So, Wed we went with Llewi to Hankley Common and bombed around for 2hrs popping a few little hunt jumps - great fun! Covered just over 8miles in that time so good work out for him.
Yesterday I lunged in my draw reins/tail bandage get up and he worked really well. Seemed to be holding himself less to the outside on the right rein - it was actually most obvious in walk.
Schooling at lunchtime today and it was very hot but he worked really well. Started with usual walk to halts remembering to activate the right hind into the left rein. Then walk HP on a circle into working pirouettes - he finds this hard so determined to keep working on it as if it's hard then it will benefit him. Moved on to a bit of trot and canter on the circle with some changes of rein through half 20 and 10m circles keeping him soft in the change of bend. Some trot-walk-trots and then onto canter.
Canter was good - giving me good G&R from the beginning. Cant believe it's taken me 2.5yrs but finally I can G&R without him going giraffe on me - hard work does pay off! Did some 20m circles moving into medium canter then 10m circles in collected before canter to walk, walk a few strides then back to canter and repeat. Beautiful canter to walk on L rein, tending to drop me on the R rein - need to remember not to hang onto his head in the transition so he doesn't have anything to lean on. Followed this up with medium canter up the long side then back to collected and then a half 10m circle into counter canter round the school followed by changing the leg through trot keeping him soft. Trot work after this was amazing. Did a medium trot across the diagonal then down the centre line into a square halt - he wants to drop me here too so need to keep hands soft and make the transition gradual then leg on into square halt. Really pleased with the work he did especially as so hot but he was off the leg and working hard.
Finished by running through BE95 as riding this tomorrow at eventing camp and WW/BCA are using it too. He was a little tired by this point so not consistently soft in the hand in the trot and a little on the forehand in the canter - not enough jump but not too bad although had to have a 2nd attempt at the final halt - will master them if it kills me! Have to remember he's not fully fit yet so actually giving his best work after a shorter warmup.
Friday 31 May 2013
Monday 27 May 2013
Flatwork schooling 27-05-13
Started with the obligatory walk to halts and got a couple of dead square ones straight away! Shame it didnt carry on like that but maybe one day we'll crack it! Worth a lot of marks square halts so worth working on and an easy thing to work on during breaks between faster work.
Did the same exercise as yesterday - HP into working walk pirouettes - the wind was up today and he finds this hard so we had some serious strops - was on the edge of rearing or being bucked off a few times. It is good for him though - softens him in front and gets his back end working.
Some trot work next - trot-walk-trots, trot-walk-halt-trots. Making my shoulders ache a bit so not as soft in the contact as he was before this break. Had my slight suspicions on the right rein again that he was nodding slightly - will have to get it on video again as not sure how much of it is my paranoia and how much is really there. Nothing there on a loose rein which is good. Trot to halts down the centre line and moving off softly - nice to have cracked that one. Did a couple of leg yields changing the bend into them - more to work on there.
Then did a really good chunk of canter work. Need to remember to do decent amount of canter work now to increase his fitness. Did some rein back to canter which he did nicely on both reins. Did some canter-trot-canter across the diagonal which we still need to improve to keep him rounder. Did a bit of counter canter round the short side and then simple change. Another thing we could really work on. Llewi's counter canter is far superior to Monty's and he hasn't been schooled in 18mths. Working on his counter canter is likely to benefit his normal canter a lot so should make more of an effort to work on this. Did some on and back in the canter, coming back into a 10m circle then transition into walk as hit the track, few strides walk then back to canter. Did a couple of simple changes on half 10m circles to finish. Right to left we struggled a bit on the half 10m circle R but got the canter to walk and then a nice upwards transition. Left to right he did a perfect canter to walk but head up in the walk to canter.
Finished with a trot stretch on both reins.
Did the same exercise as yesterday - HP into working walk pirouettes - the wind was up today and he finds this hard so we had some serious strops - was on the edge of rearing or being bucked off a few times. It is good for him though - softens him in front and gets his back end working.
Some trot work next - trot-walk-trots, trot-walk-halt-trots. Making my shoulders ache a bit so not as soft in the contact as he was before this break. Had my slight suspicions on the right rein again that he was nodding slightly - will have to get it on video again as not sure how much of it is my paranoia and how much is really there. Nothing there on a loose rein which is good. Trot to halts down the centre line and moving off softly - nice to have cracked that one. Did a couple of leg yields changing the bend into them - more to work on there.
