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:

Right fore

Left fore

left fore sole

right fore heel

left fore from the front showing lateral extension

left fore heel

right fore from the front

right fore sole

right hind

left hind

left hind

right hind

Tweseldown BE90 07-07-13

Been through a fair bit with the orange horse recently.  He came up a bit sore in his feet again after his last outing at BCA and we ended up getting his feet MRI scanned as wanted to rule out a more significant soft tissue injury.  A very worrying 4days waiting for results but fortunately it didn't show anything wrong so we changed his shoeing back to his old style of shoes and he seemed very happy again, dragging me round Parwood on Wednesday for some SJ and XC schooling.  Therefore got the all clear to run him at Tweseldown.

Very civilised times - arrived at Tweseldown just after 10am.  Decided to only put hind studs in him as ground didn't look slippery in any way and wanted to do anything possible to avoid extra concussion to his front feet.  Decided to take each phase as it came and see how he felt as ground was on the firmer side than I would like but I know it's a sand base and it does seem to have more give in it than it looks.  Main worry when I walked the XC was all the loose stones in the sand as he seems very sensitive to bruising at the moment.

He warmed up beautifully for the dressage - I swear he just likes showing off at events - he is much softer than he is at home!  Certainly didn't feel like he was feeling the ground at all and it didn't give me the feeling of being too hard.  He will go pottery and short if he feels it's hard so can trust him to tell me if he's not happy.  We did walk squares alternating SI and travers followed by canter squares.  Then some trot-walk-trots and I could actually sit to his trot he was so soft.  Didn't do much as it was about 25degrees.  Gave him a 5mins break then off to do his test.  To me it felt a little lacking in sparkle but it was very obedient.  Depending on the judge it was either gonna be a winner or a loser!  Who knows how it works.

Bit of a break while got changed for SJ then the long walk down to the SJ arena.  Looked at the board and thought there weren't that many before me so cracked on with warming up.  He was quite sticky over the vertical for some unknown reason - it was uphill but he just kept chipping in and we had some uncomfy jumps.  He pinged the parallel no probs though (on the same uphill slope) so not sure if something about the ground with the upright?  Suddenly realised they were taking a load of people before me who hadn't jumped in order so stood around for 10mins while they jumped then tried to wake him up again.  Came at the vertical and got another sticky jump so came round again and held for what seemed to be like a good, sensible uphill stride and he slammed on the anchors last minute.  Was totally not expecting that so when he then reversed and spun I came out the side door twisting my foot at some ungodly angle in the stirrup before sliding down his back legs, landing on my spur and collapsing in a heap in the dirt.  

Picked myself up, ankle was just about in one piece - bit sore and spur a bit bent but ok.  Got a quick leg-up, gave myself a serious kick up the bum, popped the x-pole a bit stickily, but then he popped the vertical nicely so decided might as well go in on that!  Went in saying to my friend if he felt like he was hating it we'd come out but he settled into a nice rhythm straight away and considering most of the fence was on the right rein which would be our worst one he did a lovely round.  Might have ridden a little too forward down the related 5 stride distance but he flew the oxer, perfectly trusting me to go on the long one.  Next fence was a vertical on the same uphill slope as the vertical in the warmup plus a few inches bigger but he jumped it beautifully.  Double went well despite a low flying jet coming right over our heads!  Next fence was a big oxer and as usual I let that get to me and he got in close but never thought about stopping.  Good stride to the last and he just tapped it but fortunately it stayed put!  Then they announced my dressage score of 24.5!!!!  Woweee!  I had been tempted not to run him XC if wasn't in with a shot as he has nothing to prove round there but given he had just jumped a completely normal SJ round for him and I knew the XC was on the deeper sand I felt happy to run him.

Waiting to go in:

Fence 2:

Fence 4:

Fence 5:

Video:

So, quick change into XC gear down by the SJ arena as far too hot to be trekking back up to lorry.

