[Monthly Review] January 2016

January saw us finally getting some potential answers for Pea's behaviour over the past 7 months. The vet visits our yard once a month as I'm on quite a large livery so I decided to put his name down to get him checked for whether there could potentially be a shoulder or back issue. You can read the full post here but as a summary he ended up having back x-rays which showed a few vertebrae closer together than normal and so he had steroid injections to try and help. 

We then had to lunge for a few days following including some work with the side reins on before I could ride. However, riding was put off longer due to the cold weather we had freezing our arenas and we haven't had our indoor back. He then had the physio out which the vet recommended we keep and she carried out some work on his back (read it all here) as well as suggesting I do regular carrot stretches. 

Again, it was a few days until I could ride again due to the weather, resulting in him not being ridden for two weeks (though he did get lunged). In typical Laura fashion, I decided to take him for a quick hack when he'd been in for two days...not quite the most sensible thing to do! I think it's safe to say that Pea was feeling very fresh after trotting off down the drive and then threatening to spook and run at every little thing... 

Since then, I've schooled him a few times. The vet recommended that I trot round on a

long rein as soon as we get in the arena for a short while and then have a canter round to loosen him up before slowly gathering him up. So far, he seems to be going quite well. He still has the odd grumpy moment but I've come to learn after 7 years that that's never going to change! He's a lot freer in the canter, and I'm slowly working on getting him to canter round large circles so we can hopefully progress to him comfortable cantering a 20x40 such as if he was doing a dressage test. 

The plan for February is to do more pole work, keep up lunging him once a week in his side reins and work on smaller circles in both trot and canter. 

Thanks for reading,

Laura xx

Pea Sees The Vet....again!

Oh the joys of horse ownership! I popped Pea on the list for the monthly vet visit to have a look at his front end seeing as that's where my instructor reckoned there could be a problem. I kind of expected Alex, my vet, to trot Pea up and declare there not be much of a problem. However, we ended up spending about 2 hours doing various tests, etc!

We started off by trotting him up and then doing a flexion test on each hind leg before popping Pea on the lunge. As expected, Pea was fine on the lunge and went into each gait on each rein as good as gold. After a brief chat with Alex where I said that he does tend to be fine on the lunge and that it is mainly just ridden that I have the issues, he decided to see me ride him. 

After tacking Pea up, Alex said to keep a long rein and as soon as we were in the arena we were to head off into trot. Typically, Pea decided to be as good as gold and willingly trotted off as if to say 'I don't know what that crazy person on board is on about'!. He did have one mini napping episode towards another horse but other than that, he was quite well behaved. We then had a little canter on a long rein and whilst he behaved, he did still break into trot regularly. Alex then said to gather the reins and school him more, so do more circles, etc on a shorter rein so that he could see the difference. We did a few circles and puddle dodging before finishing off. 

Alex agreed that he is definitely uncomfortable under the saddle compared to what he was on the lunge and asked if I was happy for his back to be x-rayed. Seeing as I want to get to the bottom of Pea's 7 month bucking stint, I decided to agree and luckily he had the portable x-ray machine with him as he was x-raying another horse on the yard. Pea was as good as gold to be x-rayed this time and didn't need any sedation. He had three pictures taken along his back, two of his left hock and one of his left stifle. His hock and stifle were fine but his back showed a couple of vertebrae that were slightly closer together than normal. Although it's minor and not kissing spine, Alex suggested trying some steroid injections as it could be that causing the issue. Pea does have a bit of a low pain threshold (he tries to kick over me cleaning a little cut!) so I'm hoping that maybe this is the answer. The x-ray also showed an old wither injury that I had no idea he had, although it's nothing to be concerned about. 

Now Alex has been doing Pea for 7 and a half years and knows what a little monster he can be...however, he decided that it would be perfectly fine to inject Pea with just a twitch being used and no sedation. I don't think it went quite as well as Alex predicted seeing as he had to dodge a hind leg coming at him once or twice and I had to try and avoid being knocked out by the twitch as well as try and keep Pea still! However, he had all four injections and unfortunately for Pea had to stay in for the day. He didn't seem too fussed returning to a stable with a large haynet in though! 

Pea's allowed out tomorrow and I'm to lunge him until Monday. We're lunging with no tack tomorrow and Saturday and then with side reins Friday and Sunday. He's also got the physio next week which Alex has suggested we keep so I'll let you know next week what Etti says. 

I'm really hoping that this works and gives some answers! 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx

X-Rays & Scans for Pea

Not the greatest photo! & please mind the mucky pony!

Pea has had a lump on his stifle which has been there for about a year or two. He got it checked when it first appeared and Alex, our vet from Oakham, didn't think it was anything to worry about but to keep an eye on it. However, with Pea's recent behaviour, I decided it was worth getting it checked to be 100% sure it wasn't anything to worry about. 

