Horses….

Isn’t it always the way when you agonise over your next steps and decisions with horses that they do something to send you off to Plan G in a matter of days or even hours! But we’re all used to it, it doesn’t come as a surprise to go down to the field to lost shoes, torn rugs, random injuries or a fly mask on back to front (how they manage that one always baffles me).

Estrid managed to get what we assume was a bite right under the saddle area. Which settled down well and she had no soreness, but after her last ride, a few days later it flared up and turned into a decent area of swelling that was hot and tender. The conclusion was that it was infected and we needed to use an antimicrobial wash daily to settle it down. Luckily that has improved it and we don’t need to go down any more intense treatments yet but she is still very sensitive, warm and tender over the area. Which of course means I haven’t been riding her, which in turn means I don’t feel like we’ll have good enough preparation to go to our two day 80km ride.

I’m not worried about her fitness, it’s more the routine of getting out in the trailer, keeping her consistent and being happy with our prep that is disrupted. So Plan B is hopefully to still go to the event, practice a stay over in a corral but only ride one day.

With Estrid out of action, I decided to take Tissy for a little adventure. She’s still being ridden once a week and is as keen as ever. But she has started the wear her hind feet very differently to what’s normal for her, and excessively even over a short distance. Now we could fix the hoof wear with shoes but she’s doing it for a reason and I don’t want to mask that and the farrier agreed. She’s sound and the Physio & vet are happy with her overall, but I don’t want to ride her too much anymore, I still want to keep as much muscle on her and keep her as fit as possible, so now when we do ride I like to take her out to more scenic fun places rather than just a hack around the block on roads. It’s actually really nice to be doing these more mindful, not for fitness but just for the experience rides.