1/2 hour

in the arena, first time since what, last monday?  not perfect, but better.  got some nice walk and some pants walk.  trot?  in and out. There's really NOT the room, she wants to move on and before we know it we're at a corner, and can't really get balanced in the space, especially as i want to keep her moving forward.  Did get some nice strides on a circle, though, and a couple of times could feel her carrying me momentarily...

I'll be pleased when i get the hacking cracked and can ride up to blackdene and use that arena!

loooong walk on the lines

i did think about trying another hack, but thought that given the nice weather, and the fact that i had time, it made more sense to do some more confidence building on the lines.

The original plan was to try to take her up the track by the drive, which involves a narrow gap between a huge log and a fence (normally the geldings are in that field, but haven't been moved back into it yet after the summer).

That plan went pear shaped when bellows could be heard across the valley (i think, chap trying to get his horse through the gate that i managed yesterday :-)) but molly i think thought the bellows were ahead of her, and wasn't having any of it.

so instead of that we went under the willow, along the lane, over the ford, through the gate on the right beyond that, along the bottom of that field through the (open) gate into the next, diagonally up to the left to the top of the hill at the far corner of that field, turned left along the top, through the narrow gap (open gate) and along the top of the first field, left down the hill back to teh first gate we'd entered through, back over the ford and then round the 20 acre and up the hill to the yard.

One hissy fit from molly, half way round the 20 acre just before the gap in the hedge at the middle, resolved by putting her on a circle

and my mistake?  i kept my jacket on.  I was totally melted by the tiem we got back to the yard.  it had been a bit nippy when we set off, but the sun got up, and most of the ride was sheltered from the wind .. phew.

and she's back out without a rug.  forecast not to rain for a few days....

i'm knackered.

partly good, partly not so good

but overall, i was pleased...

set off to go round the 20 acre again, but molly wanted to turn right at the bottom of the hill not left (had i but known, paul was walking down to do the gate for me ....) anyway, so went through partially open gate to track through woods the opposite way from the 20 acre, but neither of us liked the look of that, seemed a bit plodgy...

so i decided to try up the steep hill, which is the opposite side of the geldings field from teh yard (if i look from my stable, the geldings field goes up the hill away and a track the other side of it) it's very steep, and horrid to come back down if riding...

she didn't want to set off, but did; half way up she clocked the big log further up the hill and stopped (for some reason, she's not over keen on big logs...) but i knew it didnt' block us, and got her going again...

i didn't know there was a closed gate to go through, where you turn off left to a track at the top of the hill through the top of the wood...

impressively, i managed to get her where i could get the gate open from on top YAY - pushed it away, and just enough time to get through before it swings back .. no way i was going to be getting it properly closed again .. but again, no stock that way

so carried on along, pheasants flying about all over the place .. got to a place where there's a small track up to the right that we have been along once a couple of years ago ... molly wanted to go that way, i didn't, the argument resolved into a neck setting marching back the way we'd come .. so back to the gate and i decided to get off and lead, on the grounds that the hill is far to steep to ride down

so that was the not so good bit, but overall i thought molly was very brave to do all that....we'll build on it.

and i think we got the best of the day, sure it';s going to rain again.

we're going to see joan baez tonight at the sage, looking forward to that, so after lunch and getting changed will be off out...

rugged

because it's forecast to rain a fair bit over the weekend and molly doesn't get first dibs at the field shelter....she's got a nice woollyish coat, but that'll not help if she gets very wet ..

friday night, and it was very dull and dark when i got to the yard, in fact was impressed i got there before the rain.. then of course, wouldn't you know it, molly's half way through her tea and the sky is lightening a bit ....as the clouds thinned.

never mind, subject to the weather i'm going to try longlining her a bit further one day over the weekend, and try another hack out (but hopefully, without the saddle slipping !)

equine sports massage

I met Lucinda when I was at Trudi's in the summer, lovely lady, and the massage works a treat, so pleased to find she has a blog....it will be very interesting to follow it!  just a shame she's not up here...

having left the numnah on the line to dry

longlining was again the order of the day (different set of padding under roller).  

round the 20 acre again ,the same unusual route we rode last night, and this time in stead of leading her through the narrow bit and to the gate, i longlined the entire thing.

the only vaguely worrying bit was opening the gate, which had been closed again, molly followed me through and me with my heart in my mouth in case we had a tangle, as i hadn't had the opportunity to collect the reins up even more and/or go back and longline through it.

happily, fisherman coming the otherway offered to close it for me.

after that, no problems at all, and i got back before it got dark..

won't be able to do too much of this in the evening unless i knock 1/2 hour off at the end of the working n day.. really i could do that without problem at the moment, as i'm starting work when i get out of bed whilst partner gets ready for work...(being disciplined about working hours....)

vast improvement

despite the slipping saddle (twice) in that we went (eventually) roudn the 20 acre and a slighly different route to the usual...

first up, Molly more than happy to set off and go down the hill towards the 20 acre... half way down, i thought this feels odd, then realise saddle slipping to left to i gently got off before i fell off, put it back together and led her back up the hill (there being nowhere to get back on down there) and having opened the gate that would otherwise have blocked the route before i did so. I never know why people shut that gate, there's no livestock either side of it..

anyway, back up the hill, got back on and set off again

half way round the 20 acre there's a gap where a hedge used to be; through that, and we could hear hidden voices (hidden fishermen), which rather disconcerted molly .. but instead of wanting to go back, she was happy to turn left and walk parallel to the hedge, instead of the normal continuing along the riverbank (normaly one goes straight on and left at the far end of a square field, this time we turned left and then to go right, the other half ot he square) and ending up back at the normal gate back to the track.   I was singing to us along all of this ..


Approaching this gate from a different angle molly found most disconcerting, and wanted to nap back, and in trying to prevent that i realised the saddle was slipping again so had to get off.

so led her back along the track.

but i was non the less pleased after th eperformance of Monday, so maybe there is hope.


why did the saddle slip?


