It seems like only two minutes ago that I was writing my July review (okay so it was like two weeks late but shh!). To be honest, I've hardly ridden this month due to various injuries that Pea's decided to keep chucking at me. Luckily, nothings been too serious but it has meant a stop to continuous work.
The last Thursday of July, Pea refused to trot when I was riding him so I trotted him up straight - no issues. Tried riding again and he was fine on the straight but stopped dead when I went to turn. I then got rather paranoid so decided to pop him on the lunge and he seemed slightly funny behind so left him for the day. The next day I just did some gentle long-reining before he had the weekend off due to me working all day. Monday morning I lunged him again to double check and he was fine so I schooled him the day after and despite arguments he did actually work really well. Thursday he then decided that payback of working well meant he'd come in with a fat leg. Cue a couple of days walking out and cold hosing before we could start work again.
However, Thursday morning came around again & this time I get a phone call from my yard owner to say that Pea had been bought in from the field after getting tangled in his rug and stressing out big time. It probably didn't help that the rug got caught in his hind shoe and like an idiot he decided to gallop round the field with the rug flying behind him which scared him more! It took two hours of walking round on the grass, letting him graze, in order for him to calm down enough to stand back in his box without box-walking and pawing the ground. After three hours I took the plunge that he had calmed down enough that I left him in with the yard staff keeping an eye on him. He was due the farrier anyway but after speaking to him we decided to just do his front feet as he can still be quite bad with his hind. I then turned him back out a few hours later and walked the dog over a couple of hours after that to check on him and he was so much more chilled now he was back with his best friend! The next day I left him to just chill out before riding him again at the weekend. Unfortunately, he seemed really reluctant about moving forward and when I attempted carrot stretches he was hardly bending. This led to me giving him a few more days off until someone at my yard who's an equine sports massage practitioner could look at him. She actually looked at him over two days as part of a training course which was actually quite useful! They didn't find anything too major but have commented that his teeth might need looking at again as he is really sensitive around the TMJ. I've given him a few more days off due to work and the weather but will start working again this weekend and will also get the vet to look at him next week when the vet's at the yard.
So, it's been a relatively quiet month work wise but lots of drama! Let's hope that September brings some better luck!
Thanks for reading,
Laura xx
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