NHeventing Competition and Training Blog: Update

A bruise on his left heel bulb after Tweseldown meant Monts was a bit sore for most of last week so ended up with the entire week off.

Monday we did 10-15mins in the school and then went for an hour's walk round the lanes and he was striding out happily.

Tuesday we went to Merrist Wood to use the indoor school - had the school to myself so hogged the mirrors which was a huge help. It was like a sauna in there though and Monts was hot by the time we got to running through E53 - it wasn't awful but could be much better. He is not as fit as he could be at the moment due to the last few months being a bit stop start so the heat is not helping us. His simple changes are really coming on nicely though and he did some good large walk piris. The leg yield doesn't look as awful as it feels, just need to get him moving across consistently. He was fighting me in the contact during our run through so afterwards just popped him into trot and got him lovely and soft and swinging through. I think I was asking for a bit too much of an Elem outline than he can cope with at the moment so need to remember to just keep it a bit lower and softer, although not to the point he gets strung out and on the forehand. Also, relax!!! When I get tense about it he gets worse. We might not get as far as doing the test on Saturday - we'll see how the Novice goes first. We both needed a shower after that session!

Today we went to Parwood for a SJ lesson with Ernest Dillon. Have to say I wont be going back to him in a hurry. He was quite insulting about Monty going round like a giraffe and when I tried to explain he wasn't like that for dressage he just told me I must be pulling him into an outline. He didn't really want to try and understand why he goes like he goes or listen to any history I had to tell him and definitely didn't care that I'd fallen off last week and my confidence was a bit fragile. I tried to explain I struggle with knowing what the right canter is for SJ was but he never actually explained to me how to get it, just got told to ride more forwards and not interfere with my hands. Keep him bowling forwards round the corners and let him get on with it. Not sure that got me the canter I wanted, just a fast, flat one.

We did a warmup ascending spread which he jumped quite unenthusiastically and 2nd time did his shove in a little one and feel like he might stop then leap thing but that was the only time all session he did that. After that I got on his case and concentrated on really riding forwards and not fiddling whilst still trying to keep some of the feeling of riding into the outside rein that Dan Jocelyn taught me that seemed to work so well. We did a couple of related distances - he made the 4 strides fine and I actually had to hold him back slightly for the 5 stride one. Then he told us this really complicated course with 13 fences and lots of tight turns, bends and turn backs. I am awful at remembering courses so just watching the other 2 jump it wasn't enough. I managed to do the first 6 fences fine and they went well but then got lost on the turnback to 7 at which point got yelled at and told I was basically useless. This rather upset me so I managed to get over 7 and then 8 was a bit oxer which I was worried about but rode it fine. However, having been worried about it I wasn't thinking about my line to the next fence so missed the turn to 9, had to pull him back round, got a terrible line/stride, should have stopped him but he managed to jump it then he ran out at no 10 which was on a related 3 strides and got told to stop. He just upset me with shouting at me and then I lost all focus. He then proceeded to yell a bit more and say obviously I was rich if I could afford to throw away £100 on getting lost in a SJ course. Tried to explain that normally I would walk the course or if not, I would watch a lot of people jump before me as I dont have a good brain for courses and find it difficult to remember them but he wouldn't listen. Was on the verge of tears at this point. It was boiling hot, my confidence has been fragile for a while now (mostly since worrying about Monty's feet) and I really didn't need that.

He got us to go out to the other bit of the school and warmup as I would to come in and jump a course while someone else had a go then it was our turn again. Tried to think positive and remember the course. Got the turnback to 7 but it was tight and lost the quality of the canter so had a flying leap over that one. Manged to regroup for the big oxer at 8 although probably held more than I should but was conscious of tight turn to related distance at 9 and 10 which he made easy that time. Followed that with tight right turn to oxer over a water tray which he had a peek at but jumped and then we were a bit flat and didn't quite get him back enough so overshot slightly the turn to the double but fortunately still got a good shot in and made the one stride fine. Phew.

So, all in all, not a great experience except for the fact that Monty actually jumped well despite the heat. I think he knocked 2 poles down all session so given some of my numptyish riding he did well. And I was pleased that despite everything we got round the final course in one piece. Not done a lot for my confidence in my own riding though and not sure I could list anything that I actually learnt other than what I already knew was bad which was the hooking thing and I still found myself doing it a bit on the final course as I'd got myself in a nervous mess by then :(

Anyway, finished with that and legged it down to Liphook to meet the farrier - Ross Eager. Eamon wasn't there yet so Ross got started. Said it looked like Jake had been trying to do the right thing but just needed different shoes to get there - said things weren't too bad on the most recent xrays and he didn't think at this stage we should be looking at raised heels or anything which was music to my ears. He pointed out how elongated the points of his frogs are and how much foot there is in front of the halfway point so need to bring the shoe back further to support the heel and get the toes back but he hardly rasped anything off the toe which I was pleased with as didn't want anything too radical done. LF is worse than RF which we knew. There was slightly more bruising on the LF sole. He took away all the old sole Jake's been leaving as he said it probably feels to him like he's walking with a sock balled up in his foot. He said he's got it easy as can see what's already been tried and hasn't worked so he took away some sole to try and get more concavity in the shape of the sole and to bring the frog into play without pressure being put on the sole. He said he's aware he has quite thin soles but actually they're very tough and he was really pleased with the quality of them and his frog and felt that really quite minor changes should be enough to make him happier. He said his navicular bone on the xrays is in a good place so just need to support it to stay there. On the LF he shod him slightly wider laterally as well to try and just encourage the foot to fill the gap as it's slightly wider medially at the moment.

Also looked at his back feet and the back left in particular has the same problem with the toe running away and the heel collapsing. Also noticeable on this foot that the frog was pointing quite medially and there was much more foot laterally and he has a longer, more upright medial wall here. He did similar by taking the shoes back on the foot and you can see his first nail hole is where Jake's second one was etc so he's moved the shoe back by a whole nail hole to try and support the heels more.

Eamon showed up halfway through - showed him the nice bruise on his heel bulb and talked through everything with him. He seemed happy with the plan. We then watched him walk and trot and turn some circles and he seemed all good. Banned from eventing for next five weeks while he gets used to his new shoes and anyway the ground is far too hard. Then it's back to see Ross/Eamon again and hopefully then crack on with eventing. Also discussed physio's worries about his back but doesn't feel there's a problem there - much more likely to be secondary to his hocks given his history. Talked about xrays but felt they wouldn't change much so have decided to inject both hocks and see if that helps him - just need to try and fit it into our busy calendar somewhere as 2wk withdrawal period afterwards and am trying to get sheets to qualify us for Area Festivals at the moment. Be good to get it done soon though as might help get better scores at the Festivals if his hocks are bothering him.

Dentist tomorrow for all the boys then BD on Friday and Saturday. I'll need to go back to work to recover from this week off! I really wish it would rain now - had enough of being so hot all the time!

Foot photos: