Mystery Illness and growing up

Growing up

Looking back over some old photos, I realised how much Guinness has changed since he arrived 18months ago. I’ve included some photos below so you can see how he has changed shape and put on condition.

Guinness 6 weeks after he arrived

Then 15 months later - July 2011

The past few months have not been the best health-wise.

Guinness is having some time off at the moment. Back in April, Guinness had come in from the field behaving very unusually. He had his head low and couldn’t lift it much off the ground. He was also some what wobbly on his feet and seemed very sedate. His temperature was also at the top end of the normal spectrum. It had been a very hot day and I assumed he’d over heated and got dehydrated so I quickly hosed him off all over and stuck the hose in his mouth to get some fluids into him. He perked up quite quickly and I repeated this process for about 30 mins. Then I gave him a small feed with some electrolytes and he seemed much improved with a normal temperature by the time one of the local vets arrived who had nothing to go on but what I told him had happened and he was none the wiser as to any possible cause!

Completely unrelated, Guinness came in form the field on 22^nd June with a large bump on his cheek/jaw. It didn’t seem swollen but was hard and Guinness was not at all bothered with poking and prodding it and he was eating and drinking fine, so I put it down to his molars erupting (I’d had the dentist 10 days prior) and carried on as normal.

Lump on cheek

On the 13^th July, I’d noticed Guinness was balling up some of his food in his cheeks (although still managing to polish off 2 haynets a night!) so I got the dentist back out to see if the molar caps needed a little bit of help on their way out. Guinness also had two baby incisors on the way out, one of which had already come out by itself and the other was hanging out at a peculiar angle. When the dentist arrived, Guinness was very upset when the dentist put the gag on (which he is usually fine which) and he started kicking the walls. We couldn’t get his mouth open more than a centimetre or so and he was clearly in discomfort so we stopped and the dentist rang my vet and explained the situation and arranged for the vet to come the following morning. Before he left though he gently pulled the remaining incisor and out it popped so now I have one of his baby teeth to keep! I went back to work only to get a call from my sister later in the afternoon to say Guinness was showing the same symptoms he did in April. I got Mark Gardner from Park Vets out straight away and he was able to see how little Guinness could lift his head above the ground (using the polo test). The unusual thing is that despite this, as long as you put it on the ground, he still drinks and eats as normal?!?! Mark suspected the cause to be in the neck somewhere and applied pressure in various places to see if he could pinpoint any area that showed particular pain. By now the lump on his jaw had swollen up considerably and this seemed painful to the touch. He was less wobbly, so I walked him (still with head on floor) around a little and then repeated the polo test to the side and straight up. Gradually Guinness could get his head up a little more and after ten minutes or so looked ‘normal’ again. We were both stumped! We decided to X-ray both the jaw and the neck the following day and also test the blood for muscle enzymes as well as anything else out of the ordinary.

Guinness was a superstar having his X-rays. I had to hold his head up, balanced on the end of a broomstick with a block in his mouth. The X-rays showed a possible tooth root infection so he is now on antibiotics however, the neck X-rays looked fine and the blood showed no muscles enzymes and nothing out the ordinary so we are still stumped on the ‘head on the floor’ episode.

A week on and we are continuing the course of antibiotics. He seems fine in himself and can open his mouth normally again now, so it looks like they are working.

June and July - A massive learning curve

5 steps forward 2 steps back!

Things had been going really well recently and I was entered for my first intro at BCA. I had a feeling we weren’t quite ready but as I couldn’t get my money back I thought I would go just to do the dressage and the showjumping. However, this was not to be! The weather was terrible with horizontal rain and lots of it! Despite this though, I found the quietest part of the dressage warm up and Guinness settled well. I always feel a bit of a plum wearing my back protector in the dressage but I never know how he is going to be on any given day, so it’s best to be on the safe side. 5 minutes before I was due to go into my arena, I walked over to the stewards so they knew I was ready and this is when thing started to go downhill. This area of the warm up was much busier and Guinness started disregarding my aids and napping in various directions and kicking out when I asked him to walk on. Time was against us though as I now had to make my way over to the arena. I barely managed to get him to walk over and was attempting to trot around to acclimatise him to the new area when the judge rang us to go in. Clearly she could see I could have done with one more minute! Never the less, I entered the arena and tried to smile as he cantered up the centre line. It didn’t get much better and he did several enormous bucks and I was so distracted at that point I also went wrong in the test. I completed but before I’d left the arena the judge called me over and said she was referring me to the stewards on unsafe grounds and it would be up to me to put my case to them as to whether or not I’d be able to continue. I could have cried!! I put Guinness back on the box and although, after speaking to the stewards who were happy for me to do the showjumping, I was so negative by this point I decided it was best not make things worse at a show, and so we went home. I was so devastated, mostly because never before had I let his…. ‘quirkiness’ get the better of me, but on this day it did and in some ways, I felt I’d let myself down. However, being told by a dressage judge that “In all my years of judging, I’ve never seen anything like it” is more than disheartening, especially when I know what he can be capable of.

