Graceful Addiction

Grace is at Boot Camp

2009-01-07T15:02:00.000-08:00

Grace and I have endured another tough couple of months. I have not really written anything on this blog because I have felt really negative about our future for various reasons.

I moved all three horses to a fantastic competition yard called Northcote Stud in September, but after a few lovely months there the travelling became too much for me. The yard was 30 minutes from home and a whopping 60 minutes from work on the motorway so I was spending two and a half hours in the car every day and driving over 105 miles! As a result, my riding started to suffer as I had less and less time for riding, competitions and lessons and was constantly rushing around trying to get everything done!

In October she also had her sacroiliac medicated because the PSD had caused some strain through her way of going. Peter Scholefield assured me that it was very common following the injury and she should not require any further treatment. I plan on taking her back in the spring just to have everything checked over, but fingers crossed there will be nothing wrong!

At the beginning of December I moved all three horses to a small part livery yard just ten minutes from home... Bliss!

However, true to form as we moved Grace became really poorly. The day after the move I got to the yard to find her absolutely streaming with snot, coughing and not eating! I called the vet out immediately as she had been fine the previous day and I was embarrassed that I had moved her onto a new yard with foals and mares in foal when she was so bad.

The vet took some swabs and gave her some bute. She did not want to give her antibiotics as it can cause them to become a carrier if it is certain strains of bacteria and until she knew what it was she did not want to treat it. But Grace got gradually worse and the vet had to come out again to administer more pain relief as she simply was not eating! The swabs came back to show she had a nasty bacterial infection in her upper respiratory, but I was instructed to leave it to work its way out, which I did.

Finally the week before Christmas the snot stopped and she looked brighter and back to her old self! What a relief!

Because I have not been able to really get going with hers, I have sent both Hannah and Grace to Jo Wright-Graham, or ‘Boot Camp’ as I call it, for three weeks while I am away on holiday! I have been getting some good reports about Grace via text message, and other than a small blip when the eggbar was digging into her frog (Jo’s farrier has given her a new set of shoes) she seems to have been working well. She finds it difficult sitting back on her hinds, but she is still not strong enough to fully take the weight behind yet, and hopefully as she starts to strengthen up this will improve.

I am planning on picking the girls up on Monday afternoon and have booked a lesson on the two of them in order to get myself up to speed with what they have been doing and I am going to watch Jo ride first. I have given myself a good kick up the bottom and sent off a few competition entries before I came away. Grace’s first one is at Aintree on 24th January doing the two Prelims, and then I have booked her in for two more Prelims at Croft on 6th February. We have a busy few months ahead!

It's never plain sailing...

2008-08-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

Grace has been back from Jo’s for just over a month and true to Grace’s form, it has not all been plain sailing. She was starting to work really well and we had a few competitions booked, but on 2nd August she came in lame on her near fore. There was a small knock on her cannon bone which we assumed was causing the lameness, but that soon went down and there was still quite a bit of heat and puffiness in the leg.

A few days later, the vet came back up and thought we should take her in for xrays as she was literally on three legs and could not move around her stable. The whole event was really upsetting for me because I just did not feel able to cope with another long period of box rest and the emotionally toil it takes on us. Thankfully, the xrays showed that the pedal bone was intact and the vet believed she had some severe bruising to the toe area.

Her shoe went back on two weeks ago and I could start riding her again after a few days of turnout. Since then, I have been working quite hard on getting her in front of the leg and working from behind rather than pulling me down. She has had a few issues with her mouth and been a little fussy in the contact, so she is now in a plain eggbutt JP snaffle which she seems more settled in and is allowing me to ride her more forwards into the contact.

This evening we had a little jump, and seeing as she has not jumped for over 13 months, she was absolutely brilliant. She knocked a few poles, but she quickly learned from her mistakes and by the end was jumping beautifully.

We have a Prelim booked in for Wednesday morning, it will be her second competition since coming back into work with her first one being at Cockshot a few weeks ago. I am just hoping she stays calm enough for me to ride her because occasionally she can be very hot headed and sensitive to the leg and whip.

A quick update on her ridden progress

2008-06-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am sorry for the lack of Grace updates since her freedom, but things have been so hectic that I have been coming home and just collapsing on the sofa!

So, just a quick Grace update as I am supposed to be packing!Grace went over to Jo Wright-Graham's this morning for her 'holiday' (more like boot camp). I was completely stressed out trying to find the time to get everything done in time but somehow managed it. Grace was really chilled out in her stable, which doesn't sound a great achievment but Han was out in the field and she only shouted once. This time last year we would have had a complete screaming abdab and rearing up against the walls!!!

I put her brushing boots and over reach boots on before her travel boots because Jo said she would ride her for me when I got there. I then put her Maxwell halter on as the past few times she has been hesitating slightly which I think is down to the fact that for eight months she has been travelling to and from the vets only. But today there was no need for any pressure, she just wandered up the ramp with me and stood munching on the net while I tied her up even though Han was shouting for her (hmmm, naughty girlie).

As always, Grace travelled lovely and quietly and was as cool as a cucumber when we got to Jo's. I tacked her up and she was still being very sweet and not getting stressy at all. Jo jumped on board and just tested the water but she was soon working her really nicely and Grace just looked fab (que more tears welling up as I am trying to pretend it is rain!!!)

I watched her hinds the whole time and there was nothing at all. The only thing I have noticed is that she is not flexing them as much as I know she can do, but I think that is more down to lack of muscle than anything else and Jo has told me not to worry about it, it is something we will work on over time.Jo really liked her canter, but more than anything she said she has an extremely willing mind which is the best thing a horse can have in the dressage arena. She said she never once argued with her and took everything she threw at her, I felt so proud of my girl!

We gave her a quick rinse down and I left her tucked up in her pale blue Thermatex (she looked so pretty in it) with the strict instructions it must not be left on overnight to get covered in shavings. I left her tucking into a huge pile of hay and her Alfa A lunch. She looked as though she had been there forever, and other than a quick glance and gentle whicker as I drove the horsebox away, I don't even think she noticed I had gone. I cannot wait to see her in two weeks time, I think with the work she will be getting she will look a different horse

Pictures of Grace's freedom

2008-06-01T12:09:00.000-07:00

Grace's life is slowly returning!

2008-05-29T05:04:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks I think I have endured every emotion the human body can feel. The sheer elation at knowing Grace can start the trot work was soon replaced by anguish on the first evening we trotted. She felt like a coiled spring ready to explode at any time, but it felt great because was so full of life.

There have been several explosions which have been quite daunting, but I have managed to remain attached and just kept thinking forwards with her!

On Monday, the emotions were so mixed that I cannot begin to describe them. I could not believe that after almost eight months of box rest I could finally turn out Grace in a field to be a normal horse! However, there was a distinct feeling of dread too, not only regarding her reaction to freedom, but also how my other mare would react to sharing her field again.

Thankfully, after a few laps of the field the two girls seemed to settle well and up until last night there have been no fisticuffs between them. I think Grace tried to assert some authority last night, to which Hannah responded by ripping the rug clean off Grace’s back and chasing her mercilessly. Luckily, Grace has come away with a scratch on her shoulder where one of Hannah’s feet has skimmed the surface, but I know it could have been a lot worse. It was quite nerve wracking putting them both out this morning, but they seem to have resolved their differences now (fingers crossed).

As I have been following the surgeon’s advice to the letter, for the first few days of turnout I have let her have a reasonably easy existence. However, I then upped the trot work in each sessions (I have cut these down to 35 minutes from 45 minutes due to other commitments) and she is really starting to use her hind legs now. Because she has been a bit ‘stressy’ I have been keeping the handbrake on more than I should. So, this morning before work I decided to let the handbrake off and flick her hind legs up with my super dooper whip. At first she was just kicking out at the whip, but soon she started really picking her hinds up and worked really hard!

There is just a little glimmer of hope emerging.

Grace is back!

2008-05-19T02:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a very emotional and exhausting seven months, but we have finally come to the end of it!

On Tuesday morning, Grace and I went up to Hird’s for our 11am appointment. My very good friend Sue came with me for moral support (and to be a shoulder to cry on should the worst scenario become a reality), and for once in my life I actually set off on time!

I had been dreading the appointment all week, which culminated in me throwing my guts up on Tuesday morning through nerves, fear, dread and whatever else I was feeling. After everything I have been through with Grace, I think I expect the worst rather than hope for the best.

Grace loaded quietly as always and travelled perfectly. It still amazes me how well she travels after all the journeys she has made in pain or following surgery. I guess it shows what a genuine girl she really is!

The journey went well with only a small amount of traffic on the M62 following an accident and we got to Hird’s in perfect timing at 10.55am... again, another first, I was actually early!!!

As we arrived, one of the staff came out to tell us that there was a bit of a delay because a horse was having an emergency colic operation. Having been there myself, my thoughts went out to its owners, and we waited patiently while Peter performed the surgery. The staff plied us with cups of tea leaving Sue and I to devour the last of the new Digestive biscuits in the lorry (the ones with yoghurt on top... they are highly recommended).

Finally, after an hour and a half wait, it was Grace’s turn. I think the nerves by this point had hit screaming pitch. My hands were shaking as I undid her headcollar and put the bridle on, and Sue had to take her travel boots off because I had turned to jelly. Thankfully, one of the staff trotted her up for me on the flat because I do not think my legs would have carried me at this point.

Grace trotted up completely sound on the straight, but I did not take any comfort from this as she has always been sound in this situation. The moment of truth was yet to come; she would be put on the lunge and trotted in a circle. However, due to her ‘antics’ when being trotted up in hand, Peter decided to give her a small injection of ACP to take the edge off her.

The ACP worked pretty instantly and Grace seems to go under quite heavily with just a small amount. However, the member of staff put her out onto the lunge and no matter how hard I looked for it, both hocks were moving evenly! I still did not allow myself to breathe, as Peter had not said a word other than instructing the member of staff to change reins.

He put her on the left rein twice which set off alarm bells in my head... what was he seeing that I was not??? However, he turned around to me smiling said she was absolutely fine, looked great in fact, and that she no longer needed to come back to the practise!!!

Peter explained that she did look a bit stiff, but nothing else could be expected after seven months of box rest. I said I could see that and asked whether it was anything to be concerned about, to which he replied that it was not.

So, she is now walking for 45 minutes and having 12 long sides of trot incorporated into this for two weeks. After this, she is allowed to be turned out in a normal sized paddock which is fantastic news! However, the piece of news which just brought tears to my eyes is that once she starts the turnout, I have to let her go easy for a few days and then she is to be brought back into work over a 6 weeks period just like any other horse!!! He even encouraged me to work with a trainer towards the end of this period to make sure I am not backing off her, as I have to be very firm and make sure she engages her hind legs to ensure maximum healing. The scar tissue will still be tight at the moment, and we will hit some sticky bits, but he has assured me that there is no stopping her now!

Ode to Sedalin!

2008-04-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

After a long day competing, my lovely husband came up to the yard to meet me for some moral support... It was the first time in over 6 weeks (with 4 weeks complete box rest) that I had ridden Grace.

On Saturday I had walked her to the end of the yard and back a few times, and let's just say I was glad I was not sat on her!!! I have never seen a buck like it in all my life. Because of this, I decided Sedalin was the best way forwards to ensure I was safe, but more importantly that Grace did not cause any more damage to her legs after the operation.

I gave her 4ml as the vet had suggested, and 40 minutes later when I got on her she had heavy eyes and seemed to be quite out of it. I walked her into the arena, but as our feet touched the surface she came around abit, enough for me to feel happy getting on her.

She had a few spooks, but whereas that would have been an explosion of bucks, rears, spins and squealing, it was a small spook and nothing more. Thank goodness for Sedalin!

Tonight I am going to go it alone, but I am also going to give her 2ml as I still felt she was a bit too sedated at first... by the end she was coming around, so I think 2ml will just take the edge off her enough for me to walk her around for 20 minutes.

My husband couldn't stop laughing at me because I was blubbering all the way around I never thought we would get back to this stage, and Grace felt so fantastic, I had forgotten just how beautiful her walk is!!! The bounce and ping just made me realise how determined I am to get her back in work and out there competing! She is such a natural mover, and I know she has so much more yet to offer.

Some photographs of Grace at home

2008-04-05T05:48:00.001-07:00

She is home!

2008-03-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been incredibly stressful! In fact, I do not think I have been ‘normal’ since November 2007 when this all started. I feel as though I have been on a complete emotional rollercoaster and to a certain extent I am still riding on it.

The good news is that Grace is now home. She travelled perfectly in the horsebox and came off the ramp incredibly quickly at the other end, she seemed so pleased to be home. Since then, Grace has been on complete box rest, with a tiny respite of being tied up outside her box while I muck out and put her bed down. She has been incredibly well behaved, if anything she has been quite quiet and calm. She is on Equine America’s So Kalm which I do think is helping, but I also think the fact she has been in this state since November has made her an old hand at it!

The first part of the recovery is four weeks of box rest which will conclude on 23rd April when I can then start walking her on board. Hopefully, with the help of ACP we will be walking for 20 minutes for a period of three weeks, increasing to 35 minutes by the end. After this, she will return to the surgery for a reassessment where she will hopefully be 100% sound!

The vet came up on Friday to change her bandages for the first time and there is one further change required tomorrow (Tuesday). I will probably continue bandaging her at night with some pads and a dressing over the wounds at night as she lies down a lot and I would like to keep it as clean as possible. However, I will speak to the vet regarding this when he comes out tomorrow.

There was a slight swelling on the right hind when he came on Friday, but the left hind looked really good. I did not get a change to see the incision, but when he comes out tomorrow I am planning on taking some photographs so I can compare these to ones later on in the healing.

Our visit to hospital

2008-03-23T00:10:00.001-07:00

After the operation on Thursday, I have been dying to see my girl So I go up at 6.30am, mucked out Hannah and set off for the hour and a half journey to Yorkshire so I could be there for the visiting hours of 9-10am.

It was gorgeous and snowy over there, so I took a few pictures as we left the vets.

As we arrived (I dragged my Mum out of bed) the vet explained she had just had her bandages changed because she had trashed them last night. Grace had been very good having them changed and looked well.

So we walked to where she was stabled through the snow and I couldn't wait to see my girl! I walked into the stable block but I didn't know which one she was in... I clicked her and shouted her name very softly and I heard a huge commotion and then her familiar deep whicker. She went crazy as soon as she heard me and just kept whickering and stretching her neck to see me. I had some polos in my pocket so gave her all of those, lots of scratches and a few tears of joy at seeing her. Even my Mum filled up when she saw Grace's reaction to hearing me!

We did take some pictures, but the battery was dying (plus my Mum was taking them ) so they are a bit rubbish...

Grace is out of surgery

2008-03-20T07:12:00.000-07:00

I have been unable to concentrate on anything for the past few days, as all I have been able to think about is my gorgeous girl going through another GA. The questions have been running through my mind day and night making it near impossible to sleep and I have just been completely irrational about everything!

I have been waiting for the phone call all morning as she went in for surgery at 9am... and finally at 12.45pm I received it (cue shaking hands, inability to breathe properly and tears welling up!)

Grace is up and settled! The operation was successful and straight forwards. The nerves were easy to locate and she did well under the general anaesthetic which is good news. This is the best Birthday present I could have wished for and it also feels like fate. We bought her on 20th March and she has now been operated on and come through it exactly a year from then!!!

I'm absolutely devastated!

2008-03-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

I took Grace over to Halifax this morning for a scan and lameness work up on the suspensory ligament injury which was diagnosed in November. It was an acute injury, therefore we underwent four sessions of the shock wave therapy and injections into the ligament itself. I took her back five weeks ago and there was a good improvement from the first scan, and I was told I could start walking her under saddle, increasing this time up to 60 minutes before returning for the next scan...

Which brings me to today... Firstly, the specialist asked me to trot her up! No easy task when it is windy and she has not been trotted for months!!! Anyway, off we went, and after some serious bucks and squeeling I got her trotting up for him. She looked pretty sound on the straight, so we took her into the school (after a little shot of ACP) and she was lunged. Immediately I could see she was not quite sound Peter agreed and said that she had improved because originally she had been 3/10 lame on a circle and now she is 1/10. But he wanted to scan it anyway... I watched the scans and could again see a good improvement to the shape of the ligament and the fibre patterns. There were some areas where the patterns were not perfect, but again, an improvement!

As Grace was coming around Peter went through what he could see from the scans. He said she was not as far a long as we would have hoped at this stage, but all horses heal differently. However, he did say that the ligament was still more enlarged than the right one and this could just be the way it would heal... He told me that she could start going out in the field, and then I was to begin introducing small amounts of trot for the next six weeks. If she was still unsound after this time, then we would have to talk about the denerving operation... So, that is how we left it!I loaded Grace (again, she loaded perfectly) and set off for home. However, my brain started whizzing around and I was more upset than I realised. I was devastated that she had not improved much since the previous scan even though I have been really sticking to the plan, and realised that this waiting game is really affecting not just my sanity but also my whole outlook on life!

We pulled into the first services and Peter had very kindly given me his mobile number should I need it... and this was one of those situations! I phoned him and just voiced my concerns. We are getting to the edge of the insurance limit with this one, and 6 more weeks is effectively two more months of waiting and costs (ie. more scans at that point). I told him that I had been thinking about having the operation done now as opposed to six weeks time and he said he thought this was a very wise decision! She may never come sound if we carry on this waiting game, as the ligament is not reducing in size as hoped... and the more I think about it the more I am wondering whether this injury was perhaps not as acute as we seemed to think! So, she is booked in for 20th March (my birthday).

Please everyone keep everything crossed for her that day... to say I am devastated is an understatement. I just cannot stop the tears now the decision has been made, but I cannot bare to think that I will never ride this gorgeous girl again. At least if she has the operation, we have more of a chance of returning to where I always dreamed she would be!

Only three days to go...

2008-03-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

I finally got hold of Peter Scholefield and Grace is now booked in for the scan on Tuesday at 11am. I am already starting to worry about it and praying for good news! Originally I was supposed to be driving up to Yorkshire with my husband, but he is unable to come with me now so it will be just Grace and I going up to Shelf!

Please keep your fingers crossed for us...

She is now doing 60 minutes of walking under saddle and feels as though she is settling into a little more now. My husband took some pictures for me, so I hope you can see how well she is looking now.

Week four of walking...

2008-03-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

Grace and I are now on our fourth week of walking under saddle. It has been incredibly tough, as one minute she is laid back and the next she is turning herself inside out over something and nothing. I am still not quite sure how I have managed to stay on board all this time; we still have a week or so to go yet too!

I have booked Grace’s next scan for 19th March, I am hoping and praying that there is more good news regarding the ligament because she is certainly feeling well in herself. I know she has lost muscle, but I have never seen her look so well! Her coat is in great condition, she is well covered (usually I have difficulty keeping the weight on her especially in winter) and is full of life. I have been riding her as forwards as I can to try and stop the spooks and explosions, but at the moment every time I put my leg on her she is sinking down on her hocks and teaching herself piaffe, so goodness knows what state the ligament will be in!

Although the scan is not for another two weeks, I am currently trying to contact Peter Scholefield as I am struggling to keep her quiet and walking. She is very eager to get going, and feels as though she is a coiled spring waiting to explode... she is on a calmer, but it does not seem to be doing us much good. I am hoping that we could perhaps bring the scan forwards a week so that we could start some trot work if everything is progressing as it should do. That will be another day for me to worry about! I swear that I am going to take up gold fish!!!

Another small step towards normality

2008-02-02T11:43:00.000-08:00

Grace has been doing really well since coming home three weeks ago. It is now 7 weeks since she had colic surgery and just under 6 weeks since she came out of Leahurst Equine Hospital. It has been a real emotional rollercoaster since I had her back because she has been as quiet as a lamb one minute (so I have been worried she is becoming ill again) and then a passaging lunatic the next (which makes me worry about the scar and the ligament).

I have been slowly increasing the amount of time spent walking her in the arena and down the lane. She is not that interested in the grass, and the field have been either incredibly wet or frosty so I have not risked taking her in just in case. In the back of my mind though I have been very concerned about her injury to the left hind suspensory ligament because of how athletic she has been since coming home. Because of this, I could not wait much longer for fear of going crazy, so I booked her in for a scan in Halifax this week.

Grace loaded perfectly and as always she travelled wonderfully. We got there and I felt as though I had been holding my breath for the entire journey... but I would be holding it for a little while longer while they scanned it!

Peter sedated Grace, clipped the areas of her ligament and then started having a look at the left one compared to the right. I tried looking at the images, but I couldn’t really make them out enough to know what was happening in there. Suddenly, Peter said, “Right, can we have the lights back!” My heart sank... it was bad news; the ligament had not healed at all and we were back to square one!

Peter could see the look on my face I think, but never once passed over the details. He explained to me that the ligament had definitely improved and was now much more like the right one which was fantastic news! There is still some inflammation, but he said he was very happy with her progress and normally she would now start her ridden work in walk. He knows about her colic surgery, and while she was sedated he had a really good look and feel of her scar, remarking that it was lovely and neat and healing extremely well.

I asked whether I should start increasing her time of being walked in hand as I didn’t want to do the next stage of the colic surgery as it involves turnout in a paddock and would wreck all the healing her ligament has done. I have spoken to Leahurst, and they said to up her walking and to continue as I was doing, so this is what I had planned. Peter looked at the scar again and said that rather than turning her out he wanted me to do 2 more weeks of walking her in hand (taking us to the end of the first two months colic recovery period) and then get on her and walk her for 30 minutes, increasing gradually over four weeks!!! I cannot believe it... I had pencilled in our first ride on 16th April, but it has now been brought forwards to 17th February. Obviously it is just walking, whereas at the end of the colic recovery the idea is to bring them back into normal work, but the ligament now needs strengthening and Peter would rather have her ridden in a controlled form of exercise than honing around in a paddock!

Needless to say, I am incredibly excited but still know the ligament might need further treatment if the scan in 6 weeks shows no more improvement. But for now, all I wanted was an improvement, and that is exactly what I got (plus the chance to get on my gorgeous girl again!)

Grace is certainly feeling well!

2008-01-13T04:29:00.000-08:00

Grace has settled in really well at the new yard. Her appetite has certainly returned, but we did have some issues getting some hard feed into her because she kept turning her nose up at it! Before she went away to Leahurst she was on Dengie’s Healthy Hoof and her supplements (Cortaflex and MSM for her ligament). I do not know whether horse’s brains work in the same way as ours and relate certain tastes to events, but as soon as I put the Healthy Hoof in she was not interested in the slightest. I was a bit worried she was not interested, so also put a bucket of Alfa A in which she wolfed it down.

Gradually I have been swapping her on to the Alfa A and she does seem to be eating it all... I have also added some TopSpec Balancer to her feed so she gets all the vitamins and minerals she needs and she went onto Coligone while she was at the YEC. To encourage her to eat, Dengie suggested trying her with some Alfa Beat too which seems to be helping.

I feel as though I have turned into a completely paranoid owner though. I just hope when she is back fit and well, life might restore to normality. I am meeting myself going backwards at the moment, and seem to be spending far too much time at the yard! Grace has to be walked at least twice for 15-20 minutes and have some grass. We started by walking up and down the drive and getting some grass that way, but she was too busy being nosy to eat. The yard owner offered me a small field where I could hand graze her which has made a real difference. She will now eat constantly for 15 minutes without lifting her head.

Her ligament still needs some exercise though, so I have been taking her for some grass and then walking her for a further 10 minutes on the drive. However, last night this really did not go to plan! Grace started squeeling and bucking to the point where she was doing handstands... I was so worried about her pulling her scar or even worse causing some damage to the internal scarring. She did three bucks in a row and I managed to get her back walking forwards but then she set off again and was passaging at the side of me. I was wincing just thinking about her tummy, but I couldn’t escape the fact that she looked absolutely beautiful!

Her scar was a little warm when I brought her back in, but when my husband Andy checked her an hour later she was munching her haylage and very content... I just had to check she was still ok though!

This morning I was ready for a repeat of last night. Armed with my Richard Maxwell halter we did things a little differently and went straight for some grass rather than walking for a while. She behaved impeccably having the grass, and even leading her back from the field she did not pull or get worked up. I decided to take her into the arena because I am worried that one day I will not be able to hold her on the path and she will get away from me. At least in the arena it is only a 40mx20m area, whereas there are several 20 acre fields she can get in on the lane!

As we walked into the arena she erupted, but I calmly asked her to halt with the pressure halter, step backwards one stride and then we carried on. We walked in the arena for around 10 minutes, and although there were several moments when she felt as though she was going to stress, I just applied the pressure and she halted abruptly. So I was very pleased with her because it was much better than last night. Ideally she should be walked on a hard surface for her ligament, but I am going to speak to Peter Scholefield about taking her in the arena, and also to book her in for the final scan on the ligament.

Although her silliness had me panicking and worried, it made me realise how athletic she really is. If she moves like that four weeks after surgery, what will she be like when she is fit again... I am determined to get her to the highest level she can achieve, no matter what it takes!

She is home!

2008-01-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

It has been almost a month since Grace was at home, but this morning Andy and I set off to pick her up! I could not sleep at all last night because I was incredibly excited and was pacing the house at 5am... At least I had time to get some breakfast, a cup of tea and the ride Hannah before we left the yard.

We got to the YEC at 11.30am and Grace went straight to the back of the stable as she always does when she sees her travel boots. We loaded her and she was a bit hesitant again, but got the hang of it eventually. However, she travelled perfectly and did not look fazed at all when I unloaded her at the new yard.

Grace went straight in her stable and started smelling her turnout rug that was on the pole in her stable. As soon as she had established some of the things in there were hers she started wickering for haylage and delved in as soon as Andy put some in for her... Her appetite has certainly returned which is a good sign!

The farrier arrived about forty minutes after we did and she behaved impeccably while he put some new shoes on for her and she stood getting some sun on her back at the same time. I wanted to get some fresh air to her skin because she has come up in little lumps which have now turned into scabs. I remember she had them when she came to me last November and went as soon as she had been clipped. So I think it is something to do with being hairy!

She is now tucked up in her lovely fluffy bed and I cannot wait to see her in the morning. Hearing that distinctive whinny today when I was walking around on the yard just made me feel so grateful that I have her back, I have really missed that noise!

Grace is out of hospital

2007-12-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

This week has emotionally been one the worst I have ever experienced. I have been constantly waiting for the phone to ring with bad news, and when it rings and it is good news I just keep crying! It has been a real emotional rollercoaster and not one I wish to ever repeat!

The last few days of her being in hospital brought more improvements, but also some small setbacks. She came out of isolation having tested negative for salmonella, started being walked four times a day and on normal rations. However, when I was planning on picking her up on 23rd December, a vet phoned me to say she had a swollen right hind and left fore which they wanted to keep an eye on. He also said that she had an oedema ‘under’ her scar which I took as meaning it was actually beneath the wound itself.

