Diary of a first time horse owner

greymare said:
Oh no thats bad news, if i can help you with lifts too and from liphook am about sunday and v local if it helps at all? PM me if so
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Sorry, have only just seen this. But thank you for a very kind offer x

jojo5 said:
Hi Jenj just wondering how things are going with Jack? Hope he is recovering from the kicks?
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Things are going much better! He had a cast on for almost two weeks, but managed to lay down on Friday morning and couldn't get up again, so they had to cut it off him. But despite being off early, the wound is healed enough to not re-open with just a (massive) dressing on, so he came home yesterday.

I went to see him after work today, and it's so lovely having him back.

the cast

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the massive dressing

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at liphook

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and back home tonight

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cheiro1 said:
How is Jack doing Jen?
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Hi cheiro, thanks for asking.

He's fine-ish. Still having the dressing changed every few days, it's still bleeding and occasionally oozing a bit of muck, but the vet is pleased with how it's going. No news yet about how long he'll be on box rest for, except it'll be a long time. We're up to 6 weeks to date.

And having got the Liphook bill and some of the vet's bill in, this incident has now cost more than he has, and he wasn't a bargain!

He seems ok in himself, a little grumpy sometimes, but his box overlooks the main yard, and it is a busy yard so there's lots going on for him to watch.

He's been trying to relieve the itching by rubbing his leg on the trunk in his box, so I need to replace that now he's smashed it...
 
Sorry to hear he is going to be on box rest for a long time. I know the feeling with that one as my mare was on 3 and a half months box rest until recently, so I really sympathise with you!

I hope his vets bill doesn't grow too much more for you!

Silly lad smashing up trunk, although very clever of him to think of itching on it :rolleyes: :p

Give Jack a cuddle from all of us!
 
Hope he gets better soon. Think I might start a diary to show how far we have come/left to go! Just had mine back from reschooling so it would be nice to look back on our journey :)
 
Hi Jen glad to hear Jack is on the mend, but sorry to hear that it has gone on so long and has the potential to be so expensive. While he is recovering it will give you loads of opportunity to really bond with him I guess - he'll know who his mum is! Are you able to be riding something else in the meantime?
 
Update!

Well, it was 4 months yesterday since he got kicked, and he's still on box rest. However in the last few weeks the wound has sealed over, and the swelling has gone down a lot.

He's been walking out for a few minutes daily for a few weeks, but has always been stiff. Vet saw him today, and pronounced him sound in walk and 2/10ths lame in trot (only a few strides!). He's been given the go ahead to have daily sessions on the walker for a month, starting with 10 minutes and slowly building up.

Then we may progress to a bit of in hand trotting in a month's time. It'll be a long journey...
 
Cheiro1 said:
Glad things are slowly getting better!!

How are you getting on with your other horse?
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Didn't buy him - just posted an update on the other thread. I broke my shoulder when he spooked at something, and can't ride for a few months so let him go.

But Jack and I are clearly well-suited...!
 
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Sorry to hear about the shoulder and Jack's hock, but apart from injuries it was nice reading up on how far you've come and to see photos. He's very handsome! I love the name Ronan, but it didn't suit him. He's definitely a Jack the Lad 80)
 
Hello :)

Well, Jack came off box rest a couple of months ago, and gradually came back into work, but the bucking was still an issue most times he went into canter - it got to the point where he was chucking clients off almost every time he was used by the riding school. I learnt to ride him more strongly in the trot-canter transition and he stopped doing it to me, but I went a step too far last month when I went on a longer hack to the sand gallops - he exploded and bucked almost vertically. I came off and hurt myself (not the bad shoulder!) and haven't cantered him since then.

We had the back lady out a couple of weeks ago, she confirmed he was sore (so probably uncomfortable in walk and trot, yet genuine enough to only buck going into canter) and he's since then he's had some rest and lunging sessions. I've been hacking him out in walk since Tuesday and trotted a couple of times today - he seems a bit freer in his stride, so I think that's a good sign.

He's suffering with the flies and heat - he appears to be a very sensitive/allergy prone horse, and stresses about things, so he's being stabled in the day and out overnight, which seems to be helping him relax a bit more. I've also spent a fortune on fly sprays/supplements/rugs etc to try and make him more comfortable.

Whilst he's far from being my ideal first horse, I love him to bits and am actually quite pleased with how he's turned out - we were getting some nice work out of him (in walk and trot) before his rest, so it'll be interesting to see how well he goes once his back is completely better. Next treatment is in a week's time.

His leg looks a mess with the scarring and proud flesh, but actually most of that is pressure sore scars from the dressings - the actual wound scar is quite neat. Good job I don't plan to sell him, as I reckon it'll more than halve the value from when I bought him!

But I do now have the perfect first horse. Except she's my second! I went on a riding holiday in June, and ended up buying one of their horses. She's 13, but an absolute saint of a confidence giver, and really well schooled. I can quite happily hack out alone on her (first time out alone on her I cantered, yet I've never ever cantered Jack out alone) but I can also learn a lot on her as she is quite good at dressage, and I may do some showing/local competitions on her next year.

The two are very different - as I realised when riding on Tuesday after only riding Tilda for two weeks, but I'm so happy with them. My life has completely changed since I got back into horses - I'm even selling my house and have found a new one a 5 minute walk from the yard!

Some photos...

Jack looking pretty on one of his first ventures out after box rest

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Riding Tilda just after she arrived (hadn't bought saddle yet!)

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Jack and Tilda making friends

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Jack and Tilda last weekend

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I am sorry to hear you are still having problems with Jacks back, I hope you can get it sorted out soon, and I hope you can get your confidence on him again slowly.

Tilda is gorgeous, I hope you have many years of fun with her!!

Please keep us updated, I loved reading your jack updates :D
 
Well, its' a year ago today that I bought Jack, and things still aren't going too well!

Jack has been off work for a month now, and we have a diagnosis (of sorts). He's had nerve blocks on both his back and scaro-iliac area, and xrays of his back. He reacted very well to both nerve blocks, and xrays revealed mild kissing spines - but not enough to explain the amount of muscle soreness he was experiencing, hence the second vet visit for a nerve block on the sacro-iliac.

It's likely he's had problems with these since before I bought him. He's now on the walker a couple of times a day, and won't be sat on for at least 6 weeks, then just walk, re-assess, maybe introduce trotting, the re-assess etc. It'll be a long road. We've no idea whether or not he'll come properly sound, I guess time will tell.

So I currently have one superstar, and one pet. Possibly that won't change...
 
Oh dear, you have come a long way down what has turned out to be a long hard road Jen, but there is still a positivity in your tone which is clearly how you keep going! Do keep us up to speed with progress when you get chance. So pleased you have the lovely Tilda to enjoy whilst trying to get Jack right, wishing you all the best with both of them x
 
I am so sorry to hear about Jack Jen, atleast I guess it explains some of the bucking etc.....I really hope he comes right for you!
 
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