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!!!

 

Recovery week 29 - 24/8/15

Wahay another good week under our belt :) this is becoming a habit I could very happily get used to!
Jack is still not forward when we start and takes a bit of time and encouragement to get going and working properly but the ability is there and bad behaviour isn't so I'm not worried at the moment although I am considering whether something like a massage pad on before being ridden to warm his back muscles up might help, I will discuss this with Tamsyn our physio when she comes later this week to give him a check up.
I started the week with our usual lunge in pessoa and I worked him hard getting him to really open up and move forwards hoping to give him the confidence to do the same under saddle.
On the Tuesday the weather was windy and we had no one to hack with, the big field is now out of bounds as the cows have arrived so I decided to tackle a bit of schooling in the ménage for the first time in a couple of months.
I gave him a good warm up in walk doing lots of stretching and long and low and lateral before picking up trot.  Jack had other ideas and felt that he would rather just keep walking thanks very much!  So after a little discussion we were trotting, it was slow and behind the leg but he was going at least!  We did a few more trot walk trot transitions and then he brightened up and started to work properly.  A spook at the bottom of the school resulted in us picking up canter and as he was feeling happy and forwards I sat and allowed the canter to continue.  I then changed the rein and asked for canter the other way and got it without any hesitation :) after that he felt so much better and was giving me some really nice work! I then did some figures of 8 in canter changing leg through trot over x and he was just awesome coming back easily and then picking up the correct lead everytime with no issues and not the slightest hint of hesitation.  Thrilled was an understatement!  I was grinning from ear to ear as I cooled him down :) I wasn't sure what to expect but he surpassed any expectation I had!
On Thursday I took him for a hack and we did the longest solo hack we have done since his operation.  We went all the way to the end of the bridle path and back, about 4 miles in total, mostly trotting and cantering with a bit of walk where the ground was a bit deep and sticky.  Jack tired towards the end but we had a lot of fun and he behaved beautifully all the way even through the roadworks with lots of spooky signs, cones, barriers and tape to look at.  Another good day :)
Friday is always a bit of a rush so we just did the shorter hack that day, again on our own, going solo doesn't seems to be an issue at all now and again we had a lovely relaxed hack finishing with a lovely canter all the way back on the bridle path, Jack is obviously feeling fitter as he was keen and pulling all the way and still bright as a button when we got home.
I had to ride alone again on Saturday and didn't fancy another hack on the same route so with a free paddock I decided to try schooling out in the field to see if he felt any different.  It was very very warm and the ground was pretty hard so I was planning on sticking to walk and trot. Also the paddock that was free is not flat and contains a public foot path so I took things steady.  Jack felt lethargic and his walk was very flat and sluggish so I tried to liven him up a bit which he didn't appreciate, he didn't do anything wrong just stopped dead and refused to move at anything other than the pace he was happy with!  When I insisted he did give me some better work but he was hard work and didn't feel like he wanted to do it much at all so I didn't do too much.
There could be a number of reasons, lower energy levels due to poor grass, the heat, the hard ground, being away from all the other horses etc.
I will have a discussion with Tamsyn about it all when she comes next week and see if she can identify any issues or provide any advice on it.
Hopefully there is nothing too worry about and he certainly doesn't appear to be in pain or unsound.
The issues with his near hind have disappeared completely.
Fingers crossed he is back to feeling on form after a holiday as we go away for 8 days at the end of the week and he will be chilling in the field for the duration which I think will do him good.