I rushed over to see her because I was quite worried what all of this meant, but she looked great. Yes, the legs were slightly warm and a bit swollen but nowhere near as bad as I thought they were going to be and the swelling ‘under’ the scar was actually behind it where the bandage had stopped. The surgeon came and spoke to me and said they were pleased with her progress and I could take her out for a walk and some grass.

Mel telephoned me on Christmas Day to say the legs were looking better, but she had developed swellings on her body from the introduction of feed. I quickly explained that this was completely normal for Grace. The good news was that I could pick her up on Boxing Day!

Dad and I got to Leahurst at 12pm and I read all of her discharge notes, asked all the questions I could think of, and then got her ready to travel to the Yorkshire Equine Centre where she will be staying while we go on holiday. I was a bit concerned because she has never travelled or loaded into a horsebox, but I need not have worried. She stood on the ramp for a while until she could work out how to put her back legs on, but she travelled fantastically and unloaded as though she had done it one hundred times before.

I am due to pick her up on 9th January when we come home... I cannot wait to have her back with me!

Update - 17/12/07

2007-12-17T03:25:00.000-08:00

I have just had a phone call from the resident vet Mel...

Grace has had a quiet night, but still has diarrhoea which they expected. She is still in isolation, but the good news is that her temperature is down to normal and her heart rate seems to have normalised too. They are going to check her heart just to make sure, but no vet has ever commented or picked up on a heart murmur from her, so it is looking as though it was the pain causing this. She is also slightly anaemic which can also cause the heart murmurs.

They have sent the biopsy off to the lab, but she did say they are not expecting to find anything nasty... she also said that although she is being tested for salmonella, the fact her temperature is low is a good sign, and her white cells have come up a bit since the last test.

She is also a bit brighter this morning, but still very quiet. They are going to try her with a few handfuls of haylage, and anything that they can get her to eat so are also suggesting something like Readigrass.

Grace has undergone colic surgery

2007-12-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

As if we have not been through enough this year, on Thursday afternoon Grace started being really quiet, not eating and her eyes went dull. I checked on her before I left and she had started pawing so I phoned the vet immediately. John Gilliver was on call, and he examined her. She had a high temperature, a slightly raised heart rate but no real increased gut movement.

He gave her a shot of antibiotics and bute and arranged to come back the following morning.

I got down to the yard early and she did not seem any better and was pawing again... so John gave her another shot of antibiotics, bute and a shot of buscopan too. Her temperature had come down though, and her heart rate was normal.

Later in the day she had gone downhill again... the vet came back out, gave her another shot of buscopan and she seemed to perk up a little and started eating some little bits of hay which was an encouraging sign. However, she gradually went more and more downhill and on Saturday morning she was referred to Leahurst veterinary hospital.

The hospital ran lots of tests and everything pointed towards colic. I left her there being monitored carefully, and did not hear from them until this afternoon. I received a phone call at 2.30pm saying that she had improved through the night, but this morning was much lower than she had been, and was lay flat out at lunch time when the resident checked on her again. They did another rectal and couldn’t get their arm past the elbow due to the small colon being so very distended. They asked whether I would consent to her having surgery, which of course I did, and then the waiting began.

At 6.30pm I received a phone call from the resident, Mel, and she said that Grace was awake and up... however, she had had a very tough time through the anaesthetic and there had been a few complications. They did not find any impaction as they thought they would do, but the small colon was full of gas which was causing it to distend. They let this gas out, and the good news is that everything was where it should be. However, because she has such bad diarrhoea they have taken some more samples and a biopsy to test for colitis and grass sickness.

It is very much a waiting game now and the next 48 hours are critical for her!

6-8 weeks of box rest begins!

2007-11-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

I received a phone call from Peter Scholefield as we were driving back from Halifax on Thursday evening. I wanted to take her some feed up and another rug because the temperature suddenly dropped and she is very sensitive to cold weather.

Peter explained that he no longer thought it was a stifle problem as there was just not enough improvement when nerve blocked. When he moved to the hock, the nerve block improved things by 85% and when he blocked just the suspensory ligament there was a 100% improvement! So, the hocks were scanned, showing clean joints, but when he scanned the ligament he found inflammation and pain at the root of the ligament.

Grace is now on six to eight weeks of box rest, and can start being walked in hand in four weeks time. She is receiving shock wave therapy once a week, and I have bought an Equissage to keep her muscles toned, her joints healthy and her lymphatic system in good working order. Since I started using the Equissage, her back legs have not filled once even though she is stood in 24/7 and is not getting any movement on them.

She is getting a bit stressed about being in, but I am keeping her routine exactly the same so that she can settle a bit more which seems to be working. The Equissage is chilling her out too, although for the first five minutes she stands stiff not daring to move J

The next shock wave therapy treatment will be on Friday, so we are off to Halifax again!

Grace has stayed over in Halifax

2007-11-14T10:41:00.001-08:00

This morning, Grace and I (accompanied by my husband Andy) set off to Halifax for an appointment with Peter Scholefield. The traffic was absolutely dreadful at that time in the morning, and we ended up being on the road for almost two hours. I was worried that Grace would be a bit stressed when we got there, but I need not have worried. We unloaded her and apart from being a little figgety to start with, she behaved impeccably.

Peter wanted to see her walked in a straight line and then trotted. He noticed that her left side was dropping ever so slightly, so flexioned both hocks. These were negative thankfully! However, he agreed that there was something there and I was not imagining this strange movement.

Grace was then lunged on both legs and Peter said she was showing lameness on both reins on the left hind and he suspected the stifle. He then nerve blocked this area and believed there to be an improvement, but could then see a slight uneven step every so often on the right hind. At this point Peter told me she would be staying with them over night as he wanted to continue the investigations.

I was really sad to leave her, it is the first time I have left her anywhere since she came to me last year. But Grace was happy as she had lots of haylage and her loving Mum had taken her PJs and her dinner and breakfast just in case!

I phoned the practice this evening and spoke to one of the ladies who work there. She said Grace was eating her tea, quite happy and Peter was hoping to continue his investigations tomorrow morning. He has also nerve blocked her hock (I didn’t really get much information as they were quite busy) and there was some improvement with this too. So, although I still do not have an answer, hopefully by tomorrow I will have some news whether it be good or bad.

A spanner in the works

2007-11-10T09:39:00.001-08:00

Grace and I have been having a really successful few weeks and everything has been going to plan. I took her over to Arkenfield for a lesson with Spencer and I could tell immediately that he was not happy with something. He asked me to give her a canter and get her stepping under but when she came back to trot he said he could see something strange going on in her left hind.

Spencer asked me whether I had seen anyone riding her and I said no, so he offered to get on her and ride her for me. As soon as he started trotting her I could see it on the left rein, but there was no evidence of it at all in the walk or canter. The lady who organises the clinics with Spencer recommended a vet over in Halifax who specialises in lameness problems so she is booked to go over to him on Wednesday morning at 8.30am.

Because I have had an operation to remove two lumps from my neck I am having to take it very easy this weekend, but Peter Scholefield wants Grace riding hard until he sees her on Wednesday. Luckily, the lady who looks after the horses for me when I go away is able to ride her for me Saturday, Sunday and Monday. This morning it was very interesting watching someone riding her because it has given me more of an idea what is going on. She started off really showing the unlevel steps in the trot, but Yvonne said she was really leaning on the left leg and was heavy in the left hand (my weaker side). She worked very hard on getting her to move away from that leg and come soft in the left hand, and by the end there were no strange steps in the trot at all. So whatever it is improves with work.

Grace is really improving

2007-10-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since I last posted on this Blog as I seem to have been incredibly busy doing not much at all! However, I am now determined to keep this up to date because it is lovely reading how far we have come in 12 short months.

Since the Area Festival at Richmond, Grace and I have not really been out competing that much as she went quite badly lame after tripping coming out of the school. After three days of no improvement (and no change) I took her down to the vets and they mentioned that she could have damaged one of the tendons or ligaments within her foot because of the severity of the lameness, the lack of change and the fact that hoof tests were proving negative. So, we went away for a few days and awaited the farrier to come out as her feet had really grown and the shoe on the lame foot was now loose.

Unfortunately, the farrier was having van trouble and could not come on the day, so I ended up telephoning the vets and booking her in with a farrier there so we could then book her in for a lameness workup which would include nerve blocks and xrays.

As soon as her shoes were redone, she was much sounder almost immediately. The following days just showed such a big improvement that I decided to cancel the lameness workup and concluded that when she tripped she moved the shoe and it was then rubbing her and causing her pain. The farrier who shod her at the vets agreed with this as he found a small corn starting to form where the shoe was sitting. She is now to be shod every five weeks as opposed to every six weeks, and touch wood we have not had any lameness since!

I have been having regular lessons with Jo again since she came sound, and also two with Spencer Wilton over at Arkenfield. Between the two of them, we have really started to see a change in Grace’s performance both at home and at the shows. Her canter has improved so much that we now get comments saying, “Some lovely canter” and “Working well in the canter” whereas before I was being told she needed more ‘jump’.