Quick warmup and he jumped well.  The XC course didnt worry me at all but they had made it even more twisty than usual and utilised the few hills they have so it was a bit uppy-downy and a complete maze of narrow, sandy tracks.  Major nap attack at leaving the warmup (as per normal for him) so trotted over to the start box being led!  Once in the box we had a couple of mini rears but it was all about wanting to go rather than trying to run away.  Great shot to the first but then it got a bit hairy as we twisted around the place with poor Monts constantly getting surprised by fence judges sitting on deckchairs round each corner!  He hates anything out of the ordinary.  So, it was a bit wild and not as smooth as it could be but he never hesitated and took a few strides out here and there for fun.  The photo fence is quite funny as he took a complete flier and took me by surprise so have proper hunting safety seat going on.

Last fence:

Last fence:

Coming towards the finish:

And the fabby hatcam video:

So, we finished 8secs inside the time on our dressage score of 24.5 which led the section.  De ja vu!  I hadn't dared hope it would go as well as March and when I arrived and already there was a 26.5 on the board with clear SJ I just relaxed and thought what will be will be.  Never imagined he'd get 24.5!  Nearly fell over when I heard that!  Soaked his feet in iced water for 30mins after XC as well as ice on his legs.

Turns out dressage judge was List One judge Gill Drew which makes our score even better.  She gave him an 8 for submission (that is one hell of an achievement given what he was like when I got him!) and me an 8 for my riding - even more yay!  8 for his right canter strike off (another never thought I'd see the day mark) and the whole sheet was just 7's and 8's with no comments.  To think I was struggling to get sub 40 at the end of 2011!

Unfortunately following day he came up with a large purple bruise on his left heel so can only assume he landed on a stone at some point - I wonder if it was in the SJ warmup.  He was slightly off on that foot for a few days but seems ok again now.  However, I have decided not to run him again until the ground improves (whenever that may be) as I dont want to take any risks with him.  He is seeing the farrier at Liphook on Wednesday so we'll see what we can come up with to try and protect his feet from bruising/concussion as much as possible.  And for now we'll be concentrating on improving our dressage even further.  He has the Area Festivals to aim for then hopefully the ground might improve enough that we can get to our BE Regionals.  Another 24.5 and DC there would go down nicely!  He has not been out of the top 10 in a BE90 since June 2011.  Such a fab horse who definitely deserves to go to Badders.

Course photos:

Parwood SJ/XC 03-07-13

Off to Parwood to check the orange one up for jumping again now usual shoes back on.

Started with a nice half hour hack there to warmup then straight into the SJ arena - the surface is fab there - springy, light, consistent - lovely!  To start with I didn't have enough canter - a proper SJ canter still feels very fast to me.  This meant we had a few jumps where we got in a bit close and weren't making related distances - well in fact I put 5 in a 4 stride distance without it even feeling wrong.  Moved him up a gear and things improved.  They had a treble set up (1 stride then 2 strides), a related 4 stride distance and a dog leg as well as numerous other individual jumps so plenty to practice, mostly around 90cm although 2nd part of related distance was 1m.  Rode without martingale but on top hole of universal with crank/flash as didn't want to have to change too much before going XC.  He really doesn't like any contact on his mouth and just sticks his head higher but as long as I create the canter then let him come to his fences with no interference he seems to jump well and it means if he does get in close he has room to wriggle over the fence without knocking it - all session he just knocked a brick off the wall but otherwise cleared everything easily and we met most things on a good stride - just messed up the wavy planks a couple of times.  Did a little water tray a couple of times which just took him by surprise the first time but was fine after that.

Then we had a little rest before moving onto the XC.  He was really napping towards home which was frustrating but no uncommon for him there - he was also a bit strong and excitable.  I had left him on the top ring of the Universal in case he was sticky but could have done with the bottom ring.  He was really bold with the water, charging through time after time and popping the little log before and after.  Happily popped up and down the steps showing no signs of reluctance to jump up or down.  Did lots of logs, tyres, raised tyres, house before and after water, all very bold, didn't miss a stride once and was seriously taking me to them, never any doubt he'd jump - clever boy.