Warning: Downer Alert!

Hey trusty Barefoot peeps. It's been a while so I thought I would at least post about the last few weeks on Dragonwood Farm.

There hasn't been much riding since Manu's clinic, I'm afraid. A pall of depression has washed over me, caused in large part by the (welcome) rain that's been bucketing down on an almost daily basis, and the tail end of daylight savings that causes us to rise in the dark at 7am!! Why do we have daylight savings drag on so long? Surely, by the time autumn has officially arrived we can just can it and swap over to getting up in the dayling again!

Jedi has been ridden fairly intermittently but has been, on the whole, pretty well-behaved. He's trying out some new conflict behaviours and my training hasn't been great, but we're always making a bit of improvement at the end of every session. Our jumping is way better, with a lot less head tossing and stressing.

I've focused a lot on being stiller and more forward with my seat and my hands. Not leaning forward, but thinking forward.My hands are my Charlotte Arms - straighter elbows, very still, forward but holding a contact. When he chucks or puts his head up I open my hands wider and he comes down - he doesn't get the reward of losing the contact from the throwing head that way. It's working nicely, but I have to be super-hard on myself about pulling back. It's the first thing I want to do when he throws his head and speeds up. But pulling doesn't work - he just pulls and gets tense and gets worse.

If I slow my body and hold the contact with wide hands, it gives him a really solid frame to come back into. It's been a big learning curve for both of us, but it does help with the fighting!

Otherwise, poor Rose has been a bit stiff, a bit funny with her dodgy elbows and her crooked pelvis. I got Robyn Larson-Shelton out to bodywork her and the prognosis was guarded. Essentially, the elbows will be permanent problems. They may cause her to be unsound or at least not 100% sound over her career. The problem appears to be lesions in the cartlidge of the elbow joint. No one knows how they come to be there, if it's injury-related or something else. And there's no treatment for it, though some things are showing some benefit - including particular joint support meds and, wait for it, barefoot trimming! So, if I can get Rose's feet back to how they were pre-baby, that might help.

I also had Rochelle Joyce the vet out on the same day and the feedback was the same. Give her some months off, wait a couple of months after we've weaned Uno and let her get some muscle condition back. We can try Glucosamine supplements now or wait til I'm looking at starting to work her.

Either way, massive downer. She was always supposed to be the horse I would ride through the grades and she's one special lady. Fingers crossed we can get her sound but I would never want to event her if there's any likelihood of it being painful for her.

Otherwise, we're just preparing for winter now. Finishing the stockwater installations, starting our rotation grazing proper and seeing the benefits. The fencing is pretty good now, just need some stand-off wires to go in, but they're all looking a million dollars with the green grass.

We're going to establish an equine geriatric care centre for people to bring their very aged horses (25+ years with high-care needs) for us to look after. It seems there might be a need for it and it's a good way to bring some money into the property using the things we have in abundance - time, care and experience. I'll keep you posted!

I'm going to be purchasing some barefoot trimming tools and doing the youngsters feet myself. Money is getting tighter and it's time I cut the trimming bill in half! One file isn't going to cut it though, so I'm trying to decide how to buy and what to get. I'll let you know how that goes too!

Next event is Berrima next weekend. It'll be fun, just popping around Intro and judging in the afternoon. It's such a fun event and I'll finally get to actually ride it!