Last weekend we travelled over to Manor Grange Stud in Yorkshire (where the pictures were taken) to compete in P12 and N21 (I think)! Grace travelled really well but was a bit sharp in the warm up as it was quite a spooky venue. She felt quite tense at the beginning, but by the time we went into the Prelim class she had started to relax and felt a little softer through the back. She came out with 68% and 5th place which I was really pleased with at a new venue. We had quite a wait in between the classes, so when it came to warming up for the Novice she felt a lot happier and more relaxed. In the test we had two mistakes which were largely caused by me... I didn’t check her enough in the medium trot so she broke into canter, and she was about to shy in the medium walk so I put my leg on harder than intended and she broke into canter!

I was amazed when she came out with 67.9% and second place!!!

Following on from this, I booked in to do the two Novice classes at Cockshot Dressage. However, just before my lesson with Spencer I realised N37 had a rein back in which Grace had not been taught. Spencer worked really hard with Grace and I to get the rein back started, but he did say that I should not expect it to happen at the competition as she was only just learning it. The following day though, Grace had is cracked and as I put the aids on we went backwards, but couldn’t stop!!!

I did not really do much rein back through the week because she was starting to rein back whenever I asked for halt... like a child who has learned a naughty word she would not stop doing it! So when we were warming up for the first Novice at Cockshot I didn’t even ask for it once.

N22 W went really well... She really worked, and as we finished the test the judge jumped out of the car (panic set in; where did I go wrong???) and said, “She has really come on!” So I left the arena with a HUGE grin, which became even bigger when I discovered she had been placed 1st in the restricted section and overall!

We then warmed up for N37 and I quickly put one or two rein backs in before we went in. The test felt a bit more laboured than the first, but I do think it is a more ‘elementary’ type novice so I did not expect her to do as well as she did. Her counter canter felt really smooth, the rein back just happened, and her medium canter work has just come all of a sudden! We ended up on 65% which I was thrilled with (I had said that if she did well in N37 I would try some elementary tests before Christmas!) and even more thrilled when I found out she had come 2nd in the restricted and overall! There were some stunning horses in the open section too going on to do the Elementary, so I was quite shocked she had been placed above them!

Our next outing is at Aintree International doing the Prelim Qualifier and the Novice Qualifier... I need a 1st in the Novice to get to the Regionals (a pipe dream) and a 1st or 2nd in the Prelim!

We are through in the Novice too!!!

2007-09-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

I received an email this week from BD to say Grace had not only qualified in the Preliminary class at the Winter Championships, but also in Novice as she gained 4th place in the Novice Restricted! I was completely astounded as never in my wildest dreams did I imagine she would qualify in the Novice class. I had hoped for a placing in the Preliminary, but gaining second in that was a dream come true!

I have not stopped smiling since I read the email, and have reread it several times just to make myself believe it is true!

Petplan Area Festival at Richmond - we are through to the Winter Championships

2007-08-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

Quite a lot has happened since the last post. I had a lesson with Spencer and we spent the time getting Grace to stretch down because she came back into work a bit tense and stressy. Following this, we went over to Croft Top to compete in the Prelim (P17) and Novice (N33). She did two lovely tests, and more importantly I remembered them too as it was the first time I did not have a reader in a long arena!

She came 2nd in the Prelim with 66%, her highest affiliated percentage and then did a safe Novice and ended up with 63%. The judge’s comments were all very fair, they both said she was on her shoulders too much and not finding her own balance enough. This was exactly how I felt she was going.

I explained all of this to Jo when I went for a lesson on the Sunday, and we did a few exercises which really seemed to get her sitting back on her hocks and off my hands. All week I worked really hard on what we had been doing, but she came into season on the Wednesday and was just spooking at everything and felt like a steam train on my hands. To be honest, I went to my lesson on Friday quite down about how she was going. Because of this, we did not get very much out of it as I persisted in looking down at my hands and therefore not giving her the chance to get off her shoulders. Jo gave me a really good shouting at, which I deserved and helped get my act together in a way teachers used to at school.

After the lesson I was determined to look up at the Areas if it killed me. We set off at 9.30am and arrived at Richmond just after 11.30am. Grace travelled really well, and was incredibly relaxed at the show ground, munching on her haynet outside the trailer while I found out where we would warm up, ride the test and where the toilets were.

As soon as I got on Grace I could tell she was a bit ‘hot’ so I warmed her up with the exercises Jo had given us in the lesson the day before. These all worked straight away, and within 15 minutes I felt she was working the best she had ever worked. I did lots of walking around long and low because it was so warm, but this method seemed to suit her. We went in to the P16 test, and I felt very confident in her ability to do a lovely test. She spooked a little at the two judges’ cars but then did not get a chance to look at anything else as they tooted the horn as we passed. I took a deep breath and trotted her towards A.

I felt the test went really well. Grace was listening to me all the way around and her canter was very ‘up’, more so than I had ever felt it before. I came out with a huge grin on my face (partly because I had remembered the test too) and walked her around in the collecting ring to cool her off. I was second to last in the class, so they started reading out the people needed for the prize giving. There was no mention of my name, so a little disappointed I walked her back to the trailer. I was just about to take my saddle off when I realised Andy had the tack keys, but Mum had walked over with me so she set off to find him. Suddenly, I heard “Rider 84, R.McNair and Graceful Addiction” over the tannoy so I jumped back on and trotted off to the arena. As I got there, still frantically buttoning up my jacket, I did not know where I had been placed. When I found out I had come 2nd I just burst into tears and hugged Grace’s neck. We got 69.5%, and one judge gave us 72.3%!!!

Slowly, I began to realise Grace and I had qualified for the Winter Championships at Hartpury in April... I could not believe it, and I still cannot stop smiling every time I think about it. I am just so proud of her and am amazed at how far she has come since I started riding her in November.

Grace stood quietly in the trailer while me, Andy, Kevan, Sue, Mum and Dad (oh and Tia) had coffees, teas, lemon drizzle cake, Settle’s custards, vanilla slices and sandwiches. In fact, we forgot she was in there she was that quiet.

When it came to warming up for the Novice I decided to only give her 30 minutes because it was still warm. Unfortunately, the class was running 30 minutes behind so she was getting a bit tired by the time we went in for the Novice class. She did a really nice test; it felt the best Novice test I have ridden her in. She had one error where she did two flying changes in the right medium canter, but other than that she was listening, was jumping into her transitions and the counter canter felt great. She came out with 64.3% and was lying joint 4th in the Novice when we left, but it had not been split into Restricted and Open at that point.

After such a successful weekend, she deserved a few days off work. Unfortunately, on Monday afternoon she sliced her shoulder open in the field. She had two stitches (typical, she had to have a call out on Bank Holiday Monday) and has been in for two days. She is not lame so can still be ridden, and this afternoon she had a few hours out in the field because it was such a nice day.

Our next competition is in a few weeks time... until then we have a few lessons to keep us occupied and a learning day with Richard Maxwell too!

Abscess, abscess, abscess

2007-08-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

The picture was of Grace competing BD at Arkenfield just before she went lame that weekend. She came a very respectable 4th with 65%, but I did feel she did not work as well as she could do. However, it all became apparent on the Sunday when I got back from the Richard Maxwell Forum Weekend. She came in from the field absolutely hopping lame, and when I brought her out for the vet on Monday morning she could barely put any weight on it.

She was off work for just over two weeks with an abscess, and because of it I am now an absolute expert at polticing. Hannah has never suffered with an abscess (touch wood) so I was not one hundred percent sure that I was doing it right, but they all stayed on and I kept the opening incredibly clean.

The farrier came up the following Tuesday to put her shoe back on as he knew I had the Petplan Area Festival at Myerscough, but she was still quite footy when I trotted her up on the Tuesday night. However, Wednesday morning she looked level and sound, so I got on her that night and was very conscious of her paces as I was convinced she would still be unlevel when worked. She was completely sound, and so far she has stayed sound now for four schooling sessions that have gradually asked a bit more of her.

On Wednesday night when I rode her, some of the girls from the yard were hacking out. We had just finished schooling, and they asked whether I would like to go. I just though, “Why not?” and set off with them around the Street. It was a lovely night, the weather was beautiful and Grace really did me proud. She led the entire way around and only had a very small spook at some rubber matting that had been left on the floor. Several motorbikes went passed us, and although I felt her tense a little, I asked her to walk on and she complied.

Spurred on by this success, yesterday morning (Saturday) I was having a bit of a battle schooling her because there was a digger at the other side of the fence and she was being a complete prat. She was sweated up, snorting and very ‘up’. Rather than cool her down in the school where she would have continued to get herself stressed out, I decided to walk her to the end of Slacks Lane where there are only 6 houses or so and hardly any traffic. Before I knew it we were at the end of the lane, turned onto the main road and trotted a little while to get her listening to the leg. She was very stressed out, but motorbikes went passed us and she listened! I was absolutely thrilled with her and feel a lot more confident in taking her out now.

We have a very busy week ahead of us. On Tuesday we have a lesson over at Arkenfield, then a BD competition (P17 and N33) on Saturday and a lesson with Jo Graham on Sunday morning. This is all in preparation for 25th August we have the Petplan Area Festival over at Richmond, North Yorkshire. The top four horses for each section go through to the finals, so we have a lot of work to do before then!

