1st – 21st January
Guinness and I have been keeping busy the last few week.
I finally got the confirmation from my insurer that Guinness could go to Rossdales for investigation which was great news, although I had a couple of weeks to wait until my appointment.
So we kept ourselves busy. We’ve been hacking although we’ve been limited to the woods as the weather was so cold that the roads were slippery in the frost most mornings. We’ve also been working on our flatwork a lot.
More progress with our flatwork
Guinness is so sensitive in the mouth that he tends to come behind the vertical and back off a proper contact. I’ve found that if I start with 10-15mins walk work this helps. I must ensure I am consistent in my approach and keep and even contact in both reins and only soften when he does, and by constantly alternating between medium walk and free walk on a long rein, I encourage him to take the contact down and forwards more and more. I also use serpentines, and 10m circles to keep the contact and control the shoulders in the turns better although I have to be very conscious of what my legs are doing at all times, as if I use my inside leg at the wrong moment Guinness goes straight into a lateral movement.
I repeat this in trot next, a good working trot again with an even contact in both reins, alternated with long and low. Serpentines and 10m circles to control the bend.
Canter is easier for him and he is learning to sit and bring his hind quarters more underneath him although until the muscles are more developed in this area I only ask for a few strides at a time. As always, frequent breaks to stretch and lots of praise make the work very rewarding for the both of us.
The improved contact has made several things much easier. Not only can I control the shoulders on the turns more effectively but our lateral work has greatly improved. Before, because our contact was a bit ‘fluffy’ I struggled to control the amount of neck bend and as a consequence he would often fall out the shoulder or over-bent. Now I can keep the correct amount of bend and Guinness extends in his crossing over beautifully when he gets the support and balance from me.
Guinness still struggles to keep as much impulsion in the lateral movements as the normal movements so I’ve been using medium trot down the long sides and across the diagonal to energise the trot gain, before trotting up the centre line and leg yielding back to the side. This has done wonders and not only has the rhythm in the lateral work improved, but also it helps me to get enough forward as well as lateral movement (whereas previously we could do the lateral but didn’t travel forward enough).
So overall Guinness is making great progress and when I watch back the video from Patchetts in November I can already see a noticeable difference.
On Wednesday 18th January we took Remi and Guinness to Rossdales. Remi came along to have a check up from the vet who did his kissing spine operation many years ago, so it was nice Guinness had some company for the journey. However, they were stabled in different yards and both Guinness and Remi were noticeably agitated to be separated and were calling to each other constantly. Guinness settled down once I got him a haynet, but Remi wasn’t so easily clamed!
Guinness was thoroughly examined and they walked and trotted him up. Then he was longed on both a soft and a hard surface and the vet, Marcus, said he was perfectly sound (which in itself was a relief!) They took Guinness straight in to have an X-ray of his neck and before long, Marcus was talking us through the pictures. Guinness had a noticeable area between the C6 and C7 vertebra which was irregular and most likely arthritis. Arthritis is not uncommon in young horses, particularly thoroughbreds, and is probably the site of an injury as a foal. Consequently, the bone damage has repaired in an irregular fashion. The most likely cause of the ‘head stuck on the floor’ issue is that the tissues in this area are inflamed and at times, perhaps when he tweaks it and the muscles go in to spasm, the nerve gets pinched.
Guinness stayed at Rossdales to have a bone scan the following day to verify the extent of the inflammation and arthritis.
Guinness in his stable at Rossdales
Although at first I panicked, the treatment and prognosis for this is very positive. First a steroid is injected in to the joint to reduce the inflammation and in most cases this only needs to be done the once. Then physio and exercises are used to manage the area and going forward, there is no reason he cannot continue to do what he is doing and enjoy competition for many years to come. Ultimately, he may start to feel the symptoms of old age in this area first, but hopefully that’s a long way off.
In some ways I was relieved to finally know what the problem was and at least we can rule out that it is anything neurological which was my worst fear!
On Saturday we left early to collect Guinness from Rossdales. I couldn’t wait to see him!!!
Pleased to be bringing my baby home
Last time we travelled Guinness on his own (over a year ago now), he got very upset and was rearing and kicking most of the way. Seeing as he is a bit older now and done a lot more lorry journeys since then we decided he didn’t need a travel companion on the way home. The Vet gave him a little sedative just before we left which definitely helped but we didn’t hear a peep out of him the whole 2 hour journey (except when we had to stop at the petrol station!) so I was very proud of his grown up behaviour. Massive thanks to Dawn (as usual!) who used most of her Saturday driving the lorry to Cambridgeshire and back with me.
'Are we home???'
So Guinness will be on restricted grazing for the next 2 weeks, as we don’t want his head down to long at a time, and he will also be off work but I’ve got Remi to ride while Martina is in the USA next week and it will give me some time to start planning fitness work and which events I want to aim for in 2012!!
