20th January 2016 Best laid plans......

Well it has not been the start to the year I had planned, as I mentioned in my last blog I had not been feeling well for some weeks and 2days after New year I found myself in hospital with Pneumonia!  At least now I knew why I had been feeling so horrible and was getting the right treatment.
Obviously this has meant that Jacks little Christmas break has been extended for far longer than planned but luckily for me he loves to be out rather than stabled so he is rugged up and staying out even in the snow!  He was only trace clipped so he still has plenty of coat to keep him warm and I had had his shoes removed in November ready for the winter so he needs very little in terms of care.  Our Winter grazing is a huge 16+ acre field so he has more than enough to eat and the yard owner and other liveries are keeping an eye on him and letting me know how he is.
My other half has been down to see him and give him some treats for me and I did venture down myself a couple of times last week and at the weekend to see him and give him a brush and a little TLC.  Unfortunately I think I over did it a bit as Monday I was back at the Drs feeling rubbish and the infection in my lungs had returned so more rest and tablets for me and i'm now banned from the yard until i'm fully better!
As a result I've not got much to write about!
I have had to cancel the eventing training camp we had booked to go on at the end of January as there is just no way either of us will be fit to attend, I've not ridden and Jacks been turned away since mid Dec so it would be slightly unrealistic to attempt 3 days of double lessons, course riding and XC!
I'm gutted as I really think this is just what we both need to really get us back on form and I was so looking forward to it but there will be other times we can go. 
With the amount of time off Jack has ended up having it is going to take a while to get him back up to the fitness levels needed for such intense training so there is now no plan in place for what we will do this spring, I will take things slowly and make sure he is fit and happy in his work again before deciding on what we might be doing.
So in the mean time here are some pics from the competition we did just before I fell ill.
As you can see the jumps are dinky but I was just so pleased with him, first competition in nearly 2 years and to jump double clear and come 2nd was amazing, a little glimpse of what he really is capable of now he isn't in pain.

Hopefully my next blog will be about being back in the saddle!

Happy New Year

I originally started writing this blog before Christmas and was very exciting to tell you all about our first competition since surgery, unfortunately I was struck down with a horrible chest infection 10days before Christmas and was not well at all.  Luckily Jack and his friends are still living out so our yard owner and other liveries were keeping an eye on Jack for me while I recovered.  I had also been quite organised and got all the Christmas shopping done.
By the time the big day came I actually felt a lot better and was able to enjoy the day with my family and cook and nice dinner.  Christmas with children really is magical and my little boy who is nearly 3 had the most wonderful time!
Everything was going well and we had just sat down to a cup of tea when my phone rang and it was one of the other liveries, I immediately knew something was wrong and answered it with trepidation.  Straight away I could tell in debs voice she was upset but she first assured me Jack was ok, so what was wrong?  A long story short the yard owner had found one of the horses dead in the field as he had walked the dogs just before it got dark and he wanted deb to make sure it was the horse he thought it was before telling the owner.  Poor deb then went and told the owner personally, what and awful thing to have to do on Christmas day 😢
although it was already dark I felt the need to see Jack so went down armed with torches and luckily Jack came over when we called.  He was fine I knew he would be, I just needed to see for myself.
The vet came the next day but an external examination didn't reveal any conclusive cause.  They think twisted gut.  We all feel awful as if it had happened any other day one of us is always coming and going throughout the day and someone might have found him in time to save him but being Christmas day none of us had been up since the morning.  His poor owner was understandably devastated but coped far better than I would have.
So now the 3 amigos are only 2 when we move back to our summer paddocks 😢 very sad.
Having spent some of boxing day morning down the farm the plan was family time for the rest of the day but by lunchtime I was starting to feel really off my duck again, I'd finished the antibiotics Christmas eve and suspect I needed them for a bit longer.  By late afternoon I was flat out on the sofa feeling terrible this continued so when the drs reopened tues I got an appointment and was given different tablets.  I started to pick up on the weds but by Thursday I was feeling worse than ever, I'd not eaten since Sunday by this point and was exhausted.  I felt so terrible the Dr came out to see me as I couldn't possibly drive or walk the mile to the surgery and Dan was at work.  It turns out I was having a bad reaction to the medication I was on and had to stop taking it immediately. I'm still struggling now but hoping it won't be too long now til I feel better.

