Status update

We had the physio yesterday morning and I'm very happy to report that she was more than pleased with his progress, and that we have been given the green light to start slowly increasing the amount of work so that in three weeks when she is back again, we will hopefully then have a horse that is ready for training again!

For the next ten days, we are introducing some lateral work (but only in walk) and slowly increasing his trot work. If, and only if, he seems happy after this we're allowed to start doing a tiny bit of canter! I'm so glad to have been given confirmation that we've been doing the right thing and that he is indeed looking and feeling better ♥︎

Mr Candyman

I love how life throws things at you which you didn't expect. I really didn't think that I'd end up with such a great summer job where I have the loveliest lady as my boss, with such friendly people and sweet horses to work with!

Anyone looking for a nice horse to buy? Candyman is for sale and he's honestly such a lovely gentleman. I wish I had the need for another horse :D

So how's Vallu?

The last few weeks Vallu has had such an easy life, lots of turn out and hardly any work but fingers crossed, in the last few days there have been glimpses of improvement and I think his shoulder may finally be starting to heal. We did some of our first trot work yesterday and I shed some tears of joy that he felt so much better, and the same again today! Fingers crossed for this continuing ♥︎

Readyfields BloodHounds Wymeswold Open Day

What else are you meant to do on a Saturday night when you are on summer holidays, it's a Saturday night and you're single? Well go to a Open Day with your stable friend's hunting group! Thank you Annalese for making me jump properly for the first time in about 5 years and lending me your horse. So much love for Lulu, what a good girl for looking after me so well ♥︎

All photos from Emmelleff

The problem with horses and their big muscles...

My most recent quietness has as a result of Vallu hurting his shoulder. I wasn't sure whether or not to blog about this, but why would I bother hiding it? A few weeks ago whilst training Vallu got badly spooked, and he jumped spun and landed badly, resulting in him going lame almost immediately. A few days of rest and he seemed a lot better, but still not quite right. Lots of turn out in his paddock, hacking out and just walk work seemed to be working in keeping him happy and pain free. The physio visited to check him out and confirmed that it was indeed a shoulder 'injury' that would take several weeks of rest/light work. So nothing too serious, but enough to cancel all of our plans for July. I guess Vallu wanted a summer holiday ;) 

♥︎♥︎♥︎

Because of the position of the 'injury' (I loathe to call it that because it makes it seem far more serious than it is) as in it's the big shoulder muscle, it does take a lot of time to recover. This is the problem with horses and their big muscles... At this point in time Vallu is not lame at all, he is just stiff and taking a slightly shorter step, but the stiffness will go away with time as the muscle heals. Although it has been a horrible and really stressful few weeks for me, at no point has Vallu behaved in a way that would suggest that he's been in any pain. He's still as calm and relaxed and happy as he was a month ago, so I don't think it's bothering him that much. And he seems more than happy with his increased time in the field :D Poor pony is going to get a shock when we go back to work.

My horse's health and well being will always come first and above everything else, and I will not push him back to work until he looks and feels better, and until I have the agreement of my parents, my trainers and physio that this is the right thing to do. My physio said that she's seen much worse recover in 4 weeks, and that because Vallu was in such perfect condition through the rest of his body and since the shoulder isn't too bad, it could only take 10 days to 2 weeks for recovery. But we'll see. 

At least we can still do walk work

Vallu was shocked to see that his long grass had been made into hay bales

So I've popped off back home for a few days for mini break to see my family and horses back home! Maybe after this I can get out of my blogging funk and hopefully have more fun stuff to blog about Vallu :)

Hacking out with Brooksby Dressage

With Vallu being a bit off recently, instead of forcing him to do work during a lesson Lili kindly invited me out to go hacking with her horses round Beacon Hills. It was just what I needed that day after worrying about Vallu. It's so lovely to have a trainer who is willing to let you ride their horses and also spend time with you outside of lessons.

So much love for this pony ♥︎♥︎♥︎

Working, working...

How do people with full time jobs manage to keep up with their blogs? I only do part time, and I'm struggling with having the energy to blog after having had a full day with work, riding Vallu and then coming home to do dinner and everything else.

Work is so much fun. This job is everything that I wanted, working with horses over the summer. I get to ride and exercise a few horses who are all lovely. I feel like it's so useful for me to be riding other horses than Vallu, especially since they're very different from him. There is no arena since it's mainly a driving yard, so all riding is done on this massive field... Will admit that I was a bit apprehensive when going there for the first time, I seem to really like my arenas. There's also several foals who are the most adorable things ever, who are all for sale so it's very interesting being involved with this.

Candyman ♥︎