Paddy no better

Paddy is still just as lame as he was - there has been no improvement and so I have
Ve arranged for him to go for a lameness work up at the vets next week. He is perfectly happy in himself, but getting a bit fed up with being on box rest.

The other news is that I am looking for another yard to move Paddy to. I have come to the conclusion that he is much happier if he can be turned out every day, which does not happen on my current yard, and I will be able to have much more say in what I do with him and have more control over his management. I am looking for something nearer home so that it will not cost me quite so much in fuel and time also.....so the search is on!!

Paddy still lame :(

Paddy is still lame, he's had a couple of weeks rest and when I trotted him up he was very clearly lame, so got the vet out. The vet asked for  him to be reshod, making sure the toes were short in order to improve the breakover and to have another weeks rest and to give him bute for a week - if he's still lame, the. He will need to go for a lameness work up.

So he's been reshod, though I am not really happy about the shoeing and am starting to read more about the biomechanics of the foot/leg. Just hoping he is better when I trot him up again.

Given that he appears to have dodgy feet, I have also decided to track his progress by taking photos of his feet at intervals to see if there is any improvement/ deterioration.

Paddy lame :(

Had a lesson after our dressage outing and Paddy went really well....fast forward 2 weeks and Paddy is lame intermittently on his right fore. Don't know whether he's bruised his foot or tweaked something, but there's no heat or swelling and no raised digital pulse.

For the moment I am going to give him a week off and then if he's still lame, get the vet out.

It's such a pity because as soon as we start going out and doing exciting things, something goes wrong!!

Paddy & Lordy do dressage

So it was with great trepidation that Gillian and I decided that we would take both the boys to the College of West Anglian to try our hand at some dressage at a proper show, rather than at the equestrian centre where we keep them.
This was their first show where we were hoping to do a little more than just walk round in boring circles with us leading them and to say that we were both terrified was an understatement!

Managed to get there in one piece, they were both excited - probably thinking that they were off racing! Managed to warm Paddy up ok and then went in for the first test - just did two walk trot tests to start off with.

Well Paddy was mostly good - apart from the calling constantly for Lordy and being google eyed at the two Shetlands that were in a paddock right next to the arena.  Then pretty much went straight in again to do the next test & he was better - less gawping and calling and a little more concentration.

The comments were good, apart from Paddy needing to be much more engaged behind, though this was not really my aim - all I wanted was for him to behave, get through the test without having a hissy fit and for me to manage to stay on board!

Lordy was also very well behaved and they both surpassed our expectations so we were over the moon with them both. After they had finished they stood by the box very chilled out munching their haynets, as if they did this sort of thing all the time......what good boys!!

Paddy's first dressage

Well, I bathed Paddy yesterday, pulled his tail, trimmed his heels, put him in his stable for the night and of course as soon as he got in there he rolled!

this morning I arrived at the stables and everyone was on a mission to make their ponies & horses look smart. I wasn't going to plait Paddy up but decided at he last minute to do so, and what a smart boy he looked.

It was a scorching day and Nick was riding him first, so warmed up and then went into the arena, and although being unbalanced in canter, did a good test.

I then  got on and went to warm up, Paddy became very excited when Magic (one of the school ponies) came hurtling past him at top speed out of the indoor school and off towards the yard - I'm sure Paddy thought there was a race on! Then went to do my test.....

Paddy performed like a star - He was so well behaved and calm, no napping, no gawping at everything else that was going on and he didn't bat an eyelid at the big scary, flappy parasol that he judge was seated beneath that upset many of the other horses!

I was over the moon with the way he went - a very proud Paddy's mum!

Preparation for Paddy's first dressage competition

The livery yard where I keep Paddy is holding a dressage series for the riding school clients and liveries, so I decided to enter Paddy with Nick & I riding him. I normally have a lesson on him on a Wednesday evening with some of the other livery owners, which is quite good as we are all of a similar standard. So in  preparation for the dressage on Sunday I let Nick ride him in the lesson so that he could have a bit of practice beforehand & so  could see Paddy being ridden which is not something I get to see that often as I am normally on him!

Here he is practicing the canter part of prelim 12, as yet Paddy is quite unbalanced and Nick has the tendency to have his reins too long so Paddy goes round a bit strung out.

First group lesson

This evening Paddy and I joined one of the group lessons which liveries are allowed to do as part of their livery agreement. He was very well behaved given that he has never been in an enclosed space with lots of other horses. In fact he was better behaved than the others, who are all older and used to being with others. He rushed on in trot though trying to catch up so we worked on slowing the trot down by me slowing my rising and he managed to maintain a nice even trot. He got tired quite quickly though and startedtossing his head up. Chris & I decided to limit 'hard' work to 20 minutes to 1/2 hour bursts as his muscles are very weak along his back and will need time to build them up. All in all I was really pleased with the way he went.