Cuddly pony. And vet visits.

It's been a little while since I posted but things are going so well. Last weekend was a bank holiday and I managed to ride Echo two days in a row which was really nice- it was warm and sunny and we went for some lovely long trots and she felt strong and fit. She's still doing all road work but Tammy is now starting to use one of her big fields and can vary the surface a bit more. 

We had had a bit of a weird experience the previous weekend where Echo had a massive strop in the school with me. We thought we would take her in there first then go out for a hack, but she was so odd. She stopped dead and refused to move- I managed to get her walking but as soon as I asked for trot she threw her head up and stopped again. This really worried me, as it's what she used to do when her saddle didn't fit- but we'd only just had the saddle refitted and Tammy said it was sitting straighter than ever. 

We took her out of the school for a hack - to see if it was just a school thing - and she felt fine. She was very feisty and spooky, and when I asked for trot she almost cantered the first time, then struck out with her front leg the second time. But she trotted happily and was very forward...so we took her back in the school when we got back and she did the same thing again! Tammy got on, to see how she felt and she was a bit enter, but when Tammy asked her to trot she went into canter and bucked all the way down the long side! I couldn't believe it- she's never done that!

Once she had got a decent trot we stopped. Although considering that was my only ride of the week, it was a bit rubbish! Tammy rode her the next day and she was fine and she continued to be good all week. I can only think that as it was quite late in the evening and she had already had her tea, she thought it was bedtime and wasn't impressed about having to work. The other possibility is that she has been doing quite a lot of school work to build up her balance and flexibility, which might have made her a bit stale. 

So last weekend we just hacked, as Tammy had all week, and she was brilliant. It was lovely to spend a bit of time at the yard- I washed her off and she stood in the sun drying with her equilibrium pad on while I tidied up her feathers and made her look pretty. It was like having a horse again!

This week, the vet came to reassess her and although I couldn't be there, I've talked to him at length about what he saw. He was really pleased with how sound she is, considering how much work she is now in. He said she's much more evenly muscled and the movement looks good. However, he's concerned that we're still getting soreness in her back and that she sometimes drags her offside hind in trot a little. The back soreness builds up in the two weeks between physio visits. It's not terrible, but she starts banana-ing a little and falling out through the left shoulder, and the toe drag gets worse. He would now like to medicate the sacroiliac and lumbar spine to see if that makes a difference. He didn't get much reaction when putting pressure on the sacroiliac but he said that the structures are often so deep that you can't feel them. He's thinking that if we inject anti-inflammatory steroid into it, she might get considerably better, so it would effectively be diagnosing it.

He does, however, want to wait 6 weeks and build up the canter work so that she is in full work before we do anything. I think it's designed to see how she stands up to the canter work - it may make her more comfortable, to start cantering and doing hill work. Tammy, however, is concerned that we will hurt her by building up the work and if he thinks there's a problem, we should medicate now. I'm...not sure. I think we'll compromise- start cantering for a couple of weeks and see how the physio thinks she feels after that two week period. If she's more sore, perhaps we'll medicate then. I am a little frustrated, as I told the vet initially that I thought the problem could be higher up and he said it was very unlikely. Obviously her suspensories did need operating on, as they were fraying, but I hope we haven't been making her sore when the problem was there all along. Ella- the physio- said that there are a lot of studies going on about the connection between hind limb injuries and back pain and that it's almost impossible to work out which came first. 

So we are continuing as we are for a few weeks, building in canter and hill work to really get some strength. Today, there was a truck with a cherry-picker doing work on overhead cables in the middle of our usual route out of the yard, so we had to go a different way, down a long hill and past fields of horses, sheep and alpacas - and she was brilliant. I think it was the first time she'd been that way, as she was quite 'snorty' but she seemed to really enjoy going a different way: she was forward and happy and didn't spook at all. She found coming up the hill quite tiring, so I only did a couple of short trots- partly for that reason and partly because she felt a bit funny on her near fore in trot. When we got back, we found she had a foot full of stones- no wonder she felt funny! 

She was really affectionate this morning- she's never grumpy, but she isn't always really cuddly- there are days when I think she could take me or leave me! But today she want to nuzzle my shoulder and chin- when I was doing her stretches she wanted to rest her chin against my cheek- it was very sweet. This is not a great photo, but I wanted to show the cuddly mood she was in.

Hopefully, next week when I ride her, I'll be able to go for a canter- how exciting!!

Saddles. Again.

