Bored and fat

Time off doesn't suit me. Not when it's enforced time off.

The good news is my shoulder is healing fast, I even drove yesterday. Lexi is staying in work thanks to me spending all the money and getting my instructors to ride her.

The bad news is I'm getting fat from sitting around eating everything and going out my mind.

We had a couple of quiet days following the accident - my friend kindly did my stables for

me and I roped in Heavily Pregnant Friend to help me bring in and give cuddles.

Friday Auntie Cara rode Lexi. I froze to death whilst watching in the snow and didn't really pay much attention to what she was doing as I was more concerned about frostbite on my feet. But she looked good and Cara doesn't think she's suffered any injuries from our fall. I have booked my beloved physio to treat her on Tuesday to be on the safe side.

Yesterday I lunged her in the show.

She was very good if a bit lazy. I also chased the Wild Thing that is Squirrel round a bit so he would be good for his new sharer tomorrow but I didn't take any photos as he kept charging at me. He's psycho ATM.

Auntie 2 Michelle is coming to ride her today (show jump instructor). I managed to muck out yesterday although it took me about three hours. Very bored. Not much else to say really. I'm really hoping somehow I'll be fit to go xc schooling before I go on holiday a week tomorrow. I'm not really sure how but. I wants to.

On all accounts I feel grateful the ponies are okay as my poor poor friend has been up all night with two colic episodes and also waiting x-rays following a nasty kick to her poor horse. Healing vibes to them.

Cross country FAIL

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was warm, the lorry was packed, no stones in the studholes and we were on time. Something was going to go wrong. We knew it. We covered our backs by saying 'Oh something will go dreadfully wrong, it's going too well'.

I was overjoyed, cross country = life and it felt like spring which is also life. Lexi has been on fab form.

We studded up with only minimal hell from The Mare and got on board. The ground was great, the new fences they'd built were great. We had a canter, The Mare was into the bridle if a little strong. She was psyched. I was psyched. My friend was psyched.

I had a canter round. She was in front of my leg. Check. She listened to a half halt. Check. I aimed at a small, barely two foot log as our first warm up fence. She locked on, we were a bit long but for something so small no matter.



Then she tried to put another stride in. There wasn't room for another stride. The next thing I saw was her long grey neck hurtling to the ground. Pain. I saw flailing legs. Then weight on me. So much weight. Darkness. Then I was on my feet, she was on her feet. She allowed herself to be rounded up by my friend and I checked my arms and legs and head were all still attached. Okay. Thigh a bit sore. Shoulder. Ah. That hurt. Not too badly thanks to adrenaline but that deep numbing pain which means you're actually hurt. Not bruised but Damage.

So I did what all intelligent people do and got back on before the adrenaline wore off and jumped a few small fences. We did have one stop at a 2 foot chicken coop when I went fml I don't want us to die and basically told her to stop. Then she was fine. Then I realised my left arm doesn't work. I'm also left handed.

I wasn't going to let my friend miss out so I told her to crack on and watched whilst plummeting into the deep depths of despair. Then I realised another immediate problem in that left hand= gear hand. Lorry = big, heavy gears and she doesn't always like changing them. My poor friend had to step up and drive us home with me constantly shrieking SLOW DOWN 'err we're going 30 in a 50' (I'm a terrible passenger at the best of times).

Got home. Sudacremmed the mare (she studded herself by her stifle so that's where her front legs were rather than you know, landing on them rather than her nose). The girlfriend picked me up (highly unimpressed 'I'm not angry but WHY IS IT ALWAYS YOU') a&e. Either a fractured collarbone or displaced AC joint and damaged ligaments. Sounds familiar. I did that to my right shoulder in August on a tough mudder. X-rays yesterday. Yep displaced AC point by 15 degrees.





Normal shoulder for comparison.

Luckily this isn't the worst news as last time I was back at work 10 days later and I think this time it's not as bad. I'm going on holiday in a week and a half so by the time I'm back I'll of had 3 weeks off (bye bye all the money). I intend to ride Saturday but getting instructors in for schooling and jumping. I NEED to go SJ on the 19th to qualify the old man for cricklands. And I was meant to have an xc lesson in 8 days which would be super useful. We'll see. I'm determined we will still make it for  Aston BE100 on the 4th March. Meanwhile I'll get fat and bored. 

