I've been lunging Jack everyday to build up his muscle, we've been doing a variety of different pole work exercises to really get him lifting his back, engaging his core and hind quarters and flexing his hocks all of which he really needs to do to support his spine and the poles make it really easy to achieve. He seems to enjoy doing the poles and it certainly makes going in endless circles a bit more interesting! There are so many different ways to set the poles out too so it doesn't become boring and repetitive.
I'd not ridden yet as I really wanted his saddle checked first just to make sure I wasn't going to create anymore issues by riding in a saddle that wasnt quite right.
Friday came and the saddler was booked for 12.30pm to check his saddle fit for me, she was running very late due to an accident but fortunately I wasn't in too much of a rush and spent the time giving Jack a good groom, not that you would know it, he still looks very mud coloured! I did manage to get a brush through his tail for the first time since before I was ill thanks to a big helping of nettex mane and tail detangler!
When the saddler finally made it I tacked him up and she checked the saddle surprisingly finding it still a good fit, she then checked it with me mounted and after a few minutes of riding and again it was still sitting perfectly so no work required :) I just rode in the school for 15minutes in walk and a little trot to finish. Jack felt lazy but very relaxed! Probably should have put my spurs on!
It also made me think about his food, he's only been getting a small amount of healthy tummy and safe and sound chaffs which are both low energy. I have to be careful with his weight and through summer this is usually plenty alongside the grass but I do normally add a higher energy mix in winter and fibrebeet to give him a bit more enthusiasm, again that's not happened due to my illness this winter and for almost 6weeks he pretty much lived on just grass. How lucky are we to have enough good winter grazing to do that!! He looks in very good condition and has not lost weight from it but I felt that now he's in regular work again he needs a bit more so as I needed some more gastro-kalm anyway for his tummy when I went to the shop I got a bag of spillars response slow release energy too.
The awful weather put paid to any riding on Saturday, it was howling winds and throwing it down by the time I got to the yard to meet my friend Jo for a ride, we both decided to wimp out and leave it for another day!
I also didn't ride out with the other liveries on their regular Sunday morning hack, I would have loved to but they go for a good hour with lots of trotting and cantering so we will have to wait a good few weeks before we are ready for that! I rode in the afternoon instead, I wanted to go for a little hack but the wind was still very strong and I wasn't too sure if taking Jack out for the first time in months on my own in high wind was a good idea! After a good talking to myself I decided to just get on with it and I was really glad I did, he was on his toes but never put a foot wrong and had a lovely ride. Hopefully the wind drops off a bit but the forecast is for storm imogen to bring more high winds and heavy rain the next few days, maybe Jack will get another day or 2 off!
I also received some magnetic hock boots from Equine Magnetix this week and was keen to give them a try so I've started putting them on a couple of hours at a time. Too early to tell if they have any effect yet but looking forward to seeing some positive results on his arthritic and slightly stiff hocks as he gets used to them. Hopefully they help keep him comfortable, they have lots of positive feedback from owners of horses with conditions similar to Jacks so fingers crossed they can work for him. I'm also considering getting him a back on track rug but would like to see some results from the boots before I spend that sort of money. I may also treat Jack to an equiami lunging aid rather than the pessoa as they have such a positive following amongst other kissing spines horse owners.
You can see in the below picture where the river has burst its banks and flooded the bottom part of our field, fortunately most of the field is on higher ground and well draining so other then the bottom part getting flooded and the gateway being a mud bath the rest of the field is pretty good, Jack decided to photobomb my attempt at photographing the flood water!
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