2 reasons:

1. i hadn't gone back to the pro choice girth
2. i'd rashly sprayed fly repellent under the numnah before putting it on molly. that possibly was a bit daft.  it's now in the wash!
   

so quite happy with that!
and a good thing about working from home, timed it so still done in daylight. 

rained....

all day, just about, with about 10 minutes of not raining and the occasional easing off.  not too bad when i went out, and i was surprised to find molly still warm, had been thinking i should have rugged.  so fed her and that was it, she was damp and would have taken forever to dry.... 

spitting feathers

that mare of mine!

decided to ride today, you never know the further longlining might have been sufficient to persuade her she can go  out on her own and remind her that she'd done so before.

not.

and then she started kangaroo hopping in the arena again and the saddle was slipping even though the girth seemed tight enough..

on the saddle front, think i need to go back to the pro choice girth

on the kangaroo hopping front, god knows, save that the arena's tiny

on the hacking out front.  i'm hacked off.

friend suggested that i get RI to take her out, and i think i'll go with that suggestion. 

busy day!

spent most of the day pulling up the rest of the potatoes that didn't get done a month ago!  it was a glorious day - went out wearing several layers and thick socks, ended up wearing my sun hat!  I knew it would be a long job (it's also an opportunity to pull out loads of stones/broken pottery/etc from that area of the garden) and by the time i got down to molly i really didn't have the energy to do anything much with her!

so i just loose schooled her round the arena, which happily has been rolled etc .. doesn't stop it being deep, but it's a huge improvement on where it had got to!  think she was the first horse in there since it was done last week.

the midges were still out in force as well, clouds of them...i'd have thought the overnight cold would have done for them by now, but no such luck!

good drying day

and that's about al that can be said for it!  the wind was already up when i got up this morning, and still hasn't let up.  bits of trees on roads and verges, NOT a day for doing anything with one's horse.  So i didn't.  but some washing got done, hung out and dried!

getting darker...

will this be the last week we can do anything after work?  i think i'll be ok for at least another week, given that i don't have the hour's drive anymore!  but the nights are closing in (although it seemed worse today as it was cloudy, had rained all morning...)

anyway, i longlined round the 20 acre and back along the track, was about the last one there and don't think anyone else had done anything

molly was very good, more than happy and didn't play up, just as well as my boot lace came undone half way round the field and she didn't want to stop and eat grass whilst i sorted it out!

forecast for howling gales tomorrow, shame as a hack had been planned with a friend...so hoping the forecast is wrong...

willow...

another first - molly walked under the willow with no argument whatsoever!  on the longlines.  very impressed.

now can anyone explain why she wouldn't even thinkg about going that way ridden last sunday?

anyway, only went as far as the ford, as didn't really have time to do much more, but at least we did that much!

hopefully will do a bit more tomorrow, and a hack, hopefully, in company, on the cards for saturday.

pitmen painters

went to see this play tonight - at the Theatre Royal, not the live theatre, but same play - about the Ashington Group.  excellent, hilarious, true  - we wonder quite how it works in other geographic areas where pitmatic is not the local dialect - entire audience howled with laughter throughout save in the serious bits) and they got 4 encores.

the only problem with the night - it was match night, so traffic was at a standstill going in and not much better getting out, but i think the theatre was out a different time to the match

anyway, i'm going to do my month end accounts now, much easier than doing them tomorrow!

oh - and molly? since she's the point of this blog?  i went down mid afternoon, hoping to time my visit with that of barefoot trimmer that new livery has, but that had been cancelled.  given we were going out, i didn't have time to do anything with her so just groomed, massaged, fed and turned out.

saffy....

is my friend Lynne's horse; on the way back from Edwinstowe, i called (by arrangement) for a horsey afternoon as her yard is on my way back - a good time was had by all (including saffy, who will offer spanish walk at the drop of a hat!).

molly was fed her tea whilst i was still on my way back, all sorted.

back to groundwork

well, i thought rope circling, largely because i'd had a bad day, not assisted by yet ANOTHER late lunch!  i get into what i'm doing and forget about lunch, very silly!  and then at 5 pm i'd started sending a very long fax (the email with attachments that i sent middle of last week having bounced back to me today!) and it was just as well i waited as it crashed half way through (overloaded document feeder, methinks!).  so time i got to the yard i wasn't in the fettle for a long walk, and decided on a small amount of rope circling. all good, save that now she's trotting round nicely right rein, but not left... guess she's still feeling that shoulder a touch even if she does look sound, so i'd best not do that again for a while...

when we got up this morning there was no water - turned out the entire village had no water!  didn't' come back on until mid morning, who knows what the problem was!  better not happen tomorrow, i have to put the suit on and go to nottingham to see new client! 

today

She refused to go anywhere save the arena.

back to the longlining, i think!  i wasn't overjoyed, as you can imagine ...

never mind, it'll come!

but i wish the midges would go!  one got me in such a place that i had to go buy two new bras without wire....which i've always disliked. 

treeless saddles and horses backs

occasionally one reads articles about treeless saddles being bad for a horses back .. 

i thought i'd say that Molly's back has improved a lot over the last while since i've been using a treeless saddle (mostly a fhoenix or vogue, after a short spell with a barefoot)

I did that as would never have got a treed to fit molly anyway and having read up on them decided to go that route.

I think if you buy one that isn't from a reputable manufacturer/name, isn't properly constructed (i've seen pics of some horrors with e.g. cardboard where the memory foam shoudl be!) and don't put a proper pad underneath whatever you use, then yes, you'll have problems.  in the same way that if you use a treed saddle that's too narrow/wide/unstuffed/other fault you'll have problems.

but i think a properly made treeless saddle, properly fitted to the right horse with the right pad/numnah, will not be bad for the horses back and in fact will be positively good.

there are some good before/after photos about of horses whose muscles have come back to their proper form/place/state after use of a treeless

and we've all seen awful atrophy at the wither of horses ridden in ill fitting saddles...

guess I'm a convinced convert?

i don't believe they do work for all horses, and i don't believe they suit all riders...

but they're not bad for the back!

and molly?  muscling up much better than she ever has, after some good work in a treeless saddle!  i'll never get rid of the congenital asymmetry, but no more hollows and is looking good!

breakthrough?

we went round the 20 acre on our own, with a fair amount of trot, and NO signs of backing off once we'd got through the gate at the bottom of the hill out of the yard that had been left shut (I never understand why that's shut, there's no livestock either side of it and the gate at the other end is never shut...go figure)

happily, a lass from blackdene was coming the other way and did the gate (and i met her on the way back as well, as we essentially both did a circle, one of us one way, the other, the other!)

and i dropped my stick there, so whilst molly was eating her tea after i walked back down to get it.

I was WELL impressed.  whoo hoo!

i reckon this is a function of 2 things

1.  no bute & cortiflex

2.  longlining 

2 dead mice

in my carrots - the carrots hadn't lasted 5 seconds anyway due to the heat, and needed binning, but 2 dead mice, looked as though they'd fallen asleep actually but hadn't.  

