09 April 2009

Well Pinto's rest didn't really happen. On the spur of the moment I joined my old class since there was a space in the lesson. I'd had prior knowledge that it would be "travail sur la plat" plus a little surprise, so I wasn't too concerned.

After the previous day Pinto felt a bit tired, but amazingly worked for me so much better and with more consistency than I've had for a long time. Though I've finally discovered the secret to "tête en place" - a full fly fringe - lol!

His trot was springy and consistent, we had good control over the pace, I could ask for a faster pace then bring it back without any problems. The only real hint that I had that he was tired was that he leaned on the rein occasionally, and he wanted to stretch more than usual, but that was the only hint.

The little surprise at the end of the lesson was to walk up to the cross and being able to have a walk about, practicing walking up and down hill. It was a comepletely different experience to the last time I was up there (but that was almost three years ago now!) this time I had no issues with the downhill bits, and I though the uphill bits were very inviting for a canter - Pinto did too, and I had to remind him frequently that we were only walking!

At the end of it I was really pleased that I joined the lesson, as both i and Pinto had a great time.

08 April 2009

Woo hoo, holiday at last. No more work until next Tuesday. I bet poor Pinto was wishing the same thing...

Becky is home from school for her Easter holiday and took Pinto on three ballades today as an 'accompanying rider' Fortunately two of the groups were ponies so it wasn't too frantic, but when he got back after the second ride he was lathered. He then had an hours rest and was out again with the G6/7 group and had a whale of a time apparrantly!

He can have a rest tomorrow...

07 April 2009

Was really pleased with Pinto yesterday.

I had planned on riding but since I didn't get to the yard until late (and of course since I was running late Pinto had decided to lay iin all the poo he could find!) I decided to lunge instead.

Now lunging has always been a bit of a tricky subject with Pinto, as he has had this awful habit in the past of bogging off when asked to canter, and I've tried lunging with a cavesson, with a bridle, off the bit, and i actually had the most success with a rope halter. Anyway, since we were only meant to be doing gentle exercise I decided to try him in just his headcollar and tried to banish all thoughts of bad things.

He was a really good boy and remembered all of the cues, despite not being lunged for aver a year. To keep things calm and collected i worked a lot on transitions, making sure he was making trot/walk/trot transitions at least 3 times on every circle, so really only having 2 or three strides of each before another transition. he took to it really well, and on the whole, his transitions were really nice and snappy.

We only worked for about 15 mins before stopping and doing some "manners" work, i.e. leading properly, stopping when I stop, backing up when asked. And we also did some work on "stay" at the end of the lead rope and not moving until I invite him closer.

We had such a great time.

Isn't it funny...

You can deal with all kinds of weird and wonderful things when you are concentrating on other things!

I took Pinto out for a "gentle" hack on Saturday as part of his osteo rehab and was meant to include "gentle and controlled trotting" Well we managed to start off gentle and controlled, then as soon as it degenerated I asked for walk, which lead to much bouncing, trying to escape left and right. - and I just sat there and ignored it all Even a year ago I would have been wibbling and thinking about getting off. Even more amazing is that I've hardly ridden at all for ages and this was my first hack since Jan or beginning of Feb.

One thing is for certain... with the right training Pinto would have a FANTASITC piaffe and passage lol

06 April 2009

What a fantastic weekend!

Spring has finally sprung in the Alsace, and both Saturday and Sunday the temps were hitting 20C. I was in the garden by 9:30am on Saturday and worked hard for 3 hours creating a proper flower bed before retiring for lunch and changing for the stables.

For the first time in ages I was able to tie Pinto up outside to give him a really good groom. Poor soul still has most of his winter coat, and was sweating just standing still. I was able to have a really good look at his feet too, after the farrier trimmed them on Wednesday. Once again all hint of his bars have been removed, but apart from that I am really pleased with how his feet are looking atm. The outer wall is a good 3-4mm all the way round even at the heels (and this is something we've struggled with a lot), and near the toe gets to almost 6mm. His frogs are also looking great, and for the first time has come out of winter with minimal ickyness and no cracks or impossibly deep central sulci.

