Sarah Jane Brown's December blog: looking forward to better weather!

We have slipped from endless rain into snow and ice. Luckily being down in the far South West has its advantages and although hit badly, possibly not hit for as long as everyone else. The main disappointment was our trip to Gloucestershire to compete and train at Talland fell to the weather, the lorry was totally stuck in situ and at the end of the day the risks of travelling were not worth it. Had already bought all the water bottles and dog coats!

Hoping to rebook a session at Talland with Pammy Hutton and maybe combine it with travelling to do a JAS competition with Sarnita. Sarnita is getting bored and although I have been able to keep her ticking over that has been about it. We had some fantastic lessons with my trainer Caroline Creighton before the freeze working very hard on getting the bouncy energetic canter that we sometimes lack.

One bit of exciting news has been a new addition to the team. Ashley (Pictured) was bought at the end of December. He is a 7 year old 15.3 ID / TB who has done nothing at all so is a blank canvas to work with. Initially he was bought as a buy and sell project but from the little I have done with him I am wondering if he may be a bit better than that and a good one to bring on and event. Watch this space. Hopefully more to report on next month with plenty planned. In the meantime keep up to date via www.shoestringeventing.co.u

Katherine Begley's blog: Bad start to 2010 - vibes needed for Belvedere...

Well back in October at Weston Park CCIJ* Belv's dressage completely fell apart. It was like there was something wrong with him. It had been going downhill for a few months and was just horrific at Weston. So we decided to start the winter off with some show jumping and hunting to keep him happy and take his mind off the dressage.

However, recently I have started doing some schooling, and in just a plain snaffle I cannot get any degree of flexion in the poll out of him. So we took him to Tor Brewer's (eventer based in Hartpury) for a lesson to see what she thought. She got on and found him exactly the same, she also said that his neck did not look like that of a 1* event horse. As she continued to walk him around more, she couldn't believe just how in submissive he was and came to the conclusion that there must be something wrong in his neck. So she recommended we get out Liz Launders and Chris Rea from Kearns and Rea Three counties equine hospital to have a look at him.

They came on Monday 4th January and to begin with we just talked about what the problem was, any incidents in the past few months etc. I then trotted him up and down the drive, turned him on tight circles and let the vets prod and poke him. They said that he had some very odd muscle on his neck, and that generally all over his body his muscle tone was very uneven. We then went and lunged him in the school in trot on both reins. And then I got on in my dressage saddle and nathe snaffle and attempted to school in. This was to allow them to see what he was like. Liz got me to do various different circles and things with my reins to see if anything changed his way of going. Finally to finish we put him in the Pelham, as per usual this gave us a nice flexed horse. However, what Chris & Liz noticed was that belvedere NEVER used himself behind, not once during the whole examination. They said that there was no change between lunging, riding with the snaffle and riding with the Pelham. Liz said that this was most surprising, as the Pelham should have set him back on his haunches more. They also said that he has a subtle lameness in his off fore and near hind. Neither of which they were hugely worried about, but just that it was something that we may need to look into if we find nothing else. They said that they think that there is something wrong with his neck and something else wrong in his back end. E.g. some arthritis in his hock, preventing him from using himself.

So instead of launching into hundreds of full body scans the first step is to put him on an intensive course of Bute. This is not as a treatment but as a diagnostic tool. The idea is that Tor rides him whilst he is on Bute and she talks to Liz about whether there is any improvement. Therefore if while he is on Bute he becomes more easy to flex, then it will show that there is something physically hurting him in his neck. Or, if the Bute makes his back end work better so that he uses himself more, it will confirm their suspicions that he has a physical problem in his back end/near side hock. Therefore allowing the vets to determine that there are problems in his neck/hind end and investigate further and take x-rays etc. If the Bute doesn’t help him at all, then it may indicate a neurological problem.

So vibes please, let’s hope we can get the problem sorted ASAP and come back better than ever for the 2010 season! For more news and information please visit www.katherinebegley.com

Janice Pegler's blog: Snow stops play!

Well nothing has really been happening with the horses, all the competitios I had planned have been cancelled due to ice and snow! The driveway down to the yard, which is a steep hill, has been almost impassable for a few days and I have been camped out at my mums as they live in a flat on the yard.

The horses have just been being kept ticking over, although I have trouble with Serenity keeping her brain calm as we can't get them out to the fields, the last time this happened she went a bit crazy!! So I have been trying to ride her and put her on the walker for as long as possible everyday. So far it seems to be working but the problem will be if it carries on as even the indoor school is starting to freeze!!!

Amat had to have some time off over Christmas due to being a bit sore in his back but was just back in work when the snow hit so is back to loose schooling everyday. Hopefully soon I will be able to write a blog with a competition report in, but for now it's just a case of trying to keep warm!

The picture is of our rising 3 year old, Stop Larking About and Bud my retired eventer.

Roma Oakes' new year blog!

Happy New Year to everyone! We had a lovely Christmas and New Year - except of course for the weather! The sand school was frozen, the roads were frozen - it has been really bad. Fortunately the sand school has a lot of rubber in it so on most days there was enough of a thaw that the horses could get turned out for a little while to stretch their legs, but it wasn't possible to ride until 31st Dec - just in time for a competition on 3rd January. Also had a lesson on 2nd January - that was good but really hard work! Apparently my legs are wobbling about all over the place! Anyway - although the competition was just around the corner from the yard it was still touch and go as to whether we would be able to get the trailer to the venue. We kept our fingers crossed and managed to get to LaurelView for the Charity Dressage Extravaganza. Entries where down from last year but still £900 was raised from the Children’s Hospice.