Jesus I'm useless

HOW HAVE I NOT POSTED IN SO LONG?!

Life gets manic that's why.

Okay so when we started cantering again, the mare was still bucking. Bucking O plenty. So Auntie Cara (Cara Hayward, chef d'Equipe of the British Junior and Young riders team that is) got on a few times and Madam realised maybe this wasn't the best idea. Cara just literally held her in place between her hand and leg she literally couldn't do it. We resolved the issue very quickly after that.

We entered west wilts. Then I decided to do a tough mudder. Or rather I'd foolishly entered shortly after completing it the year before and I hoped my sister would forget. But she didn't. It was gruelling as I hadn't trained at all. The second to last obstacle was Everist (google it if you want to see), it was a very wet day so so slippery. I slipped and landed on my shoulder. It was a bit sore but I waved away the paramedics.  A few minute later I had to scuttle up to them. My shoulder hurt. It hurt a LOT.

A trip to a&e later and I had a grade 2/3 'Sprung shoulder'. Basically I'd torn two ligaments and widened the AC joint within the shoulder. I managed 5 days not riding before I was back on board (just needed someone to put the saddle on for me) and all of a week off work. In hindsight I should of taken much much longer as now, 5 months on its still sore and I'm waiting for physiotherapy. Nevermind.

With Lexi still putting in the odd buck, I asked Cara to school her twice a week for me because I didn't want the issue to become worse whilst I was weak and I just hacked. We had to withdraw from West Wilts, but ended up with an entry to Munstead unaffiliated the following week.

She was awesome, 32 in the dressage and a double clear to win! She did go green SJ, spooking and it was perhaps more luck than judgement to go clear. One hesitation across country on an angled double but she had a slap on the shoulder and pinged it anyway.

Our next outing was Calmsden BE90 which was to be out last before stepping up to BE100. Cara came to help me warm up for the dressage which was great and she went beautifully, until I got eliminated for going wrong three times. WHO DOES THAT?! I didn't memorise the test properly and forgot to do across the diagonal. Then I figured I probably needed to go across the diagonal again but didn't. Then for good measure, I did a circle in the wrong place. Worst thing was our sheet was full of 7s and 8s so we were on target for an excellent score. As it were, perhaps an elimination in the dressage was best as it saved her record from being sullied with a stop and a fence down SJ and a retirement across country after two stops at fence two. I called out my physio and she was very sore, and was back to normal  within a few days.

We were then off to Tweseldown 90. On the way there the rain came and it poured and poured. There must of been a good inch of water on the roads. The course was underwater, and three hours before I was due to SJ, the ground was tearing up. I decided to withdraw and headed to Merristwood to SJ instead. We had a double clear in the 80-90 and just one down in the 90-100.

From there we headed to Aston le Walls 100 for the last event of the season. She was fresh fresh fresh and tense in the dressage to score 32 with a very kind judge.

The show jumping warm up was a nightmare; rain was splashing on the sides of the indoor causing horses to spook, some riders were being insane and it was just manic. I felt pleased with 8 faults; 1 stop and 1 down in our round.



There were a couple of combinations cross country I was concerned about; the water was early and we had to go up the mound, over a tiny log, down the mound into the water and out over a skinny triple brush. We very almost had a run out but I gave one last kick and over she went.

My other concern was two steps down to a skinny box brush at maximum height. She was as straight as a die, understood the question and it was like clockwork. One of the nicest rounds I've ridden all season.



We were unplaced but I was thrilled.

Winter has involved lots of show jumping, dressage and a tonne of training.

Most notable achievements were jumping our first 1.10m in which she was super and didn't care at all, and starting debuting at Novice in dressage. Our last outing had both tests in the 70%s although it was a kind judge!







My aims for this year are;

• Keep her fit and healthy
• Become confident at BE100 then move up to Novice
• 1* (pref three day!) by the end of the season
• Jump a foxhunter BSJA class (1.20)
• Elementary dressage

Rehab and Squirrel

Rehab is going slowly. And its dull. I like working towards things and seeing results over a day to day period as well as longer term. This is why Lexi has been such a delight to work with because she learns so quickly.