Then did a really good chunk of canter work. Need to remember to do decent amount of canter work now to increase his fitness. Did some rein back to canter which he did nicely on both reins. Did some canter-trot-canter across the diagonal which we still need to improve to keep him rounder. Did a bit of counter canter round the short side and then simple change. Another thing we could really work on. Llewi's counter canter is far superior to Monty's and he hasn't been schooled in 18mths. Working on his counter canter is likely to benefit his normal canter a lot so should make more of an effort to work on this. Did some on and back in the canter, coming back into a 10m circle then transition into walk as hit the track, few strides walk then back to canter. Did a couple of simple changes on half 10m circles to finish. Right to left we struggled a bit on the half 10m circle R but got the canter to walk and then a nice upwards transition. Left to right he did a perfect canter to walk but head up in the walk to canter.
Finished with a trot stretch on both reins.
Simon lesson 26-05-13
Walk to halt - feel which seatbone is being pushed forwards and has more weight on it - opposite hindleg is the one left behind. Often he leaves the RH behind so try to ride the RH up into the left rein when asking for the halt. Ties in with asking the LF to stop first and get the right side to step up. Did some walk-halt in the SI as helps to get him to stand up square.
Walk, SI on the circle, HP in to a working pirouette. He finds it more difficult on the left rein because the RH has to step further round so although the bend in front is easier it's harder for him to bring the RH round which is why he gets stuck. On right rein more difficult to get the bend in front and he would rather try and bend out to the left or hollow. This exercise really benefits him though as the quality of the trot afterwards was much nicer. Did some trot on and back but didn't really feel he had the strength or the petrol in the tank there today.
Canter work - must remember to ask for inside flexion, then release, then ask for the transition (either up or down) - cant be asking for flexion in the transition as blocks him from picking up into the transition. Did some on and back - needs more of this to build up his strength.
Simon said no doubts about his soundness - all looked good.
I felt in general he wasn't quite back to how he was before he went lame in March - bit on the forehand, not quite as soft in the contact. Getting there again though - just needs to rebuild the strength he's lost with those 5wks off.
Walk, SI on the circle, HP in to a working pirouette. He finds it more difficult on the left rein because the RH has to step further round so although the bend in front is easier it's harder for him to bring the RH round which is why he gets stuck. On right rein more difficult to get the bend in front and he would rather try and bend out to the left or hollow. This exercise really benefits him though as the quality of the trot afterwards was much nicer. Did some trot on and back but didn't really feel he had the strength or the petrol in the tank there today.
Canter work - must remember to ask for inside flexion, then release, then ask for the transition (either up or down) - cant be asking for flexion in the transition as blocks him from picking up into the transition. Did some on and back - needs more of this to build up his strength.
Simon said no doubts about his soundness - all looked good.
I felt in general he wasn't quite back to how he was before he went lame in March - bit on the forehand, not quite as soft in the contact. Getting there again though - just needs to rebuild the strength he's lost with those 5wks off.
Saturday 25 May 2013
Merrist Wood UA SJ 25-05-13
Warming up I really tried to get him into my outside rein and going forwards. He was a bit sticky towards the fences and not keen to go on the longer ones - just how he generally is when he's in bored, lazy mode.
Took him into the arena and he lit up. 14 fences, 2 phase course, pretty much all up to 90cm height although nothing very wide. Tried to think about into the outside rein, forwards and just letting fences come to me. There were a few times when I held slightly or pushed slightly for the right stride but not once did he chip in and give me an awkward jump. It all felt controlled and the fences just arrived. Even managed the 180degree turnback in the jump off with the help of lots of leg. Super clear and really chuffed with both of us, having not jumped a course since mid-March. Think only 4 went double clear so even though we weren't pushing for time we would have been placed if we weren't HC. About 25 in the class I think so good result there.
Bit of standing around waiting for the next class which had changed so a whole new 14 fences to learn and again now mostly up to 100cm mark, although they really hadn't changed the spreads so given it's oxers that give me the heeby-jeebies I was ok with the course. Not really much time to do a good warmup as was 5th to go so just popped over a couple and off we went. He did another super round. For some reason I felt the need to hook him into the base of the planks after the oxer on a related 4 strides and got 5 in there and he did really well to clear it. He spooked at something or other after fence 8 and nearly missed no.9 so that was interesting and then stupidly hung onto his head coming to the little white stile at the last and he just got in too close and took it out in front. Still really pleased with him though and again, mostly I let the fences come to the me and the ones I was most likely to mess up (the double and the oxers) we did well.
Annoyingly pony decided to be his usual clumsy self loading onto the lorry and stood right on the edge of the ramp which proved a very effective lever on his right fore shoe and I just watched it peel off his foot in front of me. Argh. Fortunately farrier is being a star and coming out tomorrow morning to sort it out. He is booked in for shoeing anyway on Monday so rather bad timing but have got a dressage lesson tomorrow so really need 4 shoes on my pony! Wondering if might have to try and fashion some kind of filler to fill the gap between the ramp and the lorry so he cant stand on the edge like that as it's very difficult to make him walk up slowly and carefully to avoid it happening and he often does the same on the way down too - I forsee us losing many shoes in this way which is ok if going eventing and farrier on site but not otherwise. Clumsy horse.
