I've not blogged for a while now, not because I've not had news to share, quite the opposite actually, but I've really struggled for time! Since mid November I've been away for 2 weeks on honeymoon, got back early December, started a college course, changed roles at work, taken on a new part time business and had Christmas and birthday's to organise so time just seems to have gotten away from me and now here we are 2 months+ since my last blog!
Back in December I blogged about Jack and I's first attempt at Dressage4all online dressage competitions. We had a pleasing start with 2 x 3rd places in the intro and prelim but it was back when Jack wasn't feeling himself and I knew there was a lot of room for improvement.
When I brought him back into work after my honeymoon he was feeling back to his usual self and the break seemed to be all he had needed so we went ahead and entered the December competition too. We only entered the intro this time as Jack wasn't back in full work, the ménage was covered in snow and I only had 1 chance to film 1 test before the light went. Jack was going well and I was really pleased with the test and hopeful we had improved from the previous month. I was even more delighted to find out that we had won with just shy of 69% receiving an 8 for our halt! This also meant that the team I am in had won the team championship so we received some lovely rosettes, sash and trophy and can officially call ourselves Dressage Champions 2017!! Not bad for a horse that's been through major surgery and 3 lots of rehab in 3 years!
We have continuing to enter the Dressage4all competitions this year and have entered the team competition again soon so we can try to defend our title!
For January I decided to liven things up bit and entered the Prix caprilli competition, where you do a dressage test which incorporates some jumps too! The test was accurate and obedient so I was pleased with how it had gone but we had one mistake where we landed on the wrong leg after the 2nd jump which I knew would cost us. We won with 66.52% by default as we were the only ones to enter! As expected the wrong leg cost us a lot of marks but generally the marks and comments were pleasing, for the first 2/3rd of the test we were on target to score over 70% but the mistake in the canter and a bit of lost of balance after the jumps dropped our % down. Not to worry though this gave s us plenty to work on for next time!
On to February and I decided to do the Prix Caprilli again to see if we could improve our score there were 4 entered this time so a bit of competition! Sadly I had noone to film us this time so I had to balance my phone on the fence to film, it was better then I thought it would be but did miss the corners at the C end of the ménage so I expected our marks to be a bit lower as the judge would not be able to see the canter transitions. The results came out on the 18th and we had won! Even better despite the dodgy filming, which did cost us some marks, we had still managed to improve our score.
On the same day I took my best friend Lucy's fab Jay to a combined training competition, we had entered intro C and 70cm as he'd not jumped since our last competition in October! He loves it though so I knew we would be fine! We had a bit of a bad start to the day with road closures making us late but having made it Jay warmed up well and performed a nice accurate test. We then went to change into jumping mode and this was the first time Jay had jumped with his new jumping saddle. I got on him and went into the warm up but as soon as I started to trot it was obvious something was wrong as he started bronking which is so unlike him. We quickly decided the saddle must be the issue as he had been fine in his dressage saddle so we dashed back to the lorry and swapped back into his dressage saddle! I wasn't to sure about jumping in a dressage saddle but didn't have much choice! Jay was instantly back to his usual self and jumped the warm up fences with plenty of enthusiasm! Due to the saddle drama and confusion with the timing I had not even walked the course and just had to learn it by watching the previous competitor! As the bell went for us to start our show jumping round they announced our Dressage score of 78.26%!!!!! Wow no pressure then! Jay jumped superbly just getting slightly flat and quick to the double of uprights for 4 faults but we were so far ahead after the Dressage we still won! :)
The test sheet was lovely to read and so complementary of Jay, he is a cracking little pony!
Jack is continuing to go well and we had a lesson with a new instructor recently which gave us lots to work on, she was quick to identify our issues and very understanding of Jack's problems helping us to improve Jacks frame which is what we need to keep improving our dressage scores - the main comment we get is that Jack gets a bit low in his poll.
So lots to work on but I can already feel an improvement in his schooling.
Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Tuesday, 5 December 2017
Our first attempt at Dressage4All
Jack has been enjoying 3 weeks holiday while I have been busy enjoying my honeymoon :)
He's been roughed off and turned away for the duration.
I had been considering sending him back to the rehab yard we used during his rehab from Ks surgery while I was away but decided to give him a holiday instead as he has been working hard and not feeling himself for a while now. I'm hoping he feels back to his normal self following the break but if not the vet will be coming back to investigate further and take bloods! It's looking more and more like he had some sort of illness rather then being in pain as the vet couldn't find anything wrong during his visit so hopefully a good break will have been enough for him to get over whatever it was and be feeling well again.
With that in mind I roughed him off in the weeks leading up to the holiday letting his clip grow out, removing his shoes, wormed him and moving him onto our Winter grazing.
I went to see him the day I flew home to see how he had coped and found him looking like this, he's now having a few more quite days and a bit of feed while I get over the jet lag and get through the mountains of washing etc!!
The little monkey really looks like he's a wild connie now!
I'm just waiting to get my clipper blades back from being sharpened and he will be shaved and cleaned up ready to return to work. Hopefully he will Winter barefoot but if not I will get his shoes popped back on and get him going again as soon as possible. Any longer than 3 weeks break and he will start to loose fitness and condition so we need to get him back to it this week!
I am actually very pleased to see that despite not doing any work he has actually dropped a bit of weight while I have been away. Jack really struggles to loose weight usually but I left him with only a lightweight rug on as he had grown most of his clip out by the time I went, our Winter grazing is smaller this year and on a bit of a slope so it helps to keep him a bit fitter having to go up and down. He has also had no hard feed and the grazing is not as good as cows were on there before the horses. All this has done him loads of good and he is looking trimmer already. I'm really pleased as I was concerned he would be gaining weight because he wouldn't be doing any work. Once he is back in full work again this will help him loose a bit more which is exactly what he needs to do before Spring! I ordered the Baileys Horse Feeds Equine Weight Loss Programme which arrived while I was away. It is full of helpful advise and tips to help keep your horse in good condition and has charts to monitor your horses weight loss progress so I will be getting the weigh tape out to take Jacks measurements and see how he gets on over Winter. I'm determined to keep his weight down this year and dropping some through Winter is the best start.
Just before I left on my honeymoon my best friend Lucy came over to film us doing some dressage tests to take part in some online dressage competitions while we are grounded without a towing vehicle. We both had a lot on and we could only fit it in on the Saturday morning before I left which unfortunately coincided with some really bad weather and very heavy rain :(
The ménage was water logged and deep, not the ideal surface for dressage!
As per my previous few updates Jack was also feeling very lethargic at the time despite being on very high energy feed so to be honest I wasn't expecting much when I submitted the tests for Judging to Dressage4All. I knew he wasn't performing anywhere near his best but needed to get the tests in in order for them to count towards our teams score for the year.
I was incredibly pleased to come home to 2 lovely 3rd place Yellow rosettes, decent scores and some encouraging comments from the judges plus some sweets - bonus!!
I am so encouraged by the comments and scores as I know when Jack is feeling better he will easily improve on the scores and I'm keen to get this months tests filmed if he is feeling up to it in the next week.
Fingers crossed when I lunge him tonight he is feeling more like the cheeky chappy he usually is!
I'm really looking forward to getting back on and getting us both fit again.
He's been roughed off and turned away for the duration.
I had been considering sending him back to the rehab yard we used during his rehab from Ks surgery while I was away but decided to give him a holiday instead as he has been working hard and not feeling himself for a while now. I'm hoping he feels back to his normal self following the break but if not the vet will be coming back to investigate further and take bloods! It's looking more and more like he had some sort of illness rather then being in pain as the vet couldn't find anything wrong during his visit so hopefully a good break will have been enough for him to get over whatever it was and be feeling well again.
With that in mind I roughed him off in the weeks leading up to the holiday letting his clip grow out, removing his shoes, wormed him and moving him onto our Winter grazing.
I went to see him the day I flew home to see how he had coped and found him looking like this, he's now having a few more quite days and a bit of feed while I get over the jet lag and get through the mountains of washing etc!!
The little monkey really looks like he's a wild connie now!
I'm just waiting to get my clipper blades back from being sharpened and he will be shaved and cleaned up ready to return to work. Hopefully he will Winter barefoot but if not I will get his shoes popped back on and get him going again as soon as possible. Any longer than 3 weeks break and he will start to loose fitness and condition so we need to get him back to it this week!
I am actually very pleased to see that despite not doing any work he has actually dropped a bit of weight while I have been away. Jack really struggles to loose weight usually but I left him with only a lightweight rug on as he had grown most of his clip out by the time I went, our Winter grazing is smaller this year and on a bit of a slope so it helps to keep him a bit fitter having to go up and down. He has also had no hard feed and the grazing is not as good as cows were on there before the horses. All this has done him loads of good and he is looking trimmer already. I'm really pleased as I was concerned he would be gaining weight because he wouldn't be doing any work. Once he is back in full work again this will help him loose a bit more which is exactly what he needs to do before Spring! I ordered the Baileys Horse Feeds Equine Weight Loss Programme which arrived while I was away. It is full of helpful advise and tips to help keep your horse in good condition and has charts to monitor your horses weight loss progress so I will be getting the weigh tape out to take Jacks measurements and see how he gets on over Winter. I'm determined to keep his weight down this year and dropping some through Winter is the best start.
Just before I left on my honeymoon my best friend Lucy came over to film us doing some dressage tests to take part in some online dressage competitions while we are grounded without a towing vehicle. We both had a lot on and we could only fit it in on the Saturday morning before I left which unfortunately coincided with some really bad weather and very heavy rain :(
The ménage was water logged and deep, not the ideal surface for dressage!
As per my previous few updates Jack was also feeling very lethargic at the time despite being on very high energy feed so to be honest I wasn't expecting much when I submitted the tests for Judging to Dressage4All. I knew he wasn't performing anywhere near his best but needed to get the tests in in order for them to count towards our teams score for the year.
I was incredibly pleased to come home to 2 lovely 3rd place Yellow rosettes, decent scores and some encouraging comments from the judges plus some sweets - bonus!!
I am so encouraged by the comments and scores as I know when Jack is feeling better he will easily improve on the scores and I'm keen to get this months tests filmed if he is feeling up to it in the next week.
Fingers crossed when I lunge him tonight he is feeling more like the cheeky chappy he usually is!
I'm really looking forward to getting back on and getting us both fit again.
