I can relate more to Bob this year as I now seem to be mimicking him!
He had a back treatment earlier in the summer as I noticed he was a bit tight around his withers and now I have - in the last couple of weeks, had to go to the Osteopath again due to increasing issues with my pelvis as well as the doctor and now a physio! Then to top it off, I had to visit the dentist myself for a filling! Okay not as scary (or expensive!) as having a tooth out but I forgot how much I feared them. I wanted them to knock me out like Bob was for his visit to the dentist, but they politely declined. I did have to have two lots of anaesthetic though as this tough girl turned into a wimp as soon as I heard the tools start up. It made for a fun afternoon at work after as I could barely talk and I looked like a chipmunk with bright rosy red cheeks and half of my face was numb for the rest of the afternoon. I’m very glad I had no meetings, instead, I just had the other half chuckling at me. From this experience, my empathy with Bob has increased!
We had another good lesson last weekend practising putting some fences together into a course, and the minute I mentioned our planned outing there was no mercy from my instructor as up in height went the fences, with several poles and fillers dotted about. I was a bit nervous as I had just been realigned by the osteopath the day before (shush I didn’t tell him I had a lesson booked) so I was a bit hesitant with my jumping position, but we managed it and Bob did brilliantly. I jumped him in the evenings that week over a few smaller fences due to the light and he was lovely and calm. We had another lesson on Sunday, this time focusing on keeping him straight after a fence and getting him to slow. The fences were kept low to start with but sadly after only a few, I had to retire as he jolted me over one fence which caused a lot of pain in my pelvis. It was very frustrating as I wanted to continue but I just couldn’t. I’m now looking into back/pelvic supports I can wear whilst riding, as my back hopefully heals and I have a meeting where no doubt I will be grilled by the physio eek! I’m lucky enough to have help from my partner at the yard otherwise I would hugely struggle. The pain makes it hard to bend so mucking out and picking out feet is a challenge - let's hope the physio can fix me. My instructor has squeezed us in for one more lesson before the show next week, but I will see how I go during the week with my riding as I don’t want to do any more damage!
The wet muddy ground has had a bit of a bad effect on Autumn since her back shoes were taken off. She was battling an abscess, luckily, I noticed her looking a bit footy and acted on it asap with a hot poultice and wrapped the hoof. I continued this for the last four days and she has slowly improved this morning, she was feeling better as she happily galloped off into the field!
How’s everyone prepping for this cold weather? It will be nice not to wade through the sludge/mud that the rain has caused for a few days, although my field has finally started to recover after a few drier days. I’ve dug out the neoprene gloves and socks to help keep me warm!
I’ve filled all the water buckets including the field ones, filled any kettles and containers I can find in the tack room and will be covering all padlocks with some padding and applying WD-40 so they don’t seize/freeze. My hay nets are made up and I do soak them but I will leave them till each morning instead of the evening, so they don’t freeze. The horses are getting extra hay in the field for during the day, so they have more forage available and of course, are wrapped up nice and warm. Bob especially as I managed to give him another clip whilst he was under for his final check from the vets for his tooth/gum (which he passed perfectly)!
Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.