have been affected by the bit but it was probably pretty sore.  I then found his rug in the field with the leg straps torn but the chest and belly straps still done up.  I don't know exactly what happened but it looks like the poor guy had managed to get caught up in the rug somehow had it round his front legs and neck/head, panicked and tried to run, tripped himself up and put his teeth through his lip!  He must have been feeling pretty bashed up the next day and I made him event!  So as you can imagine I felt pretty awful after finding out.  Luckily his mouth is healing well and after a couple of days off I lunged him and he was fine.  I've hacked him a couple of times and he felt like his usual self again and I jumped him yesterday and he was clearing 90cm no problem with his usual enthusiasm, he even looked after my friend who's terrified of jumping nursing her over 60cm which she hasn't jumped in years!

Another successful outing 23/8/16

Jack has been ticking over nicely recently, schooling well, jumping great, hacking nicely and generally being a dude!!
He had a few days off last week as I went away for a long weekend.  The day before I went I jumped him, I set up some technical but small fences to get him thinking.  One exercise was 2 fences 1 at E and the other at B I started by jumping each individually then linking the 2 together before jumping them on a 20m circle on each rein.  I also set up 3 skinnies 1 on the centre line and 2 on diagonals so I could jump them a variety of ways and Jack didn't disappoint jumping everything easily.

As the weather has been pretty hot again since I came back we've been down to the river a couple of times, schooled and lunged.  He's been fab so I decided to take him jumping at a local venue in a trailblazers 1st round.  I've never done trailblazers before so I didn't really know what to expect!  The show jumping wasn't due to start til after 12pm and I was entering the 4th class so wasn't expecting to need to be there early meaning I could get him ready in the morning.  Having bathed and plaited and tidied him up a bit I managed to load him with not too much messing about and then we were on our way.
 I was on my own and had not been to the venue before so I managed to miss the turning and have to perform and u turn in a gateway with a trailer!!  Not the best start!  I was feeling a little frazzled by the time I actually got there then I found myself having to reverse down the drive as I met another trailer coming out!!  I'm getting the hang of reversing now though and actually it wasn't too bad! 

Once parked I opened up the trailer but left Jack on board where he was safer while I had to leave him to go and pay my entries and work out where I was, what class they were on etc.
I was please to find there was not a huge amount of entries and so I quickly paid and went off to get Jack tacked up.  He was happily munching away on his hay chilled as you like!  Having tacked him up I hopped on and went down to the main ring to check how they were progressing, still 2 classes to go so I stood and watched a few jump to learn the course. 

When it came to walking the course there was no one around to hold Jack for me, so having watched several jump I decided what the hell, I know the course I'll just go for it!  I then wandered up to the warm up ring and gave Jack a nice long walk around to relax and loosen off.  He was a little uptight about a small pony that was whizzing round and some people walking down the other side of the hedge but he soon settled and felt relaxed. 

I gave him and walk, trot, canter and jump and was really pleased with how he was attacking the fences and taking long ones instead of his past trick of chipping one in!  I then went back to see how close they were off starting my class.  It was still a few to go then the course would be put up and another chance to walk it so I took him for another wander round and kept thinking maybe I should go back and walk the course!
 I knew I was 8th to jump so once they restarted my class I jumped him another couple of times over the warm up fences and went down ready to go in.  Having listened over the tannoy I knew there had only been 2 double clears when it came to our turn and they had both been quick.  It was a 2 phase competition so if you went clear over the first 8 fences you went straight on and jumped the timed jump off section.  Jack and I entered the ring ready to give it our best shot and feeling pretty confident but immediately Jack backed off my leg spooking at the banners and poles around the edge of the arena.  The bell went and I could not get him to go past a pile of coloured poles on the floor!!  Nightmare!!  He was having a right mardy about them and was trying to back away and spin from them but I needed to pass them to get to the first fence!  It felt like a life time and I was starting the think I was going to be eliminated for taking to long to jump the first fence!  I was kicking and using the whip but he was just getting more wound up so I stopped and decided to let him look for a few seconds then tried again and thank god he went passed it and started listening!  We turned to the first fence and that was it, we were off.  He jumped beautifully making it feel really easy and we were clear over the first part of the course so after fence 8 my competitive side came out, I kicked him on and we flew over the double at 9 and got a tight turn to 10, so far so good!  11 was on a related distance and I had seen it was riding either 5 or 6 strides, obviously I'd not walked it but knowing Jack I knew he would try to get 6 in so I kicked on and went for 5 but he thought otherwise and got the 6 in anyway which slowed us down a bit, it did however mean that I could turn really tight to the final fence and through the finish for a double clear!!  YAY!!  With a few still to go we were in 2nd place and that is where we stayed :) it also meant we have qualified for the 2nd rounds - good Jack pony!!  I'm absolutely thrilled with him!!  He felt fantastic and we both came away having another confidence boosting experience and a qualification under our belt to boot!  I couldn't really have asked for more except maybe no napping but you can't have everything!!
 