Sunday, 12 November 2017
Another Vet Visit 12/11/17
In my last blog I was really pleased with Jack's progress, sadly it didn't last.
3 weeks ago we had a visit from our McTimoney practitioner Rachael and I felt initially he improved following her visit and I was really pleased to feel a difference and hoped we had got him sorted but although he wasn't as bad he was still not his usual self. As Rachel had noticed he was not quite comfortable turning tightly to the right which is the leg he had a problem with earlier this year I had decided to call the vet and see if this might be the problem. Although he appears sound otherwise I felt it was worth investigating. She also checked our saddle and advised it needed some flocking as was tilting back slightly and flatter on one of the back panels.
He has been ticking over and working a little better since Rachel's visit so it obviously helped but he's not returned to what I would call his normal if I'm totally honest, he has not quite felt himself since his break in early Sept. While he is working, doing everything I ask, trying his best and is not lame he just doesn't have the energy and enthusiasm he had before. Being quite a laid back horse anyway he is now pretty much horizontal!
I am having to work very hard to get him going and it always feels like the hand break has been left on, he's just not taking me forward. It doesn't matter what we are doing either hack, jumping, schooling and lunging I get the same response from him.
We jumped a couple of weeks ago and he tried his best for me jumping down a decent 1m treble combination several times off both reins. Whilst he jumped everything well, didn't knock a pole, stop or run out he just didn't have the same desire to jump as I am used to him having, if I had not made him go he would quite happily of dribbled to a stop which is not like him.
Out hacking he again feels sound but I usually hack in a gag as he gets quite strong and at the moment I am having to kick him along.
Last week my best friend came along to film me ride some tests for www.dressage4all.com and watching the tests back he is very flat. We only did an intro and prelim test but I was really disappointed with both tests as I know he is capable of so much better but he just couldn't give me anymore.
I had initially thought the problem was simply due to the lack of grass as it coincided with our summer grazing pretty much running out so we started feeding hay twice a day, I upped his feed from a light balancer to a competition mix but saw no real difference, then I added a performance balancer (which I have had to take him back off of as it seemed to give him a very upset tummy which I'm waiting so see if improves now he's back off of it) and finally I added turbo flakes! Now usually changing a horse onto this much high energy feed would turn them into a fire breathing dragon with energy to burn but sadly none of this is making any difference to poor Jack so I am confident the issue is not feed/energy related. As such I will wean him back off all the high energy feed as he doesn't usually have or need this much. Generally he is on a light balancer and alfalfa based chaff in summer and I just add fibre beet in the Winter if I feel he needs a bit more. He is also a very good doer so I am keeping a very close eye on his waistline as excess body fat wont do him any favours either! He is in pretty hard work at the moment so fortunately his weight has not suffered so far.
So this last week we have had a visit from the vet and a visit from the saddler to see if we can address his issues.
Firstly the vet came and I went through all Jack's symptoms and the problems we've been having, it was the same vet who treated him earlier in the year so he knew his history already. Having talked him through everything that's been going on we began by having a look at him walked and trotted up on the flat then on the lunge in the menage. While Jack decided not to show off his symptoms to the vet as much as he could have, typical, he could still see he wasn't moving the off fore quite right when turned tightly to the right. You can't see it on the lunge or in a straight line though and the vet was actually quite pleased with how well he was moving and how sound he was. We then performed a flexion test on both fronts and while he was a little positive to both the vet wasn't worried by this. He has had problems with both fronts in the last year anyway so a little reaction isn't unusual.
Next he checked Jack's back to see if the problem was there but found he was very comfortable, strong and flexible in his back so no sign of any issues there (phew!). I mentioned his hocks but the vet said he is moving them well so he doesn't think they are the problem.
So this left us with 2 options, try a bute trial to see if he is any better then we know if the problem is pain related or not and can investigate further or take bloods and see if the lethargy is because he is deficient in something. After going over his diet, fitness, workload and management the vet felt it would be better to do the bute trial first so left us with a load of bute. Jack is having 4 a day to start with so with such a high dose we should know for sure he is out of any pain he might be in and if his performance under saddle improves the problem is definitely pain related.
The next day we had the saddler come and check out our saddle, reflocked it so it is siting level and advised me to take out the half pad I have been using as it has become flatter at the back and was adding to the saddle tipping back.
Jack has had a couple of days on the bute with no work so allow it to take affect and I will assess how he feels over the next few days.
We moved onto our Winter grazing yesterday afternoon which looks fantastic so Jack will be busy trying to eat his body weight in grass and I will have to be very careful his weight doesn't balloon although the grass shouldn't be very nutritious at this time of year.
We wormed the day before moving them too so this will rule out any problem with worm burden, although this shouldn't be an issue as we are very strict on poo picking the paddocks and only worm when necessary to try to avoid resistance.
I'm looking forward to getting back to normal this week and seeing whether there is any difference in Jack's energy levels.
3 weeks ago we had a visit from our McTimoney practitioner Rachael and I felt initially he improved following her visit and I was really pleased to feel a difference and hoped we had got him sorted but although he wasn't as bad he was still not his usual self. As Rachel had noticed he was not quite comfortable turning tightly to the right which is the leg he had a problem with earlier this year I had decided to call the vet and see if this might be the problem. Although he appears sound otherwise I felt it was worth investigating. She also checked our saddle and advised it needed some flocking as was tilting back slightly and flatter on one of the back panels.
He has been ticking over and working a little better since Rachel's visit so it obviously helped but he's not returned to what I would call his normal if I'm totally honest, he has not quite felt himself since his break in early Sept. While he is working, doing everything I ask, trying his best and is not lame he just doesn't have the energy and enthusiasm he had before. Being quite a laid back horse anyway he is now pretty much horizontal!
I am having to work very hard to get him going and it always feels like the hand break has been left on, he's just not taking me forward. It doesn't matter what we are doing either hack, jumping, schooling and lunging I get the same response from him.
We jumped a couple of weeks ago and he tried his best for me jumping down a decent 1m treble combination several times off both reins. Whilst he jumped everything well, didn't knock a pole, stop or run out he just didn't have the same desire to jump as I am used to him having, if I had not made him go he would quite happily of dribbled to a stop which is not like him.
Out hacking he again feels sound but I usually hack in a gag as he gets quite strong and at the moment I am having to kick him along.
Last week my best friend came along to film me ride some tests for www.dressage4all.com and watching the tests back he is very flat. We only did an intro and prelim test but I was really disappointed with both tests as I know he is capable of so much better but he just couldn't give me anymore.
Schooling he feels very flat
I had initially thought the problem was simply due to the lack of grass as it coincided with our summer grazing pretty much running out so we started feeding hay twice a day, I upped his feed from a light balancer to a competition mix but saw no real difference, then I added a performance balancer (which I have had to take him back off of as it seemed to give him a very upset tummy which I'm waiting so see if improves now he's back off of it) and finally I added turbo flakes! Now usually changing a horse onto this much high energy feed would turn them into a fire breathing dragon with energy to burn but sadly none of this is making any difference to poor Jack so I am confident the issue is not feed/energy related. As such I will wean him back off all the high energy feed as he doesn't usually have or need this much. Generally he is on a light balancer and alfalfa based chaff in summer and I just add fibre beet in the Winter if I feel he needs a bit more. He is also a very good doer so I am keeping a very close eye on his waistline as excess body fat wont do him any favours either! He is in pretty hard work at the moment so fortunately his weight has not suffered so far.
So this last week we have had a visit from the vet and a visit from the saddler to see if we can address his issues.
Firstly the vet came and I went through all Jack's symptoms and the problems we've been having, it was the same vet who treated him earlier in the year so he knew his history already. Having talked him through everything that's been going on we began by having a look at him walked and trotted up on the flat then on the lunge in the menage. While Jack decided not to show off his symptoms to the vet as much as he could have, typical, he could still see he wasn't moving the off fore quite right when turned tightly to the right. You can't see it on the lunge or in a straight line though and the vet was actually quite pleased with how well he was moving and how sound he was. We then performed a flexion test on both fronts and while he was a little positive to both the vet wasn't worried by this. He has had problems with both fronts in the last year anyway so a little reaction isn't unusual.
Next he checked Jack's back to see if the problem was there but found he was very comfortable, strong and flexible in his back so no sign of any issues there (phew!). I mentioned his hocks but the vet said he is moving them well so he doesn't think they are the problem.
So this left us with 2 options, try a bute trial to see if he is any better then we know if the problem is pain related or not and can investigate further or take bloods and see if the lethargy is because he is deficient in something. After going over his diet, fitness, workload and management the vet felt it would be better to do the bute trial first so left us with a load of bute. Jack is having 4 a day to start with so with such a high dose we should know for sure he is out of any pain he might be in and if his performance under saddle improves the problem is definitely pain related.
The next day we had the saddler come and check out our saddle, reflocked it so it is siting level and advised me to take out the half pad I have been using as it has become flatter at the back and was adding to the saddle tipping back.
Jack has had a couple of days on the bute with no work so allow it to take affect and I will assess how he feels over the next few days.
We moved onto our Winter grazing yesterday afternoon which looks fantastic so Jack will be busy trying to eat his body weight in grass and I will have to be very careful his weight doesn't balloon although the grass shouldn't be very nutritious at this time of year.
We wormed the day before moving them too so this will rule out any problem with worm burden, although this shouldn't be an issue as we are very strict on poo picking the paddocks and only worm when necessary to try to avoid resistance.
I'm looking forward to getting back to normal this week and seeing whether there is any difference in Jack's energy levels.
Saturday, 28 October 2017
Positive progress 23/10/17
Following on from my last post where things were not going so well I am over the moon to be able to write a more positive blog this week!
I had booked Optimal equine's Rachael Barker to come out and see Jack and to also check his saddle which I thought could be a possible cause of his current issues. She came out on Friday and started by asking me if Jack was having any problems at the moment. I described his lack of power and engagement in the trot and my concerns regarding my saddle and his back. She had a quick look at the saddle first and noted some uneven wear on the back panels, one side is flatter than the other, she also checked the tree and thankfully the tree is sound. She then measured Jack before having a look at the saddle on him and found that whilst it is the right size for him, as I suspected the saddle is tilting back putting more weight into the back of the saddle and causing some tightness and soreness in his back. The good news is that with some re-flocking the saddle should be fine as it's general fit is ok and it is in pretty good condition. I need a master saddler to do this so need to find someone local who can sort this for me fairly quickly.
