Well the start of this year has been quite mixed, had great outings with Picnic (dark bay above) showjumping and lots of training at great venues which are definately paying off as we are getting far more double clears than ever. One venue that I went to for a one day training clinic was at the Unicorn Trust In Stow, the facilities were absolutely fantastic and so was the food! I came away feeling a sense of achievement at being able to ride a much smoother show jumping round, and the following week went out competing and got two double clears and a placing so must keep up the good work.
The Calming Power I have been trying Picnic on is working wonders and she has transformed her attitude into being more workmanlike without losing her spark, thanks Forest Farmacy for coming up with this blend! It definately helped when I took her to have a go at dressage for a qualifier at Hartpury, I was meant to be taking Biggles (coloured horse above) but due to him being out of work Picnic had to step in and lets just say when there are no jumps she finds other ways to amuse herself, the test didn't go as bad as it could have, two plus points we only had a couple of bucks and didn't come last. Unfortunately Picnic is the only horse that has been out due to injuries and rare joint disorders that only my horse could manage to have!
Biggles has been out of action since before Christmas as he was showing a reluctance to go forwards or work in an outline and eventually started to refuse jumping so called the vet for investigation. He never actually went lame but just didn't look right (almost as if the handbrake was left on) after x rays showed up inconclusive we decided to send him for a bone scan, this meant before we could send him I had to put him back into work in the hopes he went lame so something would show up on the scan. Three weeks later I was getting to the point of giving up and thinking I was imagining he wasn't right when the last transition I did from canter to trot he refused to trot and would walk or canter but he'd hop and not quite work out his legs to manage the trot. I must say I did get very strange looks from people when I was so excited that my horse looked lame!!! My vet came back out to conclude a bone scan was needed and a very impressive three days later I took him to Three Counties Equine Hospital for the scan. He had to stay there for 48 hours after due to the radioactive dye used in the scan needing to clear through his system before being allowed home, so he stayed there for three days in total. We now have the results and it seems it is the thoracic facet joint (located directly under where I'd sit) which is very rare as horses usually have a problem with this joint in the neck, but typical my horse can't be normal!!! Anyway the vet is in discussions with an expert in France (the only one apparently) and are hoping to be able to inject into the joint to encourage it to strenghten and develop so Biggles can move freely, which will mean re training him to use himself correctly. Hopefully fingers crossed he will respond to the treatment so that we can manage his condition and get him strong so he's back out competing. He is however quite enjoying all the fuss being made over him at the moment, I will keep you updated on his progress as we start on the road to recovery with some pictures.