Two BD points later...

2007-07-04T05:19:00.001-07:00

Since my last entry, quite a lot has happened! We have entered our first three affiliated competitions and been placed at every one.

The first one we went to was at Myerscough Arena on 13th June 2007. It was P17, so not only our first affiliated competition, it was the first time we had ridden a test in a long arena. She came out of the box very fizzy, was incredibly stupid to mount but then settled down as soon as we got into the warming up area. She worked in really well, so I was quite confident as we went into the arena. Although the butterflies were still ever present!

She came out with joint 4th place with 65.83% and the following comments: “Pleasing work shown, needs to be more securely connected, hindlegs through to the bit, to develop more uphill balance and carriage.”

We did another competition at Myerscough, where she again achieved 4th place with 64% and very similar comments. Then on Saturday we went over to Croft Top. I was incredibly delicate as I had been out with a few friends the night before and consumed copious amounts of red wine!!! The Prelim (again P17) was a bit of a disaster because of it. I just could not concentrate on riding when my head was pounding and there was a litre of liquid slushing about in my stomach. We came out mid table with 61.67% which was completely down to Grace as I just sat there throughout the entire test.

I put her away for half an hour while my father-in-law bought me a coke and a bacon sandwich and was much more prepared for the Novice (our first affiliated one!). I rode her quite hard in the warm up area, and rather than just wandering around the arena and waiting for the bell to go, I really worked her until it was time to enter at A. This was a much better test, I felt she was much more connected, had more energy and was generally a better example of the horse she really is. She came out with 63.55%, so had gained two BD points, made me a group seven rider and was placed. I do not know exactly what position she finished in because we left, but she was in 3rd place with only a few to go.

Grace is fixed!

2007-06-05T08:14:00.001-07:00

Grace is now sound again, but unfortunately we missed our first British Dressage because of the lameness. She had her back checked and there were a few things there, but not enough to cause the lameness so we now think it was the bruised sole that was causing her discomfort.

Because of all her time off I decided to do a few preliminary tests before we started our British Dressage career. We went to Church Farm on Thursday where she was very spooky and tense and still managed to get 8s for her medium trot in her first ever Novice test. Then we went to Crow Wood on Sunday and she had a really bad journey and ended up travelling on the metal flooring because she had ripped all of the matting up from the floor.

Even though she had been very stressed out and had a trauma, she went on to come 5th in the Prelim with just over 65%, but then got 55% in the Novice, apparently the judge was a low marker according to the show organiser, but I didn’t feel she did a particularly good test. However, she loaded perfectly despite the bad journey there, so I did not really care about the marking for the day!

We now have our first British Dressage (again) booked on 13th June which is P17 at Myerscough Arena. It is in a long arena, so I have also hired out Osbaldeston on the Sunday to ride through the test before we go. Hopefully, the trailer will have been sorted by then!

Grace is now British Dressage Affiliated

2007-05-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since the last post, I have been very lazy and have not been updating it as I should have been doing… Therefore I will try to take things in a chronological order!

The saddle that I was trying out in the last post was just not suiting me at all even though it seemed to fit Grace. I am so used to Hannah’s Albion SLK Ultima that I knew I would not be happy until I bought a similar one for Grace. I sold my GP that I got with Hannah, and started making plans to sell the old Albion I had bought for Grace as a temporary measure, which gave me just over £900. I looked around for a decent second hand one, but nothing was looking suitable.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one! It fits Grace perfectly, and I feel so much happier riding in it. It feels very familiar and I think it has improved my position too. The lady who sold me the saddle is coming up to check it tonight as we have now had it for just over a month, but I do not think it will need very much doing with it to be honest.

We have been having lessons with Jo Graham as often as possible and I have also had a few with Spencer too. It seems that whatever we are doing is paying off because on 22nd April we went to our second ever dressage competition (P4) at Crow Wood and came away with a red ribbon and qualified for a place in the Prestige Dressage Championships. Grace travelled quite well to Crow Wood, but felt a bit awkward when she was working in. However, I did lots of transitions and really worked on getting her up and under me rather than running out of the front. We went in and did the test, and despite a few distractions (a really rattling old trailer driving past as we cantered) she felt really good. There were 32 in the class, and Grace got 67.72% and the comments, “Super horse showing good paces. Lacks a little suppleness in some transitions but purposefully ridden.”

The following week we had two Preliminary tests at Myerscough in the evening. Grace was coming in season so was a bit of a prat travelling and shouted her head off when we got there. Then she would not let me get on her, and when I finally did she started spinning around and being a complete loon!

I thought I was in for a very eventful evening, but worked her in as I would usually start off any session but kept it mostly at walk and trot to keep her head on the job. The first test we did was P10 in the main arena. She was a bit tense and looking at things but she came away with a very respectable 64.55% and the comments, “Lovely horse and much to like. Needs to work more from inside leg to outside hand. Could be super.” She came 2nd in this class… http://www.myerscough.ac.uk/?page=commercial-equine-events-info&id=202

The second test was in the spooky smaller arena so I thought we would have real problems in there as Hannah was a monster when she went in. I walked Grace around in between the tests and just picked her up in some trot work before going in for P18. She walked around the arena looking at everything and doing a few huge spooks, but then seemed to settle into her work as soon as she was asked. I felt the test went really well and that she listened the whole way through. We boxed her up and went to collect the sheets to be told she had come 1st with 73.75% and the comments, “Beautiful horse, working well at this level. A pleasure to watch.” As you can imagine I was absolutely thrilled!!!

We have booked our first BD test for this coming Sunday, but she came up lame on Thursday and the vets suspects she has bruised her sole. She has been kept in all weekend to see whether she comes sound again, and last night trotted up sound! However, I am not holding my breath too much as she has been out in the field this morning and could have become unlevel again. The vet also found some tenderness in her back which she wants me to get checked out, so the physio is coming out next week to look at her. Tonight will be the night I decide whether to withdraw from Sunday’s competition, but even if we can’t go, there are so many more coming up and I would rather get her right before pushing her at a competition.

We are really starting to get somewhere!

2007-04-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

I have had two lessons with Grace since the last entry, and both have been absolutely fantastic! I am also trying out a new saddle too; it is a Ray Symmonds dressage saddle which seems to fit both Grace and me really well. The only thing is that it seems to be pushing my leg a bit too far back, but my trainer think the leather needs to mould, and I need to buy some dressage leathers which fasten at the bottom to avoid bulk.

Our first lesson this week was with Spencer Wilton. Last time we had one he felt she was very weak over her back, especially on the left hand side. He also thought she looked very tight. However, we now think this is down to her saddle not fitting properly and flicking over to the right and resting on the left hand side of her spine.
This week, he said she looked much more supple and forward from the leg. He said she looked fitter, more toned and ready to work. We started off doing a few transitions and then went on to do some leg yielding from the centre line back to the track. Grace found this quite difficult, but she did get it eventually. Spencer then said to let her have a walk round on the buckle, and I was so grateful because my legs were aching and I was shattered!

I was just thinking how good the lesson had been when he said, “Right, let’s do all of that in canter!” My heart sunk because I didn’t feel either me or Grace had any energy left. But we picked up the canter and started turning up the centre line and not really getting back to the track. Spencer told me if she was not responding to my leg, to give her a whack with the whip because she needed to listen. So the next time, that was exactly what I did… and over she went (after a small buck)! He then instructed me to come straight back up the centre line and do it again, which we did and she just moved over as soon as I touched her with my leg! It was a fantastic feeling.

When we came back down to the trot, the power that was behind was unbelievable. And Spencer just said, “Now that is the kind of trot that makes you want to look at a horse!” I felt so proud of her, we have come so far from the first time we had a lesson.

So, with all that in mind we went for a lesson with Jo Graham. Grace came out quite fresh, but she travelled brilliantly and was so chilled out when we got there. She just stood munching in the trailer while I took her boots off which she does not usually do.

Jo told me that I needed to do lots of transitions with her when she comes out fresh, because that makes her sit back on her hocks and gets all that energy working for the right reasons rather than just running through the bridle. We worked on her half halts again, as she tends to slow the hind legs down when asked to collect a bit more, so we did lots to improve this.

When we cantered, it just felt so easy and uphill! Jo said she was a stunning stamp of a mare and had a very lovely natural canter… so again I feel like a proud Mum and can’t stop smiling when I think of how much she has improved. So it’s onwards and upwards now. I am planning on doing some unaffiliated competitions this month, and then will re-evaluate after that. I am hoping to affiliate her at the end of summer realistically, but I will see how she does in the next few unaffiliated ones.

Grace is mine!

2007-03-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

It was my 24th Birthday on Tuesday and what a fantastic birthday it was! My Mum and Dad have bought me a lovely wood burner for the lounge, so I did not expect anything at all. My Dad handed me a brown envelope and inside it was Grace’s passport, a photocopy of the cheque he has sent to Jill and a picture of me riding her. I couldn’t believe it… she is really mine now! It has still not sunk in yet, but every time I think about it I just keep grinning.

