Been a bit up and down this week. I got a hair sample over the Dena, our herbalist and it came back saying his digestive, immune and emotional systems all need some support. That’s basically what I was expecting really so she’s sent us:

Oils:
– peppermint
– German chamomile

Herbs:
– Meadow sweet
– Cleavers
– Nettle
– Dandelion
– Rosehips
– Chamomile

Yesterday and today he’s wolfed the herbs down without even thinking about it. He’s not so sure about the oils though. He did have a bit of peppermint but less interested in the German Chamomile. Let’s hope this turns the corner for us a bit!

It’s been a stormy week weather wise so we’ve not got huge amounts done. Ridden a couple of time and he’s super sticky and barely moving in the trot. Lunged yesterday and he looked better so maybe he just needs to work through it. I feel like I need some focus to our ridden stuff as we’ve been drifting a bit whilst sorting the saddle out. Much to my surprise we *did* get a couple of good walk-canter transitions on each rein, but the canter itself is not brilliant. Need to work out a plan for getting things moving better and a way of measuring our progress as I get disheartened otherwise.

Super annoying thing this week: BLOODY ST CLINIC WAS CANCELLED!!! Lost £50 on the transport too. Very annoying. I have managed to booked Roz to come to us on 27 April though!!

I did manage to get a nice picture though:

Lovely saddle fitter Emma was out again yesterday to do a final check of the new (to us) saddle before I buy it. Great news is that she was already able to remove one of the shims from the front right so he’s already beginning to regain muscle after only three weeks. Ideally we should be hacking lots but I’m concerned about taking him out on the road at the moment as he seems very anxious. But this is a great start and the arenas are beginning to dry out so hopefully we can get him moving properly over the next few weeks and build up some confidence with the new saddle.

I do think his confidence has taken a bit of a hit recently. The stuff with the horse walker is, I think, a sign that the car incident the other week really knocked him sideways. I’m talking to the lovely Dena, our herbalist, at the moment about getting something to treat him with. She’s doing a hair analysis to see what she thinks he needs to help him a bit. Hopefully I’ll hear back from her this week and then we can see about improving his mental health a bit before taking him back out on the road with some lovely calm freinds.

Sad news this week is that Alex and our favourite hacking buddy Junipur are leaving on Thursday. So is Sydney. Very sad. Although the silver lining is that I get Sydney’s locker!

I general it feels like we’re moving forwards, albeit slowly, and hopefully we’ll turn a corner over the next few weeks.

Been another slow week. Weather has been terrible and the schools are really deep and wet still. I have ridden a couple of times and he’s had a run about on the lunge but it’s really tough to get anything serious done.

However, David (osteopath) came out today for his regular update. There have been some changes from his last visit! Last time Dino was very jammed up in the right side of his neck and in the right lumbar spine. This time his neck is fine, shoulders and thorassic spine all fine. He’s pretty equally jammed up in both hip, glutes and lumbar spine though. This is probably an improvement – he’s working better on both sides – but also explains why he’s feeling very choppy in the school as he’s too stiff to easily step under himself.

Seems like the new saddle is improving things though, but we need to get him loosened up behind. David suggested thinking about massage and I’ll take a look at Masterson stuff for the hips/glutes.

We had a brief ride in some very light snow this morning:

Need to do some thinking about how best to loosen him up. I’m aiming for a 50% ridden, 50% ST system now I think. Polework would be a good idea when ridden. Maybe we can jumping again by April!

It’s been two weeks since the pony decided that the horse walker eats ponies and he was no longer getting in it. We’ve been working on this, going in and out and standing for longer. Today it took 20 mins to get him in the first time but he stood calmer and we went in and out four or five times so it’s improving.

Big news of the week though is that we have a saddle that fits! it’s a Saddle Company dressage one. Second hand and the fitter thinks it will do for a bit until we get Dino more muscled up particularly on the right side of his body. He’s quite atrophied, possibly due to the previous saddle being quite twisted. I think he’s more comfortable in it but it’s hard to tell as the schools are very waterlogged and he find the surface very difficult when it’s wet. Hopefully water levels will fall this week and we can have a proper go!