1st - 10th February - Physio, first ride in 20days and then Snow!!

Visit from the Physio

Anna Johnson the equine physiotherapist ( www.annajohnson.co.uk) came to see Guinness on Thursday 2^nd February. Guinness was completely sound (always a relief) and Anna did some stretches to test his manoeuvrability. Using a carrot we encouraged his neck in all different directions. He was slightly stiffer flexing to the left, but only minutely.

I’ve never had Anna before as Guinness has his regular massages from Ros and I know she will always pick up on anything more serious, but Anna was lovely. I must have told her my whole life story before she left and she was very fond of Guinness (even though he made a few ugly faces when she did the ‘slapping’ bit!).She was more than happy for Guinness to come back in to work which was exactly what I wanted to hear!

Guinness and Anna

The weather forecast said the snow was coming on Saturday night so I wasn’t going to take any chances. On Saturday morning after Guinness had eaten his breakfast and I’d mucked out and done all my jobs I got the tack out….

First ride in 3 weeks!

Guinness was so excited, he was prancing up and down in his stable and I struggled to get his boots on as he wouldn’t stand still!  When I lifted the bridle up to put it on, he opened his mouth wide (as if he was saying ‘ahhhhhhh’ in the dentist’s chair!) and couldn’t wait to get out the stable. I was limited to walking for the first few day and I was dubious if I would be ale to keep him in walk! Once I mounted, he marched off down the yard out on to the lane, then saw 2 new red signs just outside the gate and decided to make a run back for home!  Cheeky….. I turned him around and he shuffled sideways past the new scary monsters and we made our way into the woods. Despite the fact he’d not been ridden for 20 days, he was so grown up and well behaved. We marched through the woods on a long rein, and although I could feel the energy beneath me and he was watching the bushes with eagle eyes whenever a bird or squirrel rustled the leaves, he never acted on it. I know I say this often, but I’m so proud of how far we’ve come with our hacking. It took a long time and a lot of patience but I feel he now trusts me as well as respects me and consequently hacking has become a pleasure.

Guinness before the snow came (happy to see his Mummy)

Snow!

As predicted, everything was covered in white the following morning. I rugged Guinness up in the afternoon and took him down to the lunge arena to stretch his legs. I let him loose and we played tag for 10 minutes, first me chasing him then him chasing me. Playing together in the snow was really enjoyable. Guinness spent most of the day tucked up in his stable with lots of haynets and didn’t seem to mind too much.

Widmer in the snow.....so beautiful!

Back to Flatwork

By Tuesday, a track around the edge of the school had been cleared of snow. I was desperate to ride again so Guinness and I did lots of walk and suppling work. We practised our shoulder in, shoulder fore and travers down the long sides. In trot he felt a bit ‘stuffy’ and wasn’t really coming through from behind or working over his back as well as he was before his treatment. He was also evading the contact and twisting his head. It was bitterly freezing and my fingers were numb from the knuckles down, so after 20 minutes we called it an evening.

On Thursday evening we went back in the school. It wasn’t as cold but the snow had started falling again. Again, he felt stuffy and wiggly and I couldn’t keep him straight on the long sides. The slightest touch of my leg sent him sideways and getting the correct bend on the corners was impossible. I could feel I was tensing up and this wasn’t going to help. I realised I was all on my own and it was very peaceful and with the snow starting to fall, I decided to start singing ‘let it snow’. This relaxed me and I let Guinness out on a longer rein (about 1/3 of the way to free walk on a long rein) and just let him march on. He produced a fantastic walk and I just concentrated on keeping my hands really still, sitting quietly, and keeping my legs completely away from his sides whilst asking for the impulsion with my seat. I used the mirrors and followed the track trying to stay as straight as possible. It worked!! Then we did this in trot, all very relaxed on a longish rein. Although he felt like he was really low in front, when I looked in the mirror he was still in a beautiful outline and relaxed in his mouth and in the contact. I concentrated on looking up, keeping an even (if somewhat light) contact in both hands and staying straight both down the long sides and round the corners. In hindsight, lots of lateral work was probably not the best thing to have done on Tuesday as his first venture back into the school after his break and I expect this confused things.

After a walk break, next we worked on our transitions. Guinness was nice and relaxed now and our trot to walk transitions were excellent using only my breathing. Trot-halt –trot and trot-walk-trot all went very well. By the end I had a much more ‘normal’ head carriage and a stronger, consistent contact in both reins whilst still being relaxed. He produced some great trot work as I could really feel him powering through from behind and swinging over his back. I was very pleased.

It reminded me of Sue telling me not to be afraid to take a step back when you need to. If I had pushed on with a stronger contact and tried to push him to go forward more I wouldn’t have got anywhere today, but by taking a step back, allowing Guinness to stretch into a longer contact first and find his rhythm, by the end he was beautifully engaged without ever having to use my leg.

Playtime in the snow!

On Friday morning there was a fresh blanket of snow and Guinness, Big and Remi couldn’t wait to get out and roll in the stuff. 

Remi rolling....

then Guinness had to copy!

I’ll be glad when the snow has finally gone but the boys don’t seem to mind an easy life at the moment!

Lastly, I would just like to say huge congratulations to my friend Ros (www.horseandhand.co.uk) he gave birth to a beautiful little girl on Monday 6^th February. Can’t wait to meet her!

P.s  Feel free to comment - it would be great to know what our followers think of our blog :-)