But rehab and waiting for muscle to develop is dull. Dull as dishwater. Dull.

I tried and failed to lunge in a pessoa which went like this

 

 

 

So I tried a chambon which goes like this

 

Ideally I'd still like her a little lower but I looooove the long stretch she's got in it. Nose out and in front of the vertical.

 

We've also been doing lots of hillwork, all long and low.  I can really feel her back working walking downhill and trotting slowly uphill. Not so much walking uphill but its getting there. I've been walking her daily diagonally over poles and doing stretches.

 

We've also been feeding. Lots. She came back from the vets like this

 

12 days of 3 x Saracen re-lieve, equjewel and chaff a day =

Still a little way to go and TOPLINE TOPLINE TOPLINE (although I saw a muscle by her withers this morning that I havn't seen before...obsessed.com). Also been ultrasounding the pocket behind her withers which is coming along...

On Monday I can start schooling again, just walk and trot for 2 weeks but I'm relieved as its all a bit dull right now. Token picture because she's so pretty!

 

Squirrel has been carrying the team by a couple of SJ outings.

 

First one he was mega lazy and managed to scrape a double clear in the 85cm and with some pony club kicking on my part, managed to win. I put spurs on for the second class and he was great and just had one down but he felt fab!

A couple of weeks later we went to another show. He jumped a cracking, fast double clear in the 85cm...only to find out the timers didn't start. So he had to do it again. And he did and won it!

In the 3 foot he jumped another great clear, but I had two down in the jump off. In his defence, I was REALLY pushing the turns and he jumped for me which is lovely after his stops earlier in the year.

Last week I was going to go to a fun show which included a top score and puissance but it was a disaster start to finish. I double checked google maps as the A34 was shut both ways and my sat-nav rerouted me and showed not traffic.

First part of the journey was amusing when my sat nav sent me down a single track lane and we met a couple of cars. What I didn't realise was that this went on for 5 miles and every car avoiding the back roads was on this lane. With few passing spaces..

It was quite amusing to see the general capacity of human intelligence and the number of people trying to suggest I put my 7.5 tonne lorry up on a steep verge or in a muddy ditch amazed me...Eventually we got through and sat in another queue for ages. I attempted to phone the secretary 5 times and emailed them but had no reply. We decided to push on as figured the way home would be a nightmare anyway.

Eventually got there and the wretched show was pretty much finished! AT 3.30. I was fuming at their lack of answering the phone which could of saved my afternoon. Only the puissance was left to run and with no one interested in it bar me, I decided not to bother.

I love puissance. Its great fun in a group with a bit of a crowd and then its exciting and fun. But doing it on my own, just a steward raising a fence each time Squirrel jumps it just to test how far he would go before his confidence gave out? No thanks, he deserves a bit more respect than that.

So we went home. Only to end up stuck right next to an awful motorbike accident and a poor, poor man receiving CPR on the side of the road. It was devastating to see, and put my own day into perspective.

Finally that evening, I was fast asleep and my phone rang. It was a client. Her pony was colicking and needed taking to the vets, she had no transport and none of the emergency transport companies were answering. So I got up and came to the rescue. So sadly the pony, a 6 year old Shetland whom I've been working with for 3 years ended up being put to sleep.

It never fails to haunt me how easily a beloved horse can be fit and well, and less than 24 hours later, dead. Such a sad weekend, and my heart goes out to everyone who lost a loved one that weekend and of course, those who died themselves.

 

 

 

 

BCA and bucking

Sorry for the long delay in posting again...Slightly dodgy laptop makes it quite a big job to make a post with pictures!

So a few weeks ago I took Lexi to BCA 90.

She warmed up super and did what felt like a lovely test. A score of 34 showed we were still missing the marks so  I was a little disappointed.

Show jumping was on a lovely surface but a little trickier than some eventing courses. My mantra was FORWARDS since some soul searching has made me realise I still want to ride with the handbrake on.

 

 

 

 

 

She responded with a cracking clear, asking for the jumps to be bigger next time!

 

On to the cross country. There was quite a wait as they kept holding to do groundwork as it was getting pretty wet. I wasn't particularly concerned about anything on the course; it was fairly tame but had a bit of everything with corners, step up and down, open ditch ect. I also decided to use my watch since I was just in the running for a regional Q and I keep going too fast.