So jumping back to before Christmas!  I was looking forward to taking Jack for our 2nd jumping lesson with our fantastic instructor before our first competition in nearly 2 years a week later.   At home I always ride alone, there is never anyone there at the same time as me so while I know Jack feels so much better I don't know how it looks and, as we all know, sometimes what feels good doesn't look so and vice versa.
The lesson did not go well and I felt very frustrated and disappointed at the end, although my instructor didn't think I should feel like that.  I wish she could see how well he is going at home as he really didn't show himself off well at all.  Although he miss behaved and let me down he did jump very well.  My instructor thinks he is just being stubborn and arrogant and I need to be much harder on him about things being done on my terms and not Jacks.  She wants me to address the balance of power in our relationship, I am the one in control and he is to do as I say in everything we do.  He's a dominant character and doesn't like being told what to do, you have to be a bit smart when getting him to do things especially something new/scary, if you just confront him with it he will argue back! If we remain in our comfort zone we don't have any issues but we also won't progress much either!
Following our lesson he has again behaved well at home and I have been harder and pickier about how we do things and Jack is accepting this.
So Sunday morning I got up early and felt quite optimistic about having a good day.  I had chosen to do a 60cm eventer trial as I felt the size would be so within his comfort zone that if need be we could trot the course.  The aim was simply to complete and I wasn't thinking about being competitive.  It was a venue we've not been to before at a college and we left in plenty of time to get there walk the course and warm up but as we got closer to the destination I started to feel that something was wrong, we were in the middle of a town, we soon discovered we were going to another campus of the college and not the equine centre.  Queue several profanities!  We had no mobile internet reception to find the postcode and I was suddenly feeling 10 x more stressed out!  Eventually we managed to find the correct postcode and we were not too far away thank heavens but it still left me with very little time.  As soon as we arrived I sent the other half and our little boy off to find out where we were going while I tacked up Jack.  I then had to run off and walk the course before the class started, unfortunately I was 2nd to go so we had to have a very quick warm up before it was our turn to go in.  The course was a nice flowing course which I felt was easily jumpable consisting of 8 show jumps including 1 double and 8 xc style jumps.  When we entered the ring I showed Jack the 2nd showjumping fence as I thought with its noughts and crosses style black white and red filler it was quite spooky, having had a look and not spooking I turned Jack away and went to canter down the arena towards the start but Jack had other ideas, as it meant cantering past the entrance he decided instead he would have a good old nap at the gate, refusing to move so I gave him a tap with the whip and he bucked and kicking instead of moving!  I was Sat there thinking "I've not come all this way to get eliminated before I've even jumped a fence!" So the reins went into one hand and I smacked him until he moved his stubborn backside!  It wasn't pretty, it took about 5smacks and I'm sure they could probably have eliminated me for excessive use of the whip if they had wanted to but they didn't ring the bell so I turned to fence 1 and we were off.  He jumped beautifully, clearing everything with ease and not taking a second look at any of the fillers.  He was even taking out strides and felt very confident.  I couldn't believe it as we jumped the last and crossed the finish line double clear!! 😊💜🐴
I didn't care at this point if I did get eliminated at the start, the important thing was I had confronted one of our issues, he had done as he was told and the result was a perfect 0 score!  It was a hugely important lesson for us both.  I think he realised I meant business and wasn't going to accept any silly spookiness!
Unfortunately as always seems to be the way the was more drama to come as on the way home we got a puncture on the trailer on a duel carriage way with know where to stop!  I had to limp with hazards on to a petrol station about a mile way but we made it somehow!  Poor Jack was then unloaded in a petrol station while my other half had to change the tyre, oh and just for good measure it started to rain!  I was amazed that no one came to offer help or ask why on earth I was walking my horse round a petrol station!
The tyre was changed pretty quickly and we got home safely, I suppose we were lucky it happened when it did as if we had been another couple of miles up the road we would have been on the M1 and would have had to close the motorway so it could have been worse!
So pretty much since because I became ill then Jack has had a nice long holiday in the field and I'm sure turning feral!
I hope to be well enough to bring him back into work next week but will need to start gently again. although he is out 24/7 he will have lost quite a lot of fitness.
Here's to a good 2016 for everyone

30/11/25 Stronger, better, faster!