Different Horse at home.

Since BCA, at home it’s been like nothing has changed. He is still the cuddliest horse I’ve ever owned, he likes to follow me around the stable and try to get the polos out my coat pocket. He’s my baby and I love him very much. We’ve done hacking as normal, a little flatwork, some jumping etc to keep it varied and he’s been his normal self. I don’t know what happened at BCA but it just didn’t make any sense to me.

I started to think that maybe it was an evasion technique because he only started to ‘mess around’ once his martingale was removed so I decide to be a little ‘firmer with him. Dawn and I went on a hack to the ford one evening and I lead. Guinness had a few moments where he said ‘No!’ I don’t want to go that way but I was firm and gave him a kick or a tap with the whip and he went on. As the ride went on though he got spookier and spookier and played up more and more each time, eventually kicking out and hitting Big. I was mortified! It was like he’d gone into mental meltdown. I stayed firm though and eventually we overcame each obstacle he protested at but it was very hard work.

Low key Dressage

Dawn was going to Pyatts Farm evening dressage to try to qualify for the C&T Champs at Elementary so I decided to go along with her to do an novice test just for a bit of practise and a change of scenery. When we got there it was exactly as I’d hoped; there were only 2 other horses in the warm up and it was very quiet and relaxed. As soon as we entered the warm up arena he felt on edge, and when I went to walk him down towards the other end of the arena without any warning he started leaping all four feet off the ground. I got him going forward in trot and canter but everything was very tense and rushed. Dawn rode Big down the other end as well and I managed to get Guinness down there but he kept trying to spin round and shoot off or buck. I did a fair amount of cantering to try to tire him a little, which he did seem to, but that didn’t stop him jumping around. Consequently the test didn’t go well. He was tense, not going forward, was spooking and napping and looking the wrong way. He struck off on the wrong canter lead and bucked in the mediums. I did have a little more control than I did at BCA but it didn’t make much difference. Once I’d completed the test I ran through it again at the end of the arena he felt comfortable in and he was much better. Then I sat on Guinness and called Dawn’s test and he stood quietly which I was pleased about.

Never the less I felt very disappointed and confused and convinced I must be doing something wrong.

I contacted my trainer Sue Edwards the next day and explained the situation. She said it was all anxiety related and I needed to arrange to go out in a non-competition environment without any stress and allow as much time as I need, so he can get comfortable with his surroundings. She said that even if I’m not feeling pressure, he still feels pressure. She also said that if I ask for a test before he is happy in his environment this just confirms his anxiety. She also said it’s not as bad as I think and it’s very common. So we’re just going to keep it very low key for now, no competitions and no pressure and when we go to great Westwood, we will just get him comfortable in his surroundings before I ask anything difficult of him. Suddenly it seems that it all makes sense as when I was ‘firm’ with him on the hack with Dawn before, he did just get worse and worse (probably because this made him more and more anxious).

So it’s back to softly, softly and lots of confidence building time and cuddles until Sue is next up in July to teach us.

No pressure Cross country training

On Saturday 25^th June, Guinness and I went to Great Westwood Equestrian Park, which is not far from us and has a great variety of fences to practise but it’s also lovely for a hack and a trot and a canter and the ground was lovely and soft. Chloe and Frosty came with us for company, as did James and Francesca who own the livery stables I keep Guinness at. We started by walking around the whole of the first field to get them relaxed, then we had a steady trot and a relaxed canter round the field again so they were all comfortable with their new surroundings and sufficiently warmed up. We started by popping very small logs, just to get them confident. We moved on to a few sloping palisades and then the ditches. Guinness is quite confident with ditches and as long as you allow the rein out so he can look at it, he just pops over it, no matter how deep or wide. We progressed on to some small log piles and up and down some steps, each time asking Guinness to go a little further from the other horses but never asking for too much. Lastly we jumped into the water.

