That is it I am going to have to start selling
my body. Having fallen head over heels with Chelwood Equestrain Centres facilities, I want to pinch the ideas so I can use them when I get
my next house with ... menage . ( Hubby doesn't know that bit yet....Mind you he
might guess when I start selling my body. Hmm I sense a flaw or two in that plan).
Anyway as you know by now Fred is new to me. As expected little old Fred, is taking
the “Michael” and, my normal group of trainers, friends approaches are not
really yielding the results we hoped or expected and we are scratching heads a
bit. Taking into account, the season, the fact he is feeling very “well”, he’s
now in a routine, has mates in the field and is having a whale of a horsey time
and doesn’t see why I should interrupt it, I sense there is some more to this
than meets the eye. SO I am now seeking the advice of the more
specialist trainers who has specific exracer and Thoroughbred experience, hence
my attendance on John Thelwalls clinic at Chelwood. John is a recommended
trainer and has racehorse experience as well as many other qualities.
Preparation is the key to success ? Well a chilled horse and rider at least :)
Fred tied up after our first trip out to Ardingly so this time I wanted to be really careful that this didn't happen again. I checked the journey times, route and, as we were there all day, booked a visitors stable from Mel. The communication with Chelwood was easy to book on line and Mel quickly got in touch by email to make sure I knew what was planned, my times and to check my requirements. Got my paste calmer. I actually got half the paste calmer over my head and the rest on my jacket, but underterred I scraped it off and stuffed it in his mouth along with some treats. Hah Fred, One all my son.
The journey to Chelwood was so easy it was a dream, straight down the A26 across the forest and turn in to Nutley and Bobs your Uncle you are there.
We were greeted at the gate by a friendly face and guided down to a well laid out lorry park, in viewing distance of the school and the visitors stables
Having booked
a stable for the day this made an immense difference to Fred chilling out
after his session and actually prior to the session, it helped to chill me out knowing Fred could relax. The
stables are all rubber matted with automatic water dispensers, rug rails
outside and a window to the back so Fred could see the trailer. All we had to
do was keep the stable clean and bring his hay. He was happy as Larry as you
can see.
The school was a rather clever L shape cleverly laid out with
a jump course and poles, leaving the bottom section of the L to work in a
circle unhindered by scary objects.
We shared the session with a lovely lady who had a youngster and John moved between the both of us setting us tasks and monitoring us both at the same time. John chatted to me initially to establish where we are and what we wanted to achieve.
After watching Fred and I warm up he could see
that Fred tends to throw me off balance, that I arch my back too much, partially
because the saddle throws me and partially
due to body configuration. I’m going to have to do some exercises to help that
I think. Any advice any one has send it through.
When I’m off balance John thought I grip more and gave me advice on how
to deal with that. In Fred’s case I have to keep a loose leg for now with less
contact and ride more purposefully in trot to the back of the saddle. No leg for bend ! Oer.
It may
not be this way for ever but that is the place where John sees us a now.
Understanding Your Horse
To explain the reason for less leg and the need to " show no fear" , John explained how in a racers life, the ones who are sold on are usually the failing
ones. These are the horses who may have been less popular in the yard. The stable lads who look after the horses are paid as a percentage of the winnings, occasionally if a
horse is constantly unsuccessful, some lads may regard them
with irritation and think of them as useless as they are all work for no return. Unpalatable though the thought is, it does makes sense, if they bring no reward for the hard work then
they may get less attention or possibly in the worse cases rougher handling. Becki knows the racing world and knows that is definitely not how it is in all yards the lads care well for all their horses but, its probably fair to say this situation may occur in some. If the lads are a bit
rougher the horse can be quite subservient on the yard, but when sold on out of racing a
gentler approach can initially result in the horse getting quite cheeky. Fred’s
history is that he raced twice and was pulled up in both races, so he is one of
those potential horses. He was excellent on both the ground and to ride initially, but now
is starting to wonder if he can get away with being cheeky. Here's hoping firm but fair will win the day.
Leg Off
Johns also made the point, if a horse wasn't racing fast enough and was a low achiever then a lot of strong leg is used to drive them on. Could this explain Fred's apparent dislike or ignorance of leg ? I have been needing
to use a great deal of leg to achieve bend.....
John told me to take the leg off
to see what happened, and although no one is saying no leg is a permanent state of
riding, we did see Fred calm down and I had glimpses of accepting a steadier gait with less rush and
rounder back.
Evasion is Freds second name.