Next she assessed his musculature while he was static which I was pleased to hear is fairly evenly developed with no areas of under/over development or causes for concern.
After this she had a look at him walking and trotting in straight lines and turning a tight circle and noted he was dropping his left hip which could also be adding to Jack's lack of impulsion. He still plants his off fore when asked to turn tightly to the right but this appears to be more out of habit than an actual problem. As I have a current open claim on the off fore I will get the vet out to have another look and make sure they are still happy but he feels sound under saddle so I'm hoping it's not a big issue.
Rachael then worked on him to relieve the tension in his back and adjusted his pelvis then gave him an all over massage and stretch, which Jack mostly enjoyed!
She left us with a exercise plan and will see him again in 3 months unless we need her again sooner.
Following this Jack was returned to the field to relax for a couple of days, as instructed, before I rode him again on the Sunday afternoon and boy what a difference!! We just went for a gentle hack as this was what Rachael recommended. He felt brilliant from the start, no stiffness or lack of forward momentum and plenty of energy. Like he should be! It was so nice to feel him stepping out, using his body and just feeling my normal Jack again! I could not be happier with the results.
We did another couple of days of nice gentle hacks keeping him soft, relaxed and forward and he continued to feel great.
After another day off I schooled Jack Thursday night and he was again feeling so much better. He still needed a bit of encouragement to work in the trot but there was definitely an improvement and when I asked for more this time he was responding where as before he just didn't change at all. In the Canter work he felt amazing, he was really forward and light, stepping under himself and carrying himself beautifully. I was so pleased with how he felt. Luckily my friend Claire was riding at the same time and was able to capture some of his Canter work on film. Watching it back he looks pretty good too so we seem to be back on the right track now! I also like how you can see his core muscles working in these pics showing that he's engaging and lifting his core and working through his back :0)
Then yesterday morning I took him for an early morning ride in the huge stubble field we have use of over the Winter. It was a lovely bright morning and we were out just after sun rise. We started by just ambling round the field to check what the ground was like and it was pretty much perfect with a bit of give under foot but no hard or deep areas. The fencing in the field is currently being replaced and there was a big pile of the old posts and rails in the middle of the field which Jack had a bit of a snort at so I took him over the have a look and a sniff so he knew they weren't going to eat him! Once he had had a good walk round on each rein we had a trot then picked up Canter. Recently even when we've been out I've been having to really kick Jack to get him going (one of the reasons I knew something was bothering him!) so I was absolutely delighted when he pick up a good Canter from the start, taking the bridle and not needing any encourgagement from me! We got to the first corner and he just took off back up the field with me like a bat out of hell!!! I was wooping with delight as we galloped up the field! What a feeling! We both had huge grins on our faces! It is amazing that he feels well enough to really let loose and go for it, having a good gallop is so good for both body and mind and we both had an absolute blast flying round the field! Great start to the day :0)
So next up Jack will have another day off and we still need to get his saddle sorted which is hopefully happening next week. If anyone has any suggestions of a Master Saddler in the Derbyshire area that can come to us I would be greatful as we are struggling to get someone quickly.
I had booked Optimal equine's Rachael Barker to come out and see Jack and to also check his saddle which I thought could be a possible cause of his current issues. She came out on Friday and started by asking me if Jack was having any problems at the moment. I described his lack of power and engagement in the trot and my concerns regarding my saddle and his back. She had a quick look at the saddle first and noted some uneven wear on the back panels, one side is flatter than the other, she also checked the tree and thankfully the tree is sound. She then measured Jack before having a look at the saddle on him and found that whilst it is the right size for him, as I suspected the saddle is tilting back putting more weight into the back of the saddle and causing some tightness and soreness in his back. The good news is that with some re-flocking the saddle should be fine as it's general fit is ok and it is in pretty good condition. I need a master saddler to do this so need to find someone local who can sort this for me fairly quickly.
Next she assessed his musculature while he was static which I was pleased to hear is fairly evenly developed with no areas of under/over development or causes for concern.
After this she had a look at him walking and trotting in straight lines and turning a tight circle and noted he was dropping his left hip which could also be adding to Jack's lack of impulsion. He still plants his off fore when asked to turn tightly to the right but this appears to be more out of habit than an actual problem. As I have a current open claim on the off fore I will get the vet out to have another look and make sure they are still happy but he feels sound under saddle so I'm hoping it's not a big issue.
Rachael then worked on him to relieve the tension in his back and adjusted his pelvis then gave him an all over massage and stretch, which Jack mostly enjoyed!
She left us with a exercise plan and will see him again in 3 months unless we need her again sooner.
Following this Jack was returned to the field to relax for a couple of days, as instructed, before I rode him again on the Sunday afternoon and boy what a difference!! We just went for a gentle hack as this was what Rachael recommended. He felt brilliant from the start, no stiffness or lack of forward momentum and plenty of energy. Like he should be! It was so nice to feel him stepping out, using his body and just feeling my normal Jack again! I could not be happier with the results.
We did another couple of days of nice gentle hacks keeping him soft, relaxed and forward and he continued to feel great.
After another day off I schooled Jack Thursday night and he was again feeling so much better. He still needed a bit of encouragement to work in the trot but there was definitely an improvement and when I asked for more this time he was responding where as before he just didn't change at all. In the Canter work he felt amazing, he was really forward and light, stepping under himself and carrying himself beautifully. I was so pleased with how he felt. Luckily my friend Claire was riding at the same time and was able to capture some of his Canter work on film. Watching it back he looks pretty good too so we seem to be back on the right track now! I also like how you can see his core muscles working in these pics showing that he's engaging and lifting his core and working through his back :0)
Then yesterday morning I took him for an early morning ride in the huge stubble field we have use of over the Winter. It was a lovely bright morning and we were out just after sun rise. We started by just ambling round the field to check what the ground was like and it was pretty much perfect with a bit of give under foot but no hard or deep areas. The fencing in the field is currently being replaced and there was a big pile of the old posts and rails in the middle of the field which Jack had a bit of a snort at so I took him over the have a look and a sniff so he knew they weren't going to eat him! Once he had had a good walk round on each rein we had a trot then picked up Canter. Recently even when we've been out I've been having to really kick Jack to get him going (one of the reasons I knew something was bothering him!) so I was absolutely delighted when he pick up a good Canter from the start, taking the bridle and not needing any encourgagement from me! We got to the first corner and he just took off back up the field with me like a bat out of hell!!! I was wooping with delight as we galloped up the field! What a feeling! We both had huge grins on our faces! It is amazing that he feels well enough to really let loose and go for it, having a good gallop is so good for both body and mind and we both had an absolute blast flying round the field! Great start to the day :0)
So next up Jack will have another day off and we still need to get his saddle sorted which is hopefully happening next week. If anyone has any suggestions of a Master Saddler in the Derbyshire area that can come to us I would be greatful as we are struggling to get someone quickly.
Tuesday, 17 October 2017
Another bump in the road 17/10/17
Since his break from being ridden while I went away to get married at the end of the summer Jack just hasn't quite been firing on all cylinders and to be honest I'm starting to get a bit worried about him.
He had about 10 days off in all, which shouldn't have affected him too much, and prior to the break he had been going very well. I had planned to start jumping him again properly after the holiday but when I brought him back into work instead of feeling up for it and full of energy he seemed to feel a little flat and lazy.
We had barely any grass left in the paddock he'd been in all Summer so I suspected he may just be lacking energy and perhaps needed a bit of a boost with some higher energy food. He just has a light balancer through the Summer but I usually find he needs a bit more in the Winter months so I popped to the local feed shop and picked up a bag of competition mix to give him a bit more fizz.
I have gradually been introducing this over the last few weeks and while there has been a small improvement I still know something isn't right.
He doesn't look or feel lame but he is just lacking power and impulsion, and it seems to be in particular at the Trot, his Canter is actually very good and if I only rode him in Canter all the time I wouldn't notice anything was really different. This is the total opposite from when he was suffering from Kissing Spine and he couldn't Canter! In fact my friend watched me riding him in Canter last week and thought it was the best she'd ever seen him go. I was doing an exercise where I rode him over 2 poles at opposite ends of the ménage counting the strides in between then adjusting the canter to take a stride out or add a stride in. He was really adjustable and did the exercise the best he ever has, starting out with 7 strides then shortening to 8 and even 9 before opening up to get 6. He even managed some flying changes for me. In contrast his trot is very fixed, I cannot adjust the tempo or stride length and he is very on his forehand. It's strange!
I also clipped him out last week as he was getting pretty hairy and becoming very sweaty when being ridden but this didn't make any difference in his performance either. Another thing I noticed when I clipped him was he was sensitive to the clippers over his back, particularly where the back of the saddle sits. Since his surgery I have not fully clipped him until this year, always opting to leave the hair long over his back, but I decided this time to just take it all off so I don't know if he would have reacted the same before or not but his reaction did worry me.
I said not too long ago, when he was feeling good, that if I ever found myself having to kick him along when out hacking I would know there was something wrong and sadly this is where we are at the moment. He is better out of the ménage but by no means as forward as he usually is. He is doing everything I am asking him to do but he's just not got the sparkle and energy he had previously and when I ask for more energy either nothing or very little happens, he just continues at the same sluggish pace or picks up for a couple of stride before backing off again.
With all this in mind I decided I needed to have him checked out but battled between calling the vet, McTimoney practitioner, Physio or saddler first! I finally decided as he is not obviously lame I would get his back and saddle checked first and go from there. Unfortunately after waiting and waiting for our usual saddler to get back to me I found out she has had a bad accident falling from her horse and is unavailable for the foreseeable future so I needed to find an alterative.
Luckily for us our McTimoney Practitioner is also a qualified saddle fitter so we can kill 2 birds with 1 stone and get his back and saddle checked at the same time, which we are doing later this week. If this has no effect on his performance then a vet visit will be booked.
We do know he had some arthritic changes in his hocks, diagnosed back in 2014 when he was diagnosed with KS, so perhaps we need to investigate this further and he may need the hocks medicating. If he is not using his hind end properly because of pain in his hocks this could soon lead to problems elsewhere and could be the cause of the soreness in his back. On the other hand the soreness in his back could be stopping him from using his hind end effectively. Either way I just hope we can soon get him back to being full of beans like he was before the break.