Recovery week 28 - 17/8/15

It's been a pretty quiet week for Jack as I have been away on a little family holiday since the early hours of Thursday morning and so I don't have an awful lot to update!
He has been ticking over nicely lately and I'm still really pleased with his progress of late despite the ups and downs. 
The biggest and most pleasing progress is the change in his attitude and confidence which is continuing to build all the time.  I think he is beginning to believe in himself and me again and realise its not going to hurt him anymore.  He is still a little hesitant at first sometimes but with a bit of gentle persuasion and patience he soon begins to work at his full ability.  I'm hoping given more time that early hesitation and uncertainty that he still has when I first start working him will disappear completely.
I worked him on the pessoa on Monday and took him for a nice long hack with my friend Jo on her lovely boy Toby Tuesday before a manic Wednesday which involved having to leave work early to pick up my poorly little boy from nursery whilst attempting to get all the work I needed done and pack the car etc ready for a 5pm depart the next morning!  Poor Jack got a quick glance over in the field and a carrot before I had to dash off - not the nice hack I had planned but, best laid plans and all that!
He has been in the field since then and been kept and eye on by the girls I share the field with, Jo and Claire.  They report he has been fine but slightly mift at not being brought in every day for a bit of attention and food - I hope to rectify that tonight!
We have a slightly more normal week this week so I should be able to work him well before I go away again for our main family holiday at the end of the month.  Before then we have a bit of XC schooling planned at our local course with my friend Jo and Toby to give us a good lead ( as long as the ground is good!) and we are going to box them up and take them to a local all weather gallops for a good blast too.  He is also going to been treated by Tamsyn our fab physio again just before I go too so it will be interesting to see the difference a bit of time off has had on him. 
I have not seen him yet as we didn't get home until almost midnight last night and was running rather late for work this morning so I wont see him until after work tonight.  Hopefully there will be some improvement in the lump under his off hock and he has not managed to damage himself in any other way while I've been away!!
The plan will be to lunge him tonight and see how he is.
I also finally got paid by my insurance co for Jacks stay at Bennetts rehab centre for Hydrotherapy back in March!  They deducted an awful lot more than I was expecting but at least I have been able to clear my vet fees at last and no longer have debts hanging over me!
I am now in the process of putting together a big complaint to E and L for their appalling customer service and processing of my claim.
I do not hold out and awful lot of hope in resolving the issues or getting an sort of compensation although I am confident I am owed some after their catalogue of errors, suffice to say when my renewal comes through I will be changing to an alternative provider - I've already been in touch with a few and decided who I'm changing to.
I will never deal with E and L again and strongly advise against anyone insuring anything with them after the troubles I have had - the slightly cheaper premiums are simply not worth the agony you have to go through when you need to claim!
Obviously there will be a fair bit of him that is not insurable now :(

Recovery week 27 - 10/8/15

We are now just over 6months since Jacks surgery and things are going really well at the moment, there are still good and bad days and lots of ups and downs almost daily but in general Jack is happier, more relaxed and beginning to enjoy himself again.  His ridden work is becoming more consistent and the negative behaviour is occurring less and less. 
There is a big difference which I realised this week - I am enjoying riding again!!! :) I look forward to riding and can't wait to get to the farm everyday to see my horse, this is how it should be and what I have been missing for so long!
Last week I mentioned Jack had had some slight lameness in his off fore but this seems to have just been some bruising and has not reoccurred since - yay!
So just to keep me on my toes I then found a rather alarming lump on the outside of his off hind just below the hock (see piccies below of the off hock on the left with the lump and the near hock on the right to compare although I didn't get the same angle so they don't show it so well!)

It's pretty impressive but it doesn't seem to bother him at all and he is not lame on it.  It's hard and there is no swelling or heat so it's a bit of a mystery what he has done but I'm trying not to worry about it as it's not bothering him at the moment.  Next time the vet is at the yard I'll get them to have a quick look and obviously if it starts to be an issue I'll get it checked out sooner but for now I'm trying not to worry about it (easier said than done after all we've been through!)
We've enjoyed lots of hack both alone and in company this week but taken things slowly due to the hard ground.  

We even got to go for a run with my other half and our little boy!

Behaviour wise Jack has been brilliant, he has been relaxed and calm even hacking alone where he is usually a bit on edge and can be spooky.
I hate to wish for bad weather but could do with a bit of rain to soften the ground up so we can get back out in the jumping field again, I just daren't risk it with the ground so solid at the moment :(
We've not much grass at the moment and I do think his energy levels are suffering a bit, we should have a nice rested paddock to move him and his 2 field companions onto but one of the other liveries has been using it and it's not been rested so we are now struggling a bit.  She has now moved back onto her own paddocks so hopefully in a couple of weeks the grass will have recovered a bit and we can move them over to some better grazing.  Although he is hungry and lacking a bit of energy it is doing his waistline good as keeping him trim is always a battle and I have holiday booked end of this week and again at the end of the month so he is going to be out of work for a couple of weeks!