Anniversaries 2/8/16

This week Jack and I have 2 big anniversaries, as of 31st July I have owned him for 5 years!  Where did that time go!  This is us shortly after I brought him although I had had him on loan for over a year already at that point.   

The 2nd is that as of 2/8/16 we have now reached 18months post KS surgery and I feel so lucky that this little horse is one of the success stories.  At times its been hard and heart breaking and rehab has been far from smooth sailing with secondary issues with hocks and SI but I am thrilled with how well he currently feels.  He is jumping and schooling better and better all the time getting stronger and more supple thanks to lots of ground work, hacking, strengthening work and stretching plus the support of a fantastic physio and a whole load of patience!  I have to say despite the hiccups along the way it has also been the most rewarding thing I have ever done with a horse.  To see and be part of such a transformation is a privilege.  This horse was depressed and aloof due to being in so much pain before surgery, he just wanted to be left alone, didn't play with his field companions, had no energy or enthusiasm and would stand for hours with his head down looking thoroughly unhappy.  He now greets me in the field with pricked ears and comes trotting to the gate, there is no grumpiness or reaction to being groomed or tacked up and ridden he is the best he has ever been. 
We are looking to starting having some lessons in the next few weeks with a new instructor and will be taking part in some SJ shows before our first unaffiliated ODE in September - ekk!!   
Due to the hot weather and hard ground I have mostly been hacking for the last few weeks but following a bit of rain and our hay field being cut I have been able to go for a good canter and gallop round the big field which has been great for Jacks fitness, it's on a slight incline so its quite hard work and also has a few steeper banks to really get him working from behind and strengthen his hind quarters.  He finds it quite exciting and it took me an hour and 20mins to wear him out the other night but we had a blast galloping about!
Last night he schooled beautifully and we used 4 ground poles on a 20m circle working on rhythm in walk, trot and canter.  It was the best he has done this exercise especially in canter where we were getting a lovely, even 4 strides between each pole and hitting them all spot on.   Good Jack!
We had a great jumping session last week too with Jack really attacking the fences and keeping up a nice, forward rhythm.  We jumped corners and brush spread and a skinny and it felt all very easy!
I love how confident he now feels jumping and I am able to adjust the stride and actually affect his way of going rather than just hoping we get there on a good stride!
More of the same this week hopefully :)

A step closer to our eventing dream 16/7/16

Today I took Jack for a cross country schooling clinic at a local college.  They have a nice little course and I've wanted to go for a while as I thought it would be a good place to build both our confidence levels.  Last time we had done any xc had been the first time in nearly 3years and was on camp, Jack had not been easy on that occasion so I was feeling a little nervous but I was hoping his out of character behaviour was down to the sheep that had been in the field and that he would be calmer this time!  Luckily I was right and actually Jack was very calm and chilled out, he seemed more interested in trying to eat the long grass! We had a walk round and a chance to look at the course which had a bit of everything but all nice and small and I felt everything was within our capabilities.  After a chat with the instructor and a trot and canter round we started with a walk through the water, I went first and I let Jack pause and have a look and sniff the first time but as soon as I gave him a squeeze through he went.  We then went on to trotting and cantering through before adding a log on the way out and Jack was brilliant, the only problem was he wasn't very forward going so I popped on some spurs and that livened him up a bit!  From the water we went on to steps and started with just a very small step up followed by a step down, Jack was a little hesitant on the down step and looked to go round it instead of down but I held him straight and gave him a little kick and off he popped easy enough.  We did various step combinations and Jack was soon cantering up and down happily so we put the steps and water together with a small ditch and a little roll top, I was thrilled with how well Jack did the ditch as that was what I was most worried about and we had not even looked at it before jumping it but he jumped up and down the steps well, flew through and out the water and was in a lovely forward rhythm, we hit it on a perfect stride and he never even looked at it!  We finished with another lovely jump over the roll top.  Next we strung together some more jumps we had not looked at, starting with tyres to a house, a sheep feeder, then step up and down and finishing over the ditch.  Both other people had stops but Jack jumped everything first attempt no problems and I could feel we were both starting to gain confidence and trust each other and enjoy ourselves!  The session continued like this and we even managed steps out and into water!! I was absolutely thrilled with how well Jack went.  He far exceeded my expectations and we have both come away with a massive confidence boost.  I'm looking a possible competitions to enter now! No pics as I was on my own 😔
Also over the last few weeks we have had a session with a natural horsemanship trainer where we worked on building jacks trust in me.  It was really interesting and very beneficial. We started with join up and in just a few minutes Jack was following me around the menage like a puppy!  We then did lots of ground work over various obstacles including tarpaulin, wooden boards, hoops etc all of which Jack tackled without hesitation.  I don't know for sure but I'm pretty sure it was so easy because we had join up!  Next session we are going to work on loading and then look at transferring the ground work skills into our ridden work!