I had a saddler out to Echo today - one that we have had in the past, but have not used for a while. Tammy uses her all the time and really trusts her, so I was happy to give it a go.

The first thing she said is that she doesn't think my saddle fits Echo very well at all...considering we had the last saddler out about a month ago this is pretty frustrating! In her opinion it's too narrow and sits too high at the front, which is pinching her shoulders and sitting too low at the back, which, given that that is where Echo gets sore, is a bit of a problem. She was happier with the AST saddle we've been riding her in, although it twists to the left when she's ridden. Tammy agreed to let her widen the tree slightly and fit a balance strap to the right side, to clamp it down and stop it twisting.

I rode her before and after this was done and there was definitely some improvement afterwards. I could feel the saddle trying to twist, but the strap definitely stopped it happening. The saddler wanted to see her trot with the saddle on so I got to have a few trots just on the long sides of the school. She was very funny- she was absolutely dying to have a canter and when I asked her to trot she leapt up into a kind of half canter half trot- she settled after a few steps but it was very sweet. The saddler was pretty happy with it and so Tammy is more confident that she can crack on and do a bit more trot work.

However, this still leaves me with no saddle once we have finished at Tammy's. The saddle we're using is still really only a stop-gap. It'll do while we get her fit and into full work, but we had a bit of a chat about what to do next. The saddlery works quite a lot with Ideal saddles and she has suggested that we look at a brand new saddle where we can select exactly which tree will work and exactly which shape of saddle. Which is great, but expensive. I don't have to think about it for a couple of months, and I will obviously try to sell my Lovett and Ricketts saddle to cover a bit of the cost. It's a big decision, but I guess at least then I will know that it fits her.

So I will be saving my pennies over the next couple of months and in the meantime we will keep riding her in Tammy's saddle and hopefully keep making the progress we have been. I'm riding her again tomorrow morning out on a hack, which will be great. It was so nice to ride her in the school today though... Almost like having my pony back!

I rode my horse- twice!!!

It's been a really good couple of days. I rode Echo yesterday evening and the day before and it's been brilliant to actually ride again.

On Saturday I rode out with Tammy walking with me. Echo felt really good- she's much better in her contact now and felt really nice and straight. I was a bit concerned that her walk felt a bit rushed and a bit '2 time', but she relaxed after a bit and it evened out. She's definitely very forward-going which is great. Having been so spooky the day before when I walked out with Tammy, I was slightly nervous about what she might be like with me on top, but she was actually really good- it was less windy and she only had a little spook at some ducks flying out of the bushes, which I can forgive her for! We had a lovely trot and she felt fit and balanced and like a horse in work again!

When we got back to the yard I rode her in the school for 7 or 8 minutes. She's just doing big circles and changes of rein in walk at the moment in the school. She felt good, but I didn't! It's funny: Echo has always, and I mean ALWAYS thrown saddles to the right. This saddle that we're riding her in now is slipping a little to the left! The left!! This is very odd and has completely thrown me. I'm so wonky from Echo being wonky for so long, that I now expect a saddle to go to the right. What is interesting is that Tammy said I was pretty straight while out hacking but as soon as we went into the school, I sat to the right. I tried to correct myself, but I felt awkward and stiff and Echo didn't feel like she was enjoying me riding her at all.

After riding her, I did all of her stretches and put her Equilibrium pad on. She really loves all the fuss. You'll be pleased to know that she's still the same old Echo though, even with this 'boot camp' training- she broke out of her turnout pen again on Saturday. She didn't do anything silly, just wandered over to Tammy's mum once she'd got out! She's now going out in a slightly bigger pen with a little more grass and yesterday stayed put, which is a good sign. I have warned Tammy that as she gets closer to the summer and is in season more, she will go looking for boys when she gets bored. She's going to consider turning her out with a companion, but Tammy is so careful that she worries she'll get kicked. She's amazingly careful, actually. I suggested she doesn't really need bandaging at night anymore, but she wants to keep them on as she's worried that with her lateral extension shoes she might knock herself. She also gets turned out in all four boots and overreach boots, which she never has before. When ridden, she wears knee boots, because she once tripped over her own feet. Echo gets the best care there that I think she's every had in her life!