Took him into the arena and he lit up. 14 fences, 2 phase course, pretty much all up to 90cm height although nothing very wide. Tried to think about into the outside rein, forwards and just letting fences come to me. There were a few times when I held slightly or pushed slightly for the right stride but not once did he chip in and give me an awkward jump. It all felt controlled and the fences just arrived. Even managed the 180degree turnback in the jump off with the help of lots of leg. Super clear and really chuffed with both of us, having not jumped a course since mid-March. Think only 4 went double clear so even though we weren't pushing for time we would have been placed if we weren't HC. About 25 in the class I think so good result there.
Bit of standing around waiting for the next class which had changed so a whole new 14 fences to learn and again now mostly up to 100cm mark, although they really hadn't changed the spreads so given it's oxers that give me the heeby-jeebies I was ok with the course. Not really much time to do a good warmup as was 5th to go so just popped over a couple and off we went. He did another super round. For some reason I felt the need to hook him into the base of the planks after the oxer on a related 4 strides and got 5 in there and he did really well to clear it. He spooked at something or other after fence 8 and nearly missed no.9 so that was interesting and then stupidly hung onto his head coming to the little white stile at the last and he just got in too close and took it out in front. Still really pleased with him though and again, mostly I let the fences come to the me and the ones I was most likely to mess up (the double and the oxers) we did well.
Annoyingly pony decided to be his usual clumsy self loading onto the lorry and stood right on the edge of the ramp which proved a very effective lever on his right fore shoe and I just watched it peel off his foot in front of me. Argh. Fortunately farrier is being a star and coming out tomorrow morning to sort it out. He is booked in for shoeing anyway on Monday so rather bad timing but have got a dressage lesson tomorrow so really need 4 shoes on my pony! Wondering if might have to try and fashion some kind of filler to fill the gap between the ramp and the lorry so he cant stand on the edge like that as it's very difficult to make him walk up slowly and carefully to avoid it happening and he often does the same on the way down too - I forsee us losing many shoes in this way which is ok if going eventing and farrier on site but not otherwise. Clumsy horse.
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Schooling 22-05-13
Similar to yesterday's schooling session but today I thought he felt sounder. Straight away he seemed happy on the left rein whereas normally it might take him a few mins to warm up. Much more even in the contact on the right rein - poss very slight intermittent nod at times but loads better than normal.
Did a couple of walk to canters today - as per usual good on the left, not so good on the right - bucks are not required! Simple changes - struggle to control his body around the first half 10m circle but the change itself not bad.
Did some nice leg yielding in trot but wasn't willing to try and get his brain around HP - difficult in such a small school.
Walk piris were a bit hopeless - reluctant to accept contact and resistant to leg - he can get so flipping arsey when he doesn't understand something - was in danger of being ejected so gave up on those.
Good stretchy trot on both reins to finish.
Did a couple of walk to canters today - as per usual good on the left, not so good on the right - bucks are not required! Simple changes - struggle to control his body around the first half 10m circle but the change itself not bad.
Did some nice leg yielding in trot but wasn't willing to try and get his brain around HP - difficult in such a small school.
Walk piris were a bit hopeless - reluctant to accept contact and resistant to leg - he can get so flipping arsey when he doesn't understand something - was in danger of being ejected so gave up on those.
Good stretchy trot on both reins to finish.
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Schooling 21-05-13
Just a short, easy session this afternoon after joint injections on Saturday. Had a sachet of bute on Sunday and Monday evening.
Generally he felt good. Certainly no obvious lameness. I still felt he wasn't 100% steady in the contact on the right rein on a circle in trot. Not sure if am expecting improvement too soon or if it means it hasn't worked or if he's still a bit sore from the actual injection process. Guess we'll see how he goes over the next week or so. He feels the same as he did when we were competing earlier this year so not like we cant carry on but would be nice if we could sort this completely.
Did lots of walk to halts - perhaps 50% of them acceptable - he is a bugger about halting square. Found it easier to get him square in front halting from trot - in walk he just tends to stop his feet in the pattern of the walk stride and dont really know how to get him to square up. Unfortunately have to halt from walk in BE 90 tests so need to master it as worth an important couple of marks. Could be the difference between Badminton and no Badminton - keep practising! Trot down the centre line, halt and trot on - spot on. You'd think walk to halt would be easier but not in Monty land.