We've also enjoyed some nice long hacks and we've actually had company a couple of times this week which makes a nice change!  Jack is definitely feeling stronger!  We've got our big field free for riding in from this weekend as the hay has finally been cut so I will be able to go for some good fittening canters/gallops round there in the next few weeks and hopefully we can get a few jumps out there too.
Schooling is still going well and I did some grid work with Jack last week where I set up a bounce to a stride to a bounce, it was a pretty intense question, although I kept it small, but Jack did great and it really helped get him sitting back on his hocks.
He also done some lunging over poles which has got him picking up his toes and flexing his hocks.
With all this work he's looking a great condition!
Hopefully we can transfer all this good training into good competition results!

27/6/16 Red rosettes!

Following on from my last post Jack enjoyed a chilled out week in the field, eating too much, exercising too little and as a result getting a bit porky while I was away at the beginning of the month!  We had a lovely week away and whilst I wasn't so thrilled to be home to all the washing and back to work I was keen to get back to Jack!
Arriving home at lunchtime on the Saturday gave me time to get him in for a much needed brush and a lunge in the afternoon in the pessoa and he was certainly ready for the attention and work!
He lunged well and had plenty of energy stepping through, using his back and light on his feet.
It was really hot on the Sunday so I didn't ride until later in the evening, I took Jack down to the field by the river and gave him a good long walk, trot and canter round the field for an hour, the ground was too hard to gallop so I had to keep reminding Jack to take it steady!  I finished by taking him down into the river which was pretty low, he even trotted down the bank and straight into the water, good boy!!  A massive improvement as up until recently he would only go in with a lead!

Due to staff shortages I had stupidly agreed to do some overtime at work that week which meant I couldn't do anything with jack until later in the evening's however it was so hot during the day that that actually worked out ok. I lunged him again on the Monday as I was very short of time, hacked on the Tuesday and schooled on the wednesday.  The schooling session was one of our best yet with Jack doing some super trot work, very responsive with plenty of energy and lots of enthusiasm, adjustable and really trying.  I was beaming when I got off!  I then loose jumped him Thursday and was again really pleased with his energy, attitude and enthusiasm with him deciding he was having far too much fun to fit a stride in between my ground pole and the jump so he would just bounce it instead!!  A good way for him to be so positive to his fences as I was planning on taking him to some show jumping Saturday so wanted him thinking forwards!!
He had an gentle hack on Friday as I wanted to keep him fresh to jump the next day.
The jumping I was taking him to Saturday afternoon was organised and run by a local riding club, it was a casual competition not starting until 11am and didn't require bathing, plaiting or even show attire, you could just rock up straight out the field and have a go!  My kind of show!!
I got Jack in from the field at 12.30pm and then as usual had some drama with the trailer, this time it had been blocked in!  Fortunately my friend Cherry was at the farm and able to help me pull the trailer out by hand to hitch up and then with a quick brush we were ready to go.  I got him tacked up ready and then went to load,  Jack did have a bit of an issue loading but it didn't take too long and we were soon underway.  The show was within hacking distance but I needed to be back before 5pm so I took the trailer so I could stay later.  We were there in no time so I parked up and met up with my OH and little boy who came to cheer me on and take pictures.  It was very quiet with only a few people milling around so I quickly went off to find the secretaries tent and see what class they were on.  They were just finishing the 55cm class and I had wanted to start with the 65cm so I quickly paid and jumped on to warm up.  Despite being in a huge open field with plenty of distractions Jack behaved beautifully and was very relaxed, almost too relaxed really so I took him off for a bit of a gallop to get him a bit more excited!  He then warmed up nicely and jumped the warm up fences well.  This was only our 2nd time jumping on grass in open space and the 1st time excitement had got the better of Jack so it was nice to be able to ride and not simply cling on!! We went in to do our 1st round in the 65cm knowing a clear would win the class and managed to jump a slightly sticky but clear round for the win! Lots of pats for Jack but I knew I needed to get a better rhythm for the bigger fences.  We were also entered in the 75cm class so I look him back to the warm up and worked on his canter getting him more open and up to the bridle to help clear the bigger fences and again we jumped the only clear for another win!  The rhythm was there now and feeling confident we entered the 80cm class, this is the biggest class we have attempted so far since surgery and Jack cruised around for yet another lovely clear.  Definitely our best of the day, lovely rhythm, good strides and felt easy!  This time we had to jump off as there was another clear, they went first in the jump off, a nippy little pony who produced another clear with lots of tight turns but I felt the time was beatable.  I took Jack in and we went for it from the off but sadly we went too fast and flat to the now 85cm upright first fence and took out the top rail.  Still I couldn't be happier 3classes and 3clear rounds and just 1pole in the jump off, and 2red and a blue rosette, not a bad day at the office!
I felt elated, we have not jumped clear at 80cm before and now I know it's possible!
Unfortunately Jack decided he didn't much want to go home and took a fair bit of persuading to go back in the trailer, so a bit more loading practice needed!
He enjoyed a well deserved day off on the sunday!
So onto the next week and boy did it rain!  To be fair the ground needed it but not 7days of it!  I still managed to do something with Jack everyday but 1 but I felt our schooling session wasn't quite up to our usual standard of late, however the school was very wet and full of puddles and I put it down to that.  We got in a great fitness session down by the river having plenty of canters and even got some gallops in too now the ground had softened up.  Jack was super and felt fit and ready to go, unfortunately we don't have anything planned at the moment!