So yesterday I arrived at the yard and Tammy said that we were going to ride out with another girl and her horse. Tammy still walked as this girl is very nervous (so would I be if I'd gone through what she has with this horse!) so Tammy has her on a lead rein. It was really good for Echo to be out with another horse though. He was a little spooky and once or twice that upset Echo, as he made he jump, but generally, she was more relaxed with him there. It made her walk a little more slowly too, which improved the rhythm of her walk. We went for a couple of long trots and it was good that Echo didn't mind that Marty got left miles behind as the girl only wanted to do a few steps of trot. She waited patiently for the others to catch up and off we went.

What is really encouraging is how good Echo is with traffic. All the hacking is on roads at the moment and although they're quiet, you do get cars passing. They're all single track roads too, so the cars have to sit behind you until there's space to pass. I'm so impressed that Echo doesn't mind this. When we got back to the yard, I rode her in the school for a few minutes again and it was much better than the day before. I think Echo had got a bit more used to me riding her again and I ha got a bit more relaxed. She felt softer and I didn't feel like I was slipping to one side. We are still getting a saddler out this week, as Tammy is concerned about the saddle we're using. She has a prolite under it, which seems to be doing a good job, but it doesn't sit completely straight and Tammy doesn't want to do any more work in the school- particularly any trot work- until she's confident that it's fitting correctly. We're going to use the saddler that she uses, as they know each other well and Tammy says that she can be completely honest with her and make we keep going until she and the horse are happy. As I said before, I lost a bit of faith in my saddler over the last couple of times she's been out.

So it was a really lovely couple of days of riding. I'm leaving Tammy to it for a few days and I will ride her again on Wednesday. I have another couple of weeks off work, so it will be nice to ride her a few times. I've decided to wait before getting the vet to come and check her again- my insurance year has run out and so I need to be a little more careful about the money. As she's doing so well, I think I'll keep doing what we're doing until Tammy is ready to start some canter work with her, then get Ben to come and see her. Hopefully he'll see a big improvement! :)

Out and about

I went to see Echo this afternoon and had a really lovely time. She's doing so well- Ella, her physio, said her back was the best it's been since coming back into work this week, so things are definitely heading in the right direction.

I went out for a walk with Tammy riding her tonight, which was great. She was a bit spooky and, interestingly, Tammy said she was spookier than usual. I think that possibly has something to do with me being there. She always goes out with someone on foot, but when it's me, Echo seems to be a bit of a wuss!

I would really like her to start going out alone now, as she is getting a little bit dependent on having someone next to her. Tammy doesn't have any sensible horses to hack out with, so she won't ride her in company, which is a shame, but the few times she's tried going out on her own, she's stopped dead and refused to move. I'm well aware that Echo does this, and she makes you look a real idiot, doing big pony club kicks and getting nowhere! However, Echo's napping just becomes a habit. If she gets past it once, she'll probably be fine.

Tomorrow evening I'm going to go up and hack her out with Tammy walking with me. We're hoping to do the complete 40 minute circuit with the full amount of trot and then some work in the school too. Now that her back feels so much better, Tammy is going to build up the school work a little more. I actually think this will help her back, as she's usually much more relaxed and soft in the school. Having said this, I don't want to do too much, as it was probably school work that damaged her suspensories in the first place... It's certainly a balancing act!

I've been giving a bit of thought to where to keep her when I have her back from Tammy's. It's likely we'll go back to where we were before, but I'd love somewhere with better hacking. Well have to see. There are a few places with lots of forest hacking (since that's predominantly why we'll be doing it seems an idea to have good places to ride out) but there are other compromises with these places.

Anyway- I should actually get to ride Echo tomorrow, which will be brilliant!

For now, here's a picture of Tammy on Echo today. It's not a great photo, but walking along beside her, it was tricky to take a good one!

A pony with expensive tastes...

Echo is doing really well at Tammy's - I have been having a crazy few weeks of work recently so haven't been able to get up to see her very much, but Tammy gives me regular updates on her progress. Apart from a few days where her work was cut short due to snow drifts (who'd have thought it's almost April?!) she has been building the work steadily.
She's now doing a 45 mins walk and trot hack every day, with a few times a week doing five mins in the school too. She does in hand poles in a fan, ridden poles in a straight line, a set of stretches every day and has an equilibrium machine on every other day- alternated with a tens machine. She has become really rather attached to the equilibrium. Ella, her physio, sees her once a fortnight too.
She is doing really well but still gets sore behind the saddle- although Ella thinks this is getting a bit better and she loosens off pretty quickly. I'm not going to worry too much for now. It's amazing the difference an equilibrium machine makes though.
Yesterday, when I arrived, she had been ridden in the morning but Tammy had left the pad and stretches for me to do. The pad works for half an hour, pulsating and vibrating the back muscles. When I arrived her back felt pretty solid- I couldn't get her to do any of the 'butt-tuck' exercises as she wouldn't open up through it at all. But after half an hour her back muscles were soft and pliable and she happily stretched through them when I did her exercises.
Since it looks like she may always have a tendency towards a sore back, it is looking like it might be sensible for me to buy one of these pads for when she's back at home and in full work. Blooming' expensive taste that pony has! But seems like it would really help.
I'm trying a different saddler too- one that Tammy uses and knows well. I lost a little bit of faith in my saddler over the last couple of months and with Echo's back she really needs the saddle to be spot on.
I'm away for a few days now, but have two weeks of holiday after that, where I hope to ride Echo myself as much as possible. Which will be quite novel!