 

She stormed out the start gate, no hesitancy this time over the fist couple of fences.

She bounded over the corner, the ditch, the step up and down....Best run through the water we've had too

Even with my watch I only made it 2 seconds slow enough not to get too fast penalties. She just jumps so easily out of her rhythm that we make up a little too much time.  Plus she has a huge stride!

We finished 10th in the end as there were several equal and we were furthest from the optimum time, but her jumping is improving so much and her confidence was coming on in bounds. It seemed the dressage was the only thing to crack.


However the Thursday afterwards, the bucking was back.

I decided enough was enough and sent her for a work up.
X-rays showed no problems in her neck and back so we bone scanned her. This showed mild to moderate sacroiliac pain but vets weren't concerned this was enough.

A lameness workup showed on a small circle on the hard she was lame on her front fore. X-rays showed the angle of her pedal bone wasn't right and MRI showed some very minor inflammation of the navicular bone. This is a mix of her having a club foot and needing some corrective shoeing.

She was rescoped as due anyway which was clear, and tested for hind gut ulcers and glucose absorption which was all fine. Also scanned her hind suspensory ligaments which were fine.

Overall pretty positive but no concrete answer. I decided to go ahead and medicate her SI.

So now we have 4 days box rest. 2 weeks walk and trot hacking. 2 weeks walk and trot schooling and hacking. Then a month canter then start jumping again.

A bit depressing given we aren't 100% sure this is the cause but hopefully we can get it dealt with.

She's also on project fatten up as she dropped more weight (she didn't have any to lose in the first place) at the vets. Hopefully with the SI sorted, she might start developing some topline at last too.

She was very happy to see me when  I picked her up and we had a lovely cuddle with her grooming me (vets must of wondered what was happening as she was tickling my belly and I was in stitches! I'm so ticklish!). Her highness is now being pampered within in inch of her life with a full selection of forage; ultragrass, haylage and soaked hay to pick at whatever she fancies and 3 feeds a day. Plus every supplement I can find to help.

Now lets hope the insurance coughs up!

 

I have some catching up to do

Yes I have gotten very very very behind.  Again.

April turned into a month mostly consisting of abscesses. First Squirrel had one. Then Lexi had one. Then Squirrel had one.

Squirrel was meant to go to cricklands winter league SJ finals at the end of April but when my farrier was hit in the eye with puss after digging out the second abscess on the Tuesday before, it was a no-go. Luckily Lexi had come sound just in time, although schooling the day before (in her dressage saddle), she was bucking and bucking and bucking and bucking. And for fun, bucking a bit more. When Lexi bucks, she's quite kind. Her head doesn't go down. It's only one in a row. But god help me they are ENORMOUS. Handstands. She cuts her heels on her hind legs whilst she's at it.

Anyway. I managed to take her to Wales and just tucked her into the 85cm as with time off, first stay away show, atmosphere ect, I didn't feel we needed to add height into the equation.

She settled quickly and ate well which surprised me.
Friday morning, we jumped a tense but CLEAR round for 10th place.
Friday afternoon was the teams and she jumped another clear and we came 4th overall.

Saturday morning was on grass, we had a slip and ended up with a stop after the slip and a pole down.
Saturday afternoon, first championship class, we rolled an unlucky pole.

Sunday morning I decided to test riding against the clock a bit and we went into fourth place!
Sunday afternoon, she jumped a great clear, then I went for it and came 3rd in the championship class. Real moment of pride - my highest placing in the championship classes overall, she came 4th in total (damn the pole Saturday afternoon!) and I left prouder than ever of my little mare.

Once home, we had a visit from Ruth to check her after the bucking at home, and she was indeed sore. So she did even better than I thought in Wales given her soreness!

She was also feeling rather full of herself and spritely, lots of jogging out hacking and generally thinking of herself rather highly.

We had a lesson with a new dressage instructor, and she was still bucking so I swapped to the jump saddle and she was instantly relaxed and calm. I had a great lesson and we cracked long and low, which she now fully understands which will HOPEFULLY get some muscle on the damned mare.

Next we were off to Broadway.