I lunged.  I think she's fine so will ride tomorrow!  hurray!  thinking i'll try round the 20 acre just, we'll see.

but I think we all need those old fashioned veils ladies used to wear - would keep the d*** midges off!

about 2 miles

is what we did tonight, i think, judging by how long it took us .. longlined out the yard, under the willow, along to the ford, over the bridge at the ford, turned right along track immediately past there, right along to the end, then turned round and came back.. was going to go through the gate, but there were cows immediately the other side of it so i allowed molly to turn round there.  She had previously shown a desire to turn round twice, but i'd kept her on the line i wanted... was a good night!

not much done tonight either...

because i went down to wait for the farrier; i went early (you never know) and he turned up late.  so that was 3 hours gone between us, and i had to come home and do some work that i hadn't done ....

but the good news is, i slept until the alarm went off this morning!

because i woke up at 04.30

for some reason (pain in my neck, tingling in my fingers, overheating badly) and then started working at 5 (nothing else to do when awake at that hour, and not wanting to wake partner) i was totally knackered by 5 pm .. no energy to do anything with molly, so didn't, just fed her and applied cream to another wound on her flank.  and didn't notice the skinned inside aspect of her off hind until after i'd turned her out again!  the mind boggles how that happened, but it is just skinned, no wound, no bleeding etc.  i'll have a closer look tomorrow.. but if i'd groomed her i probably wouldn't have noticed until i got kicked for touching it!

hopefully i'll get a good night tonight; i've changed my pillow, think partner had put the wrong one on last time sheets changed...doesn't help.

looking ok, i think...

lunged as planned, and she seemed ok - i reckon, if you've forgotten which leg it was, there's not a lot wrong!

didn't do ahuge amount, maybe 15 minutes if that.

if the weather is ok, i'll longline tomorrow.. it rained a lot today, and is raining now!

i'll get fit

if i keep this up LOL

today we went down the hill and longlined roundthe 20 acre and back along the track.  I led her down the hill, as I wasn't sure about the very narrow track to get down to it - they've fenced off part of what is usually a wide track with electric wire, not sure if it's on, probably not, but it leaves a narrow gap to walk down, and then to get into the 20 acre there's a gate and i'm never sure if it's going to be open or closed.  so the plan was to start the longlining once through that gate.

as it happened, i was pleased i'd led down, as, as we got to the gate, there were 2 horses being cantered towards us ... and the lady in front was struggling with brakes!  happily all ok, molly didn't fret about it and we set off in good style.

and half way round she suddenly went left in front of me to take a different line, whilst still going straight on, and i couldn't understand that .. someone had left a white tub in the middle of the track. probably the gamekeeper, it looked like something he'd have kept pheasant feed in, but silly place to leave it.

when we got back to the track, molly wanted to trot up, but i'm no way fit for that!

and when we got back i made her go through to the arena area, i don't want her in the habit of napping to the stable just because we've got back to the yard, and she was ok with that.


tomorrow i think i'll try lunging, means i can actually look at the shoulder! 

edited to add: this was AFTER we'd had a blackberry picking walk this morning, and it was a gorgeously hot day..

as suggested yesterday

I longlined.

started in the arena walking round both directions.

then put her on a circle round me still in walk; left rein ok, but i wasn't wholly convinced by right rein.

then decided to go out!

back through the yard, prevented her napping back into the stable, through the opening out to the drive and then to go under her bogy willow to the back drive and along to the ford.

she really didn't want to go under the willow!  took me 2 goes, first time she turned round back towards the yard so i had to turn her back and we did get it.  i was very pleased with both of us.  me for having the control to do that, her for doing it.

my thinking - having been reading larri's blog, where she's starting a youngster - is that if i can get her longlining out nicely in front of me, which puts her in the lead, then when i come to start trying to hack out again it SHOULD be a lot easier to get her to go these routes she hasn't wanted to.

this was all bitless; i decided that if we did have a problem, i didn't want to end up with her cutting her mouth as happened once a couple of years ago when everything went totally pearshaped one day.  i'm better at it now, but i think longlining we are better without a bit generally at the moment.

when i got back, saddle agent was there - new livery on the yard has 2 fhoenix's she wanted the fit checking on her horses so had arranged visit for today,  so i spent the rest of the afternoon helping with that (and learning some more ont he subject as well!).

Then i asked agent to have a quick look at Moll, lady does equine massage etc as well, she was very impressed with how much muscle molly has built up and the way the atrophy she had had is filling in.. we think i can get rid of at least one thin shim.  and she suggested a rearrangement of my shimming  .. it was an "of course, doh" suggestion that i should have registered myself!  she says molly's the worst she's had to fit, and that'll be right...between the asymmetry and the TB withers, not easy!

happily the weather was great. 

what shall I do tomorrow?

lunge or longline? those are the choices ... or perhaps a bit of rope circling?  i think not that, a shade too small a circle..

i think, longline in the arena, and think about possibly going round the 20 acre...i think lunging on the circle i'll have might be a bit much unless it's walk only

anyway, certain it is that, subject to it not teeming down of course, Molly will do SOME work tomorrow.

my plan is a week of ground work of various sorts before getting back on again the following weekend... see if the shoulder is right for work before i get on, and groundwork will help me see that...

sparkly mane...

whilst molly's massage pad was doing it's thing tonight i took the opportunity to solocomb her mane (i can't pull, due to a right wrist injury .. too painful!). she was standing with the evening light glinting on her mane and i was struck by how glittery and sparkly it looked! so i took a pic before i shortened it

this isn't as good as if it had been with the proper camera, this was with the phone, but you get the idea...

visit from my mother

later than i'd expected, so i missed the post (oops) and was later than usual to the yard. Where molly was loitering by the gate waiting for me.

last dose of bute tonight, don't suppose she'll be too upset about that, so back to the normal no-bute tomorrow. and then we'll see how that shoulder is when the full on proper bute has worn off.

still fine..

but i am going to hold to the plan of giving her this full week! before starting some ground work/lunging before riding again.

it's a shame; i'd been hoping to have cracked the going out alone malarkey before the nights totally draw in, but it looks like i'll have missed that opportunity! ah well.

continuing sound

appears to be the case. hurray! i still intend to give her the rest of the week before starting to do anything with her but so far so good. at least she seems hapy to go back out again after her evening massage and tea, whcih is a good sign!

and new neighbour has a barefoot trimmer rather than a farrier; didnt' know there was one in the area. i shall investigate....costs more than farrier for a trim ...

why, for interest, do vets dig holes in horses feet when they are brewing an abcess? surely that just lets more muck in even if it does get the infection out?

flying changes

was what i saw molly doing after i turned her out.