Hoping to have a bit more of a positive update for you later this week, until then I will continue to work him with some gentle hacking to keep him ticking over. He also got a bath this weekend and was pulled and trimmed and looking smart for once!
In the mean time I have been able to keep jumping on my best friend's fab pony Jay and recently took him arena eventing for the first time where we jumped a confident but fairly steady double clear to come 2nd which we were all chuffed to bits with as it was our first attempt at solid fences. We also went to a trail blazers show jumping competition and jumped our biggest class to date jumping a fab, fast and confident round just rolling a pole on the smallest fence on the course! So no qualifying round this time but we will try again soon!
He had about 10 days off in all, which shouldn't have affected him too much, and prior to the break he had been going very well. I had planned to start jumping him again properly after the holiday but when I brought him back into work instead of feeling up for it and full of energy he seemed to feel a little flat and lazy.
We had barely any grass left in the paddock he'd been in all Summer so I suspected he may just be lacking energy and perhaps needed a bit of a boost with some higher energy food. He just has a light balancer through the Summer but I usually find he needs a bit more in the Winter months so I popped to the local feed shop and picked up a bag of competition mix to give him a bit more fizz.
I have gradually been introducing this over the last few weeks and while there has been a small improvement I still know something isn't right.
He doesn't look or feel lame but he is just lacking power and impulsion, and it seems to be in particular at the Trot, his Canter is actually very good and if I only rode him in Canter all the time I wouldn't notice anything was really different. This is the total opposite from when he was suffering from Kissing Spine and he couldn't Canter! In fact my friend watched me riding him in Canter last week and thought it was the best she'd ever seen him go. I was doing an exercise where I rode him over 2 poles at opposite ends of the ménage counting the strides in between then adjusting the canter to take a stride out or add a stride in. He was really adjustable and did the exercise the best he ever has, starting out with 7 strides then shortening to 8 and even 9 before opening up to get 6. He even managed some flying changes for me. In contrast his trot is very fixed, I cannot adjust the tempo or stride length and he is very on his forehand. It's strange!
I also clipped him out last week as he was getting pretty hairy and becoming very sweaty when being ridden but this didn't make any difference in his performance either. Another thing I noticed when I clipped him was he was sensitive to the clippers over his back, particularly where the back of the saddle sits. Since his surgery I have not fully clipped him until this year, always opting to leave the hair long over his back, but I decided this time to just take it all off so I don't know if he would have reacted the same before or not but his reaction did worry me.
I said not too long ago, when he was feeling good, that if I ever found myself having to kick him along when out hacking I would know there was something wrong and sadly this is where we are at the moment. He is better out of the ménage but by no means as forward as he usually is. He is doing everything I am asking him to do but he's just not got the sparkle and energy he had previously and when I ask for more energy either nothing or very little happens, he just continues at the same sluggish pace or picks up for a couple of stride before backing off again.
With all this in mind I decided I needed to have him checked out but battled between calling the vet, McTimoney practitioner, Physio or saddler first! I finally decided as he is not obviously lame I would get his back and saddle checked first and go from there. Unfortunately after waiting and waiting for our usual saddler to get back to me I found out she has had a bad accident falling from her horse and is unavailable for the foreseeable future so I needed to find an alterative.
Luckily for us our McTimoney Practitioner is also a qualified saddle fitter so we can kill 2 birds with 1 stone and get his back and saddle checked at the same time, which we are doing later this week. If this has no effect on his performance then a vet visit will be booked.
We do know he had some arthritic changes in his hocks, diagnosed back in 2014 when he was diagnosed with KS, so perhaps we need to investigate this further and he may need the hocks medicating. If he is not using his hind end properly because of pain in his hocks this could soon lead to problems elsewhere and could be the cause of the soreness in his back. On the other hand the soreness in his back could be stopping him from using his hind end effectively. Either way I just hope we can soon get him back to being full of beans like he was before the break.
Hoping to have a bit more of a positive update for you later this week, until then I will continue to work him with some gentle hacking to keep him ticking over. He also got a bath this weekend and was pulled and trimmed and looking smart for once!
In the mean time I have been able to keep jumping on my best friend's fab pony Jay and recently took him arena eventing for the first time where we jumped a confident but fairly steady double clear to come 2nd which we were all chuffed to bits with as it was our first attempt at solid fences. We also went to a trail blazers show jumping competition and jumped our biggest class to date jumping a fab, fast and confident round just rolling a pole on the smallest fence on the course! So no qualifying round this time but we will try again soon!
Wednesday, 20 September 2017
My A - Z of Kissing Spine
Please note I am not a veterinary professional, I am writing this post to help others based on my own experiences only, if you suspect your horse has kissing spine please speak to your vet for a full veterinary assessment.
Here is a little insight into what has helped Jack recover from Kissing Spine.
A is for Alternative Therapies - physiotherapy, Mctimoney, osteopathy, Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Acupressure, hydrotherapy etc. The list of alternative therapies available goes on! Personally I use Physiotherapy, McTimoney and hydrotherapy for Jack but there are lots of variations and I wouldn't rule out anything if it might help. During rehab Jack needed regular physio to help him be able to work as he quickly became sore, without this he wouldn't have been using himself correctly and all the work would have been in vain. He now has a check by either physio or McTimoney Therapists every 3-6 months just to keep him tip top and address any tightness that creeps in. It is important to use properly qualified therapists and I wouldn't use anyone that isn't a vet recommended therapists. I'm considering acupuncture having heard lots of good reviews from other KS horse owners that have had surgery.
B is for Bank Balance - Or lack of! Having any horse that needs veterinary treatment is not cheap and even with insurance my already straining bank balance took a big hit. If you have a horse with KS be prepared for yours to take a serious dip what with the vets fees, insurance excesses, rehabilitation, supplements, training aids, new saddles and various other pieces of equipment that might help! My vet fees exceeded my insurance claim limit so I had to put a fair amount to cover the bills. It is important to remember most insurances wont cover stabling or travel expenses either so budget for those if you need to visit and stay in a vet hospital.
C is for Calmers - I could not have got through 6 weeks of box rest following Jack's surgery or the early reahb without a Calmer for him. During box rest he found the other horses turn out times especially stressful and I used Instamag instant spray on calmer from Freestep superfix and find it extremely effective in taking the edge off when he gets stressed out. It's a staple of my grooming box now and I've been so impressed with it's effectiveness. Following application, which is just a quick spray on the neck, Jack is visibly less stressed and goes from box walking and rearing in his stable to standing eating hay almost instantly. I have also used it before getting on board during the walking phase of rehab which Jack found vey boring and when I used it he was much less of a handful and more rideable. Ingested calmers take much longer to take effect and have to be fed daily to keep up the effect where as this is just used as and when you need it so it's more cost effective too! Win Win!
D is for Don't Give up - There were times I felt like it, when I felt like we were getting no where and I couldn't ever imagine my horse being normal again. The rehab is an incredibly hard process both physically and mentally for horse and owner and it can be a real roller coaster with lots of good and bad days along the journey. I had to keep the end goal in mind and if things weren't going so well then back off and try again another day. Rehab is a marathon not a sprint and the longer it takes the more likely of a successful outcome. You can do no harm taking things slow but you can do a lot of damage rushing the process so take your time, listen to your horse, get as much support as you can from vets, therapists, instructors, facebook groups or friends who have been through it and understand how you are feeling and most of all Don't Give Up!
E is for Exercise - I find a variety of exercise works best with Jack, I do lots of hacking, try not to school more than once a week, lunge approx. once a week in a pessoa type lunging aid and occasionally loose jump/school. I also do lots of stretches with him before and/or after exercise. While most vets recommend lunging in a pessoa to begin rehabilitation with Jack this wasn't the preferred approach due to him also having arthritis in his hocks. Repetitive exercise like lunging puts a lot of stress on the joints so this was to be avoided knowing there was already problems. It is also important to fully warm up at the start of any session and properly cool down at the end to avoid further problems. I start with doing 15/20mins walk beginning on a completely loose rein and then asking for a long, low stretch as we do some large circles and serpentines. I also get up out of the saddle in the first canter on both reins as this helps Jack to loosen in his back and get moving. When hacking I often trot in a light seat to allow his back to move more. I'm also careful to canter on both leads while hacking and if doing a rising trot I will change diagonal often so he develops evenly.
F is for Fitness - I am really careful not to ask too much too soon and make sure Jack is fit and strong enough to do the work I am asking of him. Once back under saddle I slowly got him fit by doing lots of hacking over a variety of terrain. I use a fitness tracker to take the guess work out of planning my rides. This way I know how far each of my local routes is and can plan an effective fitness routine rather than just wandering the bridle paths without a plan and not really knowing how far we've ridden or for how long. Although I use this quite scientific approach I also make sure I am listening to Jack too and if he is feeling fresh may use a more hilly route while if he is feeling a little tired may do a shorter, flatter route. I have found it extremely important to listen to Jack if he is in need of a few days off or easier days.
G is for Ground Poles - Since his surgery I hardly ever school or lunge Jack without putting out a few poles to keep him on his toes and get him thinking. They help to loosen him up, get him moving forwards, engage his core, stretch over his spine and increase his range of movement to build a stronger top line. I use various different sets ups to keep things interesting and keep Jack thinking and I enjoy thinking up new challenges for us both. As his fitness increased I started to add more raised poles. It also helped me get my eye back in for jumping which neither of us had done for a while during his recovery! He seems to enjoy schooling much more with some poles out rather than just flat schooling and it gives us both something to concentrate on.
H is for Hacking - this has been key to Jack's successful recovery and is so important for general fitness. He is naturally more forward and relaxed out of the menage so I use this to my advantage and try to hack over varied terrain and routes to keep things fresh and interesting. Many underestimate the benefits of long hacks just in walk. Using hill work in a long low frame really works the whole horse, they have to engage their core, push with their glutes and hamstrings etc. It builds all the muscle we need to target with a KS horse. I use an app to map my rides so I know exactly how far I've ridden and for how long each day which really helps especially when rehabbing.
I am careful about doing to much trotting on the roads and cantering on too hard or too soft ground due to his other issues.
