Pea has been well and truly pampered in the last month! He has had the physio, farrier, saddler, dentist and on Wednesday he also had a massage. Oh the life of a pampered pony!
After my lesson with Cathy last week where she felt it might be an idea for him to have a message, I booked him in with someone from my yard who is an equine sport masseur. Unfortunately I had a meeting and work so I was unable to be there but I had a message from Angela once she was finished to let me know what she found and also a write-up was left at my stable.
She noted that he was tight in his back and round his shoulders though she feels that his fly rug may be contributing to this. She also picked up on his hind leg stiffness and has given us some exercises to do regularly such as polework and also walking through the stream. She suggested just walking over random poles that are out in the arena when I first get on him to encourage him to pick his feet up (he fell over the first one we did - clearly wasn't awake!) and also suggested an exercise in hand of getting him to step over a pole with his front legs before making him wait. By making him wait for 10-15 seconds and talking to him, his proprioception receptors switch off and so when I ask him to walk on, he'll know there's a pole there but won't remember how high it is. This results in him really picking his hind legs up which will help him to loosen up! We're to start with a standard pole and as he gets good we can then start raising it.
Peas definitely felt better since and even worked well today in the rain which he normally argues about! His canter Was also a lot more forward today and he was better with the turns so fingers crossed we're on the right path!
And for once, I've also had a treat in having a massage as my mum booked us a spa break for my birthday!
Thanks for reading,
Laura
Laura
No comments:
Post a Comment