My thinking was, she's had her week in, she seemed sound, if i didn't turn her out and then ring the vet tomorrow, I've nothing to say save that she seems ok and then i turn her out and we see what happens.

so, turn her out today ...

she enjoyed that.

when i got her in this evening she still looked sound, so fed her and turned her out again (pleased that she was happy to go, LOL, when she decides she wants to be in nights, she certainly tells me about it)

So hopefully that remains the case. obviously, at least another week off, and if she goes off again, it'll be off to the vets. but so far, so good...

and then we had a busy day, a walk round some local woods we hadn't been to before, visited a building we hadn't even known was there, and i mowed 2 lawns...

It was heritage open days in Durham this weekend, so yesterday we went to the Old Shire Hall and today, the woods and Vane Tempest Hall, which was built for the volunteer militia in 1965, now used by the community centre and war gamers (model war games, that is ... the battle of Winchester from the American Civil War was set up on a table.

haylage...

was the job for the day - up to stanley to get 4 bales of farm grown into the car! cheaper and larger than branded stuff, and its always been good quality from there. shame i don't have a trailer, but have asked a friend if she can take me up and then i can get stocked up for a while. if i could get one of his large ones, i would, but there's no way it would be able to be put into the area i have for storage - they are large, oblong, and hold the equivalent of 8 small ones, and of course work out cheaper.

molly still showing improvement. Tomorrow will be interesting as she won't be in the bull pen, so it'll be interesting to see if she shows any sign of stiffening up in consequence of having less space to move around.

although having said that, i'm not sure how much moving about she's been doing - when i got there today, she was in the stable sheltering from the heat (it's a suntrap in front of our stables, and in the heat we've had the last couple of days, roasting..)

a lot better

Molly wasn't nearly as stiff this morning as she has been, trotted up nicely (friend was there to watch, which was why i did that); perhaps not totally perfect in turning, but still. so we had a very brisk walk to the ford and back, not sure how far it is, perhaps half a mile? i didn't let her stop and eat, i wanted her moving!

ummmm

Molly's at that difficult point where you're not sure if it's improving or not. sometimes looks a bit stiff on that shoulder (and still finding turns not easy) but sometimes moving out quite nicely.

and of course, the Bute is killing the pain, which means one doesn't really have a true picture, IMHO.

ah well.

another £12 on haylage today, plus bag of feed as delivery finally arrived at retailers (there's only one place in the area does the particular feed i feed her!).

pedro almodovar

is a very good director and if any of you get a chance to see one of his films, take it.

Molly?

had her massage this morning after her walk out and whilst i was mucking out. then had another groom this afternoon before i went to the pictures....

TBH, if our friend hadn't already bought the tickets, i think we'd have cried off, but it was a good film!

busy week...

molly being on box rest has made an already busy week busier = we'd booked a night out with friends last night, i had a late afternoon/early evening meeting tonight, which i left an hour early, and tomorrow we've got pre booked tickets for a film that starts at 5.30pm!

so molly had her first day in the bull pen today; i decided, bull pen through the day, her own stable overnight - she seemed happy enough, but of course i don't know how much pottering in and out she did. i reckon she spent most of her time in the stable eating, and certainly hadn't poo'd in the yard area.

she was pleased to see me and get taken out for a bit of grass.

but it's annoying all these evening activities, as i haven't had the time to put her massage pad on at all, since sunday. shame.

don't really have time in the morning, even though i am working at home - although, think i'll work on that and make that happen as well, i feel sure it'll do some good as the vibrations from the massager work through the body, even though the direct effect is over her back.

box rest, bute and walk out in hand

and if she's still not right by next monday, ring them and she'll need to go in for xray and ultrasound.

and in the meantime walk out in hand 10/15 mins 2/3 times a day.

shoulder, definitely - it's a question of which bit is hurt, and how severely. not helped, of course, by having been lunged last Tuesday and ridden last Wednesday (but could see why i did, given that she'd been apparently sound)

so this'll be a not much to report week!

her day in and my new fridge...

Molly was still well lame this morning, i put her in jackie's front yard area whilst i mucked out etc, that's two boxes along, an old bull pen, and she struggled to get there....then took her to leg stretch a little way up the yard (as far as the muck heap, which is about 100 yards? i dunno... and she was struggling, but enjoyed the thistles!

this evening she was much improved, in that when i took her out for some grass she was moving a lot better and on a mission a bit to get round to the field gate LOL

I think i will still ring the vet in the morning though - wonder if they have a portable xray machine?

And fridge/freezer? when i got back from the morning chores, opened the freezer to get something out to thaw out for tea... and the stuff in the top drawer was thawed out. Oops. so this afternoon had to go buy new one (old one at LEAST 10 years old...)

so pulledinto parking space and bloke in next car, on passenger side, said to partner "did you see how close you pulled in?" Eh? i was in the parking space, within the lines, don't see what his problem was. very bizarre.

in the meantime, this morning after breakfast i pulled half the potato crop up. it's currently drying in the dark and to be bagged in used feed bags, more next weekend.

and home grown corn on the cob for tea, yummy.

box rest

she went out yesterday a lot better than she came in today... could barely move the offending limb! i was so concerned i rang the vet .. but by the time they rang back, i'd decided it didn't need an emergency out of hours visit and will ring them monday morning.

something horrid is going on in there! and i wouldn't be surprised if the other horses are taking advantage of that fact (well, one in particular)

so i should have had her in last night, clearly

anyway, she's in now until we sort out what it is and she starts showing consistent improvement.

some hours after i brought her in, she still struggled to turn in that direction to get to her hay....

see how she is tomorrow, there might be something to be said for abandoning use of the hay bar for now and putting the hay in front of the door next to the water

but was pleased I'd gone early afternoon instead of early evening, as at least that meant there was still a feed store open to buy haylage, of which, of course, i had none. .could have borrowed, but you know what that's like ....

it's a shoulder/elbow injury

co-incidentally, one of the best vets in the county was at the yard when i arrived tonight (seeing to friends horse's eye infection, usual fly borne thing)(and i've met him several times over the years!), so i cheekily asked if he could spare 10 and have a quick look.

he agreed immediately it wasn't foot, and after seeing her trot up (reluctantly, she wasn't sound tonight) said she was rotating the leg out therefore looking like top of leg shoulder area.

she clearly was unhappy uncomfortable with the examination at the top of that leg.

