Happy day

Yesterday I decided would be a good day to check that Filly "accepted a human". It's been a long time since I did this with her as it involves sitting on the horse :) .
Fortunately I recently spent a great day with my instructor Josh watching him start colts. Josh was James Roberts apprentice when we first met. Since James sadly left us Josh has continued his studying with a variety of horseman and has also set up his own business starting and re-starting colts. Unfortunately for me he has left JRFS in Wiltshire and moved up to a place near Aintree. However he was at JRFS for three weeks recently doing a colt start for them and I took the opportunity to spend the day refreshing my knowledge and learning the new things Josh has discovered over the past year.

So, with my knowledge refreshed, I decided it was time to make sure Filly was still accepting of a human on her back.
I ran through the usual "prepare to ride" checklist I follow prior to every ride, except for the saddling part. Accept a human is best done bareback in case the horse reacts badly to the experience. In addition I just used the rope halter and 12 foot lead rope. That prevents me being tempted to pull on both reins if things go badly as I only have one rein !

Rather than bore you with all the details I will just comment that the actual mounting went very well. To start I just jumped up and lay across her back, rubbing the far side of her. Then slid off when she relaxed. I then lay across her again then knelt on the side of her back in an upright position to check she was ok seeing me vertical on her back. Slid off when she relaxed. Then I went to the kneeling position again and as she seemed chilled slid my leg over so I was sat on her. Her head did come up a little at that point, but after just 30 seconds rubbing on her her head dropped and around a minute later she let out a long relaxing sigh. I rewarded that by getting off and finishing the session.

I got the feeling that she kind of said "at last". She was very cuddly as I put her away and seemingly very happy and relaxed. I'm not going to do this again until I'm ready to ride her as that would not be progressive. It was just a quick check to ensure that there was not more extensive training needed before I could start riding her properly. Once she is physically ready to be ridden properly I may quickly do the same then saddle up and get on with it. I'm debating what bridle to ride her in. It'll either be the rope halter and just the lead rope on one side, or the rope halter and clip on reins. We'll see how it goes and how she feels on the day.

I was so excited to be on her again I went around and told everyone who would listen. No one but my wife seemed that excited for me, but they don't know how much it has taken to get to this stage so that's ok :)

A silly accident and positive news from the vet

I made a stupid error the other day and Filly paid the price. I allowed her to roll in the outdoor school too close to the fence. Filly rarely manages to roll right over so I wasn't too worried. That day she did and she got caught up in the fence area. I was very pleased that she didn't really panic, but of course she had to squirm around a lot to get unstuck. Very little I could do to help. Eventually she found her way to her feet and trotted around the school looking a little upset.
I just quietly followed her and eventually she came to me and walked alongside. At least she could move and didn't seem lame. However she had a lot of grazes on her hind legs, none bleeding, but they looked raw and sore.
I quickly took her back to the barn and washed them with hebe scrub to try and avoid them getting infected. That seems to have worked.

However the next day she had a puffed up right hind leg. Spraying cold water on it didn't help much, but walking seemed to reduce it a bit. As 4 days went by we decided to get the vet to have a look. Ben came out yesterday.

He was not too concerned about the leg. Said to keep an eye on it and call him if it got worse.
Whilst he was there he took the opportunity to look at Filly's feet. I was a bit nervous as to what he would say as the abscess holes are now at ground level and there is lots of cracking of the hoof wall around them.
To my relief Ben thought they were doing very well. He did suggest we just rasp of the edges so they weren't sharp, something I routinely do anyway.
He then saw her walk and thought she was moving much better than when he last saw her. He then asked for her to walk on some rough ground so we went on the very stony steep track to the school and back. He actually seemed quite surprised as to how well she coped with that terrain.
I was very excited to hear what he had to say. It was professional confirmation of what I felt to be true. All the hard work is beginning to pay off at last and I can look forward to a horse that is comfortable and happy to move around.

On a side note I went to the Parelli day at Addington which was amazing.
However it cost me a fortune as I bought a Photonic red light unit. They look like a small maglite torch but cost £600  :eek: .
I had researched them a lot in the past, used a borrowed one on myself when I had my hip injury and have friends who swear by them.
However the benefits seem to good to actually be true and I was worried it was "snake oil".
With trepidation, expecting him to laugh at my extravagance, I showed it to the vet. He was actually very positive about them. He said the practise uses the exact same model I have bought and has had some amazing results, especially for flesh wounds, which was handy given the circumstances of his visit  :) .
I mentioned that the seller at the show was a hoof podiatrist and had recommended running it around the coronet band to stimulate hoof growth. Again to my surprise he agreed with that idea even though he had not thought of it before himself. He reckoned it was good for treating any shallow structure in the body but that there was still ongoing research as to how deep it's healing properties will penetrate.