Considering Guinness used to refuse to go anywhere within 20 feet of a water jump, it’s amazing how he’s Mr Cool about it all now. It just goes to show how far we have come together. Before we left, as Guinness was being such a star, I left the others and went round the small route we had just done and jumped the fences we had already practised. This was purely to see if Guinness had the confidence to go off on his own and he was excellent. I’m positive that once it clicks that we always come back to the same place we started, I think he will be much more confident on the XC course. I was very pleased with him indeed.

Saddle fitting and a new bit.

When I first got Guinness I got him a wintec saddle as I was short of funds and at 4, realised he would probably change shape a reasonable amount. He now needed to go into a slightly narrower gullet to accommodate generally building up muscle all over his shoulders and back. I also picked up a new bit for him to try. We’d originally started with our ‘old faithful’ straight bar happy mouth, and moved on to a soft and chunky snaffle, so now I felt he might prefer something a little more delicate in his mouth, so I picked up a loose ring French link which he seems to love. Since BCA, just in case the removing of the martingale had anything to do with it, I have been riding without my martingale. Surprisingly it has been a lot easier than I thought it would be and I’ve been hacking and jumping without it as well as riding in the school.

Jumping lesson with Sasha Arbuthnott-Nicol

Jumping at home can be quite difficult without any extra hands to help, so I asked Sasha, who has held a few training days for my Riding Club to come over and give me a lesson. We worked on lower leg position and maintaining good transitions. I have a habit of thinking after the fence I don’t need to do anymore, but Sasha rightly pointed out, once I have made a few good downwards transitions, then I can let the rein out and praise him. She also said that as he is comfortable at home, this is the place to ask new questions, and keep it very simple at shows or other places where he gets anxious. I really enjoyed my lesson and I will be working hard on my lower leg position in the interim!

Lots of hacking

Since our upset at BCA I’ve been keeping things very low key. I’ve primarily been hacking, in company and alone and been trying some new variations on routes. So far, Guinness hasn’t had any considerable upsets, although occasionally he might stop and take a few moments to ‘assess the situation’ before moving on. He has felt a lot more relaxed and we’ve been able to do most of our schooling whilst hacking, including recently, practising our shoulder-in, leg yield and even ‘baby’ traver in the woods!  We’ve encountered holes in the road, lawn mowers, police tape, and random weird people sitting in the oddest of places and over come them all!

Willow Court Clear Round

A small livery yard approximately 10 minutes up the lane from us holds evening clear round jumping. They have a good selection of fences with coloured fillers and water trays and the owner will put them up and down as you want. It’s great because you warm up in the arena with the jumps and can pop as many as you want before you do your actual ‘clear round’. I spent quite a bit of time walking and trotting Guinness round and he settled very quickly which was encouraging. He popped all the fences first time without hesitation, if anything he felt a little lazy! I was very please indeed.

Lesson with Sue Edwards

At 7am on Friday 8^th July, I hacked over to my friends yard in the village to have my lesson with Sue in his arena. Guinness has never been there before so I thought it would be good practise. It was very rainy though and I got thoroughly soaked, but despite the weather conditions, Guinness didn’t react too much and settled more and more throughout the lesson. Sue and I talked a lot about the recent events and she reminded me that although he is very talented and capable, mentally he is still very much a baby, and just because he didn’t have a problem or find something scary before, doesn’t mean he won’t find it scary at another time. We discussed signals to look for to see how anxious or relaxed a horse is that although seem obvious, can be quiet easy to over look.

Signs of anxiety

Ø       Head in the air and ears forward (startled looking)

Ø       Not inclined to lower head, relax neck or back.

