OK so when I said in my last blog that ‘it never rains but it pours’ I may have had some weird sixth sense. I mentioned that Millie had banged her leg in the field, well after a couple of weeks there was a very slight lump about the size of my thumb on the inside of her leg. Unfortunately scans showed slight damage to the digital flexor tendon and check ligament so young Millipede has been off games for a while. We’ve since had the go ahead to start working her and we have another scan planned for mid July to check on progress. As I mentioned in my last blog, her older sister the Ginger Rocket has not been herself for about 18 months and although we’ve had good days, generally things haven’t been great and I kept thinking that she was feeling the ground in front. Poor Lily was bilaterally lame with paper thin soles. She is styling out some goo in her feet, in the hope that we can get her feet to grow a bit and encourage the soles to regenerate. We also x-rayed her spine and that wasn’t especially great news either with some regrowth and one quite large bone spur. Fingers crossed we can help Lily be more comfortable, even if it turns out that she can’t be ridden. It won’t be for not trying. The Bomber left home for her holidays and being a good girl sends regular post cards usually starting “OMG you won’t believe….” So that leads us to the Bomber’s BFF Ehren. Well you all know that the Beautiful One had a weekend away with the family planned in Gloucestershire for the BD Winter Championships. Something that we had spent the winter preparing for; hours of riding and competing in freezing temperatures and sideways rain….. Well the day before we were due to leave she came out of her stable lame. I was so shocked. She has many foibles but in six years never a lame step. Disaster. I was absolutely gutted I must admit and was just as close to punching someone (anyone, I wasn’t going to be fussy) as I was to bursting into tears. So another one to the vets to find that she has a lesion in a front suspensory. Looking back I think that this had maybe been bumbling away under the surface for a couple of months. Despite making progress on our Inter I movements, we weren’t on our best form and a few times she nearly had me off. My left pinky now points at ‘ten to’. I am sure if you are a school teacher everyone looks at your children and judges you. So following that logic what on earth would people have made of the trainer whose horse got loose at the vets and galloped around the arena like a wild mustang dragging a lunge rope behind it in a cloud of dust. I said to her “Ehren you are making me look like an idiot, this is not good for business” and she looked at me with those big brown eyes….. In my infinite wisdom I then decided that it would be a good opportunity for her to have slightly longer off and have a foal. What I should have done was invite people round to watch me setting fire to fifty pound notes. It would have been cheaper. We had no luck with the first insemination; in fact all that happened was that a stay at the vets really upset her. Today she left home and went up to our friends at the Groomsbridge Stud. If anyone can get her pregnant, Sally can. It is so weird not seeing her when I drive through the yard gates. She’s been a huge part of my life for six years and we are mates. In her place the ego that is Tinka has come back to us to work off some of her baby blubber so that Sally can start riding her again. One of Martin’s favourite horses ever. He can’t wait to see her cheeky face over the stable door. Last but not least that leads us to the arrival of young Rodney. Rodney is four years old by MedNight Mahout out of Martin’s Intermediate mare (big) Lexie. He is around 17 hands and not anything like our little girls. He’s been living at Stud UK for the last two years and in the last six weeks they’ve done a great job taming him. He’s arrived as a very friendly, if slightly nervous, young man. So far he has been very good and tried everything. The only thing he has reacted to was being asked to trot with the roller on for the first time. His sister did exactly the same when we asked her to move the first time with me on her. He is a LOT taller on two legs!
Rain fall can trigger growth akin to a spring flush, especially if temperatures are high. Even whilst true spring may be in the past, the risk for those prone to laminitis will rise.
For the second consecutive Sunday, presenter Adam Henson has discussed the use of sainfoin during Countryfile.
''Feed the mare to feed the foal'' - wise words from many an experienced breeder. With little grass due to the dry weather, grazing can be topped up in the feed bowl.