He has many tricks. One is to throw me and his saddle off to the right so by
the end of the session the saddle has slipped slightly. I hadn’t actually
noticed this on that day it was so subtle. John explained that this was likely due to tightness
down one side, throwing me over makes it easier for Fred to carry me on the tight side. John stressed the importance of riding in the centre and even if the
saddle slips to keep myself on that centre line and help stretch and loosen the tighter muscle. My saddler Juliette Lilly (who is brilliant with Thoroughbreds) and I
had noticed the saddle slipping but were unsure at that point if it
was the saddle or the horse. Now we know I can ask her to lend a hand.
Freds saddle has been refitted regularly. Since
arriving with me he has changed shape and condition quite alot. I know it’s vital we take good care of his back and Fred is a great
advert for saddlers, if it doesn’t fit right he tells you.
Whether it be a new
irritated look when I am tightening the girth, or a new propensity to speed up in trot.
He changes his behaviour and tells you this saddle is not right. I have been trying to
get a GP saddle for him for poles, so he can have a go at jumping. I have
limited resources to spend as I spent out on my allowance on Bates Cair dressage saddle. I have tried
a Thorowgood and Wintec 2000 both synthetic, he hated them both, yet as soon as
you put his Bates on again, carrots wouldn’t melt in his mouth he was happy
again. Looks like I need to try another GP but with Cair this time.
Tightness and I don't mean after the rather nice glass of wine at lunchtime (Joke, I didn't partake but my hubby did enjoy one Thanks Mel ; )
Another thing on this tightness, after Fred's arrival I wanted to make sure his back had every
chance of being supple and his tense muscles loosened, apparently tense muscles
are common in racehorses and, as I want to use him for dressage I needed to
give him the best chance I could before we started schooling. I am very lucky that Martine
Weber, a Bowen Therapist owns the Clockhouse livery yard where we reside. Fred had a
session when he arrived and was found to be tight on the right. After his tie
up, he was in a bad way and he had another two sessions. I will probably give
him another maintenance session shortly. Martines prices are reasonable at £25
for a session so it makes it affordable to get him treated. I’m also using a farrier
who promotes natural balance , Clive Meers . Clive is great he takes time to explain things, I am not sure if they can help
but it won’t hurt to mention it to him. Apparently issues of balance and the back and
all sorts of things are influenced by the way a horse is trimmed and shod. In
fact they are having a talk Soundness
through Prevention 17th October at the Chequer Mead Theatre, East
Grinstead. Its £10 a ticket I will put some details on our website. If you are
interested I will be going. I also think it would be good if he can do a talk for us on Thoroughbred feet. He will be at our RRR Introductory evening at Chelwood Equestrian on Friday 4th May 6 - 9pm if you want to pick his brains.
Fred is not unusual, tightness is a common issue
with racehorses who as they race in one direction round a track like most horses
often prefer one side. This as mentioned above means Fred does tend to throw me off balance as
part of his evasion tactics.
Once off balance, he decides
he's anxious and starts to rush. John felt I was perching and told me to put my
legs foward, (a bit like a water skier I guess) to hold myself and decisively sit into the
trot at the back of the saddle so Fred could feel me. Now as this went
totally against my instincts as I thought a light seat was good and, it took me awhile to adjust, but again it seemed to settle him. When he rushed, if I did as I was told and had that decisive seat in trot, Fred decided to give in to our quiet battle. I have tried it again after the session
and it seems to work. Watch this space.
OMG In
the afternoon we had poles. My GP saddle previously tested at home with no
issue was a resounding failure, with Fred making it clear he was not happy. At all. In fact we had our first buck and reversing session so I pretty quickly reverted back to the my safe comfortable dressage saddle and we at least managed to continue. Albeit
with a tetchy horse who looked like a shiny coated emu having a bad hair day. :)
We
tried a bit of cantering in a circle on both legs with me trying to sit back
into the saddle and although there's a lot of work we need to do there by the time we were finished I was cream crackered and ready to hit the hay. Then came the poles. We
have not done poles before. To be honest by this point tired and coping with a wound up black beast, my humour had pretty much faded and I was thinking " those poles could
naff off". But good old direct John said "go on, get over them" and with a fair bit
of singing to him ( and yes I mean to Fred not John, I favour the tune " Don't worry about a thing") and, quiet persistence, we did get over. In fact we went over quite a
lot of them both ways. I think eventually there were probably 12 in a row and they were between wings! I know this is not that clever, but we all have to start somewhere and stop somewhere...eventually anyway; and that was my cue.
