Petplan Equine
Sponsored Rider - Charlotte

January to March Update

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and New Year’s. Well, what a year we have had already, considering we are only three months into it. 2016 started off with a lot of serious ailments being diagnosed with our horses. It started off with George, our homebred horse, going into be scoped for ulcers. We then got a very panicked call from the vets to say whilst he was in the stocks, all they did was lean on his back and he hit the floor. They asked permission to x-ray his back. They did, and the result was three spinal processes touching, and his whole spine having a predisposition to kissing spine. Therefore we made the decision to operate. He is only six years old, and we decided it was worth giving him a chance so went ahead with the standing operation. He is still in rehabilitation, as like everything with our horses, nothing is ever straight forward, and we have had to go completely against the textbook. Instead of walk work, he was let loose around the school to run around. So his rehabilitation has taken slightly longer than usual. The next horse to have a problem was Buddy. He had three sarcoids appear, which he had lasered off. But again, due to things never being straight forward, his skin would not heal properly, and still to this day, they are not fully healed. His skin is so fine that any cuts or scrapes take a long time to heal. Then we get to Troy, who had been fussier in the mouth than usual. So we decided to get his jaw x-rayed, and he was diagnosed with arthritis in his TMJ joints (jaw). This is treated like any other joint, and he has had steroid injections to help! Thank goodness I am insured with Petplan Equine who have been brilliant so far covering the cost of this unexpected veterinary bill.

January was also a month of injuries for me. I managed to injure my wrist with suspected ligament damage, I got kicked in the knee putting one horse on the walker, and got kicked straight out of the walker, and then to finish I managed to break my nose. The horse I was jumping fell through a fence, and hit the floor and I face planted the floor. I am still waiting for reconstruction surgery on my nose!

I am pleased to say that our retired ponies; Linton (35), Buzz (17), Barney (18) and Patch (15) have all wintered well. And so have the foals, who will be one years old in April. Doesn't time fly!

On a sad note, in February we waved goodbye to Empire, who was sold to Holland to further his jumping career. It is nice to know I was a part of producing him from the start, and hopefully he will go on to prove everyone what a superstar he is. We also had a couple of sales liveries in, who both sold to lovely homes, a 16hh coloured gelding called Hero, and a 14.1hh jumping pony called Kismet. They are both doing super in their new homes.

We have not done as many shows as usual, due to injuries and rehabilitation of horses. However, Quainton China Girl has really improved and has started to jump double clears. Her technique is really improving now. Castleview Bouncer made his debut of the year towards the end of March and came 3rd in a speed class, although we were just schooling around the course. We then jumped in our Pony Club team, OBH South, in a Hickstead qualifier. The team went brilliantly and we have qualified for Hickstead, so we have that to look forward to in the summer.

We have two new additions to the clan. Prince Jamie, a 14hh Connemara gelding who is five years old from Ireland, and Max, a 16hh, five year old, warmblood gelding. Both are quite green, but are progressing quickly. We are excited to see how they come on.

Since moving areas, it has been very hard to build up my clients with lessons again, but sure enough, I am now getting busier and busier. I have done two all day clinics, and have many more planned!

I have recently changed trainers, and I am now training with Olympic Eventer Ludwig Svennerstal. He is extremely positive and his lessons are very technical. I have learnt so much from him in such a short space of time.

The beginning of this year, we have had several horses in for schooling, with owners complaining of behavioural problems. It amazes me how many people put themselves down saying it is their bad riding. 90% of the horses we have had in this year have actually had a physical problem wrong with them, which we have pointed out to the owners, and since been diagnosed by vets and treated. It is a shame we have created a culture in the horse industry where we are often negative towards ourselves and assume that we as riders are causing the horse's behaviour.