Slow and steady

I wish my phone hadn't run out of battery yesterday when I went to see Echo as I'd have loved to show you all a picture of her being ridden.

I went to the yard to meet with the saddler and Tammy who is rehabilitating her because Ella, her physio, has said that she is still really sore at the back of the saddle area. The saddler had come out a few weeks ago, but had gone before Tammy was free to talk to her and she had said the saddle was fitting really well. I wanted her to see Tammy ride in it, so asked her to come out again.

And I'm so glad I did! In the stable, even I could see that the saddle looked good- it sat nicely in balance and seemed to be comfortable. We got out into the yard, Tammy got on, and our problem was immediately clear- the saddle doesn't remotely fit Tammy. Not even close. She sits nearly on the cantle and no wonder Echo is getting sore in that area as the saddle isn't spreading her weight evenly. I got on, and it was fine as the saddle has always fitted me quite well. So it was back to the drawing board, as Tammy is the one riding her.

Tammy had a look for a couple of spare saddles she has and we tried an Ideal first- which was far too wide- and then an AST, which I have never heard of. It is much chunkier than my saddle, but it seemed to fit reasonably well. We tried it and she didn't refuse to move (which is what she does if she's not happy with a saddle!) so we put the prolite numnah back on and took her out for her morning ride.

Tammy always rides her with someone walking beside her, to try to stop her spooking and doing any damage to her surgery site. She is a bit of a wuss on her own but she will build up to this when she's stronger. It was so lovely to see her ridden- and bizarre at the same time. Only about 3 or 4 other people have ever ridden her besides me and it's always very strange. But as you'd expect, being trained by a professional dressage rider, she is looking absolutely lovely. She walks out really well and is keen and happy. She is only doing road work at the moment and this has been a learning curve as she's never really done any before.

She was so weak to begin with that she was dragging her right hind toe a bit in trot, which you can see on her hoof. But the combination yesterday of her being a bit stronger now and in a saddle that puts the rider in balance and doesn't block her behind seemed to have really helped and she wasn't dragging her toe at all. In fact, Tammy said the trot transition was much better yesterday, which is really encouraging.

It's a much longer and slower process than I was expecting, so in many ways I'm really glad that it's not me doing it. Tammy is so careful and methodical. She religiously does her physio stretches and uses the tens and equilibrium machine every day (which Echo apparently loves!) and she is building the work up as she feels Echo get stronger. I hadn't really realised just how long it would take, having had so long out of proper work.

Hopefully, we are building some really solid foundations again and she will be fit and sound in the future. Fingers crossed!

A little Echo time

Echo is doing really well at Tammy's yard - I really couldn't be happier. Tammy has an amazingly organised, rigorous approach and I think Echo is really enjoying the routine there.

She's up to 45 minutes of walking, 6 days a week, and is now starting to do short trots in her work too. Tammy is a dressage rider and so is working very hard to ensure she's straight and not falling out through her left shoulder, as she is prone to doing. I think Tammy is finding it quite a challenge, probably more than she expected it to be, because Echo hasn't been fit for a good couple of years. The stamina for ridden work just isn't there, so she was getting tired really quickly. But she is ridden every day, does about 15 minutes of pole work in hand every day, does specific physio-prescribed stretches every day and alternates between a Tens machine and an equissage massage pad each day. So we are throwing everything at he to get her back to fitness!

She is still a bit sore in her back, so we have a saddler coming out on Saturday to see if it could be saddle related. Over the next few weeks she will build up to a full walk and trot hack of 45 minutes and will start doing some light schooling.

It's such a good feeling that she is starting to head in the right direction. There's a way to go, and I think we will always have to do more hacking than schooling in future, but I'm so looking forward to having my horse back!