Did some transitions and got some nice ones into and out of canter via trot. Did some G&R in canter - cant believe how easy that is these days - not perfect yet and could have been softer giving me the contact back but sooooooooooooooooooooo much better than it used to be! No giraffe impressions at least! Had a go at changing the bend when coming onto the centre line before leg yielding to the track as you have to do in Ele's - needs much more practice before suitable for competition - have always practised keeping the same bend, not changing it - Monty needs a request in writing before changing the bend! Finished with some nice deep stretching in trot. Only did 35mins in total as meant to be taking it easy next few days after the injections.
Generally he felt good. Certainly no obvious lameness. I still felt he wasn't 100% steady in the contact on the right rein on a circle in trot. Not sure if am expecting improvement too soon or if it means it hasn't worked or if he's still a bit sore from the actual injection process. Guess we'll see how he goes over the next week or so. He feels the same as he did when we were competing earlier this year so not like we cant carry on but would be nice if we could sort this completely.
Did lots of walk to halts - perhaps 50% of them acceptable - he is a bugger about halting square. Found it easier to get him square in front halting from trot - in walk he just tends to stop his feet in the pattern of the walk stride and dont really know how to get him to square up. Unfortunately have to halt from walk in BE 90 tests so need to master it as worth an important couple of marks. Could be the difference between Badminton and no Badminton - keep practising! Trot down the centre line, halt and trot on - spot on. You'd think walk to halt would be easier but not in Monty land.
Did some transitions and got some nice ones into and out of canter via trot. Did some G&R in canter - cant believe how easy that is these days - not perfect yet and could have been softer giving me the contact back but sooooooooooooooooooooo much better than it used to be! No giraffe impressions at least! Had a go at changing the bend when coming onto the centre line before leg yielding to the track as you have to do in Ele's - needs much more practice before suitable for competition - have always practised keeping the same bend, not changing it - Monty needs a request in writing before changing the bend! Finished with some nice deep stretching in trot. Only did 35mins in total as meant to be taking it easy next few days after the injections.
Saturday 18 May 2013
Vet visit 19-05-13
Both coffin joints injected with a vial (3ml) of HY-50 (hyaluronic acid) and 5mg of triamcinolone and half a bottle of Amikin (amikacin - antibiotic)
Max dose of triamcinolone recommended is 16mg so 10mg split between 2 joints should be safe. Risk of laminitis - likely to show up approx 1wk after injection.
When he put the needle into the LF coffin joint the joint fluid looked very healthy - normal flow, normal viscosity. When he put the needle into the RF coffin joint it was still very watery and also much more came out suggested the joint is a bit distended at the moment so clearly despite the LF having the worse angles on his xray, it's the RF coffin joint that's causing him the most problems.
Should see improvement within days although have to give him a day off and 5 easy days before cracking on with getting him fit. Saw no reason why shouldn't be ok to run him at WW in 3wks time.
Suspects will need monthly cartrophen and special shoes long term.
Withdrawal for triamcinolone is 2wks
Withdrawal for cartrophen is 72hrs
Max dose of triamcinolone recommended is 16mg so 10mg split between 2 joints should be safe. Risk of laminitis - likely to show up approx 1wk after injection.
When he put the needle into the LF coffin joint the joint fluid looked very healthy - normal flow, normal viscosity. When he put the needle into the RF coffin joint it was still very watery and also much more came out suggested the joint is a bit distended at the moment so clearly despite the LF having the worse angles on his xray, it's the RF coffin joint that's causing him the most problems.
Should see improvement within days although have to give him a day off and 5 easy days before cracking on with getting him fit. Saw no reason why shouldn't be ok to run him at WW in 3wks time.
Suspects will need monthly cartrophen and special shoes long term.
Withdrawal for triamcinolone is 2wks
Withdrawal for cartrophen is 72hrs
Parwood XC schooling 19-05-13
Hacked Monty to Parwood this morning - feeling full of it - reminded me why I hate hacking him - did a 180degree spin out of nowhere at absolutely nothing - thought I might be needing my air bag for the hack there rather than the jumping! The back gate to Parwood was unlocked so it only took 15mins to walk there, then as soon as you get through the back gate there are 3 logs which meant for a very bouncy canter down the side of those and then a strong canter up the side of the hay field. Nice way to warmup. Walked him through the XC field to the car park and he was bouncing - absolutely gagging to have a go.
Went and stood and chatted to Lizzy for 10mins while she got ready then had another canter round the XC field - I say canter, it was more like flat out gallop at times - never known him so strong. Took me 3 circuits of the field to calm him down enough to stop. Then he tried napping to Winnie which is always a sign he's feeling well as he does have quite a strong nappy streak in him when he wants but normally cant be arsed to show it XC schooling.