so we're hoping it's just a kicked muscle ... 10 days, and if it's not right she should have an x-ray to exclude fracture of the elbow. I think he'd really like her on box rest... i'll see how she does. they're pretty settled at the moment now i think, but a new horse arrives a week monday.

i'm sure it's not the foot

if it was the foot, she wouldn't be nearly so happy to step down into the stable, with the offending limb being first to touch down; and i wouldn't be able to pick her feet out with the ease with which I now can! or it was a bit of a bruise from standing on a stone. hell,you can wind yourself in knots with these things!

so on balance, i'm in favour of muscles being the problem, or some sort of bruising from a kick further up, that i hadn't given her enough time to recover from the in the first place...

anyway, she seemed somewhat better when i walked her in today. Not that i did anything with her, just groomed, picked feet out, fed and turned out again. tomorrow if the weather's ok, i'll try a free school in the arena and see what she's like.

i'm restraining myself from rugging, as she is warm, and she's the sort that, if rugged, will overheat. plus she's now overweight, and becoming hairy as winter coat starts to come in.

i think she's winding herself up to want to be in , but she's staying out as long as possible (we have to have them in overnight by the end of october, no later, yard rules). anyway, i reckon the weather will improve again, it is after all only the beginning of september!

b****r drat and d**n ...

frm which heading, you'll gather Molly is lame again.

she started off sound. trotting quite happily, and in fact quite well inthe small arena...

but i started to think she dind't feel quite right.

got fay to have a look .. who said, when she'd picked her jaw up off the floor (she hadn't believed gaynor when told by her about molly's improvement, she said... ), said no, looked sound...

then molly didn't want to move, but i got her to in walk... not convinced myself.... got off ... stone lame.

pah.

i think this time it's a bruised sole...either that, or we're back to muscle strain or incipient abcess. still no heat, obvious injuries, whatever. and the arena is littered with stones coming up from below (the stuff under the arena surface died some time ago)

but b****r drat and d**n ...

sounder...

i was a shade dubious when i got her in from the field, but stuck to the plan of lunging and she was perfectly sound, not a problem.

i was a problem, lost track of canter - but that might be because we're back in smaller arena as well as the fact we haven't lunged for a week or 2 and she's done nowt since what, week past Friday? week past Thursday...

so i reckon I'll lunge again tomorrow with a view to riding Wednesday - all subject to the weather, started teeming down again as i left the yard and i was pleased it held off as long as that.

Jean, i am still reading your blog but struggling to comment ... we're now at the stage where i should read yours last, or everything locks up and i have to go off blogger altogether for 5 minutes or so before trying again. very bizarre indeed!

phew!

looks like she's just about sound again!

She trotted half across the field towards me when i went out to get her, and looked a lot better,but i took her in the arena for a quick trot round loose to see properly

a LOT better, so it must have been muscle. still, possibly, a very minor twinge left, but i reckon i can start doing something with her tomorrow.

of course, after over a week off, it'll be a couple of days lunging I think before I get on (and of course, that'll give me a double check on her soundness)

and whilst i was grooming her, it was teaming down! and tonight we've had a massive thunderstorm - all coming from your direction, jean, LOL!

BUT, she had a large dried up and not deep cut on her right flank, behind where the saddle flap would be, but i'm not sure what caused it. never mind, it had dried, and i put ointment on it. should be ok.

raby castle

Built by the Neville's in the early 14th Century, owned by the Vanes (lord barnard) since the 1600's. Kitchen the original medieval one .. unfortunately, no internal pics, not allowed!

this is the castle from the car park:

and this is it from the other side, across what they call the high pond:

This is a VERY interestingly clipped yew hedge of some age, in the walled garden:


and in the middle, yes it IS a white stag:

it's on days like this I wish i had a camera with a better zoom .. i almost wished i'd brought out the film camera, which i haven't used for some years but no doubt still works and does have a better zoom...

That was our Bank Holiday sunday trip out; Molly got fed, but not tried in the arena to see what's happening as by the time I got to her it was raining and i got very wet. tea and turned out again. Hopefully (I doubt it, forecast is bad) i'll be able to have a better look tomorrow.

just for vicki

Vickie on Albie, her daughter's new pone, a youngster, out with Sheila on Maggie May (the coloured, lovely mare). sorry for the poor quality, the light was behind them....


Molly in her stable having her massage....

the local library

came up trumps with a copy of Hilda Nelson's "Francois Baucher, the Man and his Method"

cost me £5 as they'd got it in from the British Library, but still...

part read it at Trudi's but didn't finish it, so looking forward to doing so....given that I've read the Racinet, it seems to me I ought to read this as well....

i also asked them for the Charles Harris Notebooks, but don't hold out much hope of those at all....

anyway, it's blowing a gale (good drying weather if nothing else) and when i've finished my cup of tea I shall go down, see molly, and make a start on attaching things to the stable wall (the hay bar, for starters, LOL)

still lame....

not that i tried her in the arena at all .. but when i turned her out again she had to trot away as another of the mares had a go (this was a mare that hadn't been in the herd last year) and she was not sound.

i still think it's the front, but can't find anything in the feet or leg, so it's looking like shoulder...

pants.

still lame...

i brought her in and straight into the arena to see what the trot looked like... stopper her sharpish! she's still not sound.

i still think it's more likely to be bruising somewhere... but have decided that if she's not right by tuesday next week (that is, it'll have been a week) i'll have to get the vet


bummer.

rained....

virtually all day .. didn't finally dry up at all until a couple of hours after i'd fed molly and turned her out again.

supposed to be dry tomorrow, so i'll see how she is in trot then... couldn't really tell anything today...

proper lame...

it's either an incipient abcess, or she's pulled something during the settling in period ... either way, lame .. not noticeable in walk, but VERY clear when i went to lunge her, it not being raining! no heat to be felt anywhere. She wasn't feely when i picked her feet out - indeed, ability to pick her feet out without grief is great, compared to what she used to be like! so i don't think it's a bruised sole, might have noticed that at that point.

got someone to watch her trotting up, and conclusion is it's left fore. so we'll have to give that a few days to see what pans out.

apart from that .. she's all chilled out back in her old box. didn't move bar once, a long way from the bouncing round the box she did at blackdene!

you never know, i may even be able to do some flexions without it all going very pear shaped very quickly!

friends again...

Molly and Scarlet have reminded each other that they ARE friends, so that's really good

what's better ... for the first time since i can't remember when... Molly started to walk towards the gate when she saw me, without me waving a feed dish at her. AND later when i went back round and was talking to one of the fishermen, she saw/heard me and came right over the field to the gate....