Recovery week 26 - 3/8/15

I am actually quite excited writing about this week as it has been a brilliant one and just what we both needed after a frustrating few weeks of making little or no progression!
As I blogged last week we finally got all 4 feet off the ground (intentionally) for the first time in approx. 9months.  Since then we've have a great deal of fun :)
We started the week on the Monday with lunging session on the pessoa and Jack was fine if slightly lazy!  While I was there our YO was putting some xc fences out in our big field now the hay has been taken off and we can use this for the next few weeks until the cows arrive to graze on there for the autumn.  So no time like the present we headed out to have a look at them on Tuesday my friend Jo with her lovely sensible horse Toby giving us a lead.  We had a walk round the field and showed them the fences, which were only upto 60cm so nice and easy, and then had a trot and canter round to warm them up. Jack was keen but behaved himself and managed to contain his excitement even when the cows in the next field all ran over to the fence to see what we were doing!  We then trotted over the first fence, which is just a little cross pole to get you going, then circled away coming again and doing fence 1 again followed but the next 2 which are small but solid xc fences.  Jack was jumping brilliantly and Toby was giving us a fantastic confidence giving lead so we carried on and jumped the line of 5 no problem - I was grinning from ear to ear.  Jack has never jumped so well the difference in his technique since his operation is amazing, his jump is so smooth and easy to ride and he was really coming up through his shoulders, he was also wanting to take the fences on and I didn't have to kick him at all I was able to just sit and let the fences come to us.  What a difference!  To finish, as Jack was being so good, I decided to try taking him in the lead to see what happened and was absolutely thrilled when he just jumped through exactly the same full of confidence, full of enthusiasm and really enjoying himself.  I was on cloud 9, I honestly was doubting if we would ever be able to trust each other and enjoy ourselves like that again in recent weeks and I was absolutely blown away with how great it felt.  This was just what we needed to get us back on track after a frustrating time feeling like nothing what getting any better of late.
As is the way with horses having been on such a high on the Tuesday Wednesday brought bad news, Jack was slightly lame :( There was no apparent reason and I couldn't find the cause.  We have just moved them into a different field and there are a lot of stones so I was hoping it was just bruising from standing on a stone and not anything to do with the jumping the day before.
He trotted up sound on the Thursday so I took him for a little hack round the block for 30minutes and he felt fine again.  We had a trot and canter back along the bridle path and he felt sound thank heavens!  It was one of the nicest rides I've had on him on our own, he wasn't spooky or silly at any point and we had a relaxed and fun time.
On the Friday I was planning on going out into the big field again but not jumping as I was on my own.  The field is on a gradient and there is a bank down one side so I was going to go up and down the bank for a bit of 'hill' work (we don't have any real hills round us!) but as I was tacking up my friend Marie arrived to ride and she wanted to join us and do some jumping.  As we had had so much fun on the Tuesday I didn't take much persuading to jump again!  The only thing was this time we would have to be the lead as her mare has only young and has just started jumping so the pressure was on he behave and be a good lead.  The jumps where already really small as one of the other girls had used them earlier so they were ideal for a young horse.  Jack bless him was so good giving her a great lead never hesitating or deviating from the line.  He was growing in confidence and started taking strides out :)
Once Marie was happy with what she had done she put the adjustable fences up for me so I could jump through something a bit bigger.
Jack was a little reluctant to go away from his friend but he didn't do anything wrong he was just a bit reluctant.  Once we got nearer the bottom of the field he perked up and when we turned to the jumps he was flying again he cleared 1 - 4 beautifully seeing a flyer at the 3rd, then all of a sudden between fences 4 and 5 he slammed the anchors on and started to bronc.  I had to slip the reins to stop myself being pulled over his head but this gave him more chance to get his head down and buck!  I managed to stay on and grab the reins back to pull his head up gave him a good few kicks and shouted a few profanities and as quickly as he started he was off again and flew the last fence like nothing had happened!  Little monkey!!  I was still absolutely thrilled with him and I think it was just excitement getting the better of him.
I had to give him the day off on Saturday as I had planned to ride in the evening but unfortunately it threw it down which wasn't forecast and I didn't have time to get him in a dry in time to ride so we had a quick loose school instead.
On the Sunday I got down to the farm early and took him out to the field again on our own and we did what we had planned to do on the Friday using the bank and gradient of the field to help get Jack using his back end more and strengthen his back and quarters.  He was a little hesitant to go down to the bottom of the field out of site of the yard on his own but with plenty of reassurance and calm persistence we got there and then did 20minutes of trotting and cantering up an down the bank and up from the bottom of the field.  He was very good and I could really feel him having to work over his back to power up the hill :)
That afternoon I went over to my best friend Lucy's to ride Jay for this first time since I took him to the show, we set up a little course of 3 jumps in their ménage and jumped him round a few times and he was ace as usual.  I love jumping his little guy he is so honest its really nice to ride something so straight forward!  He's inexperienced but he never says no even when he's not sure and he's great fun.
Lucy got some pictures of us in action, it's a shame I've not got any of me jumping Jack yet.  I will try to get some next time :)