So
what had we achieved:-
- I didn't fall off in front of my husband. (Good one and slightly tongue in cheek).
- Fred hadn't been in that school before and he didnt throw a dicky fit in the wind Note the dark clouds in the photo.
- Fred has his morning routine and likes going out with his friend in the morning, if you break that routine and ride he "struggles". However he loaded and behaved in the school in that first session.
- Fred is learning to share the school with other
horses but has only shared when they are jumping and cantering round, once in a warm up arena. ( Well done
Fred you kept your head).
- It was our second time out and he traveled well and was behaved in the main.
- This was the first time he had been in an arena with lots of jumps.
- His first time with me over poles.
- His first time over poles between wings.
- I learnt some tools to achieve a steadier trot.
- Now have a greater understanding of Fred's background.
- Our first experience of stabling him in a visitors stable and he coped being on his own really well.
I
think that is a fair amount and as we finished the wind got up and the rain
started. Always a good signal to leave. We loaded no problem but Fred fancied a stamping fit and started complaining like a girlie. So as true horsey crew we ignored him and steadily got on our way with as much quiet efficiency as we
could muster.
On another positive side note, Fred had a good wee. Hurrah !!! I was so relieved! Mostly due to last
time when he tied up he didnt pass water for ages, in fact you could tell from his
stable. That's why I like mucking my own horse out, you get to know all his
little habits and you get to smell nice for the supermarket, faster service at the tills.... (Saddo or what !).
Once
home, Fred went out in the paddock for a 15 minute chill while we cleaned the
trailer and packed away the tack. While out there he had a good drink another key thing for me to tick off in my
concerns. That night he settled no problems or issues, this will be our routine after outings, it was Martines idea. She always pops her horses out for at least 10 minutes just to unwind after a journey.
Next
trip is to TinTins. Lets see what he thinks of us motley pair. : ) It's next week and is the
day after the dentist, hope thats not going to cause an issue, O well hey ho.
Thanks all hope you enjoyed the read.
Rebecca ( Becky)
PS I really hope we can get some of us together to do some clinics. It would be great to share ideas. I have just written the website for Juddwood Farm to be launched soon. Also with some really good facilities, adult horse camps, cross country course, big indoor school. Nice and close for the Dartford /Bromey people... can I tempt you to come and play ? : )
Equestrian Centre. All of which she took in her stride and really enjoyed herself. She was incredibly difficult to load at this time and it took us a while to realise that she didn't like a 3.5 tonne lorry and preferred a bigger one which we changed to eventually. After all it was 'what tilly wanted' which continued through her life with us. 
from the previous season she started to nap at the gate which took a while to get over. There were always hurdles with Tilly but with time she would get over them. It taught me patience .... and how often do you need that in life??? A LOT! But by this point she had a few clears over 80cm and 90cm and a few placings at unaffiliated dressage. She was only 4 after all so I was happy and was looking forward to a bright future with her!
happened ( she was only out for an hour and there were at least 5 of us watching ) It appeared to be a small cut horizontally across so we washed it out and bandaged it up. There was no heat or swelling and the bleeding appeared to have stopped. I returned a couple of hours later and it did not appear right, it seemed to be oozing a liquid so I called the vet immediately ( sunday 1st March ) It was confirmed she had burst the joint bursa and indented the SDFT (Super digital flexi tendon ) She was heavily bandaged that night and admitted to the vets the following day. She remained here for months on box rest and with a cast on! It was scanned and x rayed regularly and the cast was changed regularly - any movement was stopping the wound from healing and therefore synovial fluid was continually leaking. As I am sure most of you know, this causes a huge infection risk which is why it is so important t o monitor and keep covered up. Tilly took this all in her stride but was obviously depressed. She did not know what was going on or why she was where she was with an IV drip in. It was heartbreaking and incredibly stressful. Within 28 days the 5k insurance limit had been reached - she just wasn't healing! I could go on for ever with the in's and out's but it happened and I owed it to her to do everything I possibly could which resulted in getting into a lot of
debt! She eventually came home but got admitted again within 24 hours. The vets made the decision to bandage so tightly in order for it to heal that we would give her pressure sores - although I did not expect what came next. The leg healed over night and never leaked again but the sores was horrific and caused further problems. I am sorry if you are squeamish!!
Although this blog makes it sound as though it was a short ordeal it really was not and took its toll on us all! I could have not done any of it without my AMAZING mum who has just been a tower of strength and took tilly on as her own and did her 3 times a day without fail - even setting up her computer at the yard so she sat with her regularly!! Tilly knew this as well - she was so good with mum and knew that although she wanted to explode 100% of the time she couldn't do this and hurt mum!
