June 2011
Well, the rain has arrived at last! The paddocks looked brown and bare and have greened up nicely in the past week. I was worrying about the Stage 3 exam in a couple of weeks with horses having to gallop x-country on ground like concrete. We were struggling to find ground soft enough to canter on Walton Heath and avoid jarring up horses that were already stretched with more than a dozen off work. All the horses have perked up with the cooler weather and softer ground and are having fun flying round the cross-country jumps!
Harlequin started walking out this week. It is 12 weeks after his colic surgery and he is looking good. He was delighted to be able to canter round a proper size paddock at last and has been very well behaved most of the time when he was turned out in the small area by the office. I took him to Liphook a few weeks ago and they did a laparoscopy to check the tear in the mestenteriuim (membrane in the gut) and it is no longer visible, just some scar tissue, which is great news. It was another big bill, even though they did it at cost, but is worth the peace of mind that this particular problem should not reoccur!
We seem to go through patches when we don't see the vets for weeks at a time, but lately they have been frequent visitors! Splash, Blue, Riley and Rocco are walking out after various injuries and Secret, Clifford and our new horse, Chico received treatment from Jenny Hadland the Physio under sedation for back problems. Despite regular checks from the saddler (Clifford has a new saddle) and the daily use of our Equissage massage pad, tight back muscles are a bit of an occupational hazard for a riding school horse, although 'Trojan' our simulator helps enormously, especially now the new software plots a graph of the rider's position! Chico was very sore and probably had been for a long time as his muscles were really tight and his neck locked. He is a 16 year old horse who has been privately owned and has done everything and can go straight into riding school work. He was very agitated and unsettled when he arrived and charged the stable door, doing a fair amount of structural damage which gave Damone, our Maintenance Man, a daunting repair job! After back treatment and a week in the paddock, he is now totally chilled and settled and loved by everyone who rides him.
A new page for Horse Listening will tell you about how you can work with your horse from the ground. Our first date for this was fully boooked within days of advertising it in the office, but more days will be arranged. Keep watching the website!!
Summer 2010
July 31st we found that Whizz had had a coloured colt during the night. She had not "waxed up" the night before, so I didn't come back during the night to check and we had hired a foaling alarm for her a few weeks beforehand. It should set off an alarm when the mare sweats when she is foaling. It was a breezy night and the alarm did not go off, but she manaaged just fine without us! The vet was in the yard that morning anyhow to stitch up Roulette's hock and Barristter's eybrow (it must have been a busy night!) and thought that the colour of the afterbirth might indicate a slight infection. He gave the colt an antibiotic injection to be on the safe side and took a blood test. The test showed that he did not have any antibodies in his system, which are usually produced by the mare in her colostrum (first milk) to give the foal resistance to infection. I rushed off to the Liphook Veterinary Hospital to collect one litre of plasma which was infused over two days. He looked trather pathetic with a bandage around his neck! It hasn't made him shy of human contact despite having several needles stuck in him and is a bold and friendly chap! He is now fine and fighting fit!
We had both schools refurbished this summer. They were a dustbowl in the dry weather and had flooded badly last winter. They have had the drainage redone and been resurfaced with flexiride, which is shredded carpet and virtually dust free. Hopefully they will not freeze so easily in the winter.
We've had a busy exam season with a good percentage pass rate.