I is for In Hand - Certainly in the early days of rehab I became a bit of a pro at in hand exercise! I still enjoy doing some in hand exercises with Jack now and find them really beneficial. From starting with simple carrot stretches to pole work and hacking in hand, lunging and loose schooling/jumping once he was fit enough, we've done it all. It helped rebuild my bond with Jack and started to rebuild our trust in each other. It is really helpful to look at him working from the ground regularly to see how he is improving in his stride length, range of movement and his muscle development. I often take little videos too so I can watch them back and compare to previous sessions to see the improvements and know we are going in the right direction. This is especially helpful when things don't seem to be going so well, to be able to look back and see how much improvement has been made gives you a boost when you need it.
J is for Jumping - A bit of jumping has been really good for Jack as he now enjoys it and it works different muscles. Grid work has been especially helpful in building additional core and hind end strength with Jack, once he had completed his basic rehab and was fit enough as this is hard work for them. I have found that adding some regular grid work helped get him to sit back on his hocks and take more weight behind while also helping him to make a better shape over a fence which opens the spine. He really muscled up once we started doing weekly grids developing a strong topline and core muscles to protect his spine. I started with just a couple of ground poles and built up the amount of poles we used over a period of weeks, then started raising some of the poles and once that was easy adding small jumps. We only have a 20x40 ménage but I can fit in 7 poles/jumps on bounce distances. It really gets him working and improves balance and rhythm too. I'm careful to ensure I work on both reins evenly.
K is for Kissing Spine support groups - I know for a lot of people getting a diagnosis of Kissing Spine for their horse is devastating but for me it was a huge relief to finally know what was wrong with Jack and be able to make a plan to fix him. He had been difficult for a long time and I had spent an awful lot of time and money on various phyios, saddlers, farriers, dentists, instructors and vets trying to get to the bottom of what was wrong only to be repeatedly told my horse was just naughty and I was letting him get away with it and needed to be firmer. Although I knew we had a long battle ahead to get him better at least I now knew why he was being so difficult and that he wasn't just a bad horse. I did lots of research and had so many questions for the vets at the hospital but they were brilliant and fully supported me along the way. I also found the facebook group Horses with Kissing Spine which was a huge benefit being able to talk to people who had been through or were going through the same as me. It can feel very lonely on a yard where everyone else's horses are healthy so being able to chat to people in the same position really helped me cope.
L is for lunging - I usually lunge Jack no more than once a week. My preferred lunging aid is a pessoa. There is a real divide in peoples opinions of Pessoa's and I have received negative comments on social media about using one but personally I find Jack works very well in his. I have it set fairly loose and he has been seen working in it by our vet, physio and rehab centre and all confirm he is working correctly in it so for me I am happy to continue to use it as part of our fitness regime. I do sometimes lunge in just a bridle/headcollar and I have used various other aids such as kavalcade and equicore systems but so far I have not been persuaded that any are better for Jack than the Pessoa. Some horses don't work well in the pessoa as they don't like the strap around their back legs so it is important to find the right aid for your horse, if they are sensitive around their legs the Kavalcade maybe a better option. There are also a lot of good things said about the equiami and I am tempted to try one.
M is for Magnetic therapy - I have been very impressed with the results of using a magnetic back pad and hock boots on Jack. I find them to be particularly beneficial to Jack in the colder weather. Having worn the back pad while he is stabled his back is lovely and warm to the touch and the muscles underneath are soft and relaxed. I also notice he is stiffer and takes longer to loosen and warm up if he has not had them on especially in colder weather. I am tempted to invest in a full rug.
N is for Non surgical options - Surgery is not always possible and in some cases it is not the best course of action. There are lots of non surgical options for treating the symptoms of kissing spine. It seems most vets are keen to try medicating the back in the first instance and we did try this using steroid injections with Jack prior to operating. Many people have successfully rehabilitated on steroid injections alone, others have used a combination of pain relief drugs, injections, SWT, physio etc to rehabilitate and avoided surgery. The steroid injection did provide some relief for Jack and gave us a window in which to try to rehabilitate him to open up the affected processes. Unfortunately the effect didn't last long enough for us to make enough of a difference and once the pain returned Jack was worse than ever becoming dangerous to ride and miserably unhappy. At this point he was re x-rayed and his back was even worse than before so both I and our vets felt further attempts to inject would be a waste of time and money and that an operation was the best course of action for a full and permanent fix.
O is for Operation - There a now several options for operating on a Kissing Spine the main 3 are:
1 ) Traditional operation which is done under general anasetic and involves completely removing the top section of every other affected vertebrae.
2 ) The ligament snip which can be done under local or sedation small incisions are made and the ligaments around the affected vertebrae cut to allow the vertebrae to move apart.
3 ) The Re-shaping operation which can be done under general or local anasetic and involves removing only part of the bone of the affected vertebrae.
Some vets offer their own variations of the different types.
6months after his diagnosis Jack was operated on by the super team at Oakham Equine Veterinary Hospital. They pioneered a variation of the reshaping and ligament snip operation where they shaved the bones of the worst affected vertebrae and then snipped the ligaments of the next few vertebrae. He stayed with them for 5 days after his operation and I was allowed to visit him on the 2nd day. I was pleasantly surprised how alert and happy he was. He came home with 10 days of bute and 5 days of anti biotics and a pad on his back to cover the wound. after 10days my own vet came and removed the staples. He had to have a total of 6 weeks complete box rest (no hand walking or grazing). After 6 weeks he returned to Oakham and was assessed by his surgeon and re X-rayed. At this point he was discharged and allowed to be turned out on his return home. He had a fairly large dose of sedalin to survive the journey, trot up etc and this was still in his system when we got home so he went straight into a small paddock so he didn't go tearing off and injure himself. He had a week in a paddock on his own next to his mates and then returned to the herd to relax and be a horse for a few weeks before rehab commenced.
P is for Patience - endless patience is required to rehabilitate a horse from Kissing Spine either with or without surgery. I think it is important not to put a rigid time scale on your rehab plan but rather listen to your horse and let them guide you when they are ready. There are so many times I have felt like we took a step back during rehab but I didn't let this bother me and didn't compare our recovery with others I just did my best to listen to Jack and back off when I felt he was telling me he needed a rest. We were given a basic rehab plan from our vet and although I did use it as a basic guide I took much longer at some stages as I felt Jack needed more time to adjust both mentally and physically. Fortunately this approach worked well for us and 10 months post surgery we were back out competing successfully.
Q is for Qualified help - I found out the expensive way that not all people advertising themselves as professional equine therapist are the same! I wasted a lot of money prior to Jack's diagnosis on so called professionals who all gave me different reasons for his behaviour. I now will only use vet recommended, qualified (and listed on the governing bodies website) people. I also like to have people who have personal experience with KS so both our physio and McTimoney Therapists have horses that have KS. I find this helps them understand the difficulties we have and they are more sympathetic to both Jack and me.
R is for Rehabilitation - Rehabilitation seems very scary to me in the beginning, despite so many years of owning and riding horses I'd little experience in rehabilitation from injury. I was so worried I'd do something wrong and screw up Jack for life! I discussed my concerns with my vet and they recommended I send Jack to a professional rehab yard with a water treadmill to begin Jack's rehab. After his box rest and then being turned away for a few weeks Jack was taken to Bennett Equine rehabilitation centre in Tutbury to begin his rehab. He arrived and settled well being introduced to the treadmill slowly, dry at first and with water height rising to mid cannon bone over a period of a couple of weeks. He stayed a total of 4 weeks and I visited him weekly to see how he was progressing. He also saw our fab physio Tamsyn regularly while he was there. I picked him up after 4 weeks and he was fit and ready to begin ridden rehab. This way I was able to avoid having to do weeks of lunging rehab which is such hard work on their joints and with Jack already having hock issues this was much better for him. Before I began any ridden work I had his saddle checked, while I was waiting for this to happen I kept him ticking over with alternate lunging in a pessoa and long reining sessions. Once his saddle was sorted I began by giving him a quick lunge then getting on to walk for 5 minutes to cool him down every other day, long reining in between. I was very careful not to rush him and regularly had to go back a step if he felt like he was struggling. Once I was confident he was ok under saddle I did lots of hacking building up the time and distance slowly over a period of months to build his fitness and muscles. I schooled only once a week at most during this time as I felt Jack needed a bit more time to mentally recover enough for schooling.
S is for Stretches - Daily carrot stretches have helped Jack become more supple and encourage him to engage his core muscles. I on alternate days do carrot stretches and fore limb stretches to help keep him soft in his neck and shoulders which seem to become quite tight. Jack like any other horse is a little one sided and tends to fall in on the left rein and fall out on the right rein through his left shoulder. I have had to work quite hard to get him to work his inside hind. Before I get on I will always turn Jack on a tight circle each way to get him to step under himself with his hind legs and back him up a few strides which helps. I will also always give him a good long warm up of at least 20mins before asking him to work.
T is for Turnout - Jack loves his field time, he is so much happier living out than in. Being able to graze naturally stretches the entire spine and moving about the field helps to keep him supple and calm to ride. Personally I think every horse should be turned out daily to give their mind and bodies chance to relax and stretch but I think it is especially important for a horse with back issues. I have to be careful with Jack's weight as being half native he is prone to piling on the pounds if he is on grass 24/7 but I find having him out at night and in during the day works pretty well.
U is for Unknown cause - A lot of us really want to know what caused our horse to develop a Kissing Spine but most of the time we will never really know. There are so many possible causes and it is often impossible to narrow it down to a single cause or event. There is a lot more research being done now a days into the causes of Kissing Spine. Jack is quite short coupled so it is possible he was born with the condition. He had never had a fitted saddle until I brought him, he was using in a riding school at a young age and ridden by lots of different riders, some heavier than others, which his back may not have been strong enough for. It could have been caused by him avoiding using his hind end correctly due to the arthritis in his hocks. It's possible it was caused by a field accident or a combination of all of these. I have been over so many scenarios in my head over the years trying to understand how we got to the point he was so bad that he was dangerous. I will never know and all I can do is try to avoid him getting like that again by following the advice from my vets, physio, rehab centre etc on the exercises to keep his back strong and healthy and use common sense. Jack has 3 monthly checks to ensure we are keeping on the right track and nip any issues in the bud before they develop.