I haven't ridden her yet as I thought I would leave that to Tammy for now, but she is really chilled and happy- today I spent an hour or so preening her- trimming her face and front legs. I ran out if time and didn't get a chance to do her hind legs, so she'll look a bit of an idiot for a week... But she loved it- she always loves a pampering session!

Making an executive decision

I have decided to send Echo away for some rehab schooling. This is a slightly painful thing to admit, having done everything with her myself up to now, but we just aren't making the progress that we need to be at the moment so something needs to happen.

So far she has had 2.5 months box rest since her operation and is walked out for twenty minutes twice a day. She started to have some pen turnout but she broke through the fencing quite spectacularly and galloped around the yard like an idiot. I have been riding her a little, but she is being quite difficult and I think I have too much emotion bound up in it. To some extent, we need to just get on with it- but I'm finding this really hard. Added to which, there isn't really anyone who can ride her during the week when I'm away at the place she is. There's a very confident girl who exercises lots of horses at the yard, but because Echo's back gets so sore, she has to be ridden long and low and round and this girl is a great little jockey but not into schooling at all.

So I've been having a careful think and have decided to send her to a fairly local dressage rider who specialises in rehabilitating horses after injury. She comes extremely highly recommended and I was really impressed when I spoke to her -she wants a full exercise programme from my vet and one from the physio too. She will be turned out in a pen and will be hand walked every day too, as well as having specific exercises every day. My plan is that she will be there until about April, so she can start to school her a bit too. She's really tuned in to the horses and will be able to feel if anything isn't right, but won't have all the emotion invested in Echo as I do.

I think my current yard owner is a little disappointed, but it really is nothing against what she has done so far. The fact that I work away during the week and am only here at weekends and holidays means that it's really stressful trying to manage her rehab from a distance. This will hopefully take some of the stress out of it as she will take over the rehab and has loads of experience in doing so. Hopefully I can bring her back to the current yard in a few months time, in full work and able to be a normal horse again - that's the plan anyway!

The idea that she's being ridden and trained by a dressage rider is quite exciting actually - she's someone I was hoping to start having lessons with, so it will be great that she'll know her so well.

And with any luck - she'll be back to looking like this in no time!

Happy new year!

It's been a little while again but very little has changed. It's a long and frustrating process, bringing a horse back into work! Echo has been amazing on box rest- really calm and happy in her stable. We did try turning her out in a small pen but after a couple of days she broke out and galloped around the yard like an idiot so I'm waiting until I can get some sedaline before trying again!
I have been riding her a little, which has been great, but I have a feeling she's uncomfortable with the saddle again, as she doesn't seem happy in her back still- she was great at first but then something spooked her and she nearly bucked me off! Echo is not a bucker so she is definitely telling me something!
She's having physio tomorrow and the vet is coming on Thursday to vaccinate her, but I will hopefully get him to have a look at her back again as well. Then hopefully the saddler will look at her saddle asap- then maybe we can start making slightly more progress!
But for today, we had a little ride in the sunshine, so hopefully we have started the new year a we mean to go on- and, hopefully, 2013 will bring us a little more luck.
Wishing you all a very happy new year!

Quick Update

Just a quick note to let you know that Echo is doing really well after her surgery. She has had the staples out and is now going for short walks - about 7 minutes twice a day so far.

She actually doesn't seem to mind box rest too much. She's pretty bored and quite spooky out of her stable, but she is coping very well. She loves all the extra fuss she gets from being on the yard all day. She has multiple salt and mineral licks, as well as a treat ball that she kicks around her stable to find pony nuts that fall out. The yard owner has also been great about hiding carrots in her bed so she has to root around for them, so she has quite a lot to do.

We are still doing moderate versions of the yoga exercises too and she had physio last week to see if there was any residual soreness - she was quite sore in her back still, but this apparently eased off nicely during the treatment.

Over the next three weeks we will build up her walking to twenty minutes twice a day and then hopefully she should be in a position to be turned out in a small pen for a period each day.

What really sucks is that I am working away during the week now, so I can only see her at weekends. I hadn't really realised how hard I would find this, particularly with her being on box rest - I felt terrible leaving her on Sunday. But she is in a really great place and I trust the yard owner implicitly - she has known her since Echo was two years old, so she's pretty attached to her!

I'll try to get some photos at the weekend.

This photo was taken the day she arrived back from the vets - looks a bit dramatic!