The master saddler is coming on Friday to have a look at sorting a saddle out for Grace now I have bought her, so hopefully we will have a saddle that fits her perfectly rather than making do with Hannah’s which is a bit too narrow for her.

We have a lesson with Spencer Wilton on Wednesday, and then with Jo on Sunday morning. It is a shame they are both on the same week, but that is just the way it has fallen. I am also trying to get Grace in at Andrea Johnsons (nee Morris) for some jumping training but she is really busy at the moment so we are just waiting for an opening.

Half halts

2007-02-24T14:41:00.000-08:00

Grace and I have been for our third lesson with Jo Graham. I did not think Grace would travel very well because she was quite stressed out loading as there were some horses in the field and others going out on a hack. I loaded her five times until she loaded and unloaded quietly, which seemed to work quite well.

I unloaded her at Croft and she had not sweated up at all. While tacking up and putting her boots on, Grace can sometimes figgit as she knows something is happening, but today she stood still and was relaxed.

Once we got into the school, Grace had a few shies at things but then put her head down and worked. We worked on the full transitions for a while and then Jo started to incorporated half halts into the work, which Grace picked up on quite quickly. Jo thinks she is an intelligent horse, so because of this I have to keep her schooling varied and keep her constantly guessing otherwise she starts pre-empting things you are doing. For example, she was walking around on a long rein, then I picked up the rein and she started trotting. Jo asked me to put her back on a long rein a few times so that she doesn't think shortening the reins means 'go'. Although she did add that it was not a bad thing because she is constantly looking for what you want her to do next!

We had a really good lesson, and Jo said she is a completely different horse than the one she first met. She thinks we are working well together now, and that Grace is a forwards thinking mare that has a lot of potential!

The Spencer Clinic

2007-02-10T02:38:00.000-08:00

As usual, we were running a little behind schedule!

As we pulled up to the yard, I had to take Grace off the trailer, tack up, boot up and then go into the indoor arena. I am not sure whether she has ever been in an indoor school, but after the first few spooks she behaved really well. She was a bit stressed because she could hear other horses walking around on the yard outside, so did not relax as much as I had hoped she would, but we still got some nice work out of her.

Spencer felt her topline was not 'spongy' enough, and was too much like an ironing board! So he asked me to take her neck a bit deeper and lower to encourage her to stretch through the topline. This worked quite well, and after a few strops she started to swing through her back and really step under.

However, Spencer felt she struggled through the collection because of something in her right hind. He said it could be because she is weaker on her right side, or there could be an old injury just starting to niggle because of her increased workload. So I am going to keep an eye on it, and am aiming to get her saddle rechecked and a physio out by the end of the month.

I also mentioned that I feel Grace fiddles with the bit and loses the constant contact. Spencer said he does not know any young horses that go well in a cavesson nose band, and he rides all of his youngsters in a loose fitting flash. I also asked about bits as the eggbutt she is in at the moment is not my favourite type. He agreed that a loose ring would be better, but a thicker one than that I had been riding in (16mm). So Grace is now the proud owner of a Sprenger Conrad KK Ultra loose ring snaffle in 18mm!

It has only come this morning so I will try it on Monday when I am next riding her. Hopefully, I will feel a difference as the eggbutt seems to encourage her more onto her forehand and I am tentative asking her to come back up because I know how they can pinch the tongue.

Grace has also destroyed her mirror... I have ordered a new one from a different company as I have had a few issues with the previous one I used, and it should be coming in the next few days. Grace misses her 'friend' and keeps looking at the empty gap, but I have promised her it will be coming back soon!

We have booked our first Preliminary test

2007-02-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

Grace and I went for another lesson at Jo Graham’s on Sunday, and had a fantastic lesson. As soon as we entered the arena she knew she had come to work. She was responsive, enthusiastic and looking for the contact immediately.

Jo said we looked like a real partnership rather than fighting each other, and she thought she was a very athletic young lady! However, she noticed that my position had suffered a little through concentrating so much on Grace. So my legs were put back, my chin lifted, and it was a much better picture.

We did quite a few straight sides off the track and loops in from the track to get her moving away from the leg and learning to go in a straight line on her own without me having to hold her on a line.
A gentleman who watched our previous lesson came up to me at the end and said it looked like a completely different rider and horse this week, and said I should be proud of all the work I had put into her.

It is our Spencer clinic tomorrow afternoon… the nerves are starting to jingle a little bit now!

Lessons with Jo Graham

2007-01-27T13:55:00.000-08:00

Last week Grace and I went over to Cheshire to have a lesson with the British Dressage trainer, Jo Graham. Grace loaded and travelled very well, she did not sweat up at all and seemed to settle after her initial few shouts as we left the yard.

Andy helped me tack her up, and Jo asked me to come into the school and work in as I did at home. So we worked in long and low, but she was quite tense and spooky (it was very windy, and there were lots of scary things lying around). As I asked for right canter, a lady was turning her horse out in the field next to the school and Grace thought it was all just too exciting and did three huge bucks, the last one unseating me completely and we parted company!

Despite this little ‘mishap’ at the beginning, we went on to have a really good lesson. Jo said I am doing too much and Grace not enough. She relies on me to hold her up, keep her going and to do all the work. We worked on getting her much sharper off the leg and into a more consistent contact. This involved shortening my reins and not using my legs as much, just when she backed off.

Since our lesson we have been working really hard on what Jo had pointed, and it did not take long for me to realise how little work Grace was getting away with. Since following our new ‘routine’ Grace has been sweating up quite a lot after a 45 minutes session, whereas before she would not even be out of breath!

The difference in the way Grace is going is unbelievable. She is coming up in her shoulder now, sitting back on her hocks a little and learning what a half halt means!

We did have a lesson booked for tomorrow, but Grace had a bit of a swollen leg on Thursday morning, was trotting up slightly lame and it was quite hot. So I got the vet out (I’m paranoid about tendons) and discovered she had an infection in her leg which was causing the swelling. I have been cold hosing it twice a day and bandaging it at night, which along with the antibiotics have brought the swelling right down and she is no longer lame.

So we now have the Spencer Wilton clinic to look forwards to on Wednesday…

A Video of Grace (just click on the red cross)

2007-01-17T03:11:00.000-08:00

Grace has a new friend!

2007-01-15T13:09:00.000-08:00

Grace has become very attached to my other mare, Hannah, who is currently 10 months in foal and ready to pop! Whenever I took Hannah away from her, Grace would go absolutely bananas and scream and scream until she came back. It became worse while I was away. I think this was because her routine had changed and she did not have me to cling to in situations.

I put up with the screaming and running around for as long as I could, but then decided that ignoring her was just not working as well as I had hoped it would. I looked into various options (calmers, toys, licks) and came up with the idea of getting her a stable mirror.

The first time she saw herself she snorted at the mirror and ran to the other side of her stable, but the longer she spent with it the more she liked it. She even went to sleep next to it on the first night! With the mirror she has become much better when Hannah goes, and apart from the occasional relapse when Hannah shouts and she knows she is just around the corner, it seems to be working. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that she keeps improving because in a couple of weeks Hannah will be going out every day without Grace.

Other than the attachment issues, Grace has improved in her schooling too. She is becoming much more consistent in her canter work and it is now easier to get her trot more uphill and her into a more grown up shape. The eggbutt snaffle I put in to help her reach for the contact has now done its job and she has started setting against it when she is having a ‘silly’ moment so I am going to try her in Hannah’s Nueue Schule one (copy of the KK) to help lift her shoulders and to prevent her setting against it. It is also much kinder as it does not have the nutcracker action of the eggbutt.

Up until now I have taken her work quite slowly, but I feel we are at a stage where we need to start increasing her work load and asking a bit more of her. Because of this, I have booked a lesson with the British Dressage trainer Jo Graham, and we are going over to Warrington on Sunday morning. Hopefully she can give Grace and me something to work on over the next few weeks as I would like to get her out to some unaffiliated competitions this spring, and then affiliate her before the summer.

We have also been given a place on the Spencer Wilton clinic at the end of January which I am really looking forwards to as he has a lot of experience with the younger horse and he will know immediately whether she could make the grade I believe she can do.

Until then we will keep working on the things I feel she is weak on and Andy is coming taking some photographs tomorrow afternoon so there are some photos to follow tomorrow.

Rebecca and Grace
xxx

A picture from November... more recent ones to come

2007-01-05T04:50:00.000-08:00

Three months on...

2007-01-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

I have been a little poor updating my blogs recently as things have been very hectic with Christmas coming up and changing my job… but I promise to update this regularly in future as it would be nice to have something to look back on in the future.

I am actually on holiday at the moment, sunning myself on the beautiful island of Barbados… it is glorious sunshine, white sandy beaches and turquoise water; what more could you want!

Grace has been gradually improving, although we have had a huge milestone to contend with: mud rash! It suddenly flared up and got worse and worse in a very short space of time. The vets kept coming to look, putting her on antibiotics and still it would not go. We finally got a grip on it a few weeks ago and it has been gradually improving, although she had a small relapse this week while I have been away. I called the vet out from here because I know how quickly it can flare up, and they have taken a sample of scab (lovely!) to send to be cultured. If this does not show much up she will have to go into the vets and have a small biopsy of the leg it has affected the most to finally get to the bottom of what is going on!

