It’s useful to be able to ‘park’ the pony sometimes. I can’t always do it, he won’t stand still if he’s stressed or anxious (understandably!) but on home turf when he’s relaxed he can be left to stand. This is useful when you need to turn the arena lights on as the switches aren’t inside the arena:
Busy week this week, both with the pony and work. We’ve been starting back with some lunging and ST work but we’ve also made it out hacking twice this week! On Wednesday M came up to see Dino and I hired Hero from the riding school so we could go out for a hack together. We were out for a couple of hours, just a mood round the woods but it was nice:
The summer fields closed on Saturday. Been a weird year weather wise. Tuesday evening I put Dino out for the night naked!
Saturday morning I caught him in for the last time from over-night turnout in the freezing cold!
The rain has eased up a bit so the bridepath was a bit firmer than it has been. Dino is a it anxious in traffic though, both on Wednesday and on his own today. Need to work on building that back up I guess. He was fine on the quite roads, even with vans and fast moving traffic, but with large traffic volumes and small lorries on the main road he wasn’t chilled about. Ho hum.
This week I need to find my feet in the new winter routine….hate winter. And get some poles out for the pony!
David our osteopath came out yesterday to give Dino his three-monthly un-twangling. I have been thinking he was worse than usual and I was basically right about what I thought was wrong which was gratifying!
His issues at the moment are:
– jammed up all the way down the left side of his lumbar spine. That hip seems stiff but that is likely just because of the back pain.
– jammed up along the left side of his neck, towards the middle which is difficult to unjam as he’s very flexible in the rest of his neck so he can basically work round it.
David un-jammed him a bit but not totally as then he would have been sore. The plan is to work him a bit more on the right rein than the left; so start on the right, then go left, then go right again. Serpentines starting on the right rein. Maybe some lunging work but basically I need to get him moving more. He’s had a bit of a light work regime recently so we need to up the ante a bit.
I started doing some Masterson Method work with him this week and I’m hopeful that might also help loosen him up a bit. Polework and of course straightness training should also help so hopefully we’ll be a bit better when David sees him again in February!
DINO: What’s this?
ME: Your dinner. Clearly. It being dinner time and that being your feed bowl
DINO: Well clearly it isn’t. My dinner has carrots on it.
ME: *sigh* You ate all the carrots and I haven’t had time to get more so there are no carrots today.
DINO: *tips bucket upside down putting almost all the food into his bed* There are definitely no carrots.
ME: I know. I just explained that.
DINO: Well it’s not my dinner then. *stares at me*
ME: Eat it or don’t. I have no carrots *walks away*
DINO: *SHOUTS* WHERE’S MY DINNER??????
ME: Jesus pony you’re bloody standing in it. I’m very sorry about the unacceptable carrot situation
DINO: *pouts* *sighs dramatically* *paws bucket forlornly*
He did eat it after I vanished from sight and he didn’t think he had any other option. Bloody horses.
Well, it’s certainly winter. Clocks have changed so nights are drawing in, it’s been bitterly cold for a week or so and now the rain has arrived. This week has been grim and the fields are beginning to suffer. No date has been set yet for the end of our summer turnout but I’m thinking another couple of weeks is probably about right. I still haven’t clipped as I feel like I sort of missed the window a few weeks ago but he’s not actually getting all that hot unless we’re hacking and that’s only once a week. So maybe I should leave it?
We did get out on Saturday despite the rain!
I forget that other people drive like arseholes in the rain though and we had a small incident on the way home. It started with a BMW coming up Mott St (30 mph limit, country lane type road) at about 50 mph. Didn’t even tough the brakes as he passed us. This put the pony on edge a bit and we weren’t far from the main road. We have to do about 500m down the main road to the yard which is annoying but usually ok. On Saturday however a fuckwit in a Micra decided there was totally enough space for him to come past us…with traffic coming in the opposite direction. There is not room for a horse and a car in a single traffic lane. There just isn’t. So he ended up very very close to us and put the pony even more on edge….just in time for a lorry to come past us the other way. Pony is usually *very* good in traffic but he’d kinda had enough already and he’s not super keen on lorries. So suddenly we’re standing on the pavement facing the other way. Ok then. Turn him round and try to get back in the road in a break in the traffic and he thinks about trying to run for home (we’re about 200m away if that). We compromise on a ridiculous jog when a van pulls alongside us so the passenger can take a selfie with us in the background!! Seriously people you can all fuck off. We did get back in one piece, as soon as he was off the road he chilled out. A bit unnerving though, might take him out with company next week to make sure he’s not unsettled by the experience.
Ho hum.
He’s adjusted to his new diet ok, still scurfy though but I guess it will take a while for any deficiencies to sort themselves out. He’s still out at night which is good, although there’s less grass out there now. Feet were trimmed last week, and hopefully more hacking will keep them in better condition. Unfortunately the rain means the schools are both sodden and deep which isn’t great for ST and I’m beginning to think he might have pulled something in his SI again as his canter has gone a bit wonky. He’s not lame, but he’s not really using his hind legs very well in canter. Not sure if this is just ‘cos I haven’t been cantering much recently so we’re trying to do some lunging and polework to loosen him up a bit. Osteopath is out on Saturday so I’ll see what he has to say!
I’ve been trying to put the stuff we discussed with Roz into practice this week and I confess I’m finding this very frustrating. So he’s also finding this frustrating. I’m really trying to drill the ‘one step at a time’ into him to get rid of his pushy behaviour but he’s really pushing back against it at the moment. He was very inattentive to me and a bit spooky in the dark most of the week so I tried today in the daylight and although I did get a couple of steps it was an effort.
I’m a bit worried there might be an issue with his left hip. He was a bit off on it after his trim yesterday and kept asking the trimmer to put his foot down when she was trimming his right hind. He’s not lame, but there might be something not quite right. Osteopath is out soon so I’ll get him to take a look. Meanwhile we’ll be back at trying to take the push out of everything….
Going to try and find some time to lunge/free school this week and get him moving a bit more in addition to the ST. Maybe a bit of variety might help us sort all this out!
Temperatures have dropped quite dramatically this week and with the clocks going back as well it’s beginning to feel like winter 🙁
We went out hacking yesterday, as is our new Saturday habit, but had some company this time and went round so fields I’ve not been too before rather than into the Forest. These are a bit closer to home so it’s useful to see what’s available nearby.
Obligatory photo:
Other than that it’s been a quiet week. I was hoping to clip today but driving, freezing cold rain put paid to that. Wednesday looks warmer and dry so we’ll go with that instead. Dino was out in the field last night for Guy Fawkes night. Apparently he was not at all concerned by the noise and lights when the girls went out to check on them. Chill dude.