Walking the course, it seemed fairly simple although I felt we were slightly going in at the deep end with fence 3 being a relatively narrow log into woods, and 5 being a coffin with a meaty ditch. But first...the dressage.

Again she did what felt like a good test, and whilst I was pleased 32.4 was going in the right direction, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that I was still missing the marks for a sub 30 test.

We had a pretty uncomfortable show jumping round. I have done some soul searching regarding my inability to jump an SJ round since then (especially after how well she jumped at cricklands) and I realised I just ride too backwards. I want to jump with the handbrake on.  I'm looking for a new SJ instructor so if anyone has any suggestions...She was backwards, I was backwards, but she was honest and eventually tapped one for 4 faults when  I had the wrong leg for a corner and didn't change through trot as I was aware time was tight.

Then it was time for cross country! I needn't of worried. Fence 1 and 2 were on the cautious side with plenty of leg, and she spooked at the fence judge for 3 but then saw the log, locked on and away we went! She is honestly incredible XC, once she gets going she just jumps and gallops and jumps and gallops. She reads the questions and makes nothing of them. I mean I know its only 90 but she feels unreal.

Big pats for the pony and we finished inside the time for 13th.

The following Wednesday saw saddle fitting. The dressage saddle went down a gullet size and the SJ was reflocked. By the end, Lexi was bucking in both saddles. Great. Just great.


A week later, we were off to Millfield. I made some errors. This one was far away but I was determined to fit in a second event and with me at a wedding for tweseldown and then on holiday, Millfield it was. I also forgot my horses and I were horsesitting at a clients, so I was a further 30 minutes away than planned. A 2.5 hour drive and a 10.30am dressage made for an uncomfortable setting of alarm clocks but that's eventing.

By 5am, Lexi was loaded and we were off! Or we would of been, except the truck didn't start. I cursed myself for not buying the battery jump start kit after it didn't start the week before and rang my breakdown.

Half an hour later, we were on our way. I needed fuel but decided to wait as long as possible (although I felt awful with the distinct lack of coffee) so drove a good 60 miles before stopping. Moment of fear when I tried to start the engine....Nope. No juice.

Excellent. Phoned breakdown AGAIN. Apologised to fuel station manager who told me I wasn't allowed to jump start it there. (Well do you want to help push, its only 7.5 tonnes?!). Two hours later, the same man arrived. Pretty much on first name terms and I expect an invite to Christmas dinner given we've met 3 times in a week at that stage. Jumped.

Set off again. Partner called stewards and begged for a later dressage or otherwise a spot in the BE100. They said we could do our test at 11.38.

At 11.25 we rolled into the lorry park. Partner grabbed number and begged for a later SJ time. No said the secretary, you must go on time. Our time is 11.30 and we havn't done the dressage yet said partner. Eventually the message filtered in and I had thumbs up to push in to SJ anytime I wanted as I still needed to walk the xc.

Mare had helpfully pooed all over herself in the lorry, then rubbed her butt and tail into it for good measure and gave me a very obnoxious look when I suggested we might do a nice test.

The dressage steward was lovely and let me have a little longer to warm up then we went for our test. She wasn't as off my leg as usual but felt okay. I forgot all about keeping her straight and happily overshot the second centre line by about 5m but given the circumstances, I was very pleased with her.

I had left my martingale and stud girth by the lorry so bribed some people watching to hold the Mare whilst I studded her (thankfully her show manners have significantly improved) then warmed up and we went in.

A much better round than Broadway. More forwards although I still got on top of a couple of fences and had one down for four faults. Sigh.

I ran (literally, I almost passed out) round the XC which seemed nice enough with a decent right hand corner and her first drop combo on a course, then got ready. We had quite a wait for XC but once we went to the start box, she knew what was coming and started bouncing! I almost fell off when they announced by 29.5 dressage, we did it! And I made errors!

We set off and again, she just ATE it. Going cross county on this horse is like nothing else. It is what I dreamt of since I took her home just under 3 years ago. It feels as easy as breathing. Jump...Gallop...Jump....She cantered through the water this time and everything was wonderful.

Definitely did not get carried away and get 2 too fast penalties.