This last week started out with a frustrating schooling session where I felt we took a step back and I really struggled to get Jack as soft as normal especially down the left rein, he was falling through the left shoulder going very crooked and even did a few bucks in right canter.  This got me worried, what was the reason for this sudden drop in performance?

The next day it was a nice afternoon so I decided a bit of fun was in order and took him for a gallop round the fields, we were having great fun until some dogs came into the field chasing round jacks legs and upsetting him.  Once they had gone it took a while to settle him back down but we finished by jumping some of the piles of wood and hedge cuttings left by the farmer!  As we headed home I got a distressing call that my little boy had fallen while in the playground and needed to go to hospital so poor Jack got trotted all the way home then flung in his stable and left while I dashed to school and then hospital.  Luckily Claire was on her way to the farm and turned him out for me.  My little boy had broken his elbow and was put in a temporary plaster cast which meant the rest of the week was spent at home playing nurse with no ridding and a happy Jack getting fatter in the field!  

I did mange to ride on Saturday and decided to see if we could improve this left bend issue in the school.  I set out 4 poles on a circle and by the end of the warm up already felt he was better.  We worked on rhythm, bend and yielding to my left leg.  It actually turned out to be a super session and I came away much happier that I was just not riding anywhere near well enough last time and expecting Jack to carry me!  When I rode properly Jack did everything I asked and more!

We've got a couple of xc clinics booked in over the next few weeks and hopefully some more competitions after these.

Having fun, this is how it should be!!

Jack had a session with our fantastic physio last week for the first time in 4months.  I always look forward to Tamsyn's visits hoping she can see and feel the same sort of improvements in Jack as I do.  I really value her opinion and she has been so instrumental in getting Jack right, I don't know where I'd be without her!  With how well Jack has been going for me in the last few months I was keen to find if he has been working and using himself correctly as I think!.  I'm pleased to say the answer was yes! Tamsyn gave him a good check over, working out a few sore and tight spots for him but she was very pleased with his progress since her last visit.  His top line is strong, he's put on muscle evenly on each side of his spine, no problems over his back, a little bit sore behind the saddle (due to now using the muscles in that area properly to collect more on the flat and to jump bigger fences) and a bit tight in his off hind hamstring.  She assured me these are all normal and due to him working harder and using himself better and he should be even better now!

As I lunged Jack the other day I studied his way of going, his stride, how he was using himself etc and I realised something - he has totally changed his way of going, he is much softer through his whole body, is taking more weight behind, much softer in his neck laterally and is freer through his shoulders!  This last week alone he has developed a more uphill way of going, particularly the canter.

I am having so much fun with him at the moment, this is how it should be! He is being such a good boy, working well, relaxed and happy and we are both enjoying ourselves more than I ever imagined possible back in the dark days when Kissing spines were making him a grumpy, unhappy and un-rideable horse.
This week we have enjoyed a couple of really nice hacks, once down to the river where we did about 30mins canter work (didn't gallop coz the ground was a bit hard) and then splashed down into the river to cool off, something we have never been able to do before without a lead but he went in happily all on his own so another big improvement!

I've also managed a fantastic jump session where Jack jumped up to 1.05m with ease as you can see from the pics below!  He was flying!  Such a huge improvement, from knocking down and refusing at tiny fences pre surgery to taking strides out and giving them plenty of air post op!  With a bit of Xc schooling I think we might just be ready for a little ode soon, he's fit and more than capable on the flat and show jumping!  However he has only seen solid fences once since his op so we need to rebuild a bit of confidence there before we try entering anything competitive.  

I love this pic although my lower leg is awful and I got a bit left behind I just love how he picked up a long one and cleared it with so much ease and with ears pricked!