Popped a little roll top as our first jump and thought we were going to have a broncing fit afterwards but he just took off with me again. Popped over a nice selection of logs including one at the top of a bank, over the ditch, cantered through the water nicely including then popping out over a house which came on a bit of a long one but he went for it. He looked at both of the tyre jumps slightly for some random reason but still jumped them fine. Popped up the step onto the bank and off again. Jumped the ditch palisade no probs. Was feeling a bit chicken about the trakehner there for some reason - sure it's no bigger than the one at LMEQ but it's much more open. Save that for another day I think. Didn't jump anything very big but was a great feeling having him taking charge and taking me over them no questions.
And this is before his joint injections and his first time jumping in his stilettos - think how good he's gonna feel after his joint injections and with a bit more time getting used to his new shoes.
So pleased with him - you'd think he'd be tired after that lot but he still got excited by the logs on the way out and had another nice canter to the gate before an attempt at a steady walk home.
Clever orange horse.
Went and stood and chatted to Lizzy for 10mins while she got ready then had another canter round the XC field - I say canter, it was more like flat out gallop at times - never known him so strong. Took me 3 circuits of the field to calm him down enough to stop. Then he tried napping to Winnie which is always a sign he's feeling well as he does have quite a strong nappy streak in him when he wants but normally cant be arsed to show it XC schooling.
Popped a little roll top as our first jump and thought we were going to have a broncing fit afterwards but he just took off with me again. Popped over a nice selection of logs including one at the top of a bank, over the ditch, cantered through the water nicely including then popping out over a house which came on a bit of a long one but he went for it. He looked at both of the tyre jumps slightly for some random reason but still jumped them fine. Popped up the step onto the bank and off again. Jumped the ditch palisade no probs. Was feeling a bit chicken about the trakehner there for some reason - sure it's no bigger than the one at LMEQ but it's much more open. Save that for another day I think. Didn't jump anything very big but was a great feeling having him taking charge and taking me over them no questions.
And this is before his joint injections and his first time jumping in his stilettos - think how good he's gonna feel after his joint injections and with a bit more time getting used to his new shoes.
So pleased with him - you'd think he'd be tired after that lot but he still got excited by the logs on the way out and had another nice canter to the gate before an attempt at a steady walk home.
Clever orange horse.
Friday 17 May 2013
Flatwork session at home 17-05-13
Just a few thoughts:
- Right canter actually felt better than left canter which was a bit on the forehand. Need to work on trot-canter on the right rein though as tending to come above the bit like he used to.
- Canter in general not bad though considering he hasn't cantered in an outline for 8wks now. Even managed give and retake so still million times better than before.
- Trot on the right rein on a circle still uneven in the contact - let the reins go though and his head looked level.
- Need to get him more supple and engaged again - fighting me more in the contact than he was before this break - need to get that bum working - more transitions needed
- Did some nice stretching down in trot on both reins
- Walk to halts still a work in progress - some spot on, some naff ones
- Walk piris truly quite rubbish
Thursday 16 May 2013
Little jumping session 16-05-13
Helen came over to help me with some jumps and had a lovely session in the evening sunshine.
At first didn't think he felt quite level in trot but vet did warn me he might be slightly sore from the injection through his coffin joint and he seemed to work through it very quickly.
Built a little grid - started by just trotting to the first pole then cantering through 4 more poles which opened him up nicely. Then put 2nd pole to x-pole, then 4th pole to another x-pole. Built up 4th pole to 2ft9 upright no probs. Put 4th back down to x-pole and 3rd to another x-pole so doing double bounce. Making it all feel super easy. Changed the rein and did the 2nd and 4th as x-poles before all 3 again. Easy peasy. Kept it so I could trot to the first pole which meant always getting the right striding and he was really enjoying himself. Could also use the last pole to signal which way we were going and make sure we got away from the grid on the correct leg.
Then the real test - take away the poles and just have a jump. Not so easy! Concentrated on trying to get big canter into the outside rein which he was really giving me. And he was really taking me to the jumps, just had to concentrate on not pushing him flat as kept seeing rather long ones but he was going on them which he should do as he has plenty of scope to do so but would normally try and stick in short ones all the time. Perverse horse insists on always landing on the wrong leg, no matter which rein we are on though!
At first didn't think he felt quite level in trot but vet did warn me he might be slightly sore from the injection through his coffin joint and he seemed to work through it very quickly.