At almost 10months post surgery Jack has been going from strength to strength in recent weeks, he honestly is feeling better than ever and I smile every time I ride him now, it's a pleasure to ride him and with every ride he improves and exceeds my expectations.  With the shorter days we are becoming increasingly restricted to riding in the menage, while I know we are very lucky to have a floodlit menage I have always found Jack rather switches off with too much time schooling in there.  Since his surgery in Feb I have rarely ridden in the school limiting ridden schooling sessions to once a week at most but now if I want to ride in the week it has be the school or nothing.  I was concerned Jack might switch off but with a bit of planning and imagination I've kept our schooling sessions fairly short with lots of variety to keep him interested and listening and so far it's working a treat!  My current weekly winter schedule goes something like this:

Monday - lunge in pessoa sometimes with poles
Tuesday - school
Wednesday - in hand ground poles
Thursday - school over poles
Friday - short hack or short ride in field
Saturday - jump
Sunday - hack

I swap and change days around depending on time, weather etc and I don't want it to become too predictable!

With how well Jack has been schooling we tried 2 more things we had yet to do since surgery, simple changes and lengthened strides.  He tried so hard and even when he got a bit excited and uptight he didn't put a foot wrong.  His walk to canter transitions felt so much better balanced and through than pre surgery.  He used to pull himself forward and down onto his forehand but now he was able to sit wait and step under himself from behind producing a lovely forward, balenced, uphill transition with lots of impulsion, activity and lightness.  He was so adjustable and rideable :)
I have to watch he doesn't try to avoid using his left hind correctly, which he does by pushing his left shoulder in, as long as I keep the flexion to the left and keep him soft down the left rein he is super!
When I asked for some lengthened strides in trot I was thrilled with his response, he felt so strong and powerful.  He's always been able to lengthen but he would end up on the forehand and rushing as he couldn't maintain it.  The biggest difference is in the transition back to collection which was just so much easier because I wasnt having to try to rebalence him from running onto the forehand!!

I also braved the 50mph winds yesterday afternoon to take him for a hack on our own, we've not been out for a couple of weeks due for various reasons so I expected him to be a little lively and had a neck strap ready but I really didn't want to school again!  We didn't go far and there was quite a bit of spooking but with good reason to be fair.  I would never have dared take him out in those conditions on our own a few months ago so it really goes to show the trust between has really improved :)

I have another lesson booked for early Dec and all being well our first competitive outting in over 20months will be mid december - eek!

A picture popped up on my Facebook timeline this week from 4 years ago:

These were our 2011 dressage champions trophies from a local riding club.  We were actually dressage champions of 2 local riding clubs that year, we were unbeaten all year in every test we did plus we were working Hunter champions of one of the club's too!  The following year jacks back problems began although it would be almost 2 years before we got a proper diagnoses.  This just reminds me why through all our troubles I always thought my little horse was worth it and he feels better now than when we won those trophies so the future is very exciting :)

Finally I am truly shocked and honoured to have been short listed for the title of hay net equestrian blogger of the year on www.hay-net.co.uk the winner is picked by public vote and you can vote for me - Hannah Arscott - by following this link:

https://surveyplanet.com/56447ea18535760f1475ecfe

Thank you to anyone who enjoys my blog and takes the time to vote :) we are up against some very strong competition so just to make the shortlist is a big surprise!

20/11/15 - Things are starting to come together :)

In the last few weeks although he has had a holiday Jack has really improved and we have had some great schooling sessions and hacks, we've also been out to a show jumping training evening had a really positive physio session and a wonderful arena eventing style jumping lesson!
I always feel much more positive after Jacks had a session with our fab physio Tamsyn to confirm that he is working better and not in any pain!  She came out to us earlier in the month and while he feels fab but I really like to have that conformation from her that Jack is working correctly and is not hindered by pain!  She said how even he is moving behind now and built muscles back in all the right places :) he did have a little tightness in his hip flexors which is due to him now working correctly from behind and putting them under a bit more strain than in the past but she was able to loosen this off for him and it confirms he is working correctly and using himself properly.  She also said I can start asking for a bit more from him now as he is physically able to do so.