So, i reckon, friends again..

anyway, it was raining, quite hard, so i only brought her in, fed and turned out again.

then took some time to start filling my cupboard again ...partly as i'd assumed partner wouldn't be home for a while, and partly because the bees (nesting under the concrete floor.....EEEK) were not about! i know they won't sting voluntarily but that doesn't mean it's not scary having a few flying about at chest height!

gloucester lodge show

not with molly, of course! Nicola with AliG, Vic with Quenza (Luso) - both in the "foreign breeds" class, in hand and ridden; donna & jack, part bred arab in hand and ridden, and another lady I know from various legal courses over the years, with her arab in hand and ridden...

All got rosettes.

Quenza in particular was a superstar - ony backed 4 months ago (by vic), first time out, didn't put a single foot wrong; AliG (PRE) of course is still young and he didn't put a foot wrong either. Jack is only 5 as well - they were all much better behaved than some others!

and it didn't start raining until we were nearly home, thank goodness.

Molly? well i tWAS raining time i got to the yard. She's still in one piece, thank goodness, butnot yet allowed into the herd. But i did catch her first time of asking, gave her a good groom and her feed.

will, probably, do some groundwork/lunging tomorrow... the scabby fly bites are healing up, but want to be sure they're gone before i put saddle back on!

my bad....

i didn't post yesterday.... forgot! haven't actually forgot before.

But i dind't have anything to say, as all i'd done was lift the rubber mats and take down the hay bar...

Today we moved back to Harbour house. I had planned to ride down, but when i got her in i found the flies had been at her back and there were scabs under where the saddle would go, either side of her spine. so they got treated and i walked her down in hand.

the herd is the same one she left last June...but they haven't yet recognised her. but at least when I went back later she hadn't been kicked in the hock!

She was moving wonderfully well, i didn't have the camcorder of course, hadn't even thought about it, but i should have done...

Then spent the rest of the day packing stuff ... and moving everyting up to where it could be easily loaded on to the trailer.

that itself took no time at all, neither did getting it off the other end .. but a lot of sorting out to be done.

i put the mats down, and put everything in the tack room tidily and came away as it was 8pm by then...

and if i hadn't needed a shower when i started, i certainly needed one when i finished, it was warm work!

off to gloucester lodge @ blyth tomorrow to watch/help Nicola & Vic in the luso class and I gather some other friends will be there as well, so will be a long day!

bruised foot

mine, that is.

i'd groomed, picked feet out and went to apply the Effol hoof stuff ... was bent over doing the near fore, first foot, when she went to move and put said foot right on my right foot... full on .. she sharp took it off though and stood like a rock whilst i did the rest. haven't actually looked at it yet, but i'm expecting it turning a lovely colour. but i can still move my toes, so no fractures it seems.

I'll be so pleased when she gets into the stable at HH and settles down, we never had any of this grief there...

it was seriously windy when i arrived and no way i was going to ride in it - specially when i saw the big grey cloud being blown in .. so thought i'd do some flexions, or try to, since she pretended she was more settled and she's been so good about the ridden work lately ...

mistake.

she won't stand still ..

so i stopped that idea, and decided to try some click/treat to get her to stand where i put her.

that didn't work either. despite only getting clicked/treated when she stood still, that didn't prevent her walking forward to look over the door when she wanted and a struggle to get her to move back again.

so i gave up, rather than fall out with her altogether. fed and put her out - it was still raining, having started before i'd started trying the flexions.

hot, muggy and very windy

all at the same time, and really i thought it was too hot to ride (which it was) so decided on some rope circling/ground work stuff .. got to the arena, and everything was blowing around, includin the arena surface! so glad i'd decided not to ride - it might hav eblown the flies away, but we still wouldn't have got a lot done!

definite fly bothering

tnoight i put fly repellent everywhere... including sponging it round her face..but it doesn't work, and it got hotter, and we got hotter, the more we did.

trot is stil good and improving.

trot to walk is coming along nicely, especially if i remember to stay upright, LOL

a serpentine, haven't been able to do one of those for months

didn't ask for canter (she wanted to, and one could argue i shoudl have gone for it, but i want canter when i want canter not when she wants canter!)

walk? that's when the flies bother, of course

so we did some, then some more trot, and finished with trying to start rein back again..

one half step back, praise walk on, then another...

but the flies were all round her head so since we'd done 20 minutes i thought that was enough.

walk? what's that?

Lovely trot. excellent canter (BOTH directions this time). but walk? didn't want to. she's VERY forward, LOL

The initial trot/canter were showing ourselves off to Gaynor (and i hadn't asked for the canter right, well, didn't know I had, if you see what i mean)

after that some more trot and i decided i ought to go back to walk and do walk/trot transitions...

But we were struggling with this....she wants to moooove.....

and then the flies were really bothering her face...

anyway, did about 20 minutes i suppose!

will try again tomorrow, hopefully with more success..

more howling gales...

varying between warm and chilly ...

did a small amount of in hand work - i'm really not totally sold on this, largely because of my body twist, but left rein molly goes round on the bit very nicely - right rein a nightmare for both of us because i'm then on my non dominant side!

but at least we did something.

i left my purple schooling stick on the fixed mounting block - someone's put it away ... that's what i get for leaving sticks about the place. it'll turn up!

windy windy....

after yesterday's long day, didnt' get up until 9! and the winds... pah. at least they were warm winds didn't need a coat even when it was raining.

anyway, thought i'd arranged to hack out at 3. ..... that didn't happen.

molly didn't get her tea yesterday (apparently she wouldn't be caught) and therefore hadn't had her devil's claw and cortiflex.... so she got double devil's claw today. umph.

so today.

now, bear in mind that the arena, on teh opposite side of the road from the yard, has a large grove of trees down it's left hand side as you go in, between it and the yard. so in the yard, it seemed quite calm.

go into the arena, however, and the howling gale was howling, making the tree that overhangs the arena substantially creak and groan (there are branches rubbing against each other, and one came down t'other week when no one was in there thank goodness)

so after getting on, i got off again ... i hate a wind, makes me ratty, which winds molly up, so no point.

so i decided to do some mounting practice at the fixed mounting block ....between showers.

we have one place wher eyou can stand under cover so under there, during a shower, i did about 5 minutes or so of click/treat when she stood still with me at her girth.

it didn't translate, however, to standing still at the fixed block.

at the finish, she was getting sick and refusing to even move forward to be alongside the mounting block ..

when she did she'd stand still. that was fine, got clicked/treated for it; then she'd move on. pah.

so, after about an hour and wanting to finish on a good note, i went back to the arena (which is where my portable moutning block is) - of course the wind had totally dropped! - to be sure i did get on again before finishing for the day. left he gate open.

did get back on after 5 minutes - and rode back to the yard (the arena gate is impossible to open from on horseback)

so that was that.

trudi - i got the potato dish to work! used a different receptacle, and a higher heat (possibly too high, the top burnt, but hey) very tasty too!

a long sad day...

you will recall my post about my cousin Yvonne, who died on the 3rd August.


