Recent content by Rosesandhorses

Exact same thing happened to me. I put my lovely lad out to loan as a happy hacker and the lady promised me she wanted more than a summer hack. October came and the weather turned and she suddenly couldn't afford him and hadn't had his feet done in 8 weeks (it was in the contract he was done...

Boots every time but you have to do a bit of trial and error to find the good ones! My horse is a dream to travel but I spent some money on some posh Premier Equine travel boots and they drove him mad! Shuffling and trying to pull them off. I switched back to my old faithfuls (Amigo) and he was...

My current horse can get a bit flat- usually when he's at the end of a stint of hard work. For example during the event season if I have a run of events close together and am working him to keep him fit in between. I always make sure I feed electrolytes when he sweats so this may be worth adding...

Honestly if you're having doubts about it and you can't ride between now and then I would say withdraw. There will be plenty of other competitions you can do when you feel better prepared. If you're going on your own the last thing you want is to be questioning whether you have control or not. I...

I think it would be worth talking this through with the rider and understanding their reasons for their reaction. It is so easy to sit here without feeling what is going on and make a judgment, that being said a beating is never a good judgment. One of my previous horses was very sensitive and...

Honestly it's just a case of doing what you can when you can! I work full time and frequently have to travel with work, alongside having a young baby. The mornings are slightly easier now the clocks have changed but I frequently use my lunch break for a quick ride and get out hacking as much as...

One of my previous horses was scoped for ulcers and it's something I would do again if I felt it necessary. He was dropping weight so quickly and I wanted to get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later and a quick answer was needed. He stayed in the vets overnight and was starved and then...

I would definitely soak the hay for as long as you possibly can- as others have said. Using small holed nets is great but I would then also double net as this will slow down eating even more. Cut out anything other than a handful of chaff and his supplement. Then it is a case of getting him fit...

Working in a Pessoa is pretty hard work for even a fit horse so it depends on fitness levels, what setting you have the Pessoa on, how much walk/trot/cantering you're doing. My fit eventer never goes in the Pessoa for longer than 20 mins gradually increasing to the highest setting and mainly...

If he's just been clipped and this has become a problem I would lean towards him just being a bit more sensitive because of this. The Le Mieux girth sleeve covers are brilliant and you would see an immediate improvement, if not then you can go down the route of getting the physio back out. You...

Honestly don't be too hard on yourself. We all do it and only the one's that look at themselves and learn from it actually get better 😊

I agree that rushing is not desirable AND that it needs careful handling, however in the spirit of 'being positive' I think there are certain ways of thinking about it that effect how a rider handles the situation.

I have rehabbed a couple of horses with suspensory injuries. The last one I did went through shockwave and was ridiculous in controlled exercise. I managed to keep it controlled in walk but in trot we had a lot of fly bucking which resulted in him redoing his injury. In the end he got turned...

No problem at all! I stand by what I have said, despite Be Positive's opinion, super careful and super keen is a good sign! Another exercise that works is to get them to think about something at the other end of the poles, e.g. a change of direction, a halt, a transition etc. With him being...

I wouldn't worry too much, it sounds like he's not quite understanding the question. I would reduce the number of poles and gradually increase them until he begins to understand. If it's all very exciting and he continues to do it I would scatter poles throughout your arena and every time you...