Making nothing of 1.05m 

I was a little concerned as he seems a bit uncomfortable being shod this week, he has had some issues being shod behind since his operation, we think due to si pain, but he had shoes off over winter and when the first set went on 8weeks ago he seemed so much better so I thought we had cracked whatever was causing his discomfort, certainly he didn't seem to have a problem when tamsyn checked him and he's been working brilliantly so I was quite surprised to see him struggling.  It was when the farrier was picking up the near fore he was that seemed to bother him rather than the hinds so it maybe a completely different issue but I will need to keep an eye on it.

I'm now off on holiday for a week so he will be turned out 24/7, it probably won't do his waistline much good but it will do him good to switch off for a week relax and if he does have any little niggle causing him to be a bit uncomfortable hopefully the break will help it settle down.
We will see if there is anything which needs further investigation if he's still not right when I return 

Training camp update 3/5/16

At last, over the bank holiday weekend Jack and I finally got to take part in a training camp after having had to cancel the last one due to me getting pneumonia!

The venue was Brooksby college which is about an hour away with the trailer and we were to arrive at around 3.30pm to be ready to ride at 5pm.

I spent the morning getting everything ready and making sure my other half and little boy would be ok while I was gone!  (I did come home at nights!)

At lunchtime I went and got Jack in from the field, filled the boot of the car with all our gear and hitched up the trailer.  With everything ready I loaded him up and he went onto the trailer with only the slightest of hesitation.  Slightly later than planned we got underway.  We did get a bit suck in some bank holiday weekend traffic which slowed us further and we didn't arrive at the college until after 4pm.  Fortunately Jack wasn't too bother about the delays and had travelled well.  He was nice and calm when I unloaded him and then left him to go and find out where we needed to go.  I was greeted by the lovely staff and shown to our stable for the weekend, given a quick tour and left to settle in and unload all our stuff.  Despite being a little late we were not the last to arrive which made me feel better! 

We were given a choice for the Friday evening ride, we could go for a hack, take part in the show jumping competition they were running or school in the indoor arena.  As I thought we would be doing enough jumping and schooling thoughout the weekend I decided to hack out with 2 other campers and an instructor.  It was a lovely, relaxed ride and chance to get to know a couple of my fellow campers as well as the instructor who took us.  Jack was well behaved and we enjoyed the ride and having a chat about our horses and aims for the weekend.  The other ladies were great company and we had lots of giggles.
Back at the yard we settled the horses down and then headed up to the canteen for dinner, drinks, to organise groups for the weekend and have a quiz! 
Dinner was delicious and gave me a chance to meet the rest of the group some of whom had been jumping and others not ridden that evening.  It was a really mixed group but already very supportive.  Everyone else had come with friends so I was the only person without a mate but everyone was very friendly and made me feel very welcome!  The staff had provisionally organised groups based on the information we had provided in our application forms however as others wanted to stay together with friends the groups were moved around, as I didn't know anyone or their level of ability I really had no preference and was happy to just fit in wherever they may put me!
I ended up in a group with only 2 others and thought that would be good as a nice small group would mean more attention from the instructors!  We were then given the schedule for the weekend and saw that I would be SJ Sat morning, XC Sat afternoon and Dressage Sunday morning followed by Dressage and SJ competition Sunday afternoon.  There was also a feed and weigh in session on the Sat and plating/trimming demo plus a demo from a local eventer in the evening on jumping young horses.  On the Sunday there was also an Equi pilates session.  I was looking forward to all of it!

We finished Friday with a fun quiz on our groups and then final check of the horses before I finally left for home at 10pm!  I was home about 10.40pm and pretty much straight to bed as I would need to be up a 6am and on the road before 7am to be back to start yard duties at 7.30am!!  Almost everyone else was staying over in their lorries except me!

I arrived at the yard the bright and early the next morning having not had much sleep thanks to drinking too much tea and my little boy being up very early!  I fed and mucked out Jack who was chilled and happy in his stable and then headed for a delicious breakfast of bacon cob, toast, cereal and more tea!  We had until 10am to get ready for our first riding sessions.