Apart from her mud rash Grace and I have lots to tell you…

We have been hacking out with a friend of mine on her chestnut Thoroughbred (two gingers together) and so far Grace has behaved very well. She gets a bit worried by bigger vehicles such as coaches, skips and so on, but she tried plunging forwards and as soon as you put the pressure on she will stop and just shake while it goes past. This is just baby behaviour and the more she sees the better she will become.

We have also been doing a lot of work in the school on her balance. When she first came she found it difficult to canter (although not down the field squealing I may add) and her trot was very choppy and wobbly. But behind this you could see she had a natural ability for dressage. So we started from the very beginning once she had been rebacked and have worked our way up.

Grace is now working consistently well in trot and walk and I have started asking her for a more advanced outline which she is finding difficult but is doing with a lot of success. Her left bend is becoming much easier and elastic, but when I had the saddle fitter out she felt that she had a twinge in the right hand side of her back so the physio is booked for Monday morning when I get back!

Before I came away on holiday I was absolutely frantic trying to get organised for Christmas, so I have to admit the number of times rode diminished a little. However, my gorgeous husband said he would come and muck out on Christmas Eve so I could ride Grace one last time before I came away.

The saddle fitter also felt the dressage saddle I have been using is now too wide because Grace has lost a lot of weight and has a lot of muscle now to build up. She tried Hannah’s Albion SLK Ultima on her and it fitted perfectly, it just needed lifting a little at the wither. Until it was being stuffed (the lady was taking it away while I was on holiday) I used a front lifter polypad… What a difference!

Grace has always been on the forehand in the canter and it has been difficult to get her to stretch over her back. However on Christmas Eve she just glided, lifted her back and we were cantering the most beautiful canter. I just could not believe it… I cannot wait to get back and get back on!

I will get Andrew to take some photographs over the next few weeks and show you how much she has changed in the past three months. I look back at the photographs of her when she first came and she now looks like a different horse. She is fit, starting to tone up and looking much finer in her build.

Grace and I were booked in on the Spencer Wilton lessons at Arkenfield this month, but as luck has it they are while I am still away. So I’ll have to wait until next month now which is a shame. I am also planning on getting involved the Northern Dressage Group when I get home as they hold a lot of clinics that would be fantastic for a young horse. We should be looking to do our first few Prelims in the next few months, but I have a feeling she will move up to Novice quite quickly!

Baby steps

2006-10-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

Our second week has gone really well. Through our baby steps we have made a lot of progress and Grace’s ability is starting to shine through.

Because I was having difficulty getting Grace to make a true contact at the end of the lunge I asked my instructor to come and give us a few pointers. Andrea felt that Grace was not working up to the bridle properly and did not recognise some of the commands she was being given.

Andrea did lots of transitions with her through vocal commands, which the first time she seemed to be very confused with, especially the ‘stand’ command. Anyway, she came back last night and the difference was fantastic. Grace had really got her head around what we were asking of her, and worked in a better contact and more consistently.

Andrea left us with our homework so that was where we started tonight: lots of transitions with the voice, but when she trotted she had to work through the bridle not above it.

Everything was going really well, so I felt it was a good time to get on. My husband, Andy, stood by her head holding the lunge line as I got on and then followed us when I asked her to walk on (with my voice and with my leg). Gradually, Andy moved away and then I just knew it was time for us to go it alone.

Andy unclipped Grace and walked away. Grace continued to listen to my voice all the way around the school, and even though it was windy and the panels of the school were rattling, she continued to listen. We even had a trot on each rein before doing a few transitions.

I am hoping to gradually reduce the amount of time Grace is on the lunge and increase the time she spends being ridden. But tonight she did not put a foot wrong, and I feel as though we are really working as a team now!

Sorry for the quality of the photographs, the battery on the camera was going and it was just starting to go dark.

Day Three

2006-10-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

Grace has settled extremely well and today has been the best day yet. At first she was quite stressed in the field, galloping about all day and not being accepted into the mares’ herd. It did not help that she has come in season, so spent all day tarting at the boys over the hedge.

Her second day in the field was much better. Although she was still being chased away, she started getting a little closer to the mares. I have been lunging her every day she has behaved really well. In fact, she was so good on Monday that I decided to jump on for a few minutes. There were a few bucking fits, but apart from that she was really quite good. I realise this was probably a bit soon, but I was just so excited. For the next few days I will only lunge her in her tack, get her fitness up before I get on again.

Today was the third day at Newhouse and she just keeps improving. She was much more settled in the field and was great to catch and have her feet trimmed in the afternoon. This good behaviour carried on to tonight…

We had a beauty session! Her mane is much shorter and although she started being a bit awkward about it, she soon realised that it wasn’t as bad as she thought and if she ate her net she couldn’t feel it as much. It needs tidying up a bit more, but I thought she had put up with enough so will have another go tomorrow.

Another first for her was having the clippers run over her body. They were just some mini clippers but they make quite a lot of noise with the blade guard on. I have to admit I did expect a decent sort of reaction, but Grace did not bat an eyelid. She turned to look at the clippers and then carried on eating her net. I ran them all over her, including her face and ears and she was brilliant!

We are ready for clipping on Saturday and we are getting to know each other through every experience.

She is home!

2006-10-07T12:43:00.000-07:00

We went to pick Grace up today. She travelled really well despite the fact we had very bad traffic caused by several accidents on the M6. It took us around two and a half hours to get home, and although she had sweated up, I think a lot of that was because she is a little woolly bear at the moment.

I got her to the yard and she did a lot of shouting. She unloaded well, but because she had been a bit unsure of the trailer at Jill’s (it can take them some time to get used to the way they have to turn) I remembered something Richard Maxwell said to me: “When you get to a show, you need to reload them so that they know that is what is expected of them when they are somewhere different.” So I reloaded her and she went straight in and turned even though she was in a new place, with a new person and new horses cantering over to see what was going on.

When she went in her new stable, she had a snort and a sniff, but was soon munching on her haylage. She was frightened of her automatic water feeder, so I went to try a bucket because I was a bit worried she was tucking up a little. She dipped her nose in the bucket but then went as dunked it in the water feeder!

After I left, I got a text message from a fellow livery saying Grace was whinnying like mad when I left… poor little girl. But at least she likes me!

I am going to nip back and check on her in a while, just to make sure she is ok.

Fingers crossed that this is the beginning of a lovely relationship between the two of us!

Pictures from when we went to see her...

2006-09-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

As I first got on her:

Let me introduce you to Grace

2006-09-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

Grace is a five years old 17hh Warmblood x French Thoroughbred chestnut mare who I have decided to take on loan while Hannah is in foal and has the foal at foot.

After a lot of discussions with my Dad, we decided that I did have the time for another horse. I wanted one I could bring on again, but I did not want an unbacked horse as I admit that I do not have enough knowledge to start from the very beginning.

I was looking for a horse on loan, but there were so many horses for sale that my Dad and I agreed that maybe we were going to have to buy a youngster and sell it in after twelve months. However, my Dad was worried that I would get too attached and not want to sell it when the time came. He knows me far too well!

I tried to keep an open mind when trawling the adverts on Horse Quest, Horse Mart and Horse Deals, but I was shocked at how expensive some youngsters were. There were a few that I thought would be suitable and emailed quite a few people regarding their horses. Someone had mentioned a website called Project Horses, but I was a little dubious when I first went on as a lot of the ones advertised had issues that I know out yard owner would not appreciate (weaving, cribbing etc etc). I also had to think that I would be selling this horse on…

As I was going down the 16.1hh – 17.1hh section I noticed a nice chestnut mare that was up for sale or loan. The horse sounded quite nice and from the picture I thought that she would look quite stunning with some muscle tone and extra condition. I emailed the lady who was selling her and received an email back explaining that the owner would consider loaning Grace if the person was suitable.

I arranged to go and meet Jill that Friday with my friend Sue Williams and my mother-in-law Carol. As soon as we turned into the yard I saw a very pretty chestnut looking at me from the field who looked vaguely familiar.

I could not believe how different Grace looked to the picture on the internet. She looked beautiful in real life and I was immediately smitten! Jill brought her in and left me to have a play with her in the stable while she made us a cup of tea (after a very desperate toilet visit I may add!). She was extremely good having her feet lifted while she was eating her net and did not mind being fussed at all.

When Jill first asked me whether I wanted to ride Grace I have to admit I was a little wary. After all, she had been broken twelve months ago and only sat on a few times since then. I decided to see how it went, so asked for her to be lunged for a while first. She was a little lazy on the lunge, but once she had cantered her trot really started to show and the potential in her started to shine!

I just knew I had to get on, so I walked her around on the lunge for a few minutes and then was set free, so to speak. Walking her around I could feel that she understood my aids when I asked, and even though she had not been sat on much, I have to admit I felt quite safe on her.

So, Grace will be coming to live with me on 8th October and I cannot wait! I have already been out and bought her a bridle, grooming kit, bandages, feed buckets and a few other small things too.

This Blog will keep a record of our progress together and hopefully show what a great horse she will turn out to be!