Ø       Not blinking

Ø       Chomping at bit, or not moving mouth at all

Ø       Standing very, very still

Signs of relaxation

Ø       Lots of blinking

Ø       Soft in the neck and back/ supple

Ø       Ears flicking forward and back on to rider

Ø       Gentle, relaxed mouth movements

Ø       Happy to lower head and pick at grass

Ø       Resting leg when standing

New approach

On Sunday 10^th July I decided to put this into practise and I tagged along with Dawn, Joules and ‘Big’ to High Wycombe Riding Club Open Show. We walked in hand, first staying close to the lorry. Guinness sniffed the ground a lot in various different areas. We gradually moved out of the lorry park and over towards the rings. Guinness was very good and although he walked quite quickly, stopped the second I asked. Eventually he started to graze and we stood by the rings and hand grazed whilst I watched Joules in her class. Then I longed him for 15 mins, just walk and trot on both reins, and even though other horses were warming up relatively closely to him he didn’t react badly to it. Then I walked him back to the lorry and despite being on his own, he happily munched on his haynet whilst I got changed and tacked him up. As we were just starting to walk back over the show rings another horse came galloping towards us with a helpless riding screaming “can’t stop!!!!”. I just halted Guinness and stroked his neck and even though the horse came quite close past us he watched, but didn’t flinch. We then went over to the warm up area and popped a couple of warm up fences. The only moment when he spooked a little was when the horses in the showjumping ring beside us cantered round during their lap of honour. We then walked round whilst we waited to do our clear round. I trotted Guinness round the whole ring and then cantered round before I approached the first fence. His legs were a bit all over the place and we didn’t get a great stride on a few of the fences but he didn’t stop and popped them all. Clear round rosette and a huge smiley face to take home. I was very proud of how relaxed and grown up he had been throughout – this is definitely the way forward.

April - June 2011

Dressage!

 On 27^th March we hacked up to our local venue Waylands Equestrian Centre, to attempt our first ever Novice dressage test! The sun had brought a lot of competitors, many of whom also hacked from else where in the village. Medium trot was our main difficulty but most of all I was very impressed by Guinness grown up behaviour and he walked into the indoor arena without hesitation and trotted around the arena and white boards without a second thought. The test was a little “stuffy” in places and we struggle to maintain the rhythm and contact in some of the more difficult movements but I was pleased with a 3^rd rosette.

Cross Country

On 16^th April we went to Snowball Farm to do a novice XC Clear Round. Guinness behaviour in the warm up was erratic to say the least as I tried to keep my cool whilst sitting to what felt like an endless stream of bucks, leaps and rears! Consequently the XC didn’t go well, as Guinness just wasn’t concentrating on the job in hand. We got into a bit of a rhythm after a few fences but that disappeared when we reached the ditch which took a minute or so to negotiate. The water followed shortly after this and a lack of impulsion meant Guinness dug in his heels and refused to go anywhere near it! After 10 minutes (which felt like a year!), and another horse overtaking us I refused to give in. However Guinness can be as stubborn as I am and I didn’t have time to sit out a battle of wits so I dismounted, lead Guinness into the water on foot, lead him out again, and then rode him through! Victory!.... not exactly text book, but he went in the end (massive thanks to Snowball Farm XC stewards who never asked me to leave the course and seemed as relieved to see me get in to the water as I was!). The last few fences he flew like a pro and I got a lovely picture. That is one XC round I will never forget!

Chiltern and Thames Dressage Qualifier

A week later we were back in the dressage arena. We went to Waylands again to compete in a Chiltern and Thames Qualifier run by OBH South Pony Club. My aim was to get my qualification under my belt. As we did Intro and Prelim last year, I was aiming for Prelim and Novice this year. Guinness was beautifully relaxed and 100% concentrating and I was extremely pleased to win the Prelim on 67.5% and come 3^rd in the novice with 64.5% thus qualifying for both. Clever boy!

More water practise

I knew I needed to work on our water issue so Dawn took me over to Isle of Wight Farm one evening after work to do a hack I used to do when Donald (my old boy) was stabled there which finished by crossing a River. It was a beautiful summer evening, and Guinness led the whole hack despite never having been there before and I was very proud. When we got to the water I approached at a strong trot and Guinness slammed on the breaks but I kept my cool regardless of the stunts he was trying to pull. The second he stepped forward I took my leg off and he went right up to the edge before spinning around but I spun him back and a big kick and we were in! YEY!!!!!!!! After that he went in and out fine and we ever cantered along the river bed!  It was a brilliant end to a great ride.