I tacked Jack up ready for jumping and headed out to the large outdoor school with a full set of show jumps set up at a decent height, I was relived to discover this had been left by an eventer who had been for some practice early that morning and the fences where soon dropped to a more manageable height!
We were joined by a lady who was just coming for the day so there were 4 of us for our showjumping session.  I explained to the instructor that Jack had had kissing spines and I had to warm up very long and loose etc. so she didn't wonder what on earth I was doing as I pottered about not looking very much like I was about to jump!  Jack was wonderfully relaxed and nice and soft over his back whilst forward and listening.  He warmed up well and we were soon able to start popping the warm up fence.  We then went on to jumping some individual fences from around the course and then stringing a few together, there was a bit of everything to jump including doubles, related distances and dog legs as well as planks, plenty of fillers and brushes.  Throughout the session Jack jumped and behaved beautifully and I was absolutely thrilled with him, the instructor really liked him and the only thing she picked up for me to work on was my contact which I know is still a bit loose and could do with being stronger to help him out more.  I just hate picking him up to much as I like him to be nice and free to jump considering what he has been through but she is right there is nothing wrong with him now and it would help to have him more pushed up and together.
At the end of the session we jumped a course and I waited until last so she could put the jumps up for me to a decent 80cm course.  Jack jumped perfectly clearing everything and maintaining a lovely rhythm throughout.  I couldn't have asked for more and after an hour and a half of jumping he had not touched a pole.  What a fantastic ponio!

He was cooled off and put to bed for a bit while we had lunch and then took him up to the rehab barn to be weighed and assessed by a nutrition expert from Dodson and Horrell.  He was 522kgs and had a body score of 3.5 his ideal weight is 500kgs and a body score of 3 so he is slightly over but nothing too bad considering it is spring and the grass is so good.  She suggested I continue to bring him in during the day, feed soaked hay and muzzle at night and he should be able to loose that few extra pounds!

Next up we had a demo on plating up and a chance to have a little practice before our group got tacked up and ready for XC schooling in the afternoon.

I put Jack in his gag as he can be strong XC and breast plate and martingale for extra control and something to grab!  Someone had mentioned there were sheep but I wasn't expecting them to be in the actual XC field!  As we got down to the field the sheep were everywhere even on top of some of the jumps and Jack immediately slammed on the brakes and went to high tail it out of there!  Luckily the other 2 horses were much less bothered and we followed them down feeling like a fire breathing monster prancing and snorting, spinning with ears stuck up my nose and tail in the air.  The instructor herded the sheep away down 1 end away from us and out of sight.  I had been worried Jack wouldn't have the energy for xc after a long show jumping lesson in the morning but I soon realised if anything I had the opposite problem and was glad I hadn't tried to take him xc any fresher!  He was lively to say the least!  We leapt, bronced and spun our way throughout the warm up and I was grateful to still be on board after the first canter!!  I wasn't sure about jumping I will be honest!  We started by just walking through the water, Jack went straight in and paddled through like a pro so we went on to trotting and even cantering through, he was still messing about a bit in between but actually going through the water he was spot on.  Now it was time to pop the tiny x pole practice fence I had planned a nice steady trot into it however Jack had other plans and so instead we leapt about a bit, turned for the jump, galloped flat out at it, jumped easily and then bronced on landing with head between knees!  Somehow we did not part company and I managed to get a hold of him and get his head up and send him on before he could send me into orbit.  The next few jumps were spent trying to keep his head up on landing and maintaining the forward momentum.  Thankfully things did improve!
We went on to jumping a small log then several rails, roll tops and logs.  The jumping was actually very good and other than 1 refusal at a roll top which I think was more a sheep issue then a jump issue he jumped everything 1st time.  He was still misbehaving between fences quite a lot and the stopping and starting wasn't really suiting him!  It was a shame we were the most experienced pair as if I had had another to jump with I might have jumped a bit more but as it was we did enough and finished on a good note jumping a little course without any stopping to leap or Bronc so a good note to end.  Even after 3 hrs of jumping Jack was still full of himself on the way back and still pulled all the way home!  He was fitter than I thought!
Back at the stables I washed him off and left him to chill while I had a well deserved cuppa!

After dinner we had a demo on introducing young horses to jumping by a local eventer jo shields, she had brought along 2 gorgeous horses both young but at different stages of training and very different characters.  It was very interesting to watch her working them, how she dealt with each issue and broke things down to make it easier for the horse to understand what it's meant to do. It was a very useful demo and although Jacks not a young horse it gave me some ideas to try with him.
It was finished at 8.30pm so I was home much earlier and into bed ready for another early start!

Morning routine was the same Sunday and Jack was sorted and fed by 8.30am then it was riders breakfast time before getting ready for riding at 10am during breakfast we were asked what dressage test we wanted to ride and what height to jump in the competition that afternoon, I chose the Novice test and 75cm jumping.  It was my groups turn for a dressage lesson, we had an hour and a half group lesson with 1 instructor while another instructor took us off individually for approx. 30min 121 lessons.  In the group lesson we worked on transitions and I had my 121 lesson last so we had already done an hours work by the time I went in!  Jack was still feeling good and as we had a novice test to ride in the afternoon as asked for us to work on lightening the forehand our medium trots as I felt that would be our weakest movement.  The lesson was fantastic and I really felt Jack sitting more and much more uphill than usual.  The mediums also improved greatly and I was really pleased, they had much more power and balance and the instructor said he was really flicking his toes, we also received some lovely comments from fellow campers that had come to watch :) good work Jack!
There are 2 main things I need to work on, a shorter contact and me looking up, both of which will improve our general way of going.  I am being a bit too nice to Jack and not riding with a short enough rein contact and I have developed a bad habit of looking down!  The result of only a hand full of lessons in the last few years!