V is for Vet - Our own vet is a small practice so for problems needing more in depth investigation and surgery they refer to Oakham Equine Veterinary hospital. I have had experience at Oakham with my previous horse (not kissing spine related) and knew what to expect. There facilities are excellent and the staff were very friendly and helpful. I think it is important to feel comfortable with your vet so that you can ask all the questions you need to, sometimes I had really silly questions but the vets, nurses and other staff made me very at ease and able to ask as much as I needed to put my mind at rest. I have found through talking to others who have been through KS surgery with their horses that nearly every vets approach to the surgery and recovery is different. I found this quite confusing to begin with but followed the advice of the vets at Oakham as they were the ones who knew and were treating Jack. Whenever I asked them about any aspect of the surgery or recovery they were able to provide me with a full explanation, in terms I could understand, to ease my worries. The whole time Jack was with them I was given twice daily updates and their care was exceptional. If I was not happy with any aspect of my vets advice or diagnosis I would definitely get a second opinion.
W is for Water therapy - Jack's surgeon recommend Water therapy or Hydrotherapy on an Aqua treadmill for his rehabilitation following surgery. As it was vet recommended it was covered under the alternative therapy part of my insurance policy otherwise I would have struggled to pay for it. The treadmill was at a specialist rehab yard with vast experience of rehabilitating horses with Kissing Spine or having had Kissing Spine surgery. After calling and discussing Jack's case with the rehab centre owner I was left in no doubt this would give him the best start on his rehab and give us the best chance of a complete recovery. After visiting the yard and seeing several horses at different stages of rehab working on the treadmill my decision was easy and it was definitely the best thing I could have done for Jack. In Jack's case we wanted to avoid the usual rehab of weeks of lunging in a pessoa as this would have put his arthritic hocks under a lot of strain and a month of working on the aqua treadmill is roughly equivalent to 6 weeks lunging. This meant that on his return he was at the stage of being able to begin ridden rehab. I still do water therapy with Jack about once a week but I now do it in the river by our yard (I'm very lucky to be close to a shallow part of a river!) I take him down and ride him in the shallows, the resistance of the water and the increased range of movement are good for both his joints and developing and strengthening top line muscle. Best if all its free!
X is for X-rays - As an X-ray is the only sure way to diagnose Kissing Spine. Our own vets mobile x-ray machine was not strong enough to penetrate the thick muscles of the back and get a clear image although they did indicate KS so we were referred to Oakham where their stronger x-ray machine was able to get a clear image which confirmed our suspicions. Although X-rays can confirm kissing spine they can't tell you what other issues are going on and sometime a horse with severe KS will show little signs while others who's x-rays show only mild KS may display severe ridden behaviours. How it effects each horse is different. A bone scan can provide further insight but is costly. Thermography can also give some indication of problem areas that might be worth investigating.
Y is for You Know Your Horse Best - I can't stress this point enough. It is so true with a horse with KS, you know them, you know what's best and if your horse is telling you something listen to them! I'm not suggesting you ignore professional help but listen to you gut too if you feel something is not right. My Physio has always said you can't hurt your horse by taking your time with him but you can do untold damage by rushing him. I always remember this and if I'm having problems with Jack I usually find the best way to deal with them is to back off, give him more time and try again another day.
Z is for ZZZ's - Rest for both your horse and you is really important, rehab is hard work for both of you!! Regular rest days help you both to recover both mentally and physically from the demands of rehab. I find 2/3 days of work then a rest day works best for Jack.
Here is a little insight into what has helped Jack recover from Kissing Spine.
A is for Alternative Therapies - physiotherapy, Mctimoney, osteopathy, Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Acupressure, hydrotherapy etc. The list of alternative therapies available goes on! Personally I use Physiotherapy, McTimoney and hydrotherapy for Jack but there are lots of variations and I wouldn't rule out anything if it might help. During rehab Jack needed regular physio to help him be able to work as he quickly became sore, without this he wouldn't have been using himself correctly and all the work would have been in vain. He now has a check by either physio or McTimoney Therapists every 3-6 months just to keep him tip top and address any tightness that creeps in. It is important to use properly qualified therapists and I wouldn't use anyone that isn't a vet recommended therapists. I'm considering acupuncture having heard lots of good reviews from other KS horse owners that have had surgery.
B is for Bank Balance - Or lack of! Having any horse that needs veterinary treatment is not cheap and even with insurance my already straining bank balance took a big hit. If you have a horse with KS be prepared for yours to take a serious dip what with the vets fees, insurance excesses, rehabilitation, supplements, training aids, new saddles and various other pieces of equipment that might help! My vet fees exceeded my insurance claim limit so I had to put a fair amount to cover the bills. It is important to remember most insurances wont cover stabling or travel expenses either so budget for those if you need to visit and stay in a vet hospital.
C is for Calmers - I could not have got through 6 weeks of box rest following Jack's surgery or the early reahb without a Calmer for him. During box rest he found the other horses turn out times especially stressful and I used Instamag instant spray on calmer from Freestep superfix and find it extremely effective in taking the edge off when he gets stressed out. It's a staple of my grooming box now and I've been so impressed with it's effectiveness. Following application, which is just a quick spray on the neck, Jack is visibly less stressed and goes from box walking and rearing in his stable to standing eating hay almost instantly. I have also used it before getting on board during the walking phase of rehab which Jack found vey boring and when I used it he was much less of a handful and more rideable. Ingested calmers take much longer to take effect and have to be fed daily to keep up the effect where as this is just used as and when you need it so it's more cost effective too! Win Win!
D is for Don't Give up - There were times I felt like it, when I felt like we were getting no where and I couldn't ever imagine my horse being normal again. The rehab is an incredibly hard process both physically and mentally for horse and owner and it can be a real roller coaster with lots of good and bad days along the journey. I had to keep the end goal in mind and if things weren't going so well then back off and try again another day. Rehab is a marathon not a sprint and the longer it takes the more likely of a successful outcome. You can do no harm taking things slow but you can do a lot of damage rushing the process so take your time, listen to your horse, get as much support as you can from vets, therapists, instructors, facebook groups or friends who have been through it and understand how you are feeling and most of all Don't Give Up!
E is for Exercise - I find a variety of exercise works best with Jack, I do lots of hacking, try not to school more than once a week, lunge approx. once a week in a pessoa type lunging aid and occasionally loose jump/school. I also do lots of stretches with him before and/or after exercise. While most vets recommend lunging in a pessoa to begin rehabilitation with Jack this wasn't the preferred approach due to him also having arthritis in his hocks. Repetitive exercise like lunging puts a lot of stress on the joints so this was to be avoided knowing there was already problems. It is also important to fully warm up at the start of any session and properly cool down at the end to avoid further problems. I start with doing 15/20mins walk beginning on a completely loose rein and then asking for a long, low stretch as we do some large circles and serpentines. I also get up out of the saddle in the first canter on both reins as this helps Jack to loosen in his back and get moving. When hacking I often trot in a light seat to allow his back to move more. I'm also careful to canter on both leads while hacking and if doing a rising trot I will change diagonal often so he develops evenly.
F is for Fitness - I am really careful not to ask too much too soon and make sure Jack is fit and strong enough to do the work I am asking of him. Once back under saddle I slowly got him fit by doing lots of hacking over a variety of terrain. I use a fitness tracker to take the guess work out of planning my rides. This way I know how far each of my local routes is and can plan an effective fitness routine rather than just wandering the bridle paths without a plan and not really knowing how far we've ridden or for how long. Although I use this quite scientific approach I also make sure I am listening to Jack too and if he is feeling fresh may use a more hilly route while if he is feeling a little tired may do a shorter, flatter route. I have found it extremely important to listen to Jack if he is in need of a few days off or easier days.
G is for Ground Poles - Since his surgery I hardly ever school or lunge Jack without putting out a few poles to keep him on his toes and get him thinking. They help to loosen him up, get him moving forwards, engage his core, stretch over his spine and increase his range of movement to build a stronger top line. I use various different sets ups to keep things interesting and keep Jack thinking and I enjoy thinking up new challenges for us both. As his fitness increased I started to add more raised poles. It also helped me get my eye back in for jumping which neither of us had done for a while during his recovery! He seems to enjoy schooling much more with some poles out rather than just flat schooling and it gives us both something to concentrate on.
H is for Hacking - this has been key to Jack's successful recovery and is so important for general fitness. He is naturally more forward and relaxed out of the menage so I use this to my advantage and try to hack over varied terrain and routes to keep things fresh and interesting. Many underestimate the benefits of long hacks just in walk. Using hill work in a long low frame really works the whole horse, they have to engage their core, push with their glutes and hamstrings etc. It builds all the muscle we need to target with a KS horse. I use an app to map my rides so I know exactly how far I've ridden and for how long each day which really helps especially when rehabbing.
I am careful about doing to much trotting on the roads and cantering on too hard or too soft ground due to his other issues.
I is for In Hand - Certainly in the early days of rehab I became a bit of a pro at in hand exercise! I still enjoy doing some in hand exercises with Jack now and find them really beneficial. From starting with simple carrot stretches to pole work and hacking in hand, lunging and loose schooling/jumping once he was fit enough, we've done it all. It helped rebuild my bond with Jack and started to rebuild our trust in each other. It is really helpful to look at him working from the ground regularly to see how he is improving in his stride length, range of movement and his muscle development. I often take little videos too so I can watch them back and compare to previous sessions to see the improvements and know we are going in the right direction. This is especially helpful when things don't seem to be going so well, to be able to look back and see how much improvement has been made gives you a boost when you need it.
J is for Jumping - A bit of jumping has been really good for Jack as he now enjoys it and it works different muscles. Grid work has been especially helpful in building additional core and hind end strength with Jack, once he had completed his basic rehab and was fit enough as this is hard work for them. I have found that adding some regular grid work helped get him to sit back on his hocks and take more weight behind while also helping him to make a better shape over a fence which opens the spine. He really muscled up once we started doing weekly grids developing a strong topline and core muscles to protect his spine. I started with just a couple of ground poles and built up the amount of poles we used over a period of weeks, then started raising some of the poles and once that was easy adding small jumps. We only have a 20x40 ménage but I can fit in 7 poles/jumps on bounce distances. It really gets him working and improves balance and rhythm too. I'm careful to ensure I work on both reins evenly.