Built a little grid - started by just trotting to the first pole then cantering through 4 more poles which opened him up nicely. Then put 2nd pole to x-pole, then 4th pole to another x-pole. Built up 4th pole to 2ft9 upright no probs. Put 4th back down to x-pole and 3rd to another x-pole so doing double bounce. Making it all feel super easy. Changed the rein and did the 2nd and 4th as x-poles before all 3 again. Easy peasy. Kept it so I could trot to the first pole which meant always getting the right striding and he was really enjoying himself. Could also use the last pole to signal which way we were going and make sure we got away from the grid on the correct leg.
Then the real test - take away the poles and just have a jump. Not so easy! Concentrated on trying to get big canter into the outside rein which he was really giving me. And he was really taking me to the jumps, just had to concentrate on not pushing him flat as kept seeing rather long ones but he was going on them which he should do as he has plenty of scope to do so but would normally try and stick in short ones all the time. Perverse horse insists on always landing on the wrong leg, no matter which rein we are on though!
Wednesday 15 May 2013
Liphook visit 15-05-13
So, vet's view on his feet was good - he liked what the farrier had done with them. His idea was to bring the breakover point back further but explained farrier felt he didn't want to make too many changes at once but was aiming to do that eventually. Not sure how much will be possible though as he's already starting to wear his toe slightly. He's happy with the wedged pad and the frog support and thinks it's likely he will need to stay in these shoes and pads or something similar permanently. Currently they're still looking very good after 3wks. He liked the fact they had the Magic Cushion under the pads too.
So we trotted him up and he looked sound (if anything he said his eye was drawn slightly to the RH but that's a whole other can of worms we're not opening right now - he said possibly he has mild spavin but it's not enough to investigate right now)
He asked me what my aims were for the year and I said anything (I had lost all faith he'd ever be ok to do anything) - he laughed and asked again. I said well I'd like to make it to the Regionals in Sept/Oct. So he asked again and I said I'd love to get to some events in June so we could try and get another Regionals qualification - he said that was more like it. No reason not to.
Lunged him on the hard circle and he was 1/10 lame LF on left rein and 1/10 lame RF on right rein which he always has been since I've had him and if anything that would be better than he has been at times in the past 2.5yrs. At this stage vet was happy to send him home but we put him on the lunge in the school and he was surprised that he still looked lame to the same degree and if anything the more we did with him the more noticeable it became.
So, we had a discussion about what to block as the problem was quite mild and might not be very easy to interpret. Decided to block the right fore as this was the one I had felt was possibly causing a problem. He blocked the coffin joint with 5ml intra-epicaine. When he inserted the needle, the joint fluid ran very freely out of the needle - it looked quite watery. Normal joint fluid should be more gloopy (viscous) than that. We reassessed him after 5mins - he was still sound in a straight line. On the lunge on the hard surface he appeared slightly worse on the left fore on the left rein and slightly better on the right fore on the right rein. Similar effect on the lunge in the school.
Put him in the stable for 10mins then repeated. Still sound in a straight line. Lunging on the left rein on the hard he looked possibly slightly lamer LF. On the right rein he also looked slightly lame LF so bigger improvement to the extent it had made him look lame on the LF on the right rein. I went to get his tack after that while vet repeated lunging on the soft then the hard again and his summary was that he continued to look like the LF was more of a problem now.
Then I rode him. Picking him up and riding in an outline I could hide the lameness completely but letting him have his head he was clearly lame on his LF on the left rein, felt ok on the right rein. Left canter felt harder than usual for him and right canter was nice. Clearly blocking his RF coffin joint made a considerable difference to him. Vet said he looked like a different horse under saddle. Complete dope on a rope around the yard, lazy on the lunge and yet comes alive under saddle - he said he can see him working over his back, coming through from behind and he looks very nice. Think he might have been wondering what planet I was on telling him about my aims for him before then!
So, we popped a little dressing over his injection site and he is to have a bute daily for next 3days then he will try and come back either Sat or Mon to inject both his coffin joints with a combo of triamcinolone (steroid), HA and precautionary antibiotic. He didn't want to do it today as he'd already put 5ml local in there and distending the joint too much is painful, plus injecting it twice in one day increases the risk of infection. He will have a day off and another 3days of one bute daily and then need to crack on and get him fit. He was happy for him to start eventing once he's lost his flab which I reckon I can get off him with a couple of weeks of intense work. He will test positive for the next couple of weeks due to the steroids in his joint getting into his bloodstream so will be lots of schooling trips and no competing, but then all go for eventing - yay!
Blocking the coffin joint will eventually diffuse to the navicular bursa but he feels that because he showed such a noticeable improvement almost immediately it is most likely that the pain is coming from his coffin joint rather than too much associated with the navicular. This is most likely due to chronic foot imbalance. He felt that one lot of joint injections and continued effort with his foot balance should be enough to make a difference for a long time. He didn't feel that this was likely to be something we should need to do regularly at this stage as he shows no signs of arthritis in his coffin joint currently. He also recommended injecting him with cartrophen - 1 bottle once weekly IM for 4weeks then monthly for maintenance - this should help with the quality of his joint fluid. And he needs to lose weight - he is so fat at the moment!
