Hams has had an MOT this week. Dentist yesterday, the report back was, teeth were sharp at the bottom but just a routine rasp. These are done every 6 months to keep the dragon comfortable and happy. I then had Laura Tollit from LMT Veterinary Chiropractic out to give Hamish a treatment. He had his first acupuncture session and thoroughly enjoyed it, more reactive on right side, similar report to what Equi-Supple Animal Physio give us, right hind, left shoulder tightness. Laura Found him tight behind saddle area too (caused by inflamed stomach from linseed, so can’t lift his abs to use his back 🤦🏼♀️)and worked on his clunky jaw, finding the right tmj tighter. After waving at everyone when I tried trotting him up, he moved beautifully and enjoyed his treatment 🧡
Had the best day out today at Lockskinners. Our most confident session yet 💪🏻
Nina having her first canter under saddle since being rebacked. She had an absolute ball and was so pleased with herself! ❤️ Jo Zwierzchaczewski-Mitchelhill
The best evenings are spent like this. Work is finished for the day, then some down time and adventuring behind the best set of orange ears 🧡
Hamish sent auntie Emily Gladwin at Equi-Supple Animal Physio a review of his new fager Julia bit as she’s been so patient and tried so hard to find a bit he likes. We originally had the fager Claudia but it had a small plate in the middle which wasn’t BD legal, she Emily said to try the Julia which is the same but has a small sweet iron roller in the middle. I was nervous about trying it as he so sensitive and thought he might not like the small change… *whispers* but I don’t think he’s noticed 🤫
Bubbles working hard this morning with Tina. After listening to feedback from Equi-Supple Animal Physio with what she found when treating him, we focused on some raised poles to help strengthen the areas. We finished on a lovely loose trot round the arena. I then had a spontaneous new client but didn’t get any footage of him. A lovely 5yr old 15.1 grey off the track thoroughbred (right up my street) owned by Victoria Ripley. He’s a lazy but sharp boy and spins and drops his shoulder. Whilst talking to Tina, Vicky was saying she’s struggling with her youngster, so I got her to tack him up and I could help her. So we worked on getting him forward and getting Victorias confidence back. She enjoyed it that much, we are now booking regular sessions 🥰💪🏻
Nina went hacking today, we decided to take a different route and it was a very ‘looky’ route. Her legs worked faster than her brain, but she took it all in and got braver as she went on. Very proud of her. Then she had a play in the water bucket and decided to make a mess
For something that’s a piranha normally, he’s such a gentle soul when he takes treats from you. Especially his favourite love heart snacks 🧡
When all your hard work and all your training finally pays off and your horse rewards you like this at his first ever jumping show. Proud beyond words of how far we have both come and even though he was so nervous, he tried so hard and had an absolute ball 🧡
We are back on board Nina! Such a poppet and so brave with all the fences round her too. Tried taking a picture next to her, but she’s so tall she didn’t fit in it 😂
It’s not always plain sailing and easy with young horses. Sometimes you feel like giving up and screaming, then once you’ve got it, it feels like the biggest achievement in the world! You either give it up, or give it all you’ve got 💪🏻
Carrot stretches
Hams demonstrating how to do carrot stretches. He does these almost every day, before and after work. He knows the routine and will do anything for a snack 😂 it’s a good way of keeping their muscles supple and them flexible and seeing where they are weak. Then he gets kisses and snacks after 🧡
For a horse that used to be terrified of cows and stand on his back legs every time he saw one, he was in love with the baby moo cow this morning. Probably because it looks like hams 😂
A morning of rehabbing and backing before taking Hamish xc schooling (vids of him to follow later). Nina was fairly wild today, a change in weather and her mum wasn’t around. She settled after having a meltdown because the fence post in the arena had come down 😂 she’s a sensitive bean. Only did 20 mins with her as she tires super easily and came back into the stable and fell asleep straight away. Cocos turn and lots of down hill work today. Getting her sitting on her bottom and using different muscles. Her way of coping with that was to lean her shoulder into me and this meant I slipped on a slanted wet verge and fell straight onto my butt and she just looked at me as if to say ‘wtf you do that for and why you down there?!’ Flan also found it real hard and her way of coping was to rush and have her head in the air, so lots of encouraging her head and neck down. ❤️🧡🤎
A Timelapse of hams being tacked up. He’s such a good boy, likes to fidget a bit, but considering he’s never been to this venue, he just lets me do it all on my own and then gets kisses after 🧡
I can’t believe how much coco has improved in just a few weeks. Much more coverage across her top line and so much stronger 💪🏻 flan was her usual bouncy self and she too is getting stronger!
Love that I have such a bond with these girls now, this is how the greet me when I come to do their rehab 🥰 flan, then coco and then little luna ❤️
Both of the girls went in the fields today. Coco is so much happier, her muscles are happier, her brain, her body and she’s so much more relaxed in the way she moves! It was flans first walk out since she broke her pelvis in about 6 months. She loved it! She came to life again but was very polite with it all. She was becoming stale in the school just walking round, so I suggested I took her out and it really paid off!
Pretended to be upset in front of Hamish today to see how he would react. He acted like he was protecting his foal from other herd members (ps this is hamish’s way of protecting. He looks aggressive, but this has always been his way of protecting me) 🥰🧡