K is for Kissing Spine support groups - I know for a lot of people getting a diagnosis of Kissing Spine for their horse is devastating but for me it was a huge relief to finally know what was wrong with Jack and be able to make a plan to fix him. He had been difficult for a long time and I had spent an awful lot of time and money on various phyios, saddlers, farriers, dentists, instructors and vets trying to get to the bottom of what was wrong only to be repeatedly told my horse was just naughty and I was letting him get away with it and needed to be firmer. Although I knew we had a long battle ahead to get him better at least I now knew why he was being so difficult and that he wasn't just a bad horse. I did lots of research and had so many questions for the vets at the hospital but they were brilliant and fully supported me along the way. I also found the facebook group Horses with Kissing Spine which was a huge benefit being able to talk to people who had been through or were going through the same as me. It can feel very lonely on a yard where everyone else's horses are healthy so being able to chat to people in the same position really helped me cope.
L is for lunging - I usually lunge Jack no more than once a week. My preferred lunging aid is a pessoa. There is a real divide in peoples opinions of Pessoa's and I have received negative comments on social media about using one but personally I find Jack works very well in his. I have it set fairly loose and he has been seen working in it by our vet, physio and rehab centre and all confirm he is working correctly in it so for me I am happy to continue to use it as part of our fitness regime. I do sometimes lunge in just a bridle/headcollar and I have used various other aids such as kavalcade and equicore systems but so far I have not been persuaded that any are better for Jack than the Pessoa. Some horses don't work well in the pessoa as they don't like the strap around their back legs so it is important to find the right aid for your horse, if they are sensitive around their legs the Kavalcade maybe a better option. There are also a lot of good things said about the equiami and I am tempted to try one.
M is for Magnetic therapy - I have been very impressed with the results of using a magnetic back pad and hock boots on Jack. I find them to be particularly beneficial to Jack in the colder weather. Having worn the back pad while he is stabled his back is lovely and warm to the touch and the muscles underneath are soft and relaxed. I also notice he is stiffer and takes longer to loosen and warm up if he has not had them on especially in colder weather. I am tempted to invest in a full rug.
O is for Operation - There a now several options for operating on a Kissing Spine the main 3 are:
1 ) Traditional operation which is done under general anasetic and involves completely removing the top section of every other affected vertebrae.
2 ) The ligament snip which can be done under local or sedation small incisions are made and the ligaments around the affected vertebrae cut to allow the vertebrae to move apart.
3 ) The Re-shaping operation which can be done under general or local anasetic and involves removing only part of the bone of the affected vertebrae.
Some vets offer their own variations of the different types.
6months after his diagnosis Jack was operated on by the super team at Oakham Equine Veterinary Hospital. They pioneered a variation of the reshaping and ligament snip operation where they shaved the bones of the worst affected vertebrae and then snipped the ligaments of the next few vertebrae. He stayed with them for 5 days after his operation and I was allowed to visit him on the 2nd day. I was pleasantly surprised how alert and happy he was. He came home with 10 days of bute and 5 days of anti biotics and a pad on his back to cover the wound. after 10days my own vet came and removed the staples. He had to have a total of 6 weeks complete box rest (no hand walking or grazing). After 6 weeks he returned to Oakham and was assessed by his surgeon and re X-rayed. At this point he was discharged and allowed to be turned out on his return home. He had a fairly large dose of sedalin to survive the journey, trot up etc and this was still in his system when we got home so he went straight into a small paddock so he didn't go tearing off and injure himself. He had a week in a paddock on his own next to his mates and then returned to the herd to relax and be a horse for a few weeks before rehab commenced.
P is for Patience - endless patience is required to rehabilitate a horse from Kissing Spine either with or without surgery. I think it is important not to put a rigid time scale on your rehab plan but rather listen to your horse and let them guide you when they are ready. There are so many times I have felt like we took a step back during rehab but I didn't let this bother me and didn't compare our recovery with others I just did my best to listen to Jack and back off when I felt he was telling me he needed a rest. We were given a basic rehab plan from our vet and although I did use it as a basic guide I took much longer at some stages as I felt Jack needed more time to adjust both mentally and physically. Fortunately this approach worked well for us and 10 months post surgery we were back out competing successfully.
Q is for Qualified help - I found out the expensive way that not all people advertising themselves as professional equine therapist are the same! I wasted a lot of money prior to Jack's diagnosis on so called professionals who all gave me different reasons for his behaviour. I now will only use vet recommended, qualified (and listed on the governing bodies website) people. I also like to have people who have personal experience with KS so both our physio and McTimoney Therapists have horses that have KS. I find this helps them understand the difficulties we have and they are more sympathetic to both Jack and me.
R is for Rehabilitation - Rehabilitation seems very scary to me in the beginning, despite so many years of owning and riding horses I'd little experience in rehabilitation from injury. I was so worried I'd do something wrong and screw up Jack for life! I discussed my concerns with my vet and they recommended I send Jack to a professional rehab yard with a water treadmill to begin Jack's rehab. After his box rest and then being turned away for a few weeks Jack was taken to Bennett Equine rehabilitation centre in Tutbury to begin his rehab. He arrived and settled well being introduced to the treadmill slowly, dry at first and with water height rising to mid cannon bone over a period of a couple of weeks. He stayed a total of 4 weeks and I visited him weekly to see how he was progressing. He also saw our fab physio Tamsyn regularly while he was there. I picked him up after 4 weeks and he was fit and ready to begin ridden rehab. This way I was able to avoid having to do weeks of lunging rehab which is such hard work on their joints and with Jack already having hock issues this was much better for him. Before I began any ridden work I had his saddle checked, while I was waiting for this to happen I kept him ticking over with alternate lunging in a pessoa and long reining sessions. Once his saddle was sorted I began by giving him a quick lunge then getting on to walk for 5 minutes to cool him down every other day, long reining in between. I was very careful not to rush him and regularly had to go back a step if he felt like he was struggling. Once I was confident he was ok under saddle I did lots of hacking building up the time and distance slowly over a period of months to build his fitness and muscles. I schooled only once a week at most during this time as I felt Jack needed a bit more time to mentally recover enough for schooling.
S is for Stretches - Daily carrot stretches have helped Jack become more supple and encourage him to engage his core muscles. I on alternate days do carrot stretches and fore limb stretches to help keep him soft in his neck and shoulders which seem to become quite tight. Jack like any other horse is a little one sided and tends to fall in on the left rein and fall out on the right rein through his left shoulder. I have had to work quite hard to get him to work his inside hind. Before I get on I will always turn Jack on a tight circle each way to get him to step under himself with his hind legs and back him up a few strides which helps. I will also always give him a good long warm up of at least 20mins before asking him to work.
U is for Unknown cause - A lot of us really want to know what caused our horse to develop a Kissing Spine but most of the time we will never really know. There are so many possible causes and it is often impossible to narrow it down to a single cause or event. There is a lot more research being done now a days into the causes of Kissing Spine. Jack is quite short coupled so it is possible he was born with the condition. He had never had a fitted saddle until I brought him, he was using in a riding school at a young age and ridden by lots of different riders, some heavier than others, which his back may not have been strong enough for. It could have been caused by him avoiding using his hind end correctly due to the arthritis in his hocks. It's possible it was caused by a field accident or a combination of all of these. I have been over so many scenarios in my head over the years trying to understand how we got to the point he was so bad that he was dangerous. I will never know and all I can do is try to avoid him getting like that again by following the advice from my vets, physio, rehab centre etc on the exercises to keep his back strong and healthy and use common sense. Jack has 3 monthly checks to ensure we are keeping on the right track and nip any issues in the bud before they develop.
V is for Vet - Our own vet is a small practice so for problems needing more in depth investigation and surgery they refer to Oakham Equine Veterinary hospital. I have had experience at Oakham with my previous horse (not kissing spine related) and knew what to expect. There facilities are excellent and the staff were very friendly and helpful. I think it is important to feel comfortable with your vet so that you can ask all the questions you need to, sometimes I had really silly questions but the vets, nurses and other staff made me very at ease and able to ask as much as I needed to put my mind at rest. I have found through talking to others who have been through KS surgery with their horses that nearly every vets approach to the surgery and recovery is different. I found this quite confusing to begin with but followed the advice of the vets at Oakham as they were the ones who knew and were treating Jack. Whenever I asked them about any aspect of the surgery or recovery they were able to provide me with a full explanation, in terms I could understand, to ease my worries. The whole time Jack was with them I was given twice daily updates and their care was exceptional. If I was not happy with any aspect of my vets advice or diagnosis I would definitely get a second opinion.
W is for Water therapy - Jack's surgeon recommend Water therapy or Hydrotherapy on an Aqua treadmill for his rehabilitation following surgery. As it was vet recommended it was covered under the alternative therapy part of my insurance policy otherwise I would have struggled to pay for it. The treadmill was at a specialist rehab yard with vast experience of rehabilitating horses with Kissing Spine or having had Kissing Spine surgery. After calling and discussing Jack's case with the rehab centre owner I was left in no doubt this would give him the best start on his rehab and give us the best chance of a complete recovery. After visiting the yard and seeing several horses at different stages of rehab working on the treadmill my decision was easy and it was definitely the best thing I could have done for Jack. In Jack's case we wanted to avoid the usual rehab of weeks of lunging in a pessoa as this would have put his arthritic hocks under a lot of strain and a month of working on the aqua treadmill is roughly equivalent to 6 weeks lunging. This meant that on his return he was at the stage of being able to begin ridden rehab. I still do water therapy with Jack about once a week but I now do it in the river by our yard (I'm very lucky to be close to a shallow part of a river!) I take him down and ride him in the shallows, the resistance of the water and the increased range of movement are good for both his joints and developing and strengthening top line muscle. Best if all its free!
X is for X-rays - As an X-ray is the only sure way to diagnose Kissing Spine. Our own vets mobile x-ray machine was not strong enough to penetrate the thick muscles of the back and get a clear image although they did indicate KS so we were referred to Oakham where their stronger x-ray machine was able to get a clear image which confirmed our suspicions. Although X-rays can confirm kissing spine they can't tell you what other issues are going on and sometime a horse with severe KS will show little signs while others who's x-rays show only mild KS may display severe ridden behaviours. How it effects each horse is different. A bone scan can provide further insight but is costly. Thermography can also give some indication of problem areas that might be worth investigating.
Y is for You Know Your Horse Best - I can't stress this point enough. It is so true with a horse with KS, you know them, you know what's best and if your horse is telling you something listen to them! I'm not suggesting you ignore professional help but listen to you gut too if you feel something is not right. My Physio has always said you can't hurt your horse by taking your time with him but you can do untold damage by rushing him. I always remember this and if I'm having problems with Jack I usually find the best way to deal with them is to back off, give him more time and try again another day.