The ulcer treatment/management that I have put in place continues to keep Jack happier and more settled and this really showed when I took him out to a new venue for show jumping training a few weeks ago - he didn't have the usual volume of sloppy stress poos!  While he was not perfectly behaved and we did have a few problems, which resulted in me becoming rather stressed out, over all the evening was a success and we were able to take a lot away to work on.  Jack was quite unsure to begin with about the scary fillers but after a look at a few of them he jumped a beautiful clear round jumping everything with ease.  His jump has really improved since surgery, pre-surgery he was reluctant, had a very jerky jump and would often take poles off with his hind legs as he didn't release behind.  He now has a lovely smooth jump and is generally more keen.  I don't want to tempt fate too much but he's not refused or knocked down anything yet although I've not asked him to do any big fences or complex exercises as I want him to enjoy it!
He has also been schooling really well and he feels so much better in his canter, he is more adjustable, forward going, lighter and freer.  All this is how he feels as I never have eyes on the ground to tell me if he looks as good as he feels!  I really enjoy and look forward to riding him now, he feels easy, how it should be, and he is behaving beautifully and trying so hard to do everything I ask him to.  It is a total turn around and at the moment every time I ride he feels better and stronger.  I'm really excited by how he feels at the moment!  It is beginning to feel like he is going to be able to be the horse I always thought he could be - only time and training will tell if we will ever event but on current form it is looking like it could be a reality!

With things going so well I managed to book myself onto a arena eventing style jump training session with our instructor, who we have not seen in a year, last week.  I was unsure how he would react but felt the time was right to start asking a little more and as Tamsyn our physio had  agreed there was no time like the present.
The day of the clinic it was howling a gale and the rain was thrashing down - great start!  I got Jack ready and he loaded first time without hesitation.  We arrived at the venue to find they were running about and hour late due to the weather but thankfully the rain had stopped.  The ménage was rather water logged but meant for good water schooling!  As I warmed up Sue our instructor commented how much looser and freer Jack was working over his back and from behind even though I didn't feel his was working as well as he had been at home.  Probably due to being somewhere different and all the water!  We did some easy exercises to begin with and Jack found these so within his comfort zone we soon moved on to more complex exercises.  The jumps were kept small but the lines were made tricky to get jack quicker with his feet and thinking for himself.  We ended jumping a line starting with a barrel in water on a curving right turning line 3 strides to another barrel and then another curving left turning line 3 strides to a 3rd barrel in canter with a change of lead over each barrel.  Jack jumped through with confidence making it feel so easy.  He far exceeded my expectations, I really didn't know what to expect but prior to surgery there would have been refusals, spooking and bucking and rearing for sure!!

We have another clinic in a few weeks which will be working on show jumping course riding, in Dec a arena eventing competition and in January we are planning on attending a 3 day camp working on improving the 3 eventing phases.  I can't wait for that, all being well we might even have a crack at a ODE next season :)

12/10/15 - I love my horse!

This week has unexpectedly been a really good week!

Last week I wrote of my suspicion that Jack has ulcers, well I decided to treat him as if he did without getting him scoped at this stage.  I much prefer a natural approach to treating both myself and Jack so I did some research and found a lot of info on ways to treat and then prevent ulcers with natural products.  From this I ordered an all natural charcoal based supplement - equus health gastro-kalm and some dengie healthy tummy both designed to help reduce excess acid production, sooth inflammation in the stomach and aid digestion.  I have to say so far I am very impressed with the effect they seem to be having on Jack in just a week, he is much happier, no ears back/face pulling or head throwing when I do up the girth and is also more forward when I ride, since I started feeding him them he has not done his usual trick of not wanting to do the first walk - trot transition. So in terms of the experiment so far so good.  I'm not ruling out getting Jack scoped or a course of treatment with gastrogard in the future, if he needs it then it will be done but I'm really pleased to be having such positive results already.  