Today, a large number of people gathered on a lovely hill (in a marquee, in her arena) for her funeral, which was excellently done, a non-religious ceremony and very good. most of us cried a bit, and laughed a bit, and felt our mortality I think...the celebrant was excellent, and the 3 people who spoke did so very movingly

meanwhile, back at the yard - arab mare Susie was PTS today, after a long life (i seem to recall being told, much longer than the vet had thought about 10 or more years ago....) - i forget how old she was, but it was her time. so hugs for HER owner.

lesson report...

is someone giving Molly speed? whizz....

I wasn't as relaxed as usual .. or was more tense than usual? it ended up a bit of a rush... there were three of us to have separate lessons, me, brooker& her ma vicki - and we were chatting away not paying attention and assuming RI would be late .. when RI turned up on time, Oops. Brooke went first, i rushed off and caught molly and only had time to give her 20 minutes massage rather than the usual 1/2 hour!

she didn't much want to walk, we had some attempts at passage and piaffe LOL

trot was good left rein, not so good right rein (I haven't been doing as much right rein, and, as i said, i'd felt tense - shown greatly by the fact that i had to take my stirrups up one and still felt my knees rising, when tuesday that hadn't been an issue at all)

anyway, cantered again, left lead only but did it first time of asking, despite my not setting it up very well today...

we think Molly now needs time to wrap her own head round the fact that whatever it is isn't hurting any more ... and for me to get her more willing to slow down.

but RI agreed she looked like a different horse, said it's the first time she's really seen Molly using her back muscles

so i'll probably have another lesson in 3 weeks or so....

and I'm moving Molly back down to Harbour House (which I left last June, you'll recall, original yard on this estate) - no hills (they've served their purpose in making us SEE the lameness issue!), she's back in the box she came out of which she'll settle in, as she isn't in this one, she knows the other mares there already, and she WILL learn to hack out and back up to blackdene for lessons in the larger arena. Plus, now she's working better and better balanced, we'll be able to get better work in the small arena at harbour house. the move will happen at the end of the month.

did nothing

well, i did a fair amount of work, but didn't do anything with molly save feed her ... was supposed to be going to see a client, so had to feed and go ... she was half way through eating when i got a text cancelling the meeting.

I COULD have gone back some hours later, but decided not to....

whoo hooo

canter in teh arena today

HUGE grin on my face.

Her trot is improving all the time - so much that walk is difficult, but frankly, who cares!

anyway, Brooke was in the arena with her new pony, her mother and another lady and they were telling her the aids to canter .....so by the time i'd heard them several times ithought, sod it, let's go for it.

first attempt was wrong lead, i hadn't set it up

second attempt - YESSSSSSS lovely transition.

so round a circle (well, frankly, only 3/4 of one!) pulled her up and called that the good point to stop.

YAY

forgot to say.. the lesson has had to be rearranged again...

rain cancelled lesson

so that will hopefully take place tomorrow, subject to weather... it rained most of the day, the horses were wet, and if we'd got them in to dry it rained again anyway.

here's what i harvested yesterday afternoon:

enough garlic to feed the street:

and a winter's supply (I hope) of onions

and i think my sweetcorn is about ready...

yesterday and today

First, the more bad news for today - Horace's owner has another horse, Alan. alan came in this morning and needed the vet urgently, he'd been scratching his right eye and had caught the bottom lid, which was open ... she didn't need this! I don't know yet what vet said, will ask tomorrow, but certainly Alan will be in his stable for a while, I expect, whilst it heals.

anyway, Molly yesterday.

I nearly didn't ride - got there and headed into the field to get her, but was stopped and told she'd only been out 15 minutes - they had had to get all the horses in, whilst the man came to take Horace away, and had only just finished turning out. I still hadn't sorted out putting notice of my numbers up so no one had mine or i would have gone down if called.

And of course they were right at the bottom of the hill.

So i decided to thoroughly skip the stable out, moved the bed over, lfted a mat tthat had acquired too much bed underneath it etc, and then they came up the top so i went and got her in.

Gave her her massage, and decided to do some ridden work in the arena - given that i'd lunged yesterday. Mind, by that time I was VERY hot - hot day, and the wooden stables become pretty hot inside!

Planned on 30 minutes but after 20 M had had enough .. but we had done a LOT of trot again, I was very pleased with it, so it was a good session.

Today. Arrange to hack out with Sarah. plan was to find a hill for a canter. We knew which hill, getting there was an issue, as M was backing off the first (shut) gate we came to so badly i had to get off and lead through, and was then a bit stuck ... so walked down the route we'd planned to GAynor's, she came out with some small ladders and held molly whilst I got back on.

Then we had to go through another gate to get into a meadow where you then go under the road bridge to get through to canter up the hil the other side.

Beadsley (Sarah's horse) wasn't having any of that, he was in the lead; then two horses cam along the track beside where we were and molly decided she wanted to be with them (or perhaps thought she shoudl be, don't know....) real pain! but at least i stayed on this time, sarah came back and then (don't you know) molly led beadsely through quite happily

and I cantered a long canter up the hill! first time since I broke my foot back in June 2006! so that shoudl help a lot on the canter in teh arena stakes.

and then to keep me happier, Molly was quite happy to open the gate at the top of that hill back to the road (and blotted her copybook again, as we were going through it she really set her jaw and flung her head about .. but at least we stayed on the verge!)

then back along to the yard on the road, job done. will do more of that now!

Lost a packet of polos though - we were both parched, sarah and i, after the canter but i had polos in my pocket - got one for me, handed tube to sarah who handed it back - and then i thought i'd put it back in my pocket, and then realised i'd dropped it.

then came home for a VERY late breakfast (about 12.30, LOL)

When i got back to the yard after i'd hosed Molly off, standing talking and realised my phone was doing loads of things it shouldn't - playing music, on the internet, doh. switched it off. When i got back home, it wouldn't switch back on again! (I didn't say at the time, but whilst I was in France i'd dropped it down the loo, it had recovered from that, but i think it has given up). So have had to move the sim back into the phone i'd originally lost and then refound (at least I refound it) and resynchronise .. but of course, realised I hadn't synced the phone since it's replacement. So i shall have to replace a few numbers, unless the other phone recovers! doh.

