January - February

This week, Kate asked me to write her an update of what I have been up to over the last month. She probably noticed the grimace on my face as I thought well, this isn't going to be very exciting!

As the New Year dawned I was full of goals and aspirations for the year ahead. Having bought a new planner, my aim was to get Socks out to some dressage and begin her jumping training; all working towards the goal of BE80 in September and as many BD championships as we can qualify for. We started well with a jumping clinic at Four Elms in Edenbridge, a really smart venue with the fantastic Janine Lamy. It was the first time she had met Socks and instantly understood her; giving me lots of advice of how to nurture her enthusiasm whilst not standing for any napping.

After that things went rapidly downhill! Mouse can be intermittently lame, due to having arthritic changes in many of his joints; so when he came in hobbling one evening I didn't panic. Some warm soaks of his foot, massage therapy from the equissage boot and a bit of pain relief for a few days he was soon right as rain again... but for Socks to present lame as well I was more worried. My first port of call was my farrier, he removed the shoe and pared her sole back a little to reveal some bruising  and a soft orange patch. I poulticed for a week before producing any pus, by which point I had convinced myself she had laminitis. The laminae certainly looked compromised so for piece of mind I booked her in for Xrays, I am very lucky to be stabled only 5 minutes from Bell Equine so they see a lot of me! Fortunately the Xrays showed no signs of anything except the abscess, but highlighted some slight hoof imbalances so her shoeing has now been adjusted accordingly. (The full story can be found on Karla's blog at https://kk-dressage.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/no-foot-no-horse.html)

Add to that the continuously awful weather, clients being laid up with flu and some of their horses out of action too; January has been really rubbish! It has been hard to stay upbeat but now we are in a new month, Spring is rapidly approaching and I have two sound horses. This month I have a BD competition booked and another jump lesson, I have also got SJ and XC clinics booked for the coming months and a couple of CPD days through BD and the BHS. Hopefully my next update will be a little less doom and gloom, and full of positivity....