We were on a roll so I went to Rosehill with my good friend Martina and her horse Remy to practise the water and successfully encouraged Guinness in on his second attempt! We also jumped ditches, tyres, steps and a coffin!

CHRC Dressage

The next day we went to Brawlings Equestrian Centre for a Chalfont Heights Riding Club Dressage Competition. We were doing our 3^rd ever Novice and our first ever Elementary! I’ve never done an Eli before, and if it hadn’t been my own riding club I wouldn’t have been brave enough, but Guinness put in a good effort. We fluffed the medium canter in the novice test and we weren’t very accurate with our loops but I got an 8 for my give and retake in canter and managed 66.2% and I was only 0.7% behind the winner so was very pleased with my 2^nd place. In the Eli, Guinness was somewhat lethargic after yesterday’s XC schooling and we were lacking impulsion, but despite a muddled simple change and a very laid back test we still achieved 62.4% which was good enough for 3^rd. On speaking with the judge at the end of the day, she was very complimentary about Guinea Pig (not so complimentary about my accuracy) and was astounded that he was only 5 so I was very very proud Mummy.

Even more water practise!

My trainer, Sue Edwards was holding a XC clinic at Boomerang the next weekend and with the Riding Club team ODE at snowball only a week away, I wasn’t going to miss it. It was a very windy day and lots of horses in a big open space with Guinness can sometimes equal disaster, but as usual, Sue helped me stay calm. As Sue knew our problem was going first in to the water, she let us be the first ones to get our feet wet. Guinness had been brilliant up to this point and felt so full of confidence that when we walked up to the water he walked straight in!!! We jumped in and out, little steps, big steps and not once did he stop – I was over the moon and full of confidence ready for Snowball.

Snowball – Take 2!

Guinness warmed up for the dressage exceptionally calmly and although he backed off one end of the dressage arena a little, when one of the boards blew over and a blue plastic carrier bag blew in to my arena he didn’t bat an eyelid! The showjumping was a different story though and he got very wound up in the small warm up arena, with 7 or 8 other horses whizzing past him. Consequently he was extremely backward thinking when we entered the adjacent showjumping arena and we had lots of poles down. He did however calm back down and I was able to get a few XC warm up jumps in without any bucks. Leaving all the others horses and cantering off in to the distance is still a struggle and he did his best to wiggle his way out of the direction I was trying to encourage him. We had a few silly stops due to lack of impulsion but we kept going. He was extremely genuine at an angled double of green barrels. He’d backed right off and was almost walking when he leapt into the air over the first part. I was so shocked all I could think was “kick” and we climbed over the 2^nd element, when he could easily have stopped. Guinness was somewhat perplexed by the hedge, looking back at me after his first refusal as if to say “but I’m not supposed to jump out my field?!?!?!” but 3^rd time he understood and leap to the heavens over it. He didn’t even hesitate at the ditch and walked straight in to the water! I was exhausted but overjoyed.

Guinness and I in full show gear in the Rehabilitated Racehorse Class (which we won!)

Chiltern and Thames Showing Qualifier at Chalfont Heights Riding Club Open Show

On the 5^th June we went to my Riding Club’s Open Show at Shire Lane in Chalfont st Peter in an attempt to qualify for the C&T Showing champs. Guinness and I have both only ever done one showing class so we were not expecting too much, especially as Guinness had only worn the Pelham a couple of times before. He was hot to warm up (as usual) but soon settled. We had entered the Riding Horse as a warm up to the Rehabilitated Racehorse class which followed immediately after. Guinness was great although my heart skipped a beat when I realised the judge was going to ride!!! No one except me has ridden Guinness in over a year apart from Chloe and even then only on a handful of occasions! Still he was on his best behaviour and I explained to the judge he was only 5 and she was confident so I said it was ok for her to ride. He was so good and he looked smashing. Aside from one very little buck when the judge asked for canter (it was tiny by Guinness standards!) he was a star. We came 3^rd out of 6. In the Rehabilitated Racehorse Class I was somewhat distracted as my son, Joshua was doing his first ever competition in the other ring and I was missing it!! Guinness was again a superstar and the judge pulled us in 1^st, and gave me a lovely comment, saying my individual show was “foot perfect” Thus qualifying us for both classes!! I quickly dismounted after the prize giving and got to the in hand ring, just in time to see Joshua get 1^st place in the “pony the judge would most like to take home” class. I was so proud of both my babies!!!!