So we trotted him up and he looked sound (if anything he said his eye was drawn slightly to the RH but that's a whole other can of worms we're not opening right now - he said possibly he has mild spavin but it's not enough to investigate right now)
He asked me what my aims were for the year and I said anything (I had lost all faith he'd ever be ok to do anything) - he laughed and asked again. I said well I'd like to make it to the Regionals in Sept/Oct. So he asked again and I said I'd love to get to some events in June so we could try and get another Regionals qualification - he said that was more like it. No reason not to.
Lunged him on the hard circle and he was 1/10 lame LF on left rein and 1/10 lame RF on right rein which he always has been since I've had him and if anything that would be better than he has been at times in the past 2.5yrs. At this stage vet was happy to send him home but we put him on the lunge in the school and he was surprised that he still looked lame to the same degree and if anything the more we did with him the more noticeable it became.
So, we had a discussion about what to block as the problem was quite mild and might not be very easy to interpret. Decided to block the right fore as this was the one I had felt was possibly causing a problem. He blocked the coffin joint with 5ml intra-epicaine. When he inserted the needle, the joint fluid ran very freely out of the needle - it looked quite watery. Normal joint fluid should be more gloopy (viscous) than that. We reassessed him after 5mins - he was still sound in a straight line. On the lunge on the hard surface he appeared slightly worse on the left fore on the left rein and slightly better on the right fore on the right rein. Similar effect on the lunge in the school.
Put him in the stable for 10mins then repeated. Still sound in a straight line. Lunging on the left rein on the hard he looked possibly slightly lamer LF. On the right rein he also looked slightly lame LF so bigger improvement to the extent it had made him look lame on the LF on the right rein. I went to get his tack after that while vet repeated lunging on the soft then the hard again and his summary was that he continued to look like the LF was more of a problem now.
Then I rode him. Picking him up and riding in an outline I could hide the lameness completely but letting him have his head he was clearly lame on his LF on the left rein, felt ok on the right rein. Left canter felt harder than usual for him and right canter was nice. Clearly blocking his RF coffin joint made a considerable difference to him. Vet said he looked like a different horse under saddle. Complete dope on a rope around the yard, lazy on the lunge and yet comes alive under saddle - he said he can see him working over his back, coming through from behind and he looks very nice. Think he might have been wondering what planet I was on telling him about my aims for him before then!
So, we popped a little dressing over his injection site and he is to have a bute daily for next 3days then he will try and come back either Sat or Mon to inject both his coffin joints with a combo of triamcinolone (steroid), HA and precautionary antibiotic. He didn't want to do it today as he'd already put 5ml local in there and distending the joint too much is painful, plus injecting it twice in one day increases the risk of infection. He will have a day off and another 3days of one bute daily and then need to crack on and get him fit. He was happy for him to start eventing once he's lost his flab which I reckon I can get off him with a couple of weeks of intense work. He will test positive for the next couple of weeks due to the steroids in his joint getting into his bloodstream so will be lots of schooling trips and no competing, but then all go for eventing - yay!
Blocking the coffin joint will eventually diffuse to the navicular bursa but he feels that because he showed such a noticeable improvement almost immediately it is most likely that the pain is coming from his coffin joint rather than too much associated with the navicular. This is most likely due to chronic foot imbalance. He felt that one lot of joint injections and continued effort with his foot balance should be enough to make a difference for a long time. He didn't feel that this was likely to be something we should need to do regularly at this stage as he shows no signs of arthritis in his coffin joint currently. He also recommended injecting him with cartrophen - 1 bottle once weekly IM for 4weeks then monthly for maintenance - this should help with the quality of his joint fluid. And he needs to lose weight - he is so fat at the moment!
Wednesday 1 May 2013
Next step - 2weeks of getting fitness back
Instructions from vet to gradually increase work over next couple of weeks so that he is cantering again by the time he goes back to Liphook 2weeks today.
Wed 1st May
Did some walking in the school over the weekend, yesterday a few circles in trot and today went for a hack. Hack lasted about 30mins and he felt full of it - no tripping, confident on his feet. Did a couple of mins of trotting. Let him trot a few strides on the road on the way back just very steadily and he felt level and happy. Went in the school for 15mins once we were back and did another couple of mins trotting. He was a bit heavy in my hand but he probably used up all his energy being a tit out on the hack as definitely lost muscle and fitness over last few weeks.