We trotted him up before Vicki clipped the area where the lump is. He was a little saint for the whole thing and I found it rather amusing when Vicki mentioned that Alex refers to him as 'the Legend'! Not sure if it's a good thing or not but hey ho! I stepped out the stable whilst he was being x-rayed, which he ended up needing to be sedated for as he decided to show how handy he can be with his back legs! They took quite a few images at different view points but they all showed that the lump is not bony at all. It also showed that there's no arthritis but that there is an area where the bone is more dense which could be due to a previous kick that we weren't aware of. 

Following the x-rays, the lump was then scanned. It was fascinating to see the scan as I've only ever seen still images. It all looks a little bit complicated but it shows that the lump is on top of a ligament. It doesn't appear to be joined to the ligament but Vicki wanted to check with Alex to be 100% certain. However, she did say that it's very unlikely to be causing any of his behavioural issues. 

I'm quite glad that I had it investigated, although I'm not looking forward to the bill :( Pea's now having a week off whilst I'm working and then I go away for the weekend. When I return he's having the physio as he's been leaning in a lot in canter, especially on the right rein so I want to get that investigated a bit. 

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx

Why You Should Always Have A Horse Vetted

Meet Tinsel (Passport name: Inagh). A lovely 16hh Thoroughbred mare. No, unfortunately I don't have a new horse; in fact Tinsel was the first horse we properly bought after my loan pony (& before Pea). I owned Tinsel for two months but only rode her for 5 days.

When I went to view Tinsel she seemed like a really sweet mare, lovely to ride and I felt that I could achieve a lot with her. At that time, I was into showjumping as I'd had an awesome little loan pony who jumped anything you pointed him at. Tinsel was similar, having a lovely jump along with a nice approach. I'm not 100% certain but I have a feeling I did go for a second visit... I didn't take an instructor or anyone more knowledgeable along with me, though I did discuss her with my instructor and I didn't get her vetted. Turns out, that was a great mistake!

Tinsel was delivered to us as we didn't have transport and she arrived whilst I was at school. Our yard has a policy that new horses have to be stabled for 48hours before they are allowed turnout (although they are not in isolation). The first day, I just took her in hand for a walk in-hand so that she could get used to her surroundings and the arena. The second day I rode her and she was so well behaved. I rode her a few more times, again always so well behaved, and then on the fifth day of riding her she felt majorly lame. I immediately hopped off her and trotted her up to confirm that she was indeed lame. We kept an eye on her over the next few days only for her to not come sound. Over the next month or two she ended up having numerous tests which all came back inconclusive as to the cause of her lameness with the vets wanting to do more in-depth tests. At that time, I was doing my GCSE's, including one in sport and riding, so I really needed a horse to ride. Tinsel also became rather unmanageable with her rearing and bolting as soon as she was led down the grass stretch towards her field. In the field, she was as good as gold, always looking after the little ponies, and she was fine coming out by the gate for food, it was just when you bought her all the way in to the stables that she would go mad! It resulted that only my dad was able to handle her (even though he'd hardly been around horses) as he was the only one strong enough to hold her. I remember one time when I was taking her out and she bolted off, cantering down the side of the field only to fall over. I'm sure that was one of the worse moments of my life. Luckily she got up fine but we realised that we just couldn't look after her anymore.

During this time, we were going through Trading Standards to try and get our money back as all forms of communication with the old owners were coming to a dead end. Unfortunately, whilst we would get our money back, we would also have to give Tinsel back to her old owners which is something we didn't want to do. Therefore, we decided to advertise her for loan as a broodmare - a risky decision seeing as she'd never foaled before and we didn't know if her leg could take it. Luckily, we received a call from someone who had been to view Tinsel for a client only to find out about her lameness but she put us in contact with a friend who was looking for a broodmare. Tinsel went back to Oxford to a woman and has lived with the same woman ever since having a few foals and being so happy.

If we'd had her vetted then we would have found out about her lameness as she was clearly drugged when she arrived to mask the pain. However, I'm glad that we did buy her as at least she's now happy in a home with people who adore her. I do still wonder what would have happened if she hadn't turned out to be lame but if I'm honest, I'm not really a thoroughbred owner...I much prefer my native breeds!

So, if you're thinking about buying a horse, please always make sure to get them vetted! There are two options - a 2* or 5* and whilst the 5* is more favourable it depends what you're planning on using the horse for. Also make sure that you use your vet or one recommended and not there's as they could still cover a problem up.

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx

Pea Sees The Vet

If you've been following my blog lately, you will know that Pea has been a bit stiff behind and I've been a bit paranoid so put him on the vet list. Well, today was the day and it couldn't have gone any more different than what I expected it to go! 

I trotted Pea up just normally and then trotted him a few times following a leg flexion. Alex (the vet) said that he was slightly more stiff after the flexion but nothing major so nothing to worry about at all - more that it's quite normal. We then popped him on the lunge and seeing as Pea has been in all night and it was way past his turnout time he felt the need to just bugger off round the lunge refusing to come back to trot! He also showed just how good his back and legs were feeling but a good few bucks for extra measure! 

So, for now, he's going to have hind shoes put on in the next few weeks and be worked as normal and we'll see how we go from there. If he's still not great in a month then he'll see the vet again and might have a steroid injection..

Thanks for reading,
Laura xx