I got Packenham (Paddy for short) - an ex point-to-pointer in May of 2012, after having a break from riding of about 20 years. There have been some ups and downs (mostly downs) over the past 18 months & this is our journey together from Paddy being a racehorse to hopefully eventually a riding horse!

Saturday 23 March 2013

Paddy has attachment issues!!!

After a good nights sleep, we went back to Rockley to see Paddy, do the photos of his feet and to lunge him......well that was the plan anyway!!

Paddy was a good boy for his foot filming and photograph session, however when we took him out to the arena to be lunged he was a complete idiot - not helped by the weather, which was bitterly cold and howling a gale!!

He did his usual wall of death, the took a flying kick at Nic, then reared up - it was at this point that Nic decided that it probably wasn't the best time to be trying this, so took him in again and put his rug on to be turned out into the yard with Felix and Charlie, who are her horses and help to calm new horses.

Their calming influence did not work on Paddy at all and all he wanted was to be with his new best friend Rollo, and basically careered around until Rollo was fetched from the field to be with Paddy. As soon as Rollo was put in with Paddy he settled down - talk about making quick attachments!!

Unhappy Paddy!!
Paddy with his new best friend - happy now!!

Once Paddy had settled down, we said our goodbyes and set off again for home.....It will probably be a few weeks before I can get down to Devon to see him again - I will miss my boy, but am hopeful that this rehab will help his feet so that I will be able to ride him again.

Paddy goes to Rockley...

Well the time for Paddy's trip to Devon arrived, of course the weather in Cambridge & half way across the country was awful - snowing and really bad road conditions & I looked at the forecast for Devon & it was meant to torrential rain - can honestly say I was not looking forward to the drive at all.

I hired a horse box as I was worried that mine would not get us there without breaking down - a nifty little number that was pretty much brand spanking new....Paddy took one look at it and decided that he didn't like it!, after a little persuasion from Nicky (our yard owner) he went on & off we set.

I have to say that he travelled like a dream and the box was like a car to drive. Eventually arrived at Rockley in the afternoon having had to negotiate the smallest roads (not much more than a track) in the lorry - I'm just grateful we did not meet anything coming the other way!!



Once we had arrived, we popped Paddy into his stable and he very quickly settled down to eat, after making friends with his next door neighbour Rollo.



Once we had made sure that Paddy was settled, Gillian and I went off to our B&B to get changed & headed to the pub for a meal and a well deserved glass of wine!!

Sunday 17 March 2013

5 week update

Paddy has now been barefoot for five weeks now & if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed the changes a hoof can make all on their own!!

The caudal area of his feet has already beefed up a bit and you can see the new angle of hoof growth just below the coronet & this is with only walking round his field for 5 weeks.

Paddy is off to Rockley in a weeks time and whilst I am so glad he's going, I am dreading the drive and will miss him loads. Gillian is coming with me so at least I won't have to drive all that way on my own.

Paddy's feet 5 weeks into barefoot.