Z is for ZZZ's - Rest for both your horse and you is really important, rehab is hard work for both of you!! Regular rest days help you both to recover both mentally and physically from the demands of rehab. I find 2/3 days of work then a rest day works best for Jack.
Monday, 14 August 2017
A good few weeks 14/8/17
Jack has been ticking over very nicely since his McTimoney session last month and I have been strict about doing this stretches after every ride to help prevent him getting so tight again. Although we have mostly hacked he has been feeling much softer and freer through his body and seems to be much more on my seat aids. He also seems to be more relaxed in general, easing the tension in his body seems to have also eased the tension in his brain and he has been much less spooky and jumpy and has been a real pleasure to ride lately. We've been having a lot of fun especially as with all the rain the ground, which is usually too hard to canter on at this time of year, is pretty much perfect at the moment and this is helping no end in building his fitness back up.
We have also had a couple of very enjoyable and productive schooling sessions in the last 10 days. Most noticeable to me is the improvement in our downwards transitions which have always been a bit abrupt and caused Jack to lean down the rein and go tight in his neck and jaw and end up on his forehand, more falling down into the transition than stepping through into it from behind. Since Rachael sorted out his neck and shoulder tightness issues he has remained softer and lighter in his downward transitions and in his lateral flexion.
We had our first jump last week, just a couple of times over a tiny cross pole, but it was good to get that first jump under our belts with no issues!
We also had our first gallop, not top speed yet but it's a start. We had been out for a hack with a couple of the other girls and Jack was finding it all very exciting having company when we usually hack alone. His excitement piqued when another group of riders turned onto the bridlepath just in front of us and then proceeded to trot off ahead. We were on the way home at this point so Jack was already pulling and jogging anyway but that just really wound him up and at one point I thought he might go up, he was getting so stressed out and het up but he did managed to keep a lid on it. We got to the last field which had been freshly cut and decided to have a canter round the edge with Jack in front, when we got to the bottom end and turned for home again one of the other horses came alongside us so Jack took it upon himself to turn it into a race and take off! We managed to keep them under some control so we weren't going flat out but it was great fun to finally open the pipes a bit more and really let off some steam! He felt fantastic and would easily have gone faster if I had let him but I am still being a bit cautious. I was relieved to see the next day that he was none the worse for his exertions and I think I am underestimating just how fit he actually is!
I'm still mostly hacking keeping him in a long and low frame, only schooling and lunging once a week and it's obviously doing the job nicely! He is muscling up over his topline and starting to look much fitter again now, his grass belly is finally disappearing too!
During our lunge session this week a buckle on my roller broke so I couldn't use it, instead of just loose lunging I decided to make a homemade Equicore style aid from some old bandages and a numnah. I wasn't sure if it would work but it actually did and Jack worked really nicely in it too so I think I will be incorporating this into our routine regularly from now on. He had nothing attached to the bridle, just the lungeline over his head so I could apply a little poll pressure to lower his head and neck, then the bandages round his girth, hind quarters and under his belly. I kept it simple as it was the first time we had attempted this set up so no poles, just walk ,trot and Canter on each rein but I was really pleased with how forward and relaxed Jack went stretching down to the floor and opening his spine nicely in his trot work. I will try to get some pictures next time!
Also last weekend it was the Equestrian Sport UK national championships held at Arena UK which I had qualified for in the 60cm open show jumping on my best friend Lucy's fab little horse Jay. She had also qualified in the Intro and Prelim Dressage so it was a busy weekend for the little guy! We arrived on the Saturday morning with a plan that I would walk the course while Lucy got him ready and I would be one of the first to jump as Lucy needed to dash off to a wedding that afternoon. The plan went wrong from the start when I couldn't walk the course as the clear round was still going. I decided to go back to the lorry take Jay round to the warm up (which was miles away!) and get on and warm him up until the course was ready to walk but just as I all the way back to the lorry they announced that we only had 5 mins to walk the course then the class was starting!! So I ran round to walk the course while Lucy brought Jay round so I could hop straight onto him and warm up as soon as I'd walked the course. We were 11th in so luckily had enough time to give him a decent warm up before we got called over as the next competitor in. I wasn't expecting anything as we have only jumped 3 courses together and Jay doesn't jump much but my plan was to just get into a rhythm and leave the fences up, not take silly risks and have fences down. I knew there weren't any clears in my section so far. As I watched the previous competitor jump their jump off section I realised to my horror there were 2 more fences than I had walked, I thought it finished at 12 but there was actually 14 fences! Good job I was watching her!! With no time to worry about that we were in and the bell rang for us to start. As soon as I turned him into the first fence I could feel Jay was up for it and he jumped it beautifully, I knew then if I could just keep up a nice flowing rhythm and ride the turns, especially near the gate, he would jump his heart out for me and I was right, what a round we had! He flew everything never touching a pole and we grew and grew in confidence as we progressed round the course, I even did a few jump off turns over the last few fences and was beyond thrilled when we completed the course clear and went into the lead! Beaming I walked him round the warm up area to cool down before returning to the lorry to wait for the next 35 odd riders to jump. I left Jay tacked up as it was looking like we would get a placing. As the class progressed we lost the lead which I fully expected as we had not gone flat out by any means, but at the end of the class I was thrilled to hear we had come 4th!!! A super day on a super little horse and we are having so much fun jumping together but coming 4th nationally was not enough for little Jay so he returned the next day with his owner Lucy to contest the Intro and Prelim Dressage championships and only went and won the intro and placed 4th again in the Prelim, what an absolute star! I'm very excited about the prospect of taking this little trier eventing, I think he has the whole package and should do very well eeek!
We have also had a couple of very enjoyable and productive schooling sessions in the last 10 days. Most noticeable to me is the improvement in our downwards transitions which have always been a bit abrupt and caused Jack to lean down the rein and go tight in his neck and jaw and end up on his forehand, more falling down into the transition than stepping through into it from behind. Since Rachael sorted out his neck and shoulder tightness issues he has remained softer and lighter in his downward transitions and in his lateral flexion.
We had our first jump last week, just a couple of times over a tiny cross pole, but it was good to get that first jump under our belts with no issues!
We also had our first gallop, not top speed yet but it's a start. We had been out for a hack with a couple of the other girls and Jack was finding it all very exciting having company when we usually hack alone. His excitement piqued when another group of riders turned onto the bridlepath just in front of us and then proceeded to trot off ahead. We were on the way home at this point so Jack was already pulling and jogging anyway but that just really wound him up and at one point I thought he might go up, he was getting so stressed out and het up but he did managed to keep a lid on it. We got to the last field which had been freshly cut and decided to have a canter round the edge with Jack in front, when we got to the bottom end and turned for home again one of the other horses came alongside us so Jack took it upon himself to turn it into a race and take off! We managed to keep them under some control so we weren't going flat out but it was great fun to finally open the pipes a bit more and really let off some steam! He felt fantastic and would easily have gone faster if I had let him but I am still being a bit cautious. I was relieved to see the next day that he was none the worse for his exertions and I think I am underestimating just how fit he actually is!
I'm still mostly hacking keeping him in a long and low frame, only schooling and lunging once a week and it's obviously doing the job nicely! He is muscling up over his topline and starting to look much fitter again now, his grass belly is finally disappearing too!
During our lunge session this week a buckle on my roller broke so I couldn't use it, instead of just loose lunging I decided to make a homemade Equicore style aid from some old bandages and a numnah. I wasn't sure if it would work but it actually did and Jack worked really nicely in it too so I think I will be incorporating this into our routine regularly from now on. He had nothing attached to the bridle, just the lungeline over his head so I could apply a little poll pressure to lower his head and neck, then the bandages round his girth, hind quarters and under his belly. I kept it simple as it was the first time we had attempted this set up so no poles, just walk ,trot and Canter on each rein but I was really pleased with how forward and relaxed Jack went stretching down to the floor and opening his spine nicely in his trot work. I will try to get some pictures next time!
Also last weekend it was the Equestrian Sport UK national championships held at Arena UK which I had qualified for in the 60cm open show jumping on my best friend Lucy's fab little horse Jay. She had also qualified in the Intro and Prelim Dressage so it was a busy weekend for the little guy! We arrived on the Saturday morning with a plan that I would walk the course while Lucy got him ready and I would be one of the first to jump as Lucy needed to dash off to a wedding that afternoon. The plan went wrong from the start when I couldn't walk the course as the clear round was still going. I decided to go back to the lorry take Jay round to the warm up (which was miles away!) and get on and warm him up until the course was ready to walk but just as I all the way back to the lorry they announced that we only had 5 mins to walk the course then the class was starting!! So I ran round to walk the course while Lucy brought Jay round so I could hop straight onto him and warm up as soon as I'd walked the course. We were 11th in so luckily had enough time to give him a decent warm up before we got called over as the next competitor in. I wasn't expecting anything as we have only jumped 3 courses together and Jay doesn't jump much but my plan was to just get into a rhythm and leave the fences up, not take silly risks and have fences down. I knew there weren't any clears in my section so far. As I watched the previous competitor jump their jump off section I realised to my horror there were 2 more fences than I had walked, I thought it finished at 12 but there was actually 14 fences! Good job I was watching her!! With no time to worry about that we were in and the bell rang for us to start. As soon as I turned him into the first fence I could feel Jay was up for it and he jumped it beautifully, I knew then if I could just keep up a nice flowing rhythm and ride the turns, especially near the gate, he would jump his heart out for me and I was right, what a round we had! He flew everything never touching a pole and we grew and grew in confidence as we progressed round the course, I even did a few jump off turns over the last few fences and was beyond thrilled when we completed the course clear and went into the lead! Beaming I walked him round the warm up area to cool down before returning to the lorry to wait for the next 35 odd riders to jump. I left Jay tacked up as it was looking like we would get a placing. As the class progressed we lost the lead which I fully expected as we had not gone flat out by any means, but at the end of the class I was thrilled to hear we had come 4th!!! A super day on a super little horse and we are having so much fun jumping together but coming 4th nationally was not enough for little Jay so he returned the next day with his owner Lucy to contest the Intro and Prelim Dressage championships and only went and won the intro and placed 4th again in the Prelim, what an absolute star! I'm very excited about the prospect of taking this little trier eventing, I think he has the whole package and should do very well eeek!
Thanks for reading
Hannah and Jack
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