 

 

 

January - March 2011

Training
After our first attempt at eventing, we decided the winter would be our opportunity to brush up on each of the disciplines before the start of next season. I qualified for the Chiltern & Thames Dressage Champs at Patchetts in the Intro and Prelim which was a huge surprise! The extra practise really paid off and despite the finals only being the second time Guinness had ever been in an indoor arena, he was very grown up and didn’t spook too much at the banners. When I found out I came 3rd in the walk-trot I literally burst into tears as it was so unexpected and I was so happy!
 

The snow and cold weather in December meant many a dark, drab evening riding in the ménage after work but we managed to keep it as varied as possible with a bit of jumping, pole work or longing. 

Riding Club Team showjumping
On the 6th February our first outing for 2011 was as part of the Showjumping Team for Chalfont Heights Riding Club at BCA. Guinness was very pleased to be at a competition again, so much so that his behaviour in the warm up left a lot to be desired! However we managed a respectable 4 faults in the first round and then unfortunately got quite a few time penalties in the second round, as he was getting so quick I had to bring him back to walk to calm him down and keep it together. Overall though I was pleased.

Cross Country Training (in the rain!)
2 weeks later we made the journey to Tweseldown for our first Cross country training session of the year and this is when I discovered what my boy really excels at! He locked on to every fence and flew everything including some of the intro fences! The water took us a while though and I realised this was the area we needed to work on.

First One Day event of the season
We were entered into the first Aston le Walls unaffiliated One Day Event of the season, and I had entered the pre-intro class. This is smaller than intro (similar in height to a BE80) and was perfect for our first, confidence giving run.

Over the next 2 weeks I prayed for rain everyday and rode through the flooded part of the lane by my yard every morning before work. Then at weekends we hacked over to the Ford in Chalfont st Giles to get Guinness confident at getting his feet wet.

We left on the Saturday and stayed over night at Anna Ross Davies new yard which is only a couple of miles away from Aston. Anna teaches my friend Dawn and she very kindly invited us to her house for dinner. We had a lovely time (Anna is an amazing cook!) but when I had to get up early and platt the next morning I wished I hadn’t had so many glasses of wine!

I was so excited when we pulled up at Aston I could barely speak. I had been training and planning to attend this event for the past 3 months and didn’t really know what to expect from Guinness on the day so I was very nervous.

The dressage was no where near as good as we are capable of at home, but taking in to account the environment, large amount of open space, lots of other horses (some of which were also fresh and spooky so I didn’t feel so bad) and that every few minutes you could see a horse galloping cross country through the hedge, it wasn’t too bad. Note to self: drive my car into the arena at home and school around it!

He warmed up fantastically for the showjumping but that all went out the window after ten minutes of waiting to enter the showjumping arena as Guinness (like myself) can suffer from patience meltdown! This meant that by the time it was our turn he was so thoroughly fed up that he didn’t want to do the showjumping any more at all! Thankfully my friend Rob ran me in (and I mean ran!) and after that it was all a bit of a blur but we went clear and certainly didn’t get any time faults at the speed we were going (aside from the nappyness as we past the arena entrance!).

Now the all important Cross Country, all booted up and buckled in (I do feel like the Michelin man in by back protector and air jacket but safety first!). This followed straight on from the Showjumping so very little warm up required which suited us. I only jumped a couple of the warm up XC fences and then into the start box….. and we were off in a perfect fast but controlled canter over the first 2 fences…. Then halt, rear and try to run away from spectator stand/ flappy flags/ man in yellow vest???? No idea- but managed to waste a minute debating about how scary all these things were. Next over the log and a house and halt! The water!!!!! Guinness started to walk forward but I had to move out of the way for the next competitor (dais jar vu!). Once they were long gone we made our second attempt and…. Hallelujah! Into and out of the water (my expression on the photograph shows my exhilaration/ disbelief). The rest was just a pleasure, flying every fence without a worry, and seeing as I knew I was going to have hundreds of time penalties, I thought I’d really let him out on the home straight and boy did he deliver (too slow to be a racehorse?!? Not so sure…

We got back home around 8.30pm, thoroughly exhausted but all smiles!