We came 6th in the end which was fantastic. Her first BE frilly and foundation points! It was truly a moment to savour as in that moment, everything was going how I dreamt it would.


Then we were pull started in the truck, I left it running whilst we unloaded, took it straight to the garage then crawled into bed. Not before the dog threw up in the living though.


The week following that, she still kept bucking. I also decided she had ulcers (and kissing spines and sacroiliac disease but I digress). I booked her in for a scope and Ruth managed to fit her in before my holiday, and we found grade 2 ulcers and that she was sore in part of her back linked to a too narrow saddle.

Given she has never been sore there before, I've booked an appointment to drive 1.5 hours to see Lavinia Mitchell so PLEASE GOD FIT ME A SADDLE MY HORSE WILL HAVE next week.

I've also turned her out 24/7 and intend to keep her like that until winter as its one of the few changes I can make regarding her ulcers, as she is already on ad lib forage and regular turnout.

I went away, got blissfully tanned and relaxed, came home and low and behold, the mare has stopped bucking. She also jumped a cracking 1.05m course today.

Phew.

We have 3 events back to back coming up in attempt to get a regional placing and then we shall rest.

A positive Portman

So  Lexi went for her first BE90 at Portman today.

We staggered off the yard at 5am and had an interesting journey with my satnav giving us a lovely guided tour of the Wiltshire countryside. Eventually after wedging the bottom of the lorry on the road trying to do a 3 point turn in a narrow lane on a slope, squeezing through some insanely narrow lanes and ending up on the wrong side of the estate and having to drive through a golf course we got there.

I was pleasantly surprised at the ground - soggy in places but compared to my paddocks it was great, and the XC looked pretty good. It asked a few questions and given she went green on me a couple weeks ago, I wasn't too sure what to expect.

She was a bit sluggish warming up for the dressage and pretending she didn't know how to bend so worked her in for a while until she was softer. I was pleased with the test - no jogging, I think I kept her straight on the centrelines although her walk was pretty backwards and there were moments of unsteadiness in her head. I was disappointed with a score of 34.5 - I was able to justify it at Aston but without glaring errors and several on the board with 29, I admit I'm a bit confused where we're missing the marks. I'll get my sheet in the post in the next couple of days so will see then, and will show Warren my videos - she's capable of better marks so I want to start producing them!

She was far better in the SJ than at Snowball last week, although spooked at a white filler and was good to jump it, but had it down, then I held her into the skinny planks which we had too. So finished on 8.

I was feeling a bit grumpy at this point - annoyed with my dressage score (although she was good) and annoyed with my poor SJ riding so hoped we would get a decent run XC.

She had a stop at a house in the warm up (scary green roof?) which didn't exactly fill me with confidence but she was bouncing around the start box...then started off very slowly, took a pony club kick to make her realise we were supposed to be cantering....and then we were  OFF.

She suddenly realised oh yeah cross country, I kinda like this, and ballooned over the first fence. Which almost had us eat dirt because she hit some deep ground landing and stumbled a little, but we were fine. Over the next few simple fences and I had to take a bit of a hold because she realised this was FUN and she rather fancied a good gallop. Little spooky over fence 4 which had a drop on the landing but over....then slightly faster than I fancied down the steep hill but I regained control to jump a decent roll top.

Next was the first combo, 2 slightly angled houses which could be done on a curving 3 or slightly angled 2. I went for the angle and she was great and roared off up the hill that followed. Easy pop over a brush fence, tried and failed to gain some control up a step to a house, then a decent corner. Got a little close but over. Took a stride out to a 'fake' trakner, then it was a double of hanging logs with the second one at an angle which she never doubted.

Two more plain fences which she sailed over, followed by the water. I grabbed my neck strap incase of a leap of faith but she dropped to trot but went in bravely and popped the house coming out. Finally a couple more fences then home and dry.

We won't talk about the pedestrian we almost murdered whilst I was trying to pull up.


She really felt great. I didn't intend to go fast as our SJ put us out of the rosettes but we only had 0.4 time faults which was nice as I know I won't need to push to get the time next time out.


Our next outing is Ascott under Wychwood BE90 in a week and a half, so intend to do some gridwork (her SJ shape wasn't great today) and a dressage lesson.

Onwards and upwards!!