Recent content by abercrombie&titch

I have an elderly pony who was diagnosed with cushings about 5 years ago. he has never had the dull/curly/long coat, so don't discount it as a possibility. His first cushings test gave a false negative too. He started out on just 24hour soaked hay and straw (but lots of it so he was never...

no - we mowed off start of last week, got to thursday and the weather failed and it utterly chucked it down (forecast forgot to mention that!!) so we baled it as haylage and sold it as I only feed hay to mine. Will try to do a second cut in september, but will have to buy some in. Pretty gutted...

I have made to measure saddles every time - yes, they are a bit more expensive to buy but i think they save you money over their lifetime - never had any back issues for ponies. My saddler fitter as Carrots&Mints describes, makes you sit in a huge range of different saddles/seats etc (I like...

Depends if she likes to wash herself - it wouldn't be great to ingest! plenty of conditioner when she goes for her professional groom, and maybe rub a little argan oil (or similar) onto your hands and rub that through her coat every 10-14 days to help keep it from getting knotty x

I think your posts are fabulous - especially the brutal honesty about the difficulties we all face (but most of us aren't brave enough to confess to!!) and I think our parents are from the same gene pool - last time I went out my mother managed to fall out of the lorry so my warm up time was...

I used a very similar type of shoe on R (he had a long history of foot problems) after remedial shoeing stopped helping. He had them on for about six months in total I think, and then was unshod. He had very thin, soft soles (NAF Rock Hard painted onto his soles helped in the short term)...

I see sports massage person - have tried osteopath and chiropractor but found sports massage the most helpful - it is like an hour with edward scissorhands - it hurts like hell - but it really does help me! Place I go to is Stafford - its about £35/hr.

I compete two by myself..... practice makes perfect on the hitching/ reversing and i can now do both! Reversing took a bit longer to master, but I'm nothing if not determined. Both ponies load easily, are happy to be left on trailer etc. I can get one off, tie him up to the trailer, unload the...

A vote for Weatherbeeta - the freestyle/ original ones, not the Genero without shoulder gusset. i find they fit my very broad cob and highland really well, and i like the adjustability on the chest straps better than the amigo xl chest fastenings :-)

Lovely boy! I full clip my cob and highland yeti's (just legs left on), and rug as needed - that way they can't be left with a damp coat after they've worked, so I don't worry about them getting chilled - if it was me I'd definitely whip it all off! Mine will be having their third clip at the...

Utterly agree with all those who say success comes from hard work - and lots of it .... the more you get out, the better you and your horse get at it. When things go wrong - and they will - horses aren't machines - you look at what went wrong and work on fixing it. That is what success and...

Love the video - very very well done to you both! I plan on making my elementary debut on my Highland at the end of the summer so watching you is a real inspiration!

Soulfull - is that the TSR one at Rodbaston by any chance?

I ride my Highland in an Ideal - really is a super saddle and fits her barrel shape really well. Mine grew 3cm last year aged 6 and changed shape a lot, so definitely something that you can have adjusted as he grows!!

You could just buy a brown bradoon sliphead to make your 'normal' bridle into a double? Reins wise - I use plaited on the bradoon, a narrow plain on the curb. The Fylde saddlery have a good range of thicknesses of both slipheads and reins.