It's been a while
...well that possible mild not-sure-about-it laminitis turned out to be the real deal :(
Interesting it really showed up 2-3 days after we had a very good lesson in the arena. The previous symptoms showed up 2-3 days after a x-country training session.
Rosie got relocated to the sand arena and had imprint shoes put on. These are glue-on heart bars. Th advantage is that you can get them on much sooner (as there is no nailing and hence no concussion to already sore feet) and hence give the pedal bone support as soon as possible.
Six weeks or so later they get filed off and replaced with the metal version.
By this stage Rosie was starting to be allowed out of the arena again. The problem was that the sensible area to confine her with limited grass would also have kept the other two away from the shelter. This might not seem so much of an issue given it was summer, but our guys use the shelter as much to escape the midges as to escape rain !
So Rosie got introduced to a grazing muzzle (best friend style). This caused plenty of sneezing and fussing and biiiig brown eyes... but she soon sussed out how to eat treats through the hole in the bottom, and hence how to eat grass and have a drink.
And yes, we now have a new slimline Rosie. Something like 50Kg lighter, which for a little pony is a fair amount. She still has a bit of a crest but some of that relates to how she works.
Eventually we got to the point we could start work again. I was a bit concerned we would be back to square one. Well not quite. The initial sessions took it quite slowly - after all she had been off for a couple of months by this stage. The "discussion" only really started when we started to ask a little more.
When she goes, her way of going is much less braced, more relaxed, with a longer top line. Which should help work on that bit of remaining crest. But we have still had the odd session where we just get a major bolsh. In one session I had to sit some seriously stroppy bucks.
We had been working in the school and then going out for a walk around the remaining stubble. The major major bolsh happened when the weather was dodgy so I decided to go for a walk first. But things improved so I decided to stick with it and do some work in the school. Well that is NOT what we do apparently. When we get back from a walk, Rosie gets her tack off and goes out. It was not acceptable from her point of view to do something different. Hmmm - that's something I'll need to work on when the snow goes !
I should set some background here. I really don't like having to be quite so strong with a horse. So I did try to give her as much opportunity as possible to offer to go, to answer willingly, to accept my aids. But she tends to react to this as an opportunity to take charge, and it then becomes more difficult to change her mind than if you start by insisting.
The catch 22 is that you have to watch that you don't carry on being quite so strong when she goes. It really is black and white with her. If you watch someone else riding her, you can actually see a change in her body language, facial expression, and muscle tone between the two modes - between "nah shan't" and "let's go!"
Anyway, all work has ceased for a couple of weeks because of the snow. Out of our three we have
- one unshod, who hardly gets any snow building up in his feet at all
- one with normal shoes on the front only, who gets some snow building up on the shod feet
- one with heart bars on the front, and she has been getting quite a lot of snow building up
So I haven't taken Rosie out to play in the snow , despite it being nice and deep (so you are not riding on the icy ground beneath) as I daren't risk her legs with the way the snow builds up.
Ah well, at least it gave me a chance to update here !
One thing we are planning to do is get Rosie tested for Equine Metabolic Syndrome. She should have been tested already but it snowed just before the vet was due out ! It is a fasting blood test so needs planning and booking. The vet could have made it out but if they couldn't get the blood test to the lab on time it would have been a waste of their time.
Interesting it really showed up 2-3 days after we had a very good lesson in the arena. The previous symptoms showed up 2-3 days after a x-country training session.
Rosie got relocated to the sand arena and had imprint shoes put on. These are glue-on heart bars. Th advantage is that you can get them on much sooner (as there is no nailing and hence no concussion to already sore feet) and hence give the pedal bone support as soon as possible.
Six weeks or so later they get filed off and replaced with the metal version.
By this stage Rosie was starting to be allowed out of the arena again. The problem was that the sensible area to confine her with limited grass would also have kept the other two away from the shelter. This might not seem so much of an issue given it was summer, but our guys use the shelter as much to escape the midges as to escape rain !
So Rosie got introduced to a grazing muzzle (best friend style). This caused plenty of sneezing and fussing and biiiig brown eyes... but she soon sussed out how to eat treats through the hole in the bottom, and hence how to eat grass and have a drink.
And yes, we now have a new slimline Rosie. Something like 50Kg lighter, which for a little pony is a fair amount. She still has a bit of a crest but some of that relates to how she works.
Eventually we got to the point we could start work again. I was a bit concerned we would be back to square one. Well not quite. The initial sessions took it quite slowly - after all she had been off for a couple of months by this stage. The "discussion" only really started when we started to ask a little more.
When she goes, her way of going is much less braced, more relaxed, with a longer top line. Which should help work on that bit of remaining crest. But we have still had the odd session where we just get a major bolsh. In one session I had to sit some seriously stroppy bucks.
We had been working in the school and then going out for a walk around the remaining stubble. The major major bolsh happened when the weather was dodgy so I decided to go for a walk first. But things improved so I decided to stick with it and do some work in the school. Well that is NOT what we do apparently. When we get back from a walk, Rosie gets her tack off and goes out. It was not acceptable from her point of view to do something different. Hmmm - that's something I'll need to work on when the snow goes !
I should set some background here. I really don't like having to be quite so strong with a horse. So I did try to give her as much opportunity as possible to offer to go, to answer willingly, to accept my aids. But she tends to react to this as an opportunity to take charge, and it then becomes more difficult to change her mind than if you start by insisting.
The catch 22 is that you have to watch that you don't carry on being quite so strong when she goes. It really is black and white with her. If you watch someone else riding her, you can actually see a change in her body language, facial expression, and muscle tone between the two modes - between "nah shan't" and "let's go!"
Anyway, all work has ceased for a couple of weeks because of the snow. Out of our three we have
- one unshod, who hardly gets any snow building up in his feet at all
- one with normal shoes on the front only, who gets some snow building up on the shod feet
- one with heart bars on the front, and she has been getting quite a lot of snow building up
So I haven't taken Rosie out to play in the snow , despite it being nice and deep (so you are not riding on the icy ground beneath) as I daren't risk her legs with the way the snow builds up.
Ah well, at least it gave me a chance to update here !
One thing we are planning to do is get Rosie tested for Equine Metabolic Syndrome. She should have been tested already but it snowed just before the vet was due out ! It is a fasting blood test so needs planning and booking. The vet could have made it out but if they couldn't get the blood test to the lab on time it would have been a waste of their time.
posted by seahorse | 10:05 AM
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