During lunch we were given our times for our dressage tests and show jumping rounds in the afternoon and time to try to memorise our tests although we were allowed a caller.  It was Novice 27 and quite an easy one to remember but I did ask for a caller just in case!

I had a while before needing to warm up for my test and as he had worked really hard all weekend I didn't want to do too much before hand and ruin all our hard work so I decided a 25min gentle warm up would be plenty.  I took my time getting ready and then headed for the warm up to find they were running a bit late so just had a walk round on a long rein so a while.  Jack was nice and relaxed in the warm up and when I picked him up and rode him into the contact he picked up where had left off in our mornings lesson much more forward and up into the contact and he felt lovely.  This continued into our test and I was thrilled with him, the test flowed and we did everything in the right place the mediums felt powerful and we managed to maintain the quality in the transition back to working paces, all in all a good test.  I felt I had probably not picked up the contact enough after the free walk and so maybe thrown away a few marks there but in general I was very pleased with how it had gone and how well Jack felt, he was just trying his best for me the whole way what more could I ask for!

Onto the jumping as we only had a about 20minutes to wait so I headed straight for the outside arena to see where they were in the running order and quickly walk the course then it was time to get back on for the last time.  I only popped a couple of warm up fences not wanting to over do it and then went straight in to jump.  I'm so annoyed with myself about the first fence as I rode it like a sack on spuds and delivered Jack on an impossible stride, he tried his best to jump it but unfortunately we had the top rail off.  It gave us both a wake up call and we flew around the rest of the course clearing everything with ease and really enjoying ourselves. 

I put Jack away and left him to chill while I packed the car and hitched up the trailer then it was time to go and get our results where I was thrilled to find out we had won!!  What a great way to end a fabulous and fun weekend :) I've made some great friends and had a wonderful time, I will definitely be doing it again and highly recommend it to anyone, we've come away having built confidence and learnt loads.

Back at home I have been working on riding in open fields without Jack getting so excited!  We've been galloping across some of the open field on the farm and I even took Jack for a paddle in the river on our own and he went in first time no hesitation at all.  I never thought I'd see the day after some of the battles I've had getting him into water in the past!  It just goes to show how far we have come and how much happier and more trust we have in each other

A few pics of camp 

 

Looking forward by looking back 18/4/16

I love writing my blog, it is really helpful looking back over my previous updates and reminding myself just how far we have come.  The improvement it immense and I'm so happy with Jack at the moment, he is trying so hard and improving and getting stronger every single time I ride him, it's easy to forget that at the end of 2014/early 2015 he was dangerous and unrideable. 

Whilst I wish it had not happened to my horse and it has been a really hard journey at times I have learned so so much about my horse and rehabilitation during the last couple of years.  It's a constant learning curve and I by no means think I know it all now, far from it, but I have learnt one really really valuable lesson and that is to listen to my horse, he is not a horrible horse that just doesn't want to be ridden, he is a willing horse given time, patience, the right tools to do the job he is being asked and correct riding.

So with how well he has been going at home I decided it was time to enter a competition again.  My friend had asked me to ride her horse in a combined training competition at a college not too far from me so I though I might as well take Jack along too!

I entered the intro A and 60cm SJ on Jay and Prelim 12 and 70cm SJ on Jack, Jay is very inexperienced and spooky so wanted to keep things simple for him while Jack found 60cm very easy last time out and has been jumping comfortably at upto 1m at home so I felt a step up to 70cm would be well within his capabilities as would a prelim test.

In the week before the competition Jack was going really well and I was extremely pleased with both his flat work and his jumping so I was hopeful for a good competition on him.  It took me ages to get him cleaned up, everytime he changes his coat he gets lighter and lighter, the horse I brought 5 years ago was almost black and easy to keep clean, he is now almost white and always looks filthy!!

I was a little concerned when I got our times through on the Friday before the comp as I only had 20minutes between jumping Jay and dressaging on Jack!  I usually warm Jack up for a good 30minutes before I pick him up and push him together too much and was worried only 20minutes warm up would not give me time to get him working at his best.  I contacted the organiser and she told me not to worry as it was her mistake and to just jump Jay and do my dressage on Jack whenever we were ready - phew! 

So Saturday was spent scrubbing and cleaning ponies and tack ready for Sundays competition.