I had entered for two classes; the individual Dressage to Music and a Preliminary class. The music class was first and we got Baker all 'dickied up' for the occasion with a garland in his mane, Christmassy bows on his bridle and stirrups but he was not having any of the spray glitter on his rump! He really objected so we decided not to press him about it. We competed to a melody of Christmas tunes and did some medium trot and half 10m circles to counter canter and he coped really well! There was a panel of four judges and we ended up with a score of 71.25% for 2nd place. The winner was a horse and rider who compete at Elementary level so we were very pleased with Baker and he behaved himself really well. We've been using the Organic Horse 'Ring Craft' drops which help with his concentration and they do appear to be helping him.

We then had to remove all the 'bling' and compete in an affiliated prelim class, we were first to go and scored 60.83% to get 6th place and our first DI point! Hurray. Then it was home, plaits out, rugs on and a big hug for him and carry out pizza for us. It was a tiring day as it was so cold but I really enjoyed it and it was great that Joan came round to warm us up for the dressage to music - it really helped.

Roger Gregory gets snowed in!

It’s been a very strange month for most of us, I think –we are just not too good at all this arctic weather!

Everything was ticking along nicely, then came the snow and the ice. I managed to get to Carl’s with Crumble and Nuts on Friday 18th ,and had two super lessons – on Crumble we did lots of work on keeping her in front of the leg, especially in canter and passage. Nuts is now starting to become fitter and his trot work is coming back really well. In the canter we tried to get him a little quicker and in piaffe we worked on trying to keep him slow in front but quick behind, without upsetting him in the contact.

Before I had even loaded up it was starting to snow – a glimpse of what was to come! The following Monday I set off to High Wycombe to teach a 2day clinic. I arrived to find 3 inches of snow on the ground already! By the next morning we were snowed in and High Wycombe was on the national news – nobody could get in or out!

I did eventually get home, but like so many others have been snow and ice bound, so very little work for the horses. It’s been very interesting to see how well Pan has behaved despite the lack of work – the Gut power organic equine supplement has clearly helped him to stay relaxed (not a word usually associated with him!) Here’s hoping everyone can get back to normal again soon. . . .

Tilly Tillbrook's latest update

Well, it’s been a hectic couple of months for us – Boysie has had a recurrence of the ulcers, due in part we think to the diarrhea he suffered as a result of the antibiotics used to help cure the ulcers the first time around. He’s been on a high dose of steroids and I have been winging my way ever closer to bankruptcy as the insurance has now run out.

Thankfully at the end of November we finally got it all under control, and whilst I am frantically touching wood, it looks like he is now completely cured of all digestive ills. It’s been a long time coming!

Unfortunately, there is always a ‘but’ with horses, or at least it feels like it for me at the moment! I’d no sooner got his digestive issues sorted out when I felt his saddles were looking rather unbalanced on his new muscular figure. And I was right – neither fitted any more, both were a whole size too narrow. Over three hours with a very patient saddler later and Boysie had two new saddles, whilst I was left with a melted credit card! The knock-on effect of this was that a day or so later it became obvious that his back was very very sore. So next on the list of people to call was the chiropractor – recommended by a friend who competes at 3* since I have moved into a new area and am still finding my feet. Very disappointingly she recommended 2 weeks of hacking, which neatly scuppered my plans to do our first two BD competitions. Yet more money paid out and nothing to show for it. I am getting rather used to that.

However, I am an eternal optimist, and having done my hacking, had a lesson in the new saddle, and left Boysie for some dressage boot camp at Dovecote Stables over Christmas whilst I dealt with family emergencies involving hospitals and a lot of driving, I have spent the break filling in more entry forms for 2010. First stop is Riding Club Area 12 dressage on 3rd January, then I have 2 BD competitions on the following two weekends, and finally I am joining the BSJA on the 3 month eventer membership to try and get some outings at the end of January.

Here’s to a more successful 2010!

Tilly Tillbrook introduces herself officially...

Welcome to the first installment of my year on the inaugural Organic Horse Performance Squad – as a professional ecologist I understand the importance of organic products to the environment, and so I was delighted to be chosen to join the squad.

Let’s start with a bit of background, I have a 16.2 bay gelding called Burr Oak (Boysie to his friends!), whom I have owned for the past 4 years. He turned 9 this summer, and together we’ve gone from never having competed beyond local level to Novice level affiliated eventing. At the start of our 2008 season, things were looking good for us – at the end of the 2007 season we’d picked up our CCI* qualification, not bad for only our second season eventing. The aim was to spend the season building on this success and finish on a high at Aldon CCI*. Sadly this was not to be, after a long and frustrating season of ups and downs, Boysie was finally diagnosed in October 2008 with grade 4 Gastric Ulcers – the worst grade you can get, and not just that, but he had two kinds, splash ulcers and glandular ulcers. No wonder our performances had been erratic!

With the help of the excellent team at Willesley Equine Vets, not to mention many months of me having noxious medication spat on my head, we got him back on track and he went out on loan as a schoolmaster whilst I spent the first part of 2009 in the USA as a working pupil. But on returning to the UK, as I upped the workload it became apparent all was not well, and a gastroscopy and ultrasound revealed he had slight ulceration and a very inflamed bowel. He’s currently on steroids, and although we have cleared up the ulceration, he’ll need to be on an antacid supplement for the rest of his life. The knock on effect was that he has lost all confidence showjumping, so we pulled out of the remaining events of the season and have set to work rebuilding our partnership ready for 2010.

I am very much looking forwards to trying the gut power powder from Organic Horse, which I hope will really help us get back on track – just the kind of support we needed after the past 18 months! We’ve got a packed winter ahead of us with lots of dressage training from Sam Twyman at Dovecote Stables, where I also take lessons on his fabulous schoolmaster horses, showjumping until we are both brimming with confidence and the odd fun ride, arena eventing and hunter trial to keep us both sane and ensure Boysie doesn’t put in for a transfer.