A chilled Filly

Wednesday 24 June 2015

Visit from Barefoot trimmer

Another check up for the horses. This time from our barefoot trimmer, Mel.
We started with Filly. I had been concerned that the hind hoofs had become a bit long. Mel agreed, but did not trim them. She just prescribed more road work to get them to wear down naturally.
The fronts were more interesting. The front right is beginning to look pretty good. Most of the old hoof wall from when she was shod has split off. The new hoof has a much shorter toe and the hoof is overall much more upright. This will of course reduce the stress on the deep flexor tendon which will release the pressure on the navicular bursa and make her much more comfortable.
The front left is a slightly odd shape, not at all symmetrical. But Mel feels that this has adapted to the old injury in her right shoulder and should not be made to look pretty. Filly should be allowed to adapt her hooves as her body dictates.
Her right hind has a bit of asymmetry to the inside (medial) half of her hoof. Again Mel feels that this is an adaptation her feet have made to her body and should be left alone.
The believe is that as the hooves adapt to her body her body will have less physical stress on it and that will allow her body to adjust itself to a better alignment. As this happens the feet will readjust as necessary keeping up with the body. So there is a continual give and take going on between the hooves and her upper limbs.
Of course this needs help from us, but not from the rasp or the knife. Our part in this whole equation is to help her move in a better way. In Fillys' case that means straighter and more forwards ( effectively a longer stride). This I can help her with using ground work. When on a circle I can use a flag to encourage the inside hind to step well forwards and under her body. When she gets this right she obviously feels the relaxation as her head lowers and she becomes soft in the body. The periods for which this relaxation is occurring are getting longer and longer.
The flag itself is also use to get her to think about parts of her body. If I see her sides getting tense I just have to move the flag to the spot and it relaxes allowing the head to go back down. Obviously to achive this she has to be totally confident that the flag is not a threatening object, just a caressing one.

So what was the overall impression that Mel had of Filly. Much improved is the answer. She barely touched the hooves, just tidied up the bits that are flaking off anyway and added the slightest roll to her toes. And I mean slight. Maybe a millimetre or so. She could not see any lameness at walk so saw no need to "fix" anything.

Once Mel had left we did the usual prepare to ride and I rode Filly up to the top car park and back with Ritchie leading Bonitao behind us. This is along our normal in hand walking route and she knows she gets to eat grass at the carpark. Ritchie was very sweaty by the time we got there trying to keep up :).
Filly was calmly and confidently very forward with no lameness I could detect at all. And believe me I am on high alert for lameness !! At the car park I got off and allowed her to graze for ten minutes before remounting and riding her towards the stables. On the way down I thought I detected a very very slight limp. To be on the safe side I got off for the steep downhill and we walked quietly back.
So all in all a good report for Filly and our first ride up the hill through the woods.

A good horse day :)

Thursday 18 June 2015

Good news

We had our horse osteo, Dustie, come and do one of her regular check-ups on our horses. We have these done every six months, or more often if there is a specific problem.

Last time Dustie assessed Filly she thought she was not in a great place. Sore back, tight hamstrings and generally not herself. That was just after she had come back from Rockley Farm and to be honest she does not travel at all well. It was a 4 hour journey home to a new yard and she was not happy about it.
So I was a little nervous as to what Dustie would have to say this time.

I could not be there for the actual visit, but my wife, Ritchie, was. As soon as I got home I rang to find out what was said. I needn't have worried so much.

Dustie reckoned Filly was better than she has ever seen her. Her spark was back, which means should wouldn't stand still for the treatment and needs a dummy in her mouth (rope) to keep her occupied.

She found that a rib was out, probably as the result of rolling. The hamstrings are still a little tight. The right shoulder injury was much much looser and she was moving well.

Interestingly her right canter lead is very smooth, but her left one is very choppy. Until she really gets moving that is. Apparently she had an extreme extrovert moment after her roll and cantered at speed around the school. During this she was moving well on both canter leads and changing lead at will.

I rode her yesterday for the first time in a while. The delay being due to my bad back. She felt really good. No cantering but lots of trotting.

As for her behaviour when being ridden it was not great. She wasn't being dangerous, but she had decided that she wanted to lean on the outside rein the whole time. As a result the ride was much longer than I had anticipated as I dis not want to reward that behaviour by getting off. So we just rode a follow the rail pattern until we managed a whole lap with me having to use no more than phase 2 on the outside rein to keep her straight. This was in the rope halter and I think it time we went back to the 5/8" bosal. After all the rope halter more supple than a bosalita and that is for use on a finished bosal horse just before going to two rein.

Means I'm going to have to buy a 1/2" bosal for Bonitao and a 1/2" mecate to go with it. Time he moved on anyway.

Friday 5 June 2015

Walking slowly

I was flying my glider the other day when I hit one of the worst patches of turbulence I've ever encountered. It felt like the bottom of the glider was suddenly hit by a large hammer. The shock of the impact went straight into my back. By the time I landed it was a bit sore. Two days later it was very sore. A day after that I was in an A and E in Berlin being x-rayed. No major damage fortunately but according to my physio a nerve that was very very unhappy.

The physio did say I need to walk though and who better to go for a nice walk with than Filly :)

So for the last few days we have been walking up into the hills for 40 minutes or so. It is most comfortable for me to walk correctly but slowly. Filly is used to me striding out and this has caused her a little confusion.

James Roberts always said we should make sure that whenever we were walking we should have a forwards walk. He even got us to practise the correct pace by walking up and down his school and timing us. This was to make a forwards walk a habit for both us and our horses when they are with us. As he said without "forwards" you cannot train your horse in any other area. That's why the first three items on his training scale was "Rhythm, relaxation, forwards".
So for years Filly is used to a forwards walk when we are together.

So this has become and interesting and overlooked exercise for us. I particularly need slowness downhill at the moment. I'm trying to achieve this with a soft feel of course. So I have the lead rope at a relatively short length but with some slack. If Filly walks too fast she takes up the slack and leans on the halter.
I ask gently with a twist of my wrist and a drop in my body energy for her to come back to me. If that requires more than around a pound of pressure I avoid getting into a pulling match by using my other hand and tapping her on the chest with the end of the lead rope. Very soon she realised that pulling on the halter resulted in the tap and she stopped pulling. We are now at the point that just the weight of the snap lifting up as she starts to pull the slack out of the rope is enough for her to slow down.

I do NOT hit her hard with the end of the lead rope, just a light tap. If I need more I increase the frequency not the force so that it becomes annoying to her rather than painful. I don't believe you can teach anything through pain except fear.

This might sound like a boring way to spend a training session but actually it has been really good fun and has yet again been a place for Filly and I to explore a soft feel.