Following Jacks crashing fall just over a week ago I had planned on giving him an easy week and time to recover but surprisingly he had other ideas, perhaps down to his tummy feeling better??
As in my last blog I gave him a little lunge and some nice easy stretch work on Monday, other than a little stiffness on his left hind Jack appeared pretty much unscathed from his fall.
I had arranged to go and view the images from my recent photo shoot with Chrysalis photography on Tuesday after work so Jack was going to have the day off anyway, usually I would have been bothered about giving him the day off but as he was a little sore anyway I was happy to give him the time to recover. 
On Wednesday evening I decided to give him a little loose school as I often do on a Wednesday, if he had been reluctant or looked uncomfortable I would have stopped but there was not a bit of it, Jack bucked and kicked around the school and flicked his toes all over the place - obviously not feeling any ill effects and probably in need of some work!
Based on his performance the night before Thursday I decided to ride, there were a couple of people about to watch us and see if they thought he looked uncomfortable but Jack seemed happy and more forward than usual.  I just did half and hour but he worked very nicely, particularly in the canter where he felt much more up through his shoulder and rounder in his neck, coming through better from behind and was really on my seat aids and lovely and soft through his back.  Also of note - there was no hesitation in the first walk - trot transition :) I was so pleased with how he went, it has to be the best canter we have had so far so an awful lot to be happy about!
Friday I decided to go for a little hack on our own again, time to face our demons down the canal path!  We headed out and Jack felt relaxed and happy, I wasn't sure if we would canter down the canal path after what happened last time but Jack was up for it so we did a controlled canter, he was a little spooky just where he fell last time so I brought him back to trot for a bit until he settled again then cantered home happy and confident we had put the previous experience behind us - another good day.

Usually on a weekend I like to avoid the ménage but I couldn't get to ride until 6pm Saturday so I had no option as the light was already fading fast! I took Jack in the ménage for the 2nd time in a week (the first time I have done so during his rehab!) I hoped he wouldn't be too upset at being schooled again!  I needn't have worried he was on fire and he worked beautifully.  His back is feeling strong and supple and he is much more forward and on my aids.  I was able to spend time refining what I was asking him rather than just trying to get him to go forward and long and low.  The work he produced was definitely the best he has done post op, he is just getting better and better at the moment and I'm really excited about how well he is responding and his attitude at the moment.  It seems like its all falling back into place at long last!

I wish there had been someone there to capture some video of me riding so I can see if it looks as good as it feels!

The plan next week is to take him to a show jumping training show on Friday and I'm now really looking forward to it :)

5/10/15 - Too good to last!

Things have been going really well lately, Jack seems to have fully recovered from his KS surgery, rehab has gone quite well with just the odd blip but nothing major and Jack been growing in confidence in both himself and in me again.  We have enjoyed lots of nice rides and our schooling has been improving steadily however I have felt that there was still something bothering him.  His back is great and he doesn't appear to be having the SI pain that he had early in his rehab but he is still reluctant at the beginning of a ride, almost every time I ride him he resists going from walk - trot the first time I ask, he just doesn't go forward and stays in walk until I really boot him!  Once we get that first transition out the way he is then ok, also he can still react to the girth being done up, ears back and throwing up his head when it is tightened.  Having pretty much excluded everything else this behaviour is now making me think ulcers are the likely the culprit.  Jack is highly likely to suffer considering his previous management (before I owned him) of being stabled for long period with no food, the pain he has endured with his KS and the stress he has been through with numerous trips to the vets and the surgery then prolonged box rest.  Considering this it would not be a surprise if he has some ulcers and his symptoms fit.  I have discussed with my vet who don't scope themselves and I have 3 options 1) Get a referral to have him scoped by another vet 2) My vets could prescribe gastro-gard based on a presumptive assessment or 3) try treating him with natural remedies and commercially available supplements and see if there is any improvement.  Since I have owned him (4 years) he has lived out 24/7 most of the year and when he is stabled always has access to hay.  He is fed a high fibre diet and is never left for prolonged periods with no access to forage.
There are many products available to treat and prevent stomach ulcers in horses but I prefer to treat naturally where possible and have had good results using spirulina to build muscle and Tumeric to ease arthritis so for now I have decided to treat naturally along with feeding Dengie healthy tummy and adding equus health's Gastro Kalm to his feeds for maintenance.
There are lots of natural products that can help neutralise acid and some which also reduce acid production which is what is needed in the short term to aid healing so my next step is to purchase the ingredients needed and then persuade Jack to digest them!  He can be picky about things in his food so that is likely to be the biggest challenge.
Hopefully with a 2 week course on an acid reducing cocktail his stomach will be healed and I can then manage with healthy tummy and gastro-kalm to prevent further occurrences.
I shall report back if there is any improvement in a couple of weeks and if no improvement is seen then I will have another chat with my vet and reconsider scoping him.

