6 days box rest

My poor baby has done something to his left knee. It's hot and swollen and even with 3 days of box rest it didn't go down and he was getting more and more lame and had developed lameness behind and was very reluctant to walk out of his stable which is so unlike him so last night I called the vet. She was concerned that with 3 days box rest and cold hosing the swelling, heat and lameness hadn't gone. What was also worrying was that he was now lame behind and showing signs of tying up including tight muscles on his quarters and muscle tremors even though he's done no exercise for about a week.

She injected him with a strong pain killer and anti inflammatory, said to keep him in for another 6 days and has given me bute to give him in the morning and evening. If, after the 6 days are up, he's still got heat/lameness then he has to go for x-rays to see if they can see what's wrong.

After his bute he's more or less sound but the swelling/heat still hasn't gone at all and he's definitely not right but fingers crossed it goes back to normal before the 6 days are up.

Terrible schooling sessions, lots of fast work and prelim 14

Decided last minute to take Magic to do prelim 14 which left me a week to get his schooling back to where it had been before the bad weather. Whenever he's had a break from regular schooling, even if it's just a week or so, he tends to have a really really bad day. Monday was no exception. He's hanging on the left rein terribly so is constantly looking to the right when he's supposed to be bending left. He also ignores my left leg which makes any attempt to bend him around it impossible.

Decided to give up on the schooling for that week so lunged him once and worked him long and low. He seemed to enjoy himself and was very active and stretched nicely. I knew I was in for an interesting week when his breathing was normal after 20 minutes of mostly trot and canter.

After that we've just hacked out and I've made sure he always gets to canter so he can get rid of some excess energy and burn off his winter tummy. He surprised me with how fit he seems to be, we did a fair bit of fast work and he seemed to find it easy. Took things slightly easier on Saturday and Magic got to play in the ford to wash off his legs and tail since he still doesn't really like the hose and paddling in the ford is much more fun.

I was very proud of Magic on Sunday. He loaded straight away into a lorry he'd never been in before and didn't turn and get back off again. He travelled well and hardly sweated up on the way there. Got him off the lorry and he stood while I tacked him up and then calmly walked to the warm up area. He had a good look about and was strong to canter at first but after a while he settled and worked in an outline for a short while, had a couple of nice canters and then it was time for our test. We walked over to the indoor with a friend and her horse and waited outside while she did her test. Magic was a bit fidgety at first but didn't do anything bad. Went in for our turn and he was a little on edge but didn't show any signs of doing anything nasty like bucking. Didn't spook at the judges in the box or horses walking past the area at head height, the only thing he did was nap a little by the area gate as he could see his friend but he only did it once. His test of a little too fast but he did everything I asked including getting the right canter leads even though he was obviously nervous. Even his circles were quite accurate. To my surprise we came 4th out of 6 and got some helpful comments from the judges.



Since then we've just been having more fun hacking. Magic has been enjoying himself a bit too much and has been very strong and wanting to canter everywhere. I think we are getting spring grass early.

It feels like forever since I've done any proper schooling (where he suddenly perfected rein back) with Magic but I'll have to fit some in between the rain we keep having as we're hopefully off to do two dressage tests on the 23rd. A walk and trot and prelim 14. I can't remember either of them and I've got just over a week to learn them. Should be fun.

I've lunged Magic once since my last update I think, had one very short session in the school and before that he's only been on a short hack. I'm hoping to bring him back into full work this week weather etc. permitting. I want to concentrate on his fitness as well as how he holds himself while ridden.

He still isn't straight while ridden or lunged. On a loose rein while hacking it's hardly noticeable but as soon as he's asked to work properly he hangs to the left quite badly although he did manage some nice long and low work in trot briefly.

I've only ridden Magic once since my last post due to more snow. We only messed about in a field and he got very very excited but did work nicely for a little bit although he did refuse to lead with his left leg in canter until he'd settled down a bit. Even though getting him to round was a little difficult he had plenty of impulsion.


Today I lunged him as he's been kept in for a while due to the snow as I thought he might have a little too much energy. I was right. Magic spent the first 5 minutes cantering then the next few minutes bouncing around before settling down to do some really really nice work in his pessoa (which was fitted after his broncing session). As soon as it was fitted he relaxed and worked properly with no fighting and even did some nice stretching on both reins which is showing that his back and neck muscles are getting stronger. The imbalance of his muscles can be clearly seen when he's lunged in the pessoa. There is a lot of muscle definition on the right side of his neck but next to none on his left. Hopefully with regular pessoa sessions that will start to even up.

I've hardly ridden over the last week which means Magic is enjoying a bit of a holiday. It's either been raining, too icy or I've been busy with one thing or another. I think I've schooled him once and lunged once. He's going very nicely when lunged, holding himself constantly and working over his back and he seems to be getting more even on both reins now which is good. I think the stretches I've been doing with him in his stable have helped a fair bit. Plus he enjoys doing them as he gets treats. Ridden work is still a bit off. Mostly trot work, walk and canter are improving all the time. He's progressed to being able to do a 10 metre half circle to the middle of the school, do a few strides of trot then pick up canter again to change the rein while getting the correct leads. We also tried walk to canter but we aren't quite there yet. He's still doing about 5 or 6 strides of trot before cantering and he's running a little but the canter he does do after isn't too bad and definitely not rushed or flat. We only tried walk to canter for about 10 minutes as I could tell he was getting a little stressed at not being able to do what I asked. The ears were going back and he was swishing his tail a fair bit so I left it and let him stretch in trot to cool off. The main thing is that he tries hard.

Magic has been very happy in his field the last couple of days. The two herds have merged while the drainage is improved in the lower field so he has a few new friends to play with. Yesterday he went out like a rocket, galloped up to his field gate and got bored when he had to wait for me to catch up so did a nice extended trot up and down the fence with a bit of bouncy canter and a few bucks added in for good measure. When I got to the gate he bounced around me before waiting patiently while I opened it wide enough for his to get through then galloped off flat out while throwing in enormous fly bucks just because he can. It's actually quite worrying seeing how big he can buck.

Today he was a little more sedate until his field mates joined him. Then he had a good rug pulling and rearing session with his friends and when they got bored he reared and bounced around on the spot for a while before settling down to eat. What's really nice to see is him actually cantering when he plays now rather than just extending his trot to keep up. Also his canter is now roughly the same pace as the other horses so he can canter along with them rather than trotting. It made me happy to watch him.

Before I start any more serious work with him again I'll be getting his saddle looked at and most likely reflocked as he's developed a hard lump on the left side of his back about half an inch away from his spine. He sometimes gets similar lumps when ridden in the summer due to him getting a little hot under his saddle pad but that hasn't been happening recently.