Sunday was an early start with my dressage on Jay at 9.20am so I was down at the farm for 6.30am to get Jack plaited, loaded and on the road for 7.30am.  As always seems to be the way there was drama to be had before we got underway!!  Firstly I had not anticipated the freezing conditions and found the trailer hitched frozen solid when I arrived so had to run back and forth to the toilet getting luke warm water (that is the best we get!) to try to defrost it!  After 3 goes the lock came open and I was ready to hitch up when I noticed my hand brake handle was bent double!  My trailer is the last in the line before the work vans and we can only imagine one of the vans had hit it when they were parking and bent it.  Luckily the hand brake still worked and the brakes had not seized on so it cant have been like it long.  There was not other damage so with stress levels elevated I finally got hitched up and could start getting Jack ready!  I quickly plaited him up and removed the stable stains as best I could, threw on a light rug and loaded him up.  Thanks to our recent loading practice he went straight on - yay!  And we were underway!
The journey was uneventful and we arrived as planned at about 8.30am, stress levels now reduced to slightly more normal!  I had a quick look around to find out where the dressage and jumping warm up and arenas where and then left Lucy to tack up Jay while I walked the show jumping course.  It was a nice course with plenty of space, no tight or tricky lines and I was confident it would not pose too may problems.

I got on Jay and warmed him up in the indoor with a couple of other horses, he was on his toes but well behaved and warmed up nicely, when we went through to do our test he had few little spooks but nothing major and not bad at all considering he had never been indoors before!  We trotted round a couple of times and he settled well then the horn went and we were in trotting down the centre line towards the judges car, he performed a beautiful test, the rhythm was consistent, contact consistent and we did everything where it was meant to be done, I was thrilled with him and knew it was a good test.  Fortuantely the judge agreed and we went into to lead.  I then quickly tacked up Jack and then took Jay down to the jumping arena.  Going into the jumping I found out we had maintained the lead and were 4 faults in front of 2nd place!   Jay warmed up well over the practice fences and we were 2nd to jump.  The first horse and rider went in and I took Jay over to the gate ready to go in next, just as the horse refused the first fence depositing it rider who had taken its bridle off in the fall in the middle of the jump and sending poles flying, it took a good while to get the rider who was fortunately unhurt back on her feet, catch the loose bridleless horse and rebuild the fence.  fortunately I'm not a nervous rider but the poor girl after me was having kittens!

I took Jay in and Lucy his owner had warned me to show him the brush as he had been eliminated at that the previous week with another rider so while I waited for the bell I walked him up to the brush which he seem less than bother by, the bell went and we were off and cantering towards the first jump, Jay spooked left and right stopped and leapt over throwing me out the saddle but we stayed together and made it to the otherside with all the poles still up, he was still spooking at fence 2 and I had to ride him quite hard to get him over, we were also heading towards the collecting ring for fence 3 right by the gate, on landing Jay took off towards the other horses and I lost control going flat out straight past fence 3 and had to circle back but he cleared it nicely at the 2nd attempt, he then settled and I managed to maintain the control a little better for the rest of the round, unfortunately speed was a bit of an issue and we knocked 2 fences down, both the 2nd parts of a double where he just got too fast and flat to the 2nd part.  A real shame as this dropped us from 1st to 6th but a lot of lessons learnt and we will certainly be changing his bit for jumping in the future as a snaffle is just not strong enough!

I then had to quickly jump on to Jack and warm him up for his Dressage test.  I usually warm up for a good 30minutes at home but as I knew I didn't have this long I tested him with a quicker warm up at home the day before and he had been ok with it so I was feeling fairly confident.  He was slightly behind my leg and a little spooky but all in all going ok and before I knew it it was time for us to go in.  I was a little disappointed with the test as he wasn't going nearly as well as I know he can do, he was very behind my leg in the trot and on his forehand, the canter was ok and the walk good, I was actually surprised to find we had managed a score of 30!  I had been expecting at least a 35!  Obviously it didn't look as bad as it felt but how exciting that he can score 70% when he not going well, just think what he could manage if he performs as well in the arena as at home!
So feeling very please and in joint 3rd place we went on to the jumping and well Jack just excelled himself!  He cantered round in a beautiful rhythm and cleared everything with ease with his ears pricked and a smile on both our faces!  I was absolutely thrilled with him, he met every jump on a good stride and he didn't look, spook or falter at anything.  As the leaders also jumped clear we maintained 3rd place yay! Ok it was only a 70cm class but the turn around in his attitude and ability is beyond belief, he would never have been able to do this before his operation and it has taken a while to build his confidence back up but wow the round made everything worth while! 
I'm so excited as I know he has so much more to give now and he is actually happy and enjoying himself!

Next up we have a weekend camp at the end of the month where I hope to build his confidence to the same levels over xc fences and then hoping to do a hunter trial or unaffiliated ODE in May if all is going well.

Eeek so much to look forward to with my super boy :)