Thur 2nd May
lunging with draw reins and tail bandage round his bum:
Tue 7th May
day off
Wed 8th May
Hurt my back on Monday so just lunged him in draw reins and tail bandage get up today. 30mins in total inc 5mins trotting on each rein and a few canter circles. Left rein very happy with him. Right rein had a feeling he just wasn't 100% level but took the draw reins off and he looked fine, no nodding. Still struggling to get him to bend to the inside on the right rein.
Thur 9th May
weather truly terrible - raining and blowing a gale so another day off
Fri 10th/Sat 11th May
Helen schooled him for approx 50mins with 15mins trot inc some pole work.
Sun 12th May
1hr20mins hack on Hankley Common inc 13mins trot/canter work. Had a couple of 30sec canters and he was raring to go (although that means nothing - he always is!) Couple of times I felt he didn't quite feel level in trot but not sure if imagining it. Stumbled a few times - first time he's worked on properly uneven ground with his new shoes on.
Mon 13th May
Helen schooled for 50mins with 15mins of trot and a little canter work.
Wed 1st May
Did some walking in the school over the weekend, yesterday a few circles in trot and today went for a hack. Hack lasted about 30mins and he felt full of it - no tripping, confident on his feet. Did a couple of mins of trotting. Let him trot a few strides on the road on the way back just very steadily and he felt level and happy. Went in the school for 15mins once we were back and did another couple of mins trotting. He was a bit heavy in my hand but he probably used up all his energy being a tit out on the hack as definitely lost muscle and fitness over last few weeks.
Thur 2nd May
lunging with draw reins and tail bandage round his bum:
Not tracking up in this photo as he is so lazy that as soon as I put hand on camera and off whip he went into super slow trot mode. Generally though he worked well. Didn't do too much as hard work for him. Approx 5mins trot work and 25mins in total. He popped himself into canter on both reins for a few strides with no fuss. I thought on the right rein he was still holding himself to the outside slightly so I took the draw reins off to check he didn't look unlevel but he looked fine. In the trot when working properly he was forwards, tracking up well, looked level. In walk he was scuffing all his toes but that's pretty normal for him.
Fri 3rd/Sat 4th May
Helen riding - 45mins in the school and approx 5mins trot. Helen thought he felt level and happy. Worked on square halts and quality lateral work.
Sun 5th May
I'm a day late writing this up but basically we did the same sort of stuff as on Mon 6th May.
Mon 6th May
Left rein trot work felt very nice - worked over series of 5 trotting poles 3 times keeping him stretching down and staying soft over his back. Did some trot-walk-trot transitions and trot-walk-halt-trot transitions. Lots of walk-halts as well. Worked out that if I stop the right fore first he never brings the left fore up square so I need to stop the left fore first as then more often than not he will level up with the right fore. Why on earth I find this so difficult I dont know but I naturally want to stop the right fore first. Something to work on.
On the right rein in trot I had my suspicions over his soundness. I can just about cover it up by working him up into the contact but there's a definite tendency to feel a bit unlevel in his head carriage. He came trotting over to me in the field today and looked dead sound and looked fine on the lunge - also feels fine in a straight line, it just shows up on a circle :( Did the same work in trot on the right rein. Interestingly I find more often that not he throws me off on the wrong diagonal in trot on this rein. He did the line of trotting poles very nicely every time and did some lovely transitions. Then let him stretch down in trot on both reins. Total of about 11mins although that included the halts and walk in the transitions. Hot today though so plenty enough for him. Did some walk LY and HP - need to think about my weight in the HP - I tend to want to sit to the outside. As soon as I shift my weight to the inside he moves across into it. Remember to start in SI and not to let the shoulders lead. Did some HP into walk piri then HP again - good exercise for him.
Tue 7th May
day off
Wed 8th May
Hurt my back on Monday so just lunged him in draw reins and tail bandage get up today. 30mins in total inc 5mins trotting on each rein and a few canter circles. Left rein very happy with him. Right rein had a feeling he just wasn't 100% level but took the draw reins off and he looked fine, no nodding. Still struggling to get him to bend to the inside on the right rein.
Thur 9th May
weather truly terrible - raining and blowing a gale so another day off
Fri 10th/Sat 11th May
Helen schooled him for approx 50mins with 15mins trot inc some pole work.
Sun 12th May
1hr20mins hack on Hankley Common inc 13mins trot/canter work. Had a couple of 30sec canters and he was raring to go (although that means nothing - he always is!) Couple of times I felt he didn't quite feel level in trot but not sure if imagining it. Stumbled a few times - first time he's worked on properly uneven ground with his new shoes on.
Mon 13th May
Helen schooled for 50mins with 15mins of trot and a little canter work.
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