atropa
Well-Known Member
I have posted a few threads over the past couple of months where I have been at my absolute wits end, thinking of putting my older mare to sleep as she has had problem after problem for over a year, and giving up on horses altogether. As well as my older mare being lame, it was found that my younger horse has an unlevel pelvis and old pectoral injury, although Ive had several vets and physios look at (i.e. xray and scan various bits) her and theyve all concluded that this shouldnt really affect her work. Ive only had her for a year and her history is unknown to me, she came over from Ireland as a 6 year old in 2015 and is very green. I was stuck at a yard with an unsuitable school and extremely unsuitable hacking, and I was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
I received a lot of support and advice from everyone here, and I decided that I wanted to keep going.
I took the tough decision to split the horses between two yards. My younger mare moved a fortnight ago to a very small place with fantastic, varied, quiet hacking and a decent school, and my older mare stayed where she was as the turnout is good for her there, there was no space at the new place, and most importantly her remedial farrier will visit there.
Over the past couple of weeks Ive been working quietly away with my young one, hacking out and building up both our confidence. I plan to hack all summer and have a few osteopath sessions with her, then see how she goes in the school nearer the winter hopefully the roadwork and hillwork will help to even up her muscle development in her hind end. As a huge bonus, my older mare has had her remedial shoes on for 3 weeks now and just yesterday started to look ever so slightly less lame. Im not sure if shoeing is the way I want to go long term as I know so many people have better success longterm going barefoot, but at the moment its the route Ive chosen.
I cant remember feeling this happy or relaxed for at least a year. All three of us have a very, very long way to go before were back where Id like us to be, but I feel for the first time in ages Im getting some reward from my horses. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to update as I feel every time I post here its doom and gloom, like my outlook has been for a while.
I received a lot of support and advice from everyone here, and I decided that I wanted to keep going.
I took the tough decision to split the horses between two yards. My younger mare moved a fortnight ago to a very small place with fantastic, varied, quiet hacking and a decent school, and my older mare stayed where she was as the turnout is good for her there, there was no space at the new place, and most importantly her remedial farrier will visit there.
Over the past couple of weeks Ive been working quietly away with my young one, hacking out and building up both our confidence. I plan to hack all summer and have a few osteopath sessions with her, then see how she goes in the school nearer the winter hopefully the roadwork and hillwork will help to even up her muscle development in her hind end. As a huge bonus, my older mare has had her remedial shoes on for 3 weeks now and just yesterday started to look ever so slightly less lame. Im not sure if shoeing is the way I want to go long term as I know so many people have better success longterm going barefoot, but at the moment its the route Ive chosen.
I cant remember feeling this happy or relaxed for at least a year. All three of us have a very, very long way to go before were back where Id like us to be, but I feel for the first time in ages Im getting some reward from my horses. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to update as I feel every time I post here its doom and gloom, like my outlook has been for a while.
I was out hacking last night and realised I was trotting on the right diagonal and it didnt feel awkward, horrible and she wasnt trying to bump me over to the left diagonal ... I was over the moon happy to feel and see progress as well. Good luck