Anyway onto this weeks activities, we started the week with a lunge session over poles which went very well, Jack was well behaved if slightly lazy to start with and he was working over his back and stepping evenly over the poles.  This sort of work is really helping build and strengthen his back end and he seems to enjoy the variety in his work too.  Following this I schooled him on the Tuesday with 3 poles in a straight line at a canter stride apart and raised at alternate ends.  Having warmed up thoroughly with the usual resistance to trot I then walked trotted and cantered over the raised poles, Jack was doing the poles really well in a good balance nice and forward and in a good shape using his back end to skip through the poles neatly and confidently.  I was tempted to turn the raised poles into a little grid of x poles but I resisted as I was so pleased with how he had worked I didn't want to risk spoiling things pushing for too much.  Instead I sat up and picked him up in the canter and was thrilled with how responded coming light and up in his shoulder, bringing his hind legs under and producing the best canter I think we have ever had :) I was so so thrilled with this!  If this is a glimpse of  what he is capable of when he is more confident and stronger then I'm very excited!       
He had a easier day the next day with just a little loose school.
On Thursday we went for a hack with my other half Dan running along side us, we did 4.8 miles of trot and canter along the bridle path and back on the road and Jack felt fit and full of running.
Friday I went out into the stubble field and Jack was much more confident than the previous week, he still has a little think about going into trot the first time but after that he was a lot more forward and we did some good gallops without me having to really kick him to go like I did last time.
I didn't get to ride Saturday as I was very busy and at a wedding in the evening so Jack just got fed an apple of the gate and his rug changed!
Then Sunday afternoon I had the chance to ride with one of the other liveries, this very rarely happens at the moment so I rushed through my other jobs to be able to meet her only to get there, get Jack in and ready to discover she was no longer coming as she had not got my text!  As I was ready to go I made the fateful decision to head out anyway, I didn't think anything of it as we hack alone 99% of the time these days anyway.  As we wandered towards the village I was undecided with route to go but eventually made up my mind to just have a short hack and get back as I still had a lot to do at home.  Jack was behaving and was relaxed and enjoying himself if the lovely sunny weather.  When we got to the bridle path we picked up canter as we always do on the wide grass verge between the tarmac footpath and the canal, we set out at a pretty fast pace but I slowed him down as we approached some people walking on the path, it was a good job I did or what happened next could have been worse as a split second later Jack spooked at something on his right shooting left at high speed towards the tarmac, I knew it wasn't going to end well, there was no way he could stay upright on tarmac at that speed. I tried my best to stop him, put my left leg on and holding him with my left rein but it was too late he hit the tarmac with all 4 hooves going sideways and still in canter. The next thing I knew we were on the floor, me still on board somehow and Jack on his stomach.  I feared the worse, I imagined broken legs and was about to jump off when Jack tried to get up.  I sat as still as possible as he scrambled to his feet shaking.  A family who were walking towards us came to our aid and checked Jacks legs, somehow he had managed to escape without serious injury, he had some pretty deep grazes to both his fetlocks and both stifles but other than that he seems ok I walked him around for a few minutes to check he felt ok and trotted him but he felt fine, he even decided he wanted to canter home!  I think that must have been the adrenaline pumping!
At home I hosed his legs off and washed the grazes with hibiscrub, some of them were pretty deep but they were clean so I plastered wound cream all over them to protect them from the flies and mud before turning him back out. 
When I went back to check on him later and to rug him up he looked fine I just had to leave the leg straps off his rug to stop them rubbing on the sores on his stifles.
I checked on him again this morning and expected him to look a bit stiff or sorry for himself but he walked over to me without a hint of discomfort!
When I brought him in tonight he was keen to come in and was walking on a mission!  There was no heat or swelling and the grazes had dried up and looked healthy and healing.
I decided to give him a little lunge just to see how he was moving and he was slightly stiff, unsurprising really considering he was legs akimbo on the tarmac the day before but to be honest I expected him to be far worse than he was, there was only the slightest stiffness in his near stifle.  I believe getting them moving with gentle stretching and exercise is the best thing so we did some carrot stretches and a bit of in hand in the school to help loosen him off.  I can't quite believe how well he has come out of a potential disastrous accident!  
So I will now be giving him a bit of an easier time of it until he has been seen by our physio and I can be sure he is recovered from the ordeal. 
Poor Jack!

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