But anyway, pleased with today!

RIP Horace

A Sweet old gentleman of 28, retired police horse, who died in the field today .. owner devastated, of course! despite his age this was not expected....

sorry the pic isn't great, all I have...

not a good week all round, really ...

on a happier note...

I lunged. had intended to ride, but found i'd left the re-charged battery for massager at home...

Anyway, i was very pleased with the lunging efforts as well.

Particularly canter - I was better with teh aid, and Molly was prepared to keep going for 2 circles in canter, both ways, which we haven't managed before. I've never been sure if that was me or her or both, but really i think it must have been something to do with whatever the "no bute" is now sorting out...

RIP Katie

A lovely pony a friend has had on loan for years; a victim of laminitis despite all the best management and TLC

full 1/2 hour...

this timer is a really good idea!

i set it after i'd got on (again, an exercise achieved with no difficulty, the more impressive as i was carrying my schooling whip which i haven't for a good long while!) - really useful tool! if i clip the phone (in case) to the back waist, it doesn't seem to move where if i clip it at the side, it does....gets pushed off.

anyway, essentially more of what i did last night, with added leg yield to see if i can crack that (sort of)

The trot is still good. i did more trot/walk transitions tonight as well as trotting round circles and the full outside track, was very pleased.

i felt more as though she was carrying me, which i haven't felt for a good while, so pleased with that, and she was a bit more accepting of contact as well.

overall, good session.

finished with an asked for turn on the forehand, as opposed to a turn on the forehand done as an evasion!

lesson on Monday - RI was there giving someone else a lesson, and the plan is to have them on the same day and follow each other... save i'll probably only have one every other week, i expect...

mixed day ... RIP Yvonne

You'll gather the day started with the bad news.

My cousin Yvonne died (at 62!) of a very aggressive ovarian cancer ... her brother's a bit shell shocked, we're all stunned, and I imagine her husband's past himself ... The last few years we'd met at funeral's of aged uncles ... Yvonne is the first of "our" generation and it certainly makes you think of your own mortality much more than one might have done otherwise.

The good bit? Molly .... I was able to get on first time with no trouble at all. I set the timer on my mobile for 1/2 hour (not having a watch at the moment, it's the only way!) and first off worked on a nice walk, directionality (diagonals, serpentines, circles); then tried trot.

Well.

somethings working.

round the outside track, 20 metre circle, outside track, 20 metre circle, and that again, then change rein, same again right rein (once, as it's worse rein) and change rein again and back to walk.

Didn't worry about too much contact/outline, i was so pleased to get a forward active trot with no grief at all. AND i didn't lose her shoulders.

YAY.

so a good note to end the day on. I didn't do the full 1/2 hour - after 20 minutes, the flies were really bothering us (probably because we'd been working hard and it was hot!) so i did a little more walk, and called it a day at 25 minutes.

I do like that timer idea, though, why i hadn't thought of it before i don't know....

longlined with a bit...

realised it's been a good while since i've longlined, and an even longer time since i'd longlined with a bit, been doing it bitless more recently (since we moved to blackdene).

So tonight that was the plan, and the bitless being out on loan, bitted she was.

and went relatively well!

I found i have to work a bit harder to get her going, and to get her moving forward and thus keeping her head up and jaw unset ... some of it wasn't so good, but a lot of it was a lot better than we've done bitted in the past, and i was particularly pleased that I didn't feel as though I was being dragged, particularly to the right (whcih mean the jaw wasn't set...)

well that was better...

did some groundwork first, then got on and that was good...it's a bit diffiuclt to use the reins with a 12foot line in your hand as well, though, so i had to get off and get on again using a lead rein... the catch on the 12 foot line is impossible to undo onehanded!

then we did some trot as well, only on the long sides but it was fairly regular and she didn't try and tranter, so i was pleased with that!

something starting to work on that front, then, hopefully the devil's claw kicking in...

but i've smashed my watch, no idea how - the glass is broke, in one place (like a hole)and there are bits of glass inside preventing the hands going round. Hopefully i'll be able to get it mended, although partner thinks i might as well just get a new one! anyway, the result is guessing how long i'm out there with her... but it felt about 3/4 hour. I'm leaving the mobile phone on a fence post to avoid losing it.

good and bad again...

But i shouldn't have ridden.

The good.

she caught easily, and was relatively chilled in the stable. and i got all 4 feet picked out, which hasn't always been the easiest thing in the world with her...

she lunged ok - i had saddle on but not the roller/side reins.

the bad.

the flies were awful in the arena for some reason (not a problem in the yard at all).

an expected issue with mounting (unsurprised about that given i haven't ridden for weeks!)

she set her jaw after a couple of times round the arena and woudln't unset it, and was windmilling her neck

so got back off and lunged again, then got back on to try again, to the same effect

I think i shouldn't have ridden, should have done more ground work, and i need to let the devil's claw etc have a couple more days to kick in to effect before riding again. and back to the combi when i do, i think.

lunging and medicine...

time to start to do somethign again .. i've just looked back to see when i last rode, and it was nearly a month ago!

Anyway, I knew it was a while since I'd been on her, and the last time was dire, so thought that starting off with some lunge work would be a good idea.

I think i said yesterday the mares are now in the field next to molly's stable... anyway, whatever the reason, no problem at all getting her in (mind, it is uphill to the gate, not down!)

and she was much more settled largely, i expect, because she knew her friends were just "there" rather than miles away....hopefully this will help settle her in the stable prior to the winter, since i've missed my chance of a box in the enclosed yard for a while!

as I say, lunged....i was very impressed with her lunging. didn't do too much, but what she did do was good, i let the side reins out 2 holes and she was wrokin through from behind into the bit and had a lovely outline. and no trouble getting canter first time of asking both reins, which was also pleasing. only a half circle each way in canter, but it was the getting it i was after

I'd bought the cortaflex and some devil's claw so put that in her feed.. the recommendation on both is that you give a larger loading dose at the start, but i think i should not have given quite so much devils claw, the brand i bought had an additive in that smelt lovely, but not sure Molly was TOO impressed with it! ended up feeding her the bits left with my hand :-)

Hopefully these will have the desired effect.