We thought we were there (having got her back to her first show as photo's show) and were looking forward to an exciting future again with her when she colicked at the end of august just before I was going to the World Equestrian Games ... it was mild, although no ideas what caused it, and she bounced back after medical treatment!! The seemed fine apart from her stomach gurgling a lot and looking a bit tucked up but there was nothing we could do and as she had never shown a colic sign before I did not expect her to get it again. I competed her the following weekend at the South East Regional ROR show at Pachesham Equestrian Centre organised by Pippa Boyle. She looked well and although didn't go half as well as I would have hoped won the Walk and Trot by 6% and came a respectable 4th in the prelim after getting a little excited in canter. After a little stroppy moment from me (as I knew how well she could go ) I was happy with her and this reflected in the results!! I am now even happier knowing that we did win a red rosette, as I now do not have another chance to do this ) 
A week later whilst on holiday with my friend Biba McCaul she colicked again and quite severely!! I had pulled her out of the stable hopping lame the day before and she had a very swollen back leg! We left her in the box that day and pulled her out the following day to find she was absolutely fine. Having turned her out in the morning she colicked when returning to her box. Again she responded to medical treatment but I was not happy and asked for full bloods to be taken on the advise of Rory, Biba's boyfriend who is a vet!! She really could not have been around better people at this time! The bloods came back abnormal with high fibrogen levels! She was booked into the vets the following week for investigation but unfortunately this was to far in advance. She colicked again on the Monday afternoon and then again in the evening where she got referred to Bell Equine. I received a call at 2.30 am that morning explaining she was in an incredible amount of pain and I needed to make a decision. I have always sworn blind that I would never put my horses through colic surgery for many different reasons but I did. Funnily enough Biba and I were talking about the 'decision' on the way to Bell and both agreed that when under pressure your emotion takes over and not necessarily the right thing. However, the surgery was a success and tilly did not have to have 
any intestine removed. She came round from the anesthetic well and we recived a call at about 6.30 am the following morning! Probably the worst night of both me and my mums life! That 4 hours was agonizing!! Tillys dad has broken his foot coming round from anaesthtic just 4 weeks prior! Bell equine were absolutely amazing - David Sinclair performed the surgery and kept me informed all the way along with the positives and negatives. The main concern was that there appeared to be no reason for the torsion and he was concerned it may be a motility problem which was not cureable but time would tell. Tilly continued to make good progress and showed all the right signs coming home 4 days later! We set up a camera in her stable so I could watch her from home! She did develop an infection in the wound but this is quite common. Again mum was a saint and did all the management of this - I just held the front end and kissed her ( lucky me ) 
Again my only concern was the stomach gurgling which was incredibly loud - but again there was nothing I could do other than give her aloe vera, pro-biotics and continue the advice of the vets! Everything was going really well until 31st October - I did her as usual before work and walked her out in hand! She was feisty and bucked like a trooper - it was a great morning!! I turned up at work and told everyone how happy I was as I had 'My Tilly' back!! I turned the CCTV on about 20 minutes later to see her on the floor with very heavy breathing. I rang mum immediately and asked her to get there asap. Lillian was at the yard and went to see her and keep her calm. I called the vet and asked them to get out ASAP as something was definitely wrong. I turned up to find mum trying to hand walk her but she was not happy and I knew what I needed to do! Mum put her back in her stable and she immediately laid down - I got gave her as much bute as I could and a sedative to calm her down and rang the vets to let them know I would be having her put down. Tilly was a fighter throughout and NEVER wanted to give up but this day was different, she had had enough and looked at me and shut her eyes. The bute kicked in which allowed us to put her down peacefully on a beautiful sunny day and really it could not have been more perfect! Mum was with Imogen right till the end so Tilly knew she was ok! Hindsight is a funny thing but I think Tilly had been filling up with gas for a few days; I just thought she had put on a bit of weight!! She also stocked up behind and went lame the day before which is exactly what happened the time before last ... I am 99.9% sure that exactly the same had happened!
I am really sorry that there was not a happier ending but I need to take comfort in being the luckiest girl around to own a mare like Tilly! There was something so different about her, a bond I am sure I will never see again! I will thank her for ever for what she did to mum ... they were so attached and had so much love for each other. Albeit Tilly standing at 17.1hh and not being the easiest bunny in the world they did everything together!! And I really hope that she looks down on us with fond memories and knowing we did everything we could for her! She really was one spoilt horse.