After much thought, and not without regret I decided that I would have to shorten his mane. His forelock is very short, now that it's been pulled into some sort of shape, and his tail is almost show-cob length, so he looked daft with a long mane. I just started slowly, and over the course of an hour I shortened his mane by about 4 inches, then I left it and will finish the rest today hopefully (photos are promised when he's all done!) Honestly I didn't think I was taking that much off, a couple of hairs at a time, but when I came to sweep up, it looked like I had lopped someones tail off!

Pinto was still on rest on Saturday, so we went for a walk in hand. Usually we would normally just potter around the village, but instead we followed a short hack, which would normally take us about 25-30mins to do. Saturday it took us just on an hour with 2 stops to munch the grass. I really felt it on the evening as my riding boots really aren't meant for walking!

When we got back I decided to scrub Pintos knees. He has a competition on 08 May, if everything goes well, and I really need to start washing his white bits now to have any hope of him not looking disgusting. lol

On Sunday I went to the yard mid afternoon, in order to avoid the hoards of teenagers which congregate late morning. After Saturday Pinto only needed a quick brush over before I could tack up and off we went for a walk.

I think we'll have to build up the "lots of controlled trotting" as prescirbed by the osteo. Controlled and Trot just don't go together with Pinto when we're out hacking, so we did a few strides here and a few strides there and I ignored the bouncing and jogging after each transition down to "walk." His back certainly feels much more free now, and I could really feel the difference up and down the hills, his hips dipping and rolling with each stride.

After we got back we went around to the orchard to eat grass while he cooled down and dried off.

So... a wonderful weekend

03 April 2009

The osteopath came back out on Thursday

After walking and trotting him up and having a short feel down his back he asked if Pinto received many sugary treats... his spleen is inflamed due to too much sugar, so no treats apart from carrots or bread.

He also had 3 blocked vertebrae in the same place as the last manipulation. The osteo did a whole load of new releases, but said that it will take time for the musculature to adapt and until this happens Pinto will need regular treatment to stop the vertebrae from popping back again. So my "homework" is lots and lots of slow controlled trotting outside to help strengthen the correct muscles and to avoid cantering for the time being, until the muscles have strengthened a bit.

I'm pleased it wasn't anything too bad, and my lovely osteo didn't charge for the follow-up visit.

I decided to make a notice to put on Pintos door to say that he is poorly and not to feed him anything at all, thank you very much! We have bunches of kids come to the riding school and it can't be guaranteed that they will feed just carrots or bread if I said just carrots or bread, so for poor old Pinto it's nothing at all

I also decided to create an exercise journal for Pinto so that I can keep a track of exactly how much work he is doing, and what kind of work he is doing. It can also be somewhere my sharer can make a note if anything untoward happens.

30 Mar 2009

So after the great lesson on Thursday, I was really looking forward to a lesson from a visiting friend on Saturday but...

For only the 2nd time in 4 years (and the first time was a field injury which needed no treatment) my pony is broken

I was really looking forward to having a lesson from a visiting friend on Saturday evening, but had to call it a day after about 10 minutes as Pinto was Not Quite Right.

It was probably highlighted as after warming up we worked on spiralling in from a 20m circle and he was very resistant any smaller than about 13m.

I got off and my friend got on, and it was immediately apparant that he was very stiff through his left hip, which he kept dropping, and was coming up about 10cm shorter on his left hind than his right. he wasn't lame, or gimping in any way, but he was definitely Not Quite Right.

On Sunday we walked out of his box extremely stiff, but we did some liberty work in the manege and after a few minutes he loosened up some. This time he was worse on his right side

Theories abound as to whats happened...

1) he tweaked something on Friday when he was with my sharer.
2) he's tweaked something in the box
3) last weeks osteo treatment has left him sore due to using himself in a new way after the manipulation
4) he is suddenly feeling his age (he is 15 this year)

Anyway the osteo is coming back out on Thursday for a follow-up, and I've asked my sharer not to ride Pinto, just either to walk him out or to gently loose school.

If all else fails the vet is coming in 2 weeks for follow-up vaccinations, and I'll ask for a longer appointment to do a lameness work-up.