Sam Lyle Clinic, among other things

Time has taken off again and suddenly it's weeks since I last posted! Jedi and I were lucky enough to do the jumping clinic Sam Lyle ran with the National Capital Horse Trials Association at Equestrian Park the weekend before last (lucky because the weather has seriously turned since then!). We went with the Prelim group and ended up jumping Pre-Novice half the time! Big weekend.....

Showjumping on Saturday was really interesting. Jedi felt a bit off on the sand and he normally is like this for the first ten minutes or so. I think his soles are still quite sensitive and the sand is uncomfortable. He was also quite stressed and pig-rooted heaps. Not to mention being a complete tool coming up to the jumps - chucking his head up and getting stressed out!

Several problems were identified - a major one by Sam and two smaller ones by me. Firstly, I have a tendency (from Tux no doubt) to grab at Jedi's mouth straight after we land, rather than letting him travel on a couple of strides before getting him back together. As soon as I quit doing that, he settled heaps coming in to the jumps.

After Heidi the Vet Chiro (that always sounds like a Chiro for Vets to me!) had suggested ulcers, I have been keeping an eye on him for symptoms. This was the day that made me positive he has them. For starters, going out anywhere is stressful for any horse, no matter how quiet. Jedi copes well when we go out but he's a naturally stressy guy so this was no exception. He started humping and pig-rooting even while I was walking him around before I got on! Not a good sign. It got no better once I got on board! Then he was kicking at his tummy, doing very loose poo, wanting to eat grass (which he never does) and generally being grumpy.

But did he stop jumping? Hell no! That horse seems to really enjoy it....

The other thing that has come to light, which may also explain his lameness of a few weeks ago, is a nasty case of thrush in his near fore. His frog is quite manky and clearly sore, with a big crack up the middle that goes up between his heels. Kirsten the Wonder Trimmer put some cool powder in and I'll be treating it for the next few weeks with the same stuff. Will get details of the powder when I see Kirsten again.

We were jumping at least a metre so it was still a pretty awesome day.

Cross country day was even better. He was grumpy but a lot more chilled out and forward. And jumped really well! We had two issues and both were minor. Having never jumped an apex in his life before (well, maybe a small one!) and me having jumped very few of them, we had a couple of issues getting over the Pre-Novice apex. My problem was taking too shallow a line and giving him a big door to duck out of, and his was simply not understanding how to jump the angle. We got it after just slowing it all down and giving him more time to see it.

The other issue was the ditch - two strides- rolltop. We got the ditch (the smaller one), no worries, and the rolltop was obviously no problem for him. But the ditch got 50% bigger and he did an enormous jump over it so I lost all my knitting and pulled him out of the rolltop. Stupidly. Then he just thought that was what I wanted! Took a few goes but we got there.

Great day and a big confidence booster for both of us!

Poor Timmy the Connie/TB has had the worst abscess I've seen in ages. After 10 days of increasing lameness, including 2 days on 3 legs, it finally burst through the coronet band (SO stinky!) and has been oozing for the past 48 hours. He's still a little lame but I've been phlegmon-ing the hole and it seems to be draining well. Poor little dude.

Lots of good stuff coming up. A little unofficial dressage day that I'm taking both Rose and Jedi too. The Berrima XC/SJ day the weekend after next for me and Jedi to fang around a bit of Prelim before Harden in August. Very exciting! And I've finished my degree so I have lots more headspace to think about horses!!! And